Fifty Plus (50+) - Biking in DC

Just returned from Washington DC. While I was unable to bike due to something called "work", I did observe that it is a very bike friendly city, bike lanes prevelent, racks etc. On a side trip to some of the monuments, I saw several bike tours being led by local tour guides, riding from site to site. Also know that there are several bike trails that run through some of the Civil War battle sites. Definitely on the list for retirement trips.

http://bikewashington.org/
http://www.bikepptc.org/
http://ohbike.org/

Antietam and Gettysburg are good CW sites to bike. The back roads between Antietam and Hagerstown are beautiful.
Manassas is not as nice - lots of fast traffic on narrow roads.

DC is a great biking city. When I lived there, I had a tri-state commute. I lived in Maryland and worked in Virginia, but most of my commute was through the District.

Despite very heavy traffic with conjestion and no shoulders (mostly northern Virginia), the riding is genrally excellent and diverse. You're got the Shenadoah mountains an hour to the west, rolling countryside of Pennsylvania to the north, the Cheasspeake an hour to the east with the Atlantic past that, and Richmond to the south. Some of the best riding in the country, in my opinion, and the rural Maryland roads around the Bay.

DC is a great cycling area. It's also one of the worst places in the world to drive a car, though.

Paul