Introductions - New member from Vienna, VA

Hi guys. I just wanted to duck in introduce myself, since this forum was quite helpful in my recent quest to buy a bike.

Im fairly new to mountain biking, by which I mean that Ive gone out with people I knew who where real into it, but I never owned a bike or went out regularly. About a year ago, I graduated college and moved from Blacksburg VA (Virginia Tech) to Vienna, VA and started working.

To make a long story short, I recently found myself shopping for a new bike, and the end result was me walking home with a Giant Ranier. Ive been out riding it around the streets around where I live, and like it so far, but obviously it hasnt been put to any serious test yet.

So Id just like to thank you guys for the wonderful forum. It was a great resource to me, and I appreciate it.

Now to just find some trails to ride this thing on....

-chris

Hello jabberwocky,

As a liberated NoVA resident, I welcome you to the forum. :beer:

Hope you enjoy your new bike out there in NoVA. If you look around you'll find a fair amount of mountain bike riding within Fairfax Co, and if you drive west out rt 66, you can find good riding in the Shenandoah (sp?) valley.

Just curious, where did you purchase your bike? My parents who are still in Fairfax want to buy some bikes, and are looking for a good shop.

peace out.

Welcome. Mt wife recently stayed in Vienna where she attended her 47th reunion as a graduate of Western High School right there in the middle of Washington, DC!

Hope you enjoy the forums.

Mtn Mike -
I purchased my bike at performance bike shop, which is right off route 7 on the way to tysons corner. The shop is extremely local for me (1/8 mile), and they had the rainier for 620, so that sealed the deal. (I was trying to keep it under 500, too. ah well.)

-chris

Ah, Performance. I bought my first road bike from their Arlington store. When I last visited home I bought some clothing from their Fairfax store, which seems pretty nice. Thanks for the good words about the other store.

Chris,

You know about the local bike orgs, yes? www.bikewashington.org and www.waba.org are the web sites of two of them that I've found useful for finding places to ride in the DC area.

I got a good list from my local REI store (College Park) of trails, and that's been helpful as well.

owlice-

yup, I had run accross those while looking for local trails, but i appreciate it anyway. Seems like there are lots of places to go around here for recreational riding. Im going to the bike shop later to see about some actual off-road trails around here.

thanks again!
-chris