Commuting - help with 25mi commute into D.C.

OK, I don't commute 25mi into DC, but that's how long it would be if I did. I live in the Gaithersburg area, and am interested in retiring my car, at least during the week. Here's what I'm working with:

I marked out a theoretical path from my house to work. It's a little over 25 miles . . . that scared me a little, but what scares me more is that some of path I marked out takes me down 355 for some ways (17 of those miles to be alittle more precise). I'm comfortable with city riding, but you'd have to be out of your mind or heavily medicated to ride down 355 on a bike. Those of you in the area know what I'm talking about.

I got to thinking though; what if i took a bus into the district? I'd have to find a bus route that I can get to by bike, and will take me to a place I determine is safe for biking. There are a lot of things to consider on my part. First of all, how far am I willing to ride, and at what point do the roads become too dangerous for bikes? I will get to these in due time, but for now I'm just looking for a little guidance on the bus routes. Does anybody here have experience with the bus system in the Gaithersburg/Shady Grove/Rockville area of MD. If so, do you know of any routes will take me to somepoint within the District that I can ride my bike from?

TIA
!gurana

I don't know the bus routes out that way at all. The couple of times I've used a bus out there it was to and from Shady Grove metro. If you go to the Metro website they have a trip planner. I think you can specify a bus only route and see what that will give you. You might be able to play around with your starting and stopping points until you find something that works or will get you closer to some good bike route. Good luck, that is going to be a heck of a ride.

You didn't say wether you live east or west of 270. I know of very good routes west of 270 into the city. But it would, no doubt, already lengthen a very long commute.

The problem with most buses in the suburbs is that:
1) The are local and will stop alot.
2) The routes are designed to tie in to the nearest metro station.

I pulled out my trusty Montgomery County bus route map and one route comes to mind ---
The Ride-On Route 70 Bus starts in Milestone and takes 270 to Bethesda. From there you can quicky hop on the CCT trail for a very nice ride into the city.

Maybe Milestone is too far north from you - but I think the bus terminal you want to end up at is Bethesda. What is the nearest major cross streets to where you live?

I live in Potomac near where Montrose and Falls intersect, and commute by bike to DC every day (17.5 miles each way). If you can get to Wooten Parkway it is a safe commute. Wooten Parkway to Falls. Falls south to Tuckerman. Tuckerman to Seven Locks. Seven Locks to Bradley Blvd. Bradley to the Cap Crescent Trail, which will take you straight into Georgetown under the Whitehurst Freeway.

You might want to avoid Falls and go through a neighborhood behind Wooten High School to Falls Chapel, which will take you straight to Tuckerman. All bicycle friendly roads with paved shoulders.

If you go to the Metro website they have a trip planner.
That was actually the first resource I tried in finding a route. It's more or less trash :( I'll try playing around with it again when I get home. Every start/stop location I try, it seems to not have that information. I've run into this problem with it before, so I might be able to get something out of it eventually.



You didn't say wether you live east or west of 270. I know of very good routes west of 270 into the city. But it would, no doubt, already lengthen a very long commute.

The problem with most buses in the suburbs is that:
1) The are local and will stop alot.
2) The routes are designed to tie in to the nearest metro station.

I pulled out my trusty Montgomery County bus route map and one route comes to mind ---
The Ride-On Route 70 Bus starts in Milestone and takes 270 to Bethesda. From there you can quicky hop on the CCT trail for a very nice ride into the city.

Maybe Milestone is too far north from you - but I think the bus terminal you want to end up at is Bethesda. What is the nearest major cross streets to where you live?

I'm on the east side of 270. I said gaithersburg area, but really I'm in Montgomery Village. The biggest intersection around me would be Montgomery Village Ave (124) and 270. I don't know where milestone is, but if start's at rt 70 and 270, then that might be a little too far :)

I tried looking at metro's routes map, but there's so much garbage on it, it's hard to tell where one route starts, and another begins. Bethesda would be good, as I love the CCT, but I would probably prefer to take a more direct route as I'm in NW (between the FBI building and Capitol Hill).

If it helps, here's a map of my general start/stop points http://tinyurl.com/czg9r

Thanks for your input

The Ride-On buses have bike racks (see http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/dpwt/transit/routesandschedules/brochures/bike_program.asp), so you could ride to a bus route, take bus to convenient point to pick up a safer bike route, then bike in. If your bike is a folder, you can take Metrorail anytime.

I'm on the east side of 270. I said gaithersburg area, but really I'm in Montgomery Village. The biggest intersection around me would be Montgomery Village Ave (124) and 270. I don't know where milestone is, but if start's at rt 70 and 270, then that might be a little too far :)



Ah! perfect bus for you is Metro J7 or J9. Starts at Lakeforest Mall, runs down 270 to Bethesda. Then hop on the CCT and roll merrily into town.

If this works out for you you might even want to consider renting a bike locker at the Bethesda station rather than hassling with the rack on the fron of the bus each day. :)

If this works out for you you might even want to consider renting a bike locker at the Bethesda station rather than hassling with the rack on the fron of the bus each day. :)
Good idea. Combination bike and Metro.
North side of I270 and want to avoid traffic, could use the Rock Creek Trail and Beach Drive. Grovesner Metro station is close to Beach Drive. Lock up and take the subway, or continue to Bethesda.

Slow Train, you seem to know your busses. Gurana might want to be careful with putting his bike on the front rack of a bus on 270. A friend who uses those racks every other month or so in the city got her wheel bent very badly when she did it with a bus that hit some bumps at 40 mph.

If Gurana is on flex time, maybe getting an early train from shady grove to Medical Center would be more bike friendly. After work ride from DC to Medical Center so you get to the Metro right at 7pm when bikes are allowed.

Gurana, I've been biking 355 on Saturdays out there by shady grove. There is something not right about that road, it has a spooky vibe. Do you have a good route from shady grove metro to medical center drive? The map in the metro station has errors! I explored a route through King Farm to Gude to Key West but that seems so roundabout. The metro map says redland goes through to shady grove road but it doesn't it dead ends at some wrong way off ramp.

355 is a mess to drive. I can imagine how it would be to bike.
South of I270, maybe Great Seneca and Wootton Parkway to Seven Locks Road. Not bad a drive and could be a good ride.

Ah! perfect bus for you is Metro J7 or J9. Starts at Lakeforest Mall, runs down 270 to Bethesda. Then hop on the CCT and roll merrily into town.

Thanks a lot slowtrain. I still have a lot to consider, but this is the direction I was looking for. From here, I've mapped out two routes. The first one takes the CCT, the other goes "straight" from bethesda. Now, I said before that I'm comfortable with city riding, but I don't know about the roads I've mapped out since I've not done either of these. The one that concerns me most is the one that goes south on Wisconson Ave/355.

CCT route (http://tinyurl.com/d42cj)

"Direct" route (http://tinyurl.com/cebve)

Gurana, I've been biking 355 on Saturdays out there by shady grove. There is something not right about that road, it has a spooky vibe. Do you have a good route from shady grove metro to medical center drive? The map in the metro station has errors! I explored a route through King Farm to Gude to Key West but that seems so roundabout. The metro map says redland goes through to shady grove road but it doesn't it dead ends at some wrong way off ramp.
Sorry, can't help you out with that. I've only lived in this area of MD for a couple of months, and haven't really gone exploring yet . . .I did find the Chipotle though :)

I really like the idea of leaving my bike in a locker, even at some median point, and combining bike/metro. This was part of my dilema, as there are no doubt many combinations of options that I have. I'm trying to choose a combination that will: 1) elimiate my need for a car during the week and 2) offer a decent ride, with minimal hassle.


Gurana might want to be careful with putting his bike on the front rack of a bus on 270. A friend who uses those racks every other month or so in the city got her wheel bent very badly when she did it with a bus that hit some bumps at 40 mph.
I had fears about this to begin with :(

Currently, my best option is probably just to rent a locker at Shady grove and bike to there every morning. The route I take into the station is roughly 14-16mi round trip, which seems pretty good to me.

Here is a route to try: http://www.bikewashington.org/routes/dc2thurmont/index.htm

It's not for the novice, as there are sections where you will be riding in traffic with no sidewalk, no shoulder. But it's doable.

355 is a mess to drive. I can imagine how it would be to bike.
South of I270, maybe Great Seneca and Wootton Parkway to Seven Locks Road. Not bad a drive and could be a good ride.
Hey - if anybody is using this route I know of a nifty "hidden" shortcut the cuts out Falls road and all but one block of Seven Locks. It was shown to me many years ago one dark morning by another commuter. I no longer live in the area so I can safely pass it on. :D

gurana - Wisc. Ave south of Bethesda is typical urban arterial road. A lot of traffic but frequent stop lights, gridlock, and buses stopping gets the speed down. If you are a confident city rider in good enough shape to cruise in the low 20's this route should be fine.

But the trail is much more pleasant :)

man. commuting from the suburbs into the city...you guys are nuts! last winter break i brought my bike back from philly and rode into traffic on georgia ave not really thinking much of it since i'm used to riding with traffic in the city... then i noticed that cars were doing 60 mph and pretty close to buzzing me. that was enough to make me leave my bike in philly when i visit home. sigh. some friends and i may be biking from philly to dc for thanksgiving thou. so maybe i will get to see dc from my bike soon :)

Here is a route to try: http://www.bikewashington.org/route...rmont/index.htm

It's not for the novice, as there are sections where you will be riding in traffic with no sidewalk, no shoulder. But it's doable.
That doesn't look too bad. The parts that are on 355 I'm pretty sure have sidewalks . . . usually don't go for those, but I have no intention of riding on that road in the mornings or evenings. I'm not too familiar with some of those other roads though. It looked like a lot of them had parallel paths to use, so that's good. However, that still puts me at roughly 30-35 mi one way commute :eek: . Some people in this forum may say to that, "bring it on!" However I am not one of those people :(



gurana - Wisc. Ave south of Bethesda is typical urban arterial road. A lot of traffic but frequent stop lights, gridlock, and buses stopping gets the speed down. If you are a confident city rider in good enough shape to cruise in the low 20's this route should be fine.

I have no problem getting to 20mph; however cruising at that speed might be a problem, for now at any case. It is very tempting though. Since I moved into the area, CCT has become one on my most frequent trails. I'm planning on doing it this weekend. I might ride over to the Shady Grove Metro, get off at Bethesda and try riding down Wisconsin. I figure, if it looks like it'll be too much, I'll have the safety valve of the northern part of CCT. If I choose to bail on Wisconsin, I'll head south on CCT, and up through Rock Creek Park, which is opposite of what I normally do on that trail.

Thanks again for all of your input on this matter. My lease is up in another year. If I still have the job I have now, I'll definitely try and move to an area with better bike access to the District.

waba.org ?

waba.org ?
Washington Area Bicyclist Association
Educational / special interest organzation. They lobby the Federal and local Governments on pro-bicycle issues, sponsor events around the DC area, etc. They are a "public face" for cyclists.
http://www.waba.org/

Rockville pike sucks. Rode it a couple time coming from REI and Performance Bikes. Iffy sidewalks,bad patches of road,and nutty traffic. Wisconsin south of Tenleytown isn't bad at all.

BTW,has anyone taken Rockville Pike straight into Wisconsin on a bike? I don't think you can take a bike much south of Grosvenor because it crosses the Beltway. I tried it once and it didn't look safe(and I'm sure it's illegal to ride on the Beltway),so I turned back and got on Beach Dr. Another time I hopped the Metro from Grosvenor to Medical Center.