twodownzero

I'll be in DC this summer and would love to ride in some of these.

dglevy

I've lived in Boston and NYC before this and DC is definitely the best for racing -- and riding in general. You can ride all year and there's a ride every day of the week that's not far away.

Hains Point, especially, is like a cyclists' mecca for metropolitan area. Thursday evenings are a good time to go, if you don't like/can't hang with the 'noon goon ride'. But even the noon goon ride is good enough, b/c you can sometimes form a smaller paceline from those who get spit out the back -- and there are a lot of them. Today, it was really windy. The war of attrition ended with only two left out of an original 15 or so... (I wasn't there to see it, of course. Someone told me about it afterwards...)

gsteinb

There's over 125 races a year in the 5 boroughs alone.

dglevy

The Conte's of Bethesda ride I mentioned here above -- I don't know if they still have it. The bike shop is still there, but the name has changed.

I did the PPTC Downtown Breakaway ride yesterday evening. It was great! Map of the ride is here. The ride has gotten a lot more popular since last year. There were about 20 riders at the start; and the range of ability was wider, going from A to C. I'm a BB rider and was getting dropped last year but, this time, I was able to find some other people at my level. What's more, we happened to re-connect with the A riders at the entrance to Great Falls National Park and we did a fine paceline on MacArthur Blvd at 22-24 mph most of the way home.

sd790

Why is this thread in the 41? We have A whole forum dedicated to regional rides. Uggh!

dglevy

You don't have to be impolite. I've been maintaining this thread since 2006 and you're the first to comment that there's a better location for it. I will gladly move the thread if you send me a private message telling me how to do so.

(5/20 Update: I have put in the request with forum administrator.)
(11/30 Update: Looks like it still hasn't been moved yet.)

blacksquid

fyi - Conte's is now Fresh Bikes. They have a Tuesday night ride out of their Arlington shop.

dglevy

okay, excellent! thanks for the update.

the sunday 10 am district velo ride is moved to 9 am, as i learned to my dismay -- at 10 am at the supposed meeting location... reply from web site administrator: "During daylight savings time, we move the ride to 9am. It will return to 10am in the fall." at least he replied quickly and apologized for the old info on the site -- relieved some of the annoyance...

zatopek

7:00 AM DC Velo ride assembles at intersection of Beach Drive and East West Highway. Great googley moogley, it's fast!

dglevy

Just did the noon ride at Hains Point. There was almost no one there. I found one guy only b/c I knew he was a regular. Then we picked up 3 more eventually.

I guess few people go on Fridays b/c that's usually a slow ride, even in the off-season.

From my notes:

• 7 am DC Velo ride—is it Saturday only?
• District Velocity/Pro Shop Sunday ride is 9 am when daylight saving time in effect.
• PPTC Wed breakaway now includes B's and C's. (The ride ends when the sun starts setting sooner, since it's scheduled for a 6 pm departure and last about 1 1/2 hours.)
• Sunday 10 am Rock Creek Park ride really starts later, 10:10 at the earliest, and sometimes you have to hunt for it. When I went, on 9/2/12, there were actually two groups that didn't find each other until near the Mormon temple. I asked a few riders and they said it was catch as catch can.

dglevy

Question from someone on the local racing listserv, I thought I'd answer it here in case there were others wanting to know.

Baltimore area rider would like to know where Hains Point is located ?
Is this like Lake Montebello in Baltimore? You can ride any time of the day and you'll most likely hook up with riders.
Can you ride Hains point on the weekends?
Many years ago (early 60's) we had races around the area known as the Polo Fields. Are they one and the same ? During early March and April police allowed us to race there every Sunday.

If you go to Google Maps and put in "Hains Point", you will find it. You might be able to hook up with other riders at any time, but it is easiest in the warm months after 5 pm. Apart from that, there're the noon sprints monday through friday year-round, and sprints thurs evening when daylight saving time kicks in. HP is great on the weekends--closed to motor vehicles--but all the organized rides in DC take place elsewhere, as far as I know. (See all those mentioned here above or at the summary page here.) I don't know what the Polo Fields are, haven't heard any reference to them in the 10 or so years I've been riding in the DC area. I'm afraid that's a bit before my time, old-timer!

The Hains Point noon rides are loads of fun, but they can be quite dangerous. There have been many crashes there, so be very careful.

Btw, just as a supplement to my previous posts about the nature of the HP rides. Mondays and Fridays can vary in intensity. Sometimes they're just social rides--esp. during race season. Other times, someone puts the hammer down and everyone may follow or may not.

gc3

I don't do it, but is the CycleLife weekend shop ride on your list?

dglevy

I don't think there's been mention of the CycleLife weekend shop ride. If you have the info, please post it.

Btw, I was on the 10 am Rock Creek Park ride yesterday, then did a quick U-turn when the 8:30 am Bicycle Place ride went past. If you live in town, it's a nice way to get in a quick 1 hour work-out, as hard or easy as you want to make it.

Also, a rider told me that the 10 am Sunday RCP ride is not as hard as the same Saturday ride. Good to know for geezers like me...

plpete

I do the CycleLife Saturday morning ride almost every weekend. It starts at the shop at 9am sharp. 3255 K Street NW. It has a great atmosphere and a lot of cool people come out. It can be a bit more social but not a joy ride either. During the winter months we have been going out toward Macarthur to Old Anglers pace lining at a decent speed. We do the hill and descend into the park and back up. Then it's onto the steep Brickyard st. It's a no drop ride so we will re-group. When it gets warmer out we do the Arlington hills. Pretty much the same route as Fresh Bikes tuesday night ride. Shorter distance, more climbing. Usually after that ride, myself and some guys will catch a coffee or a smoothie and do some more miles.

rowebr

Sounds cool, I'll try it out either this weekend or next.

StanSeven

The polo fields used to be north of Hains Point between the Tidal Basin and Ohio Drive - how where the Roosevelt Monument is.

The HP noontime rides can indeed be fast and dangerous, especially when the weather cooperates. I've been in lines where the pace peaked at 35 mph. Some riders were really moving about trying to hang in.

plpete

Awesome! Be sure to say hi. I'll be on an BMC SLR01

rowebr

Will do. I was not familiar with that bike so I looked it up...Wow! Awesome ride.

I'll be on the vintage Bianchi set up for randonneuring. Should be fun trying to keep up!

StanSeven

I'll watch for you both. I have a blue and white Guru with Zipps.

plpete

Awesome!

Here is a video I forgot to post made Ben Jacoby that rides with us sometimes. It is from the Arlington hills ride.

dglevy

interesting, that bit about the polo fields. before i came to dc in 2000, no doubt.

yes, the HP noon rides are fast and dangerous. i've heard them referred to as the 'noon goon rides' similar in spirit to the tues/thurs 'noon goon ride' out of rock creek park. i've been name called there more than once for some imagined infraction or other. if you're looking for friendliness, search elsewhere. regarding top speeds, i can only take SS's word for it b/c i've always gotten dropped once speeds exceeded 32... but it's a great work-out, excellent for improving sprinting/fast twitch muscles. what i would do is get dropped then go in the opposite direction and hop on again when they came around the 3 1/4 mile loop. i stay in back or on a side where there's room to maneuver. i've seen far too many crashes in that ride. in fact, someone got cracked ribs and a punctured lung in a crash in the spring. i stayed with him till the ambulance came. i tried to start a discussion on mabra listserv to make the ride safer but couldn't get any traction on developing a real action plan...

10/10/14 update: I've been doing the 8:45 am Sunday 40 mile Bike Rack ride, meeting at their Q St. shop. It's a lot of fun. Friendly people and a la carte work-out levels. See their website for details.

silkroad

Thanks for the current update!

It sucks living 40mins away from D.C. Can't seem to find group rides around Manassas/Woodbridge area except Bull Run Bikes (which i have to drive to get to).

Would like to this try this ride but Im not sure where exactly these guys train and or how fast they ride:
TRAINING RIDES » PoWER

dglevy

> Would like to this try this ride but Im not sure where exactly these guys train and or how fast they ride.

There's only one way to find out... But it's on an 8 mile loop so, if you get dropped, you can go in the opposite direction and pick them up again -- a nice feature when you're riding beyond your pay grade, as I do at the Hains Point 'noon goon ride'...

From when I lived in Vienna till 2006 or so: There're the Reston Bike Club rides. Tues/Thu. One starts in Herndon, the other, Reston. Those are great rides! Very well attended.
https://restonbicycleclub.wildapricot.org/page-1405153
There was also a ride originating out of Vienna, meet at the caboose, I don't remember what day but I think it was at 6 pm.

gc3

Meetup groups

velodcity has some good riders

dglevy

Just saw a post to the MABRA list. The site has been resurrected at a new location:
DC - DCpaceline

Btw, most of the rides mentioned here above are still going, as far as I know.