Ferdinand NYC

I am a New Yorker who just made his first real visit to Washington. I had been there on four previous occasions; but on those visits I had done little exploring, and no bicycling. So this was the first time seeing the city the proper way.

I went there and back on the Bolt Bus, which allows the storage of the bicycle in the cargo hold beneath the bus. Going down I took a 6:30am bus on a Thursday morning. This bus was mostly empty, so I had an empty seat next to me. This ride felt luxurious.

Coming back I took a bus that departed Washington at 3pm on a Saturday. That bus was full, which impacted the experience somewhat. I had several bags which I had to juggle on my lap and also stow in the overhead compartment (my fault for overpacking). I am lucky that I didn't have to use the restroom during that trip, because leaving and returning to my seat would have been very difficult.

Nevertheless, the Bolt Bus was a great deal. I paid $22 going down and $18 coming back. I will almost certainly do it again.

I found Washington to be a remarkable place for bicycling. There are bike lanes on many streets, including, most dramatically, a pair of centre-running lanes on Pennsylvania Avenue running roughly between the Capitol and the White House.



Generally speaking, the state-named streets are to be avoided, as they tend to be multi-lane streets that lack shoulders. A New Yorker could compare them to Northern Blvd. in Queens.

But another exception to that, along with Pennsylvania Avenue mentioned above, is New Hampshire Avenue, which has good bike lanes in both directions (which is to say southwest and northeast) from Dupont Circle.



But many numbered streets (running north-south) and lettered streets (running east-west) have bike lanes that go a long way. Most impressive was the two-way protected bike lane on 15th Street NW.



And even those streets that do not have bike lanes are good enough to ride on.

I encountered very few hills; most of them were out in the eastern sections of town. I went out to the border with Capitol Heights, Maryland and nearly up as far north as the border with Silver Spring, Maryland. I partially explored Anacostia Park and also Rock Creek Park.



But I was mainly interested in getting familiar with the streets, which I did to some extent. Once you get into the "second alphabet" going north, very few streets go a long way in the east-west direction so there is much turning.

When I compare my trip to Washington with recent trips to Philadelphia, I notice one similarity and one difference.

The similarity is in the demeanour of the drivers. In both Philly and Washington, the drivers behave in a polite manner, in both cases putting New York drivers to shame. In both of these cities, when drivers stop at stop lights, they actually stop behind the painted stop line. This contrasts to the practice in New York of stopping well ahead of that stop line, and sometimes encroaching into the crosswalk. In fact, in every case where I saw a driver rolling over a stop line during a red-light period, it was someone with a New Jersey or New York licence plate.

The difference is in the red-light periods. In Philadelphia, the red lights are extremely short. In Washington, they are extremely long, with countdown clocks that can be 60 or even 90 seconds. New York lights are somewhere in between. So, in New York, if I see a green light about a long block in the distance, I can be pretty sure that I am going to have to stop at that corner as the light turns red. In Philly, I can figure that that green light will turn red and then green again by the time I get there. In Washington, I typically found that I could make a green light seen in the distance during the same period.

I hope to get down to Washington again very soon, in order to expand on my newfound knowledge.

AngeloDolce

Ferdinand,

Any issues taking your bike on the bus, especially the full bus on Sunday? I assume it was a full size bike (i.e. not folding)?

I expect to take Bolt to Boston next week, and I may want a bike to get to/from train stations and bus stops. I'm not sure if some of the trains will require a folding bike.

birru

Ferdinand, thank you for all the kind words about DC. As someone who'd lived here a while I guess I've become jaded and all I seem to notice is the bad driving. I appreciate the perspective. We have a lot of good paths/trails around here too, so make sure to take advantage of them next time you're in town.

Grillparzer

Glad you enjoyed it!

You stop at red lights?

Ferdinand NYC

It is a full-sized road bike. And getting it onto and off of the bus was no problem at all. I was sort of nervous about this; but it went off perfectly. But realise that I am a member of the site and that I had already bought the ticket, so I was in the "A" group. It is probably for this reason that, on the way back, the driver signalled for me to put my bike in first before anyone else put their luggage, and he even helped me put the bike in.

Also, because I waited on board as the crowd filed off the return bus, I was one of the last to get off. And when I got off, I found that he had taken the bike out of the cargo hold himself. (I thought later that I should have tipped him. But I didn't think quickly enough at the moment.)



Each transit system has its own rules for bikes, some requiring passes, some not; and then, having different sets of hours during which bikes are prohibited. So you'd have to check with the appropriate authorities for each service you are using. But I think that a folding bike should be good anywhere that you could take a briefcase.

Do you ride a lot in Boston? By reputation, those drivers are even worse than the ones here in New York! And the street grid seems pretty incomprehensible. For those reasons, I am not really tempted to go up to Boston. Also, I am eager to continue expanding on my understanding of the streets of Washington; and I'd like to get back to Philadelphia, too.



I am glad that you were heartened by my comments! It's always nice to be reminded of the things that we have stopped appreciating.

I will be getting back down there in a couple of weeks. I'll be curious to see whether my observations hold, or whether my previous experience was just one big sampling error.

I am sure that I will do a bit more exploring on park trails. I see that Rock Creek Park is very big; I explored it only from Calvert Street going south. And I see on the map that the Rock Creek bike trail extends north from the city limits for another 15 miles! I am sure to spend some time in that park, and also out in Anacostia Park.

When I came south on the trail that originates in Rock Creek Park, I eventually got to West Potomac Park. I suppose that it's possible to go to East Potomac Park as well, is it not? (I was disappointed to learn that it is not possible to go to Theodore Roosevelt Island.)

I see also that there is a tow path along the Potomac River that I didn't get to last time. I am a little wary of that surface. It's not paved, is it? I will admit that I am not eager to ride on gravel.

At any rate, all that park stuff is great. But mainly I am there for the streets. I want to improve my mental map, and try to remember what streets connect to what other ones, and which ones go a long way. Also, I want to experience the feels of the various sections and neighbourhoods. I got lucky in finding a hotel in an extremely interesting area, at the confluence of the Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, and Adams Morgan sections. Just noodling around in that area was great fun.

Also, I hope to see some of the boundary stones, both the orignal ones and the replacement ones. Last time I got out to the eastern corner, where Eastern Avenue meets Southern Avenue; but I didn't see the stone. I learnt later that it is a short way into the wooded area east of the point where those streets come together. Maybe I'll give that another go.

Have you ridden in New York? I never want to dissuade anyone from riding here, because it really is a great town for riding. But it is great because of the geography and the infrastructure, not because of the driver behaviour. So, if you come here, you'd have to keep in mind that the drivers behave in a terribly aggressive manner. Still, the proliferation of bike lanes has made a difference, in terms of alerting drivers that we bicyclists exist. As bad as driver behaviour is, it was worse several decades ago. So I am very thankful for our bike lanes.



Oh, yes. Every time. The main reason that I do so is so as not to give free ammunition to the anti-bike crazies, and so as not to push more people into their camp. When witnesses see a bicyclist running a red light, many of them think "those crazy bicyclists; they don't deserve special infrastructure". Crucially, they think this even when the bicyclist in question is not doing anything dangerous. The mere act on the bicyclist's part of blithely breaking the law causes tremendous resentment in people who observe it.

This places bicycle infrastructure at great risk. It's important to appreciate the depth of contempt for us that already exists in society, and to avoid making it worse. Many bicyclists act as though bike lanes somehow have to be there. They don't realise that, if we anger the general public sufficiently, we'll get a backlash that will end the current bike-lane boom.

It is possible to enumerate other reasons to ride legally, from safety questions (I have twice been hit and knocked off my bike by wrong-way riders, one of whom was going through a red light as well), to the comfort of pedestrians as the most vulnerable street users, to ethical considerations regarding the social contract.

But I think that the most compelling motivation to ride legally is self-interest. I feel very protective of our bike infrastructure. The sad reality is that cyclists who blow red lights and do other illegal things in full view of witnesses are, in effect, mounting a public campaign for this infrastructure's removal. I urge all my fellow bicyclists not to be part of that problem.

AngeloDolce

Thanks for the info. Are you saying you signed up on the Bolt site? I generally took NJ Transit/SEPTA when I was in NJ (better service from NJ than Bolt), but maybe I'll sign up for Bolt's reward program. To be fair, when I've spoken to the Bolt drivers in Newark, NJ, they were helpful to everyone.

Yes, Amtrak is very strict that bicycles must always be folded, even when the train is 20% occupied and the luggage areas are empty at 5:30 am; SEPTA and PATH conductors react more to how crowded the train is. My travel plans have changed (trip to Seattle before returning from Boston to Phil), and I don't have a bike I want to bring on the flights.

I haven't ridden much in Boston since 2009, but I grew up in the suburbs, and lived and worked in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston until 1990 (i.e. pre bike lanes).

If you look for a grid, you will find the streets incomprehensible. The local joke is that the roads were originally cow paths (Boston Common was used for grazing cows in the 17th & 18th centuries) that were later paved over for automobiles. Some towns also assume you know the main road and only put signs on the smaller cross roads. So the roads were laid out by cows and not consistently marked - not ideal for visitors.

I don't find drivers in Boston any worse than NY, Philadelphia, or a short visit to Washington. Traffic enforcement is limited, and congestion and unpredictable drivers keep speeds down. Drivers seem to deal with bicyclists like any other traffic. Some Philadelphia drivers were hostile to bicyclists not using the bike lanes when they were first installed (I still see no penalties for parking in bike lanes), but they seem to have figured out that it still works if they treat bicyclists like any other traffic. I hear this is true and bike lanes are generally ignored in Boston also.

Traffic in Cambridge seemed lighter and calmer in 2009 than in the late 80's but this may be because I wasn't commuting in rush hour traffic.

Red lights/ Bike lanes
You seem to have better experience with anti-bike crazies and bike lanes than I do. I also stop for red lights, but the crazies seem to be upset that bicyclists are using streets and are just as profane waiting at red lights. Fortunately, they are a minority.

Ferdinand NYC

Yes, I signed up on the Bolt site. After I come back from my next visit to Washington, I will be halfway to earning a free ride. (You get one free ride after taking eight trips.)


From what I understand, only folding bikes are allowed on most Amtrak trains. But I have recently found out that the Palmetto and the Carolinian allow full-sized bikes with no folding or boxing necessary, for a fee of $20 extra. Both of these operate from New York to points south.

According to the schedule information at this page at the Amtrak site, the Palmetto no. 89 leaves New York daily at 6:02am. It gets to Philadelphia at 7:36, and to Washington at 9:30.

The Carolinian no. 79 leaves New York at 7:05am. It gets to Philadelphia at 8:30, and to Washington at 10:25.

In the other direction, the Palmetto no. 90 leaves Washington at 8:30pm, gets to Philadelphia at 10:24, and to New York at 11:56.

It appears that the northbound Carolinian no. 80 skips right over Washington and Philadelphia.


SEPTA also has some hours during which bikes cannot be brought on: morning trains that arrive at a Center City station between 6:00 and 9:30am (an unreasonably early start to that exclusion period, I'd say) and evening trains that leave from a Center City station between 4:00 and 6:30pm. NJ Transit has a similar (but not identical) set of exclusion hours, using Hoboken, Newark, and New York as the operative stations.

Bikes are allowed on the New York City subway at all hours; but train operators have the right to prohibit them at any time based on their discretion. The LIRR requires a pass (though most times they don't check for it), and prohibits riding in peak direction during rush hours.


I found drivers in Philadelphia to be extraordinarily polite, by New York standards. The ones in Washington observed the law better than the New York drivers did, but not nearly as much as the Philly drivers did. For instance, in Philly I consistently saw drivers making observable stops at stop signs, even when no pedestrians were present. This contrasts sharply to New York drivers, who routinely treat stop signs as mere suggestions, and typically just slow down and roll through them.

The thing that struck me the most in Philadelphia was the drivers' response to my hand signals, most especially to the one that I give when I am travelling on a two-way street, and a driver coming in the opposite direction is making a left turn across my path. My practice is to hold up my hand, palm out, in a recognised "stop!" motion, so as to signal that I as the vehicle going straight have the right of way.

When I do this here in New York, the drivers of the turning cars slow down a little bit, while continuing to roll into their turn. Actually, I should say that they do that most of the time. Sometimes they ignore my signal completely, and just go and make an illegal turn in front of me. By contrast, every time I did this in Philly, the turning car stopped -- not "slowed down", but stopped -- and proceeded only after I was through the intersection. This was emblematic of a much lower level of aggression on the part of drivers in Philly than I am used to here at home.

Over the course of three visits during the previous two summers, I have ridden in Philadelphia for a total of only nine days. So I cannot claim to have a huge base of experience there. But the relative politeness was noticeable, and was not at all what I had expected to see in a town that is famous for booing Santa Claus.

Velocivixen

I live in Oregon (west coast), so when your title said "Washington" I figured you were referring to Washington State, just north of my border. Glad you liked DC.

Ferdinand NYC

I am now on my second trip to Washington. Even though today got truncated on account of the rain, I am still having a very good time.

It is just so nice not having to deal with the constant speeding by cars. And on two separate occasions -- once on 16th Street NW around R Street, and once on River Road on Bethesda -- cars going in both directions stopped where there was no light, in order to let me make a left turn onto the big street in question (16th Street, and River Road, respectively). This never happens in New York.

Also, the bicyclists are generally well-behaved. It is wonderful to see groups of cyclists stopped at red lights; I think I have seen only one or two who blew a red light. By contrast, this is an epidemic amongst cyclists in New York, with the expected damage to our image.

In cruising around, I sure found where Washington keeps its hills! Yow! As you get up north, the city is surprisingly hilly. I expected much flatter terrain on a peninsula between two major rivers and with a significant creek running through it. Eastern Avenue in particular made me laugh; it's just constant undulations on that street. And today, before the monsoons came, I nearly hit 30 miles per hour on two occasions: going west on Loughboro Road, and entering Rock Creek Park at Sherrill Drive.

I enjoyed finding the Capital Crescent Trail, which I took for its whole length. But, once I was up in Silver Spring, I couldn't find the North Boundary Stone. (Even though I did locate two other Boundary Stones.) Conditions along East-West Highway -- no shoulder; speeding traffic; crazy hills -- discouraged me from intensifying my search for the northern marker. For Silver Spring to put up signs there saying "bicycles my use full lane" is mighty nice; but the street was very uninviting. That was one of two streets, the other being Dalecarlia Parkway, with its 40-mile-per-hour traffic and lack of shoulders, that I had intended to take but decided to forego after getting a look at it.

Riding on the Capital Crescent Trail was pleasant, even if it featured one strange moment, when a deer spotted me in the distance and decided to charge me! That was certainly the first time I had ever been charged by a wild beast! But I had already stopped my approach and turned around; and I was far enough away that the deer gave up after a few yards and melted back into the forest along the Potomac's bank.

The trail that I enjoyed even more was the Metropolitan Branch Trail, which parallels the Red Line. I took it up to Franklin Street; and I was encouraged to read that the plan is to extend it all the way to Silver Spring, where it will meet the Capital Crescent Trail.

But, more than any trail, I have been having fun just going through the streets. One funny moment happened when I came down with a case of what I dubbed "monument lock", as I found myself down between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument and was unable to get out. After going around in circles a few times, I was relieved to find 17th Street, and to get away from the monuments (which, to be honest, don't really interest me) and back to the streets (which is the main reason I am here).

I go home tomorrow afternoon. I can say with satisfaction that I have had two great visits to this wonderful bicycling city.

Grillparzer

If you're coming from Silver Spring, try 3rd St NW, Kansas Ave NW, to 13th St NW. That's my commute to work. It's a friendlier bike route than 16th or 14th St NW will ever be.

Correction: 11th St NW not 13th.

Ferdinand NYC

Thanks. A good tip. I did like riding on 13th Street; and the bike lane on 14th made that street pretty comfortable.

Do you ever use the Capital Crescent Trail? I noticed that there were no lights on that trail. Can it be used at night? I hope so, or else people who use it to commute could not use it in the evening for several months out of the year, when the sun goes down early.

On my last day down there I went up and down the Anacostia River on the bike trails in Anacostia Park, and enjoyed a final jaunt through the streets before I caught my bus home.

It takes a while to adjust to the distances, which are only a fraction of the distances in New York. Roughly speaking, Philadelphia is half the size of New York, and Washington is only half the size of Philadelphia. It was kind of cool to be able to easily get to all the most interesting points within a major city by means of relatively short bike rides. I was situated about a mile away from the downtown area. This was a huge difference from my trips to Philadelphia, in which my hotel in Northeast Philly was about 15 miles away from the Center City area.

From my hotel on 16th NW and T (1 1/2 miles from Washington's geographic centre at 4th NW and L), it is only 5 miles to the city's northernmost point, and only about 8 or 9 miles to the easternmost point. By contrast, from my home in Woodhaven on the Brooklyn/Queens border in New York City (about 3 1/2 miles from New York's geographic centre), it is a trip of more than 20 miles to get to the city's northernmost point. Or, to put it another way, if I rode from my home near my city's centre all the way up to the city's northern boundary, that would be the same distance as riding from my Washington hotel to the top of the Rock Creek Park bike path in Derwood, Maryland.

I took the Bolt Bus home; and, when I got off the bus at Sixth Avenue and Grand Street in New York, I set off east on the bike lane on Grand Street. At the first intersection, Thompson Street, I saw two bicyclists blowing through the red light, and two others riding the wrong way on Grand. I thus saw more of that behaviour in one minute back in New York than I had seen in four days in Washington. And it wasn't too much longer before I encountered drivers' aggression during turns, their ignoring of stop signs, and their parking in bike lanes. All this made me embarassed for my beloved city, and also rather sad. After two trips to Washington and three to Philadelphia, it is hard to escape the conclusion that New Yorkers are savages.

Anyway, the whole thing was great fun, and I am now plotting my next trip.

Grillparzer

To the best of my knowledge, all of the trails in the area are limited to day light hours only. The Park Police gives some lee way to commuters unofficially, but there are exceptions when they do crack downs. That's how I got my "after dark" ticket. To be fair to the Park Police however, one of the neighborhood gangs had recently dumped a body right off the trail I commuted on at the time so they apparently thought a crack down was in order. I have ridden parts of the Anacostia Tributary Trails, but not the Capital Cresent. I live in the Langley Park neighborhood of Silver Spring and work at 16th St. NW and M Street so most of my bike riding is on the eastern side of D.C. The trails are nice, but when commuting, the bike lanes on the streets are faster.

I'm glad you enjoyed your time in D.C. During the last few years, the city has made great efforts to become a bike friendly city and I think it has paid off for them. Don't disparage New York City riders too much, we have our share of ******** too.

balto charlie

Nice trip report. I love riding DC. So safe and easy.

You did what I am planning but in reverse. I want to Bolt to NY and spend the day cycling then head home. I hope to post asking for a nice route to bike taking in funky sites. I have done most of the typical tourist must sees so am looking for a some lesser visited NY points of interest via bike.

birru

I just got back from a weekend in Brooklyn and did some extensive touring on foot, including a run that took me down across the Manhattan Bridge, through Chinatown, then back over the Williamsburg Bridge. I really enjoyed my visit, and hope to expand my exploration to more of Manhattan. It seems like it would be a great city to ride through as well, so I'll be tempted to take my own bike, rent one, or maybe even use Citibike since the network looks incredibly comprehensive.

Ferdinand NYC

Great! But I wonder whether a day trip is feasible. It's about three and a half hours each way on the bus from Baltimore. But, if that suits your fancy, then go for it. Also, remember that New York is huge; it is nearly four times the size of Baltimore. Even if you throw out Staten Island (which I wish we could do! honestly, there is no point in visiting there), that still leaves a land mass of the size of three Baltimores. So, if you were just up for the day, it might be good to concentrate mainly on Manhattan, with any excursions into the other boroughs not taking you very far into them. The bike lanes are concentrated in Manhattan anyway. Still, there are plenty of outer-borough streets that are good for riding, most of which don't have bike lanes.


The Citbike stations are easy to find in Manhattan south of the 90s, in areas of Brooklyn and Queens that are immediately adjecent to the East River bridges, and even in Jersey City across the Hudson. (Hoboken has a separate bike-share system.) I am a member of Citibike, even though I have only used it once or twice. I became a member just to support it.

I think that your supposition that Manhattan is great to ride in is correct. It is actually my favourite place. There are many bike lanes; and, despite their flaws (they disappear at intersections; too few are protected; many are poorly maintained with the paint eroding; nothing stops cars from parking in them), they have transformed Manhattan.

Many people like to ride the Hudson River Greenway, which goes the whole length of Manhattan Island. While I also ride on this once in a while, and while I am very glad it is there, I will admit that I get a bit bored and frustrated with it. I get bored because it feels remote; a rider on that lane does not feel the energy of the city. (And I am aware that some people would respond "that's a feature, not a bug".)

I get frustrated because, even in this space that is supposed to be set aside for the use of bicyclists and pedestrians, we see enough bad behaviour on the part of both groups part to sour the experience. There are a few red lights on the Hudson River Greenway; also, there are several crosswalks where bicyclists are meant to stop for any pedestrians who are trying to cross. Speaking as someone who always stops at these things, I can recount my annoyance at seeing other cyclists zoom past me, and seeing pedestrians scooting across when they should have the right of way.

The pedestrians have their own set of misbehaviours. While in some sections the Greenway is a shared path, in others there are clearly deliniated and separate paths: one for bicyclists/rollerbladers, and one for pedestrians/joggers. Yet many pedestrians and joggers walk and run in the bicycle lanes, reducing these lanes' utility. To see this great infrastructure be chronically abused is very disheartening. Still, the Greenway is worth trying out.

Central Park is rather pleasant; but it's just a loop. Bikes cannot go on the many little park roads that are made for walking.

Our streets are where it's at. I would just caution you not to expect the kind of civility and gentility on our many bike-laned streets that one can see on R Street NW, on 15th Street NW, or in other great Washington bike lanes. And I will apologise in advance for the many a-holes whom you will see, who are doing their best to turn the rest of the world against us. I hope that you get up here before these people succeed, and we start losing bike lanes.



I have just arranged to make yet another trip to Washington; but this time I intend to ride all the way. (Ak! What have I done??) I am now doing research about routes. I have already done a ride back and forth to Philadelphia, 120 miles each way. This ride features that trip, in addition to two more days of 80 miles each in both directions. So that's three days to get down there; one day of rest (or, really, of light riding) in Washington; and three days to get back to New York. Let's see what happens!

balto charlie

[QUOTE=Ferdinand NYC;18875929]Great! But I wonder whether a day trip is feasible. It's about three and a half hours each way on the bus from Baltimore. But, if that suits your fancy, then go for it. Also, remember that New York is huge; it is nearly four times the size of Baltimore. Even if you throw out Staten Island (which I wish we could do! honestly, there is no point in visiting there), that still leaves a land mass of the size of three Baltimores. So, if you were just up for the day, it might be good to concentrate mainly on Manhattan, with any excursions into the other boroughs not taking you very far into them. The bike lanes are concentrated in Manhattan anyway. Still, there are plenty of outer-borough streets that are good for riding, most of which don't have bike lanes.


.......

Thanks. I agree, it is a long day but I have done similar jaunts. I hope to include Brooklyn as well as Manhattan. Not all of Manhattan, just some of it. I really love Brooklyn. Do you have links for the best cycling map of NY?

Thanks Again, Charlie
PS I am headed down to DC tomorrow via car or train and bike to ride about and visit the Folklife festival. Weather is awesome in this region!

Ferdinand NYC

The official map as put out by New York City's DOT is here. It shows protected lanes in green, painted lanes in blue, sharrows in purple, and "signed bike routes" in orange. (The latter are really just ordinary streets which are deemed useful for connecting between bike lanes.) The dotted versions of the green and blue lines show potential future protected lanes and potential future painted lanes, respectively.

And, of course, Google Maps shows bike lanes with green lines. It uses a darker green to indicate a car-free bike path, such as the Hudson River Greenway. And it uses dotted lines to show bike-friendly streets. (Though I would say that those dotted lines are drastically underused, as there are way more such streets than Google Maps indicates, especially in Queens.)


The weather forecast was one of the things that made me pull the trigger on this audacious plan to do the long ride. I am hoping for some 90-degree days; I really come alive when the weather is that glorious.

If things go to plan, I will get to Washington on Tuesday evening. Wednesday will be sort of an "off day", though really it will be more of a "light riding day". (I figure that I will do a quick hop into Virginia, just to add that state to my tally of states.) And then I will set off back home on Thursday morning.

balto charlie

Thanks for the information.

My ride through DC yesterday was very nice, folklife festival was fun. Parked near the Anacostia River trail system, rode to the mall and around DC, then headed over to the mall. The area near the fish market is under construction and a PIA. 4th and Pennsyvania is the better option.

So I guess you are riding down during the 4th wknd!! Hope all goes well. I love to bike over the bridges on the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. You can do this to get to Va. If you ride into Va you can head down the Mt Vernon trail and cross the Potomac on the 495 Beltway, quite a view. Unfortunately this area is not connected to the Anacostia river trails. It is in the plans though. It will make a great loop. Custis, W&OD trail and Mt Vernon trails are nice rides in NoVa. Have fun and thanks again.

Ferdinand NYC

I am not scheduled to hit Washington until July 5. But the latest weather forecasts have me wondering whether I should postpone the whole thing to the following week.

Also, I won't be doing any exploring within Virginia; my goal is simply to add another state to the list of states that I would have reached. This is more of a "going" trip than it is a "being" trip. My last two trips to Washington, in which I went down by bus and did all my riding within the city and surroundings, were of the "being" variety.

But, as I mentioned, I have to give some serious thought to this weather situation. I have to decide today whether to postpone the trip.

balto charlie

Todays weather is going to be nasty but the rest of the week looks like temps will be in the mid 80's, slight chance of rain on the evening of the 4th. I think you should be good to go.

Ferdinand NYC

I don't know. The reports for Monday don't look too good. I would be going between Philadelphia and Perryville, Maryland that day. The chances of rain in the Baltimore forecasts look pretty ugly: Accuweather at 66%; the Weather Channel at 90% Meanwhile, the temperatures for the following week appear to be a good 10 degrees higher.

As of right now I am leaning towards postponing it. (I have to decide pretty soon!)

Ferdinand NYC

Ah, I guess I will keep the plan in place.

(But if I get caught in the rain and get my schedule all screwed up, I am going to be soooooo annoyed at myself!)

Dahon.Steve

Wow! I had no idea Bolt bus was so cheap! How are they doing this when Greyhound charges 3-4 times that much? The fare box at 22 dollars basically covers gas, salary and insurance but not much else. It's cost about that much to take NJ Transit to the Jersey shore!

I like Greyhound but it is expensive but the buses are clean and air conditioned. There is a bathroom on the bus and some have wifi. I like the fact they will put your bike in a box. I did see a movie while coming up from Virginia beach. However, you do pay for all these services limiting your travel.

However, $22.00 dollars is a scream! I'm going to do this and soon.

Ferdinand NYC

You like the boxing of the bike? To me that seems like a big hassle. The thing that made me try the Bolt Bus is the fact that they don't require boxing the bike; they let you just put it into the cargo hold.

They say that there is wifi on the Bolt Bus; but I haven't needed to use it because I pay for unlimited data. Also, there are electrical outlets for your phone. The buses are clean and appear to be well-maintained. They are air-conditioned and have a bathroom.

The driver has the option to make a rest stop on trips of more than three hours. But I was lucky enough to have taken trips in which there were no stops.

I have used the Bolt Bus four times so far; and all has gone well each time.


Regarding my epic bike trip: I have changed my mind; I have postponed it for a week. The forecasts of rain and cool temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic states convinced me. Next week is supposed to be much hotter.

balto charlie

The weather for the 4th has been changing every few hours. Now looks like rain on and off most of the day. Thunderstorms throughout as well. So no riding on this day might be prudent. I, however am leading a bike ride to Fort McHenry on the 4th, rain or shine. I am hoping the morning rains hold off a bit. Weather conditions constantly change around here, yesterday was suppose to be nasty but we were able to sit outside for a local movie night.
Good luck on your ride.