No constraints? Potomac, MD. Easy access to town via multiple MUPs and nice roads in one direction, beautiful rolling hills as far as the eye can see in the other... Ungodly expensive houses, though.

In that case the closest I'd live to DC would be Denver, CO:thumb:

It's nice out that way! Nice rides out to Poolesville & Sugarloaf. Major roads, River, Darnestown, etc., move pretty fast though.

Germantown, MD isn't so bad. You are right ont he border between urban/rural roads. I like living/cycling here. If you wanted something more urban, Bethesda has a cool downtown area.

If my family were in Denver I'd be... well, somewhere in Colorado, at least.

Ok, this is another slightly oddball suggestion. But if you are not going to be going to central DC that often, I would tentatively suggest somewhere like Remington. It's off US29, but not on it. It has a quaint downtown, and is very pretty. Unlike Culpepper, I've not seen loads of recent subdivisions built there, and being in the country, the roads are pretty nice. Loudon county is lovely, north of Leesburg.

Other than that oddball idea, I only know that I really don't like most of NoVA....

BTW, Why do you ask?

The Potomac v Bethesda decision has the following considerations:

Potomac
- bigger house for the money
- close to country riding; country / suburban feel


Bethesda
- better restaurant scene; urban / suburban vibe
- better access to DC (subway as opposed to buses; inside the beltway)

If there's no constraints, why be concerned about buses and subway?

Alexandria's fun :D. I live, literally, 3 minutes from the MUP. And follow that for 7 miles, in DC. Less than 7 for different parts, but I often take Key Bridge into Georgetown.

I'd recommend the Reston Town Center. You'll have easy access to great roads and the highly excellent Reston Cycling Club.

try the DC forum here http://www.city-data.com/

A lot of these suggestions ignore at least one of his two criteria: Small downtown area and close to the city. Of all those mentioned: Alexandria, Roslyn/Ballston, Bethesda, Silver Spring/Takoma Park fit the bill.

Check this out while you are at it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T1RMuoQnKo

I live in columbia heights and have an easy time getting into the rock creek park and the CCT. Other trails are also accessible. Check out local bike trails and routes here:

www.bikewashington.org

DC is nice in that a lot of downtown locations are near good rides.

Great question, I live in NOVA, namely Manassas, Virginia. I see in my newspaper that Lorton, VA has alot of Biking crews and meetings for bikes. So, I suggest that, but anywhere near d.c. is a good place to ride bikes, the only con is all the cars that drive around the area. But there are many bike paths around NOVA. There is a nice path that I am going to take, from route 28 onto braddock rd to get to my cousins house in Annandale Virginia.

I'll mention Capitol Hill one last time. It's a quieter neighborhood than it appears to be; there are a few arterial streets that commuters use to get in and out, but because the housing is short (literally), there aren't nearly as many people living there as there are in places that use high-rise apartment buildings. Get close enough to the Capitol and you've got quick access to Pennsylvania Ave (both SE and NE), Massachusetts Ave/Union Station, and your pick of Metro lines.

Cycling-wise, you can get down to Hains Point via a short warmup ride for some mindless spinning (and occasionally join in with some group hammerfest or chase some local pros), or go to RFK Stadium and tool around the old motor racetrack (I haven't seen many others riding there; bring friends for a pick-up crit ;)). Cross the Potomac and go south to Pentagon City, Crystal City, Alexandria, and other places; turn north and hit Rosslyn, Arlington, Georgetown, Bethesda, etc. Find the bike polo matches on Thursday nights year-round on a dedicated school lot. Bike down E Street NW for more museums, movies, dining, and shopping. Head over to Eastern Market on summer weekends for arty stuff, local produce, and more.

To be fair, I don't have kids (none that I know of :p), and I enjoy living in the middle of everything. The nice thing about being smack in the middle of DC is that all the cool DC-specific stuff is right *there* -- but the bad thing is that all the 'burbs are all equally a PITA to get to.

You should base where you want to live on your living preferences and not riding because there's good riding everywhere around here.

+1. Without having to concentrate on living close enough to work, and if you can figure out schooling for your kids (if you have some), you can get to decent riding on any side of town.

I lived in Chevy Chase, MD and loved it. I could drop into Rock creek Park and be in Georgetown or Rockville in no time on the bike. From Georgetown I could jump over the river and ride into VA, and from Rockville I could pick up country roads and be in the open farmland with no hassle at all.
Plus, by bike or car it was five to ten minutes to WRAMC or Bethesda Naval Med Center.

On the Red Line Metro

I'm partial to living in the District, myself. But that doesn't really meet the kind of neighborhood you desire, per your description.

I'd look at some of the aforementioned areas, especially Bethesda, Silver Spring and Takoma Park. If in DC, the Palisades area is really nice and quiet, and the Dupont Circle area, while more metro, has a lot of bike shops and restaurants, with easy bike access to the main routes out of town. In Virginia, Alexandria is nice, though I'd consider Vienna or Falls Church as worthy alternatives, too.

If you don't mind living a little further out of town, here are other options:

Maryland: Olney, Annapolis, Poolesville, Germantown, Frederick.
Virginia: Reston, Leesburg, Marshall, Haymarket, Potomac.

Good luck!

+1 for the Palisades. A very underrated area IMHO, and MacArthur Blvd gives great access to tons of good riding.

The VRE (train) can make this bearable.

Also, the poster said that he wanted:

"to get some decent racing and training in all the time. I'd like to live somewhere with a small downtown area, say, a few blocks of shops and restaurants, etc., "

The description of the downtown sounds a lot more like Fredericksburg than any of the close-in suburbs that others are recommending. As for racing and training, we've got spectacular rolling country roads for training, and we're midway between DC and Richmond for racing.


Dave

VA:

Courthouse/Clarendon/Ballston in Arlington
Delray or Old Town in Alexandria
Falls Church City

DC:

Capital Hill

MD:

Bethesda
Chevy Chase

I'm moving somewhere in the next few months. Right now I'm in Campbell, California (South Bay). It's really nice, but too far away from my family (outside of Pittsburgh) and friends (mostly MI/PA/VA/NJ).

I can live pretty much anywhere I want right now.

I'll always love Pittsburgh, but it's a bit chill-ier in the winter. I get really cold in my old age (32).

Plus there's not nearly as many eligible women there. Speaking of which, Alexandria will probably be off-limits due to severe-proximity to ex-girlfriend.

Those of you living in the city - do you think you actually have good training routes? I can't imagine this would be the case, but who knows.