Northeast - DC area cycling

I am a regular visitor to the tandem forum. We live in Colorado.

We are considering doing a vacation to the DC area and bringing our tandem. We'd like to spend several days visiting the mall and several days riding around the area. We're completely unfamiliar with the DC area (I've been to the mall once).

We'd like to stay in one hotel and do day trips around the area. Maybe 30 - 80 miles per day. We'd like to try to do this without a car.

Is there a good place to get suggestions on the best area to stay in and good rides around the area? Is there any public transportation (bus or train) that would take a tandem?

Thanks in advance.

DC is a great place to ride a bike. If you stay in Rosslyn, you'll be close to the Mt. Vernon trail, the Custis Trail, which leads to the W & O Trail, and have access via the Key Bridge to Georgetown, the Capitol Cresent trail, and the C & O Canal tow path. Stay in Crystal City near National Airport, and you are close to the Mt. Vernon Trail. From the Mt. Vernon trail you can cross the 14th St. bridge to Potomac Park, the Tidal Basin (where the famous cherry trees are) and fairly easy access to the Mall. Mt. Vernon trail, of course, goes to George Washington's Mt. Vernon estate. Bikes are allowed on the Metro in non-rush hours and weekends, but I don't know about tandems. Many buses have bike racks on the front, but once again, I don't know if a tandem will fit.

Here's a link with great info on biking around D.C. I rode in yesterday for the inauguration and though I wouldn't recommend the Rock Creek Trail, especially for a tandem, I would recommend Beach Drive on weekend and holidays when sections of it are closed. This link should give you all you need.

http://www.bikewashington.org/

What they said. The regional commuter bus systems (Alexandria, RideOn, Fairfax Connector, Montgomery County's, as well as Metrobus) have bus racks on the bus; no idea if they'll handle a tandem. The folks at waba.org may know, also ask on the bikewashingtondc group on Yahoo. Also, check out bikepptc.org for local area rides, cue sheets, and some local weekend tandem rides.

I would definitely visit the monuments on the Mall and Mt Vernon. Not sure if Gunston Hall (George Mason's estate nearby) is bike-accessible. If your tandem can handle packed gravel and dirt, a great all-day ride would be a long loop out the Custis and W&OD trails to Leesburg, up Rt 15 to White's Ferry, across on the ferry, and back on the C&O towpath (gravel/dirt) and Capital Crescent trail would be about 90-100 miles.

Not sure if Gunston Hall (George Mason's estate nearby) is bike-accessible.
It's bikeable, but you have to go on route 1 for a bit, so I wouldn't recommend as a tourist destination. Mount Vernon, on the other hand, would be an excellent destination. Maybe stop at Fort Hunt, the Washington Grist Mill, and even go down to Woodlawn.

Where you stay would depend on you budget. Rosslyn and Crystal City are central but both tend to be expensive. Falls Church is not too far out and has some more reasonable prices. Or Vienna's Wolf Trap Inn, which is near both the W&OD and the Vienna Metro. You might also check into Alexandria or central Arlington.

I'm not sure if tandems are allowed on Metro trains, or if the carriers on Metro buses are set up for them. The WMATA website might say.

Do you have a time of year in mind?

Thanks for all the info. We're thinking of either late April or maybe early October. It would be nice to see the cherry blossoms but I'm not sure when this is or how reliable it is to plan.

If you were to choose a time of year to do this, what would you choose?

As far as lodging, about $150/night would be within budget.

We're used to riding on roads around here but try to find wide shoulders and avoid heavy traffic. Multi use paths are OK and hard packed gravel is OK too. Getting to tourist destinations is less important than having nice scenery and good riding conditions along the way.

Is one or the other airports better to fly into? Our tandem breaks down to pack into airline legal sized cases but setting up and taking down is pretty involved and we wouldn't want to do this more than once. We could take a cab or van shuttle to the hotel but then would depend on the bike for most transportation after that.

If we chose to take the bike on a bus, it wouldn't be too long to fit on the front but if the racks are set up to hold the wheels of the bike (instead of the frame) this probably wouldn't work.

Several have mentioned Mt Vernon. How far is this from the mall?

Thanks again for your help.

John & Lisa in Lafayette, Colorado.

Cherry blossom time is gorgeous, the weather is usually nice - not too warm, not too cold. It is also crowded - lots of visitors, so you may have to walk the bike around the tidal basin. And of course, that's when hotel prices will be up. In late April, there may be some blossoms left (and some trees bloom late) and the worst of the crowds should be gone, though a lot of High School groups start arriving.

Mount Vernon is about 17 miles from the Mall by way of the bike trail.

Hotels in Arlington should be within your budget but downtown won't be. National Airport is closest, BWI is cheapest, and Dulles somewhere in between on both distance and expenses. All have public transportation options, vans and taxis. National has a number of hotel shuttles. You'll find only one non-stop on Frontier to National from Denver, otherwise you'll change planes to get to National.

Spring and fall are the best times for riding in DC. April and early June are usually good, but May, September and early October are the best times. Mid-summer is ok but we can get some hot and humid weather.
Cherry blossoms are usually early April. Biking the road around the Tidal Basin or to Haines Point is a good way to see them, although I like the blossoms in Kenwood better (and Capital Crescent Trail runs right through them.) Many locals go to Kenwood and leave the others to the tourists. Early April is also the Cherry Blossom Festival, including the Sakura Matsuri (which is the largest Japanese street festival in the US, April 4 this year)

Mount Vernon is at the south end of the Mount Vernon Trail. 19 miles long from MV to almost Key Bridge, about 16 miles from Memorial Bridge. Very popular trail, so if you can ride it on a week day you'll find it a lot less crowded.

Some other events I usually try to bike to.
Late April - Shakespeare's birthday festival at the Folger Library.
Late June thru the 4th of July - Smithsonian Folklife Festival
Late September - National Cathedral open house. The bell tower is open to the public.
October - Solar Decathlon on the Mall

There are things happening around here all the time, so if you ask closer to your arrival one of us will probably be able to help.

Here's the link to the DC tandem club.

http://www.dctandems.org/

There are (and will be more) rides listed on the site.

There is an Eastern Tandem Rally April 16-19 at St Michaels, MD -- close to DC. However, you'll need a rental car to get there. Very nice scenery. See the tandem site above for details.