Southeast - Know any good rides in Woodbridge VA?

Anyone know any good rides for a road bike in the Woodbridge area? The closest one that I have found is the Mt. Vernon trail, but it is 45mins away and usually packed on a nice day. I heard Quantico has a good one, but no idea where to pick it up.

There is a loop I've done a couple of times. 50ish miles.
From Woodbridge take your best route (probably Opitz and Smoketown) to the PW Parkway.
Take the PWP to Manassas (side path is probably safer than the parkway itself)
After the PWP turns left at Liberia, take the first R onto Hastings.
Couple of miles, R on Clover Hill
L on Wellington
R on Prince William
L on Main to get under the tracks and thru downtown.
R on Mathis
At the end of Mathis, go straight thru the shopping center parking lot to Old Centerville Rd and go left.
When it T's at Compton, quick L/R to stay on Old Centerville.
R on Braddock Rd
Several miles on Braddock to Fairfax and R on Ox Road / route 123.
Several miles down 123 and across the river to Occaquan
You can take Old Bridge back to Smoketown, or only as far as Thacket's Mill and take Minnieville back.

If you want something more rural, take the PWP and Hastings, but turn L on Lucasville Rd instead of going all the way to Clover Hill.
About 3 miles and R at the T on Bristow.
Half mile and L on Church Rd gets you back into the good country between Nokesville and Quantico.
Parkgate, Fleetwood and Sowego take you pretty far west and south. Brent Town Rd can take you around Quantico where you can ride down to Fredericksburg (PM if you want that route)

I've heard that Prince William forest is good for riding, but I've never tried it.

Instead of the Mount Vernon Trail, try the Mount Vernon Parkway and the neighborhood streets west of it. Below Bell Haven the Parkway is a good ride. And Holin Hills has some real hills. :D
The PPTC does their winter training rides starting next month. Starts at Bell Haven and rides the side roads instead of the trail. Joining them some Saturday morning would get you a cue sheet and a guided tour to the local roads.

- why not Prince William?

- or if you can get south, through Quantico?

(there is a back entrance on the West side of US 1 at Boswells Corner, but it is several miles past the main entrance w/the IWO statues; it's the route i sometimes took w/my fishing boat after picking up bait - normally i would have used VA610 [Garrisonville Rd.])

I live in the Belmont Bay area and am close to the VRE (Rt 123 and Rt 1 crossing). I need to dig out a map of Woodbridge (just moved here) and map the route, but PWP seems to be a very high traffic area, especially in the Potomic Mills area.

I did go down to the Prince William Forest with my MTB, but found that almost all of the trails open to bikes were either paved or very short. Found very quickly, riding from the ranger station up to the loop, why a MTB is not ideal for road riding. May go back and try it with my road bike....I did find a specialized Roabaux (SP?) in a 54" frame that I have fallen in love with, it needs a little care but a nice bike.

I am only 2 exits north of Quantico, is that a good ride? How do I get in?

TAL

I am only 2 exits north of Quantico, is that a good ride? How do I get in?

Join the Marines. :p
Quantico has been closed to outsiders for the past few years.

Go out to Nokesville or Catlett. Good places to start rides from.
PPTC has a Nokesville ride on November 10.
http://www.bikepptc.org/Nov07Rides#Nov3Sat

Prince William Forest Park is a great ride. If you park at the Turkey Run Ridge Station you can do a loop of the Scenic Drive. Its a 7 mile loop with a few great hills and little car traffic. Lots of bikers. Here's a like to the web site map pages. http://www.nps.gov/prwi/planyourvisit/maps.htm

Fraid I am too old to join the marines....but I do have a CAC, so maybe they will let me in. On the map, the main loop looks about 6-7 miles long. I found a better looking ride up on the net in the triathelon training area. it is about 12 miles (if you dont ride to the guy';s house)

I rode my MTB up to parking lot 4 in Prince william park from the main lot......legs felt like jello. will try starting further up.

thanks.

Look up PoWer (Prince William Elite Racing) or Bikefred (Fredricksburg) for some que sheets/group rides. There's a bikefred ride that rides the Marine base - IIRC, only an ID is required when entering by bike.

Also, check out Haymarket Bikes (http://www.haymarketbicycles.com/).

If you want some decent roads to ride try Bealeton/Remington, Va its about 30 miles south of Manassas and there are 4 or 5 good routes to choose from plus free parking in the town of Remington with a map kiosk to get you started. Go to www.mapmyride.com (http://www.mapmyride.com) and look for the zip code 22712. Listed are some of the routes, all of them are marked with numbered signs so no one gets lost. <EDIT> Here is a PDF with some info on what Fauquier county is doing for walking/cyclists page 5 has the 5 routes I spoke of before.
http://www.fauquiercounty.gov/documents/departments/parksRec/pdf/fccp/ch4.pdf
I live in Bealeton and ride these all the time, I see more and more cyclists every week.