If it were me, (and I go from Courthouse to Tysons daily) assuming this is a westbound ride, I’d use the WOD until I hit Sandburg, then hang a right, cross over Idylwood, hang a left on Railroad (the roads don’t quite connect there) and cross over Gallows, putting you on Electric Ave.
Idylwood seems to be one of those roads that doesn’t get clogged at rush hour but rather has patches of clear road followed by bunch of fast moving cars, and not much shoulder.

wow, that is a tough route, I'm thinking of taking George Mason from the Custis Trail to Yorktown and hitting some of the hills on Yorktown into Falls Church. I'm almost missing winter with the extra traffic on the trails.

BD (or anyone else), you have any secrets getting to the 14th St Bridge from downtown? I work pretty close to the 1 mile marker on your map (roughly 11th and Pennsylvania) and the afternoon getting to the 14th St Bridge seems to be the worst part of my ride: swarms of tourists on the sidewalk, bumper to bumper traffic on the roads and I'm not crazy about riding the slot. Today, all the traffic lights were out near the bridge and the Cherry Blossom festival was in full fury, nice! Yesterday was 25 mph headwinds the whole way back.

Why not just take Pennsylvania to 15th, make a left on 15th then head all the way down, past the Washington, to the 14th street bridge?

When I meet my wife after work (at Pentagon City) I take Madison Drive to 15th, and across the bridge to the MV trail, to Crystal City.

Do you really need the 14th Street Bridge to get to Falls Church? From your part of down town I'd probably go up Virginia Ave to the Kennedy Center and use the Roosevelt Bridge.

I really wish you guys would post maps. I never know how to get anywhere in Virginia (and find little reason to head into Maryland).

Click on my livejournal blog. I've started posting googlemaps of my rides.

cc_rider, looked at your blog. Saw YTD: 153 miles... we've got to get you out riding :P That's a week's commuting into DC for me! :P

Yeah, I know. :twitchy::D But I work 6 days a week, so the seventh day is ride or rest or family. Pick one (sometimes two.)
With the longer days and better weather I hope to get out one or two evenings a week, but I need to schedule it in advance so I have to bet on the weather cooperating.

I know the spot you are talking about. Here are some pics from my visit there a few weeks ago:

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/nitaylo1/post/helmet.jpg
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/nitaylo1/post/leg.JPG

It was a completely dry day out. Therefore, I wasn't prepared for it being extremely wet under that smoothly paved underpass. I was coming into it from the uphill side and slowed down to enter it with a slight lean (perhaps 10-15mph?). My side slid out from under me so fast I didn't even have time to throw an arm out to break my fall. That's probably a good thing.

As for the S-bend.. I've never had a problem with that and I've always taken it slow. After reading this thread, I'll be especially careful in the future because it sounds like I have just been lucky not to hit some road debris even while at slow speeds. I'll admit that the smooth, shiny road line has always caught my eye as being especially dangerous through there. I've also noticed the new "caution" signage.

Here's an update on an idea to coat the curve with high friction coating:

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2009/06/...ing-notes.html

i really had to search for the particular section so I'll pull it for those interested:

Lyons Village Switchbacks:
A crash was reported here on Bike to Work Day. David Goodman said he has investigated the use of a high friction coating for the switchback. The coating is already being used by the County at some bus stops including the bus stop on Clarendon Ave. in front of the County Offices. The major purpose of the coating is color for the bus stops. The high friction coating gets pounded into the road by traffic, losing its high friction property. This would not be a problem on the Trail where the only traffic is bicycles and pedestrians. The cost for the installation would be $15,000 to $18,000, but the County does not have the money for the project. BAC members thought this was short sighted since it is only a matter of time before an injured rider sues the County. Not putting down the high friction coating appears to increase the County's liability. County staff will investigate getting bicycle safety funds for the project. Allen Muchnick asked members to report accidents at the switchback to websites which keep records of accidents.

But then, falling on the high-friction coating will result in worse road rash than before... ;)

lol

I've only been through here once or twice, but the "S of Death" does seem like a very poorly designed piece of trail, especially with the off-camber turns. I can totally see that being a VERY easy place to go down, especially in the fall when the wet leaves are down. The fact that someone went down there on B.T.W. Day (when there are not copious amounts of rotting foliage on the ground) is either bad luck or further sign that the S is an easy place to go down.

Probably just a fluke/coincidence, but I broke a rear spoke there a couple weeks ago on a weekend "fun" ride which turned out not to be so fun since to hoof it back to Courthouse and take Metro home. My commute to downtown is via MVT from Alex, so reading this makes me thankful that I'm nowhere near the S!

:roflmao:

For your perusing pleasure:

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/bikes2a.htm

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/bike/

and:
"

The map is available in both print and electronic versions. You can obtain a free copy of the print version at a variety of locations around the County including local bike shops, the information desk at the Fairfax County Government Center, Maps & Publications Center in the Fairfax County Government Center, any district supervisor's office, and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation office in the Herrity Building. For any of these locations we recommend calling ahead to check to see if they have printed versions in stock. We have printed about 6,000 copies in our initial print job and will follow up with another run of approximately 41,000 more in the following months. "

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/bike/bikemap.htm

The below was asked to be circulated in area lists:

[snip]
In recent months, it became apparent that something was happening to experienced cyclists on the Lyon Village Switchbacks on the Custis Trail. Those are the S turns on the steep hill between the Lee Highway overpass and the Lyon Village Shopping Center at Lee Highway and Spout Run.

[http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sour...1738&t=h&z=19]

There have been many crashes on those turns.

Arlington County staff think that applying a high-friction surface will cut down on the crashes. That will cost $18,000, and nobody has the funds in their budget. (Don't laugh, Arlington is bureaucratically unable to pony up that amount for a trail safety enhancement.) The County did put up warning signs, a good first step.

The BAC has agreed to ask the cycling community for their stories of crashing on those S turns. We have a number of them already from BAC members, but need as many as we can find to justify the cost. Those crashes are never reported, of course, because you just got up and rode on. So we need to document them.

Please send your crash story to David Patton in Arlington's DOT. His email is

dpatton@arlingtonva.us

Please cover the following points if you can:

==================================

--Is this your own crash or one that you witnessed?

--Approximate date of the crash

--Time

--Trail conditions: (wet? leaves?)

--Subjective judgment on the rider's speed.

--Rider's injuries

--Damage to the bicycle

--Going uphill or downhill?

--Comments on why you think the crash occurred.

==================================

Thanks for helping us document this problem. Please forward this message to other DC bike lists.

Randy Swart, Chair
Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee
[/snip]

I will say, that because of this thread I stopped by the Italian Store right there by the S turn.

Best resaurant EVAR!

Hmm, I'll send him an email since I wiped out there.

Slightly off topic, but so far this week I only commuted on Monday (7/6) and Thursday (7/9). I noticed that sometime between these days the Custis Trail from Spout Run east about for about 1/3 mile was repaved!!! This was one of the worst stretches in terms of trail quality so the repaving is awesome. Enjoy the smooth ride, no more posterior lifting.

Fantastic!

I actually stopped using that section due to the poor trail quality.

Shesh, it just took DC about 6 weeks to redo a 1/3rd mile stretch of trail on Rock Creek trail in front of the Watergate. It is nice though.

The 4 Mile Run Trail from Glencarlyn to Columbia Pike was also recently repaved, took two days. I'm sure most of us have noticed that lots of cracks and holes in various pavements around Arlington have been marked with white or yellow paint. I'm wondering if that means the county is getting started on some much needed trail maintenance. Two back bumps (4 Mile Run in Mace Park and W&OD at Milepost 3) were marked like that in the spring and both sections repaved about a foot wide strip.

We talking the section by the apartments? No reason to avoid that if so. I've been running the bike lanes on Wilson and Fairfax instead.

Yup, it is the area right by the apartments.

Here is more info on the S Curve and the repaving.

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2009/07/....html#comments

I must have ridden by there when they were doing the repaving. I wondered what the "detour" was for. I ended up riding down Spout Run Pkwy, onto the GW Parkway at RUSH HOUR :( I hit the first exit for Rt 29, and ended up right at the Key Bridge. I can't believe I lived...