I just moved to DC from Brooklyn and rather than spending several years trying to figure out where to ride, what to eat, and all the rest, I figured I'd ask you friendly folks. I posted in this forum since I've noticed quite a few DC people here.

Anway, just wondering where y'all like to ride, in and out of the city. Any other suggestions - veggie restaurants (thai, mexican, in particular), interesting sights, places to get good stuff cheap, would be helpful too. You know, the places that you wish you knew about when you first got here. By all means keep your favorites to yourself if you don't want the world to know about them - just tell me what's second best.

Oh, and I'm all for exploring, I just don't know where to begin here. It's a whole nuther world. Quite different from NY.

Thanks!

P.S. I'm in Takoma Park, if it helps, but I'll be in the city plenty so anywhere is fair game.

I live out in the eastern burbs, so I'm not sure I can offer you any resturant advice. As to where to ride, however, try:

https://bikewashington.org/

It contains information on where to ride, conditions to expect, detailed trip tics, etc., etc., etc. An all-around great site.

I lived there many moons ago. the one place I miss is Vace (sp?) pizza in cleveland park. right on connecticut ave. there's an OK mexican place across the street. then there was soul veg close to howard U. kinda legendary among the veg. crowd.

just left dc. miss it. i found it pretty bike friendly. even more so now that more bike lanes are being integrated. well, maybe not bike friendly but i never had problems with drivers or pedestrians. rock creek is a decent place to ride. and on the weekends they close some of the roads to cars so that's a plus. there are plenty other places i'm sure but i just enjoyed riding through traffic downtown and adams morgan. check out asylum in adams morgan, a bike friendly and vegetarian friendly bar. bedrock billiards around the corner for pool and chillin'. mixtec for mexican. city bikes for parts and service. yes all in adams morgan. what can i say, that's where i lived worked and played. as for thai food, you'd have better luck in northern virginia. thai square and crytal thai both in arlington. oh, and i don't know if they're still doing it but rock creek on wednesdays, messers meet up for timetrials and cookouts. have fun.

i didn't leave! I'm still here!
Takoma Park ain't DC (though part of it is in the district) and you may find somewhat soon that you want to move further in.
There are lots of trails-- and trail maps-- around the district, but the best place to ride fixed is Hanes Point, which has this flat, fast, one-way paved loop that's about 3.2 miles around. Lots of bike porn out there. Tons.
asylum downstairs is a messer haunt, as is toledo, both on 18th st in adams morgan. we have few veggie restaurants but check out the veggie soul food place on georgia ave near howard u and nirvana indian downtown. asylum has vegan food for dinner or brunch. everywhere here is veggie-friendly though, and you'll find that the ethiopian food rocks. there is plenty of good thai in the district, incl. thaiphoon in dupont circle, the regent on 18th st, or the pricer but oh so tasty rice on 14th st. also, the black cat (a bar/live music place) has a place in it called food for thought, which has tasty veggie and vegan options, like a great bbq seitan or vegan nachos. yummy.
for cheap used parts, chain reaction at 6th and R is the way to go. for new stuff, city bikes.

For riding, are you looking for trail or pavement?

whoa. so that's where Food for Thought went to Last time I was in North dupont, I went to their old location looking for some grub and no joy.

I second Adams Morgan as a place to check out. Restaurants are great. I especially like the Ethiopian place, excellent veg options.

Adams Morgan sort of reminds me of what Georgetown and Dupont circle used to be like in the 80's before they got heavily yuppified

Since you're in Takoma Park (aka the people's republic), check out Mark's Kitchen. Very good Korean food there. If you're not feeling so adventurous, they also have sandwiches.

Wow. They moved a good 5 years ago. Seriously.

I haven't lived in the District since 1998

Thanks for all the suggestions.

To reply to a couple of them, I've been to Marks already but I did only have a sandwich - I had bus-belly from the ride down here. Good to know the other stuff's alright.

As for on/off-road riding, I'm mostly looking for the on-road variety, but if there are enough trails worth checking out it might be time for a second bike.

Thanks again! Time to start exploring.

Check out Millie & Al's on the main strip in Adams Morgan. Go early (before 8pm) and get some cheap beer and some of the best pizza in town. Family owned for years and the kitchen staff has been there for years too. It turns into a crowded, loud, beer hall starting around 9pm, so go early and enjoy pizza. Other items on the menu should be avoided, the burgers are terrible and most everything else is terribly greasy. But the pizza is grand.
The guys at Capital Hill bikes are a good bunch too.
If you have access to a car, drive 66 all the way out to Front Royal and see Skyline Drive. Bring your bike, park at a trailhead and do some of the most beautiful hill climbing you'll ever do. You can see deer, bear, all sorts of things. Mountain biking isn't allowed in the park, but you'll get a killer workout on the road bike.

asylum (2415? 18th) do a veggie brunch which is supposed to be good. julies empanada's (sorry if misspelt) are nice - one next to lucky bar, one in adams morgan

city bikes on champlain have got a few nice bits of track stuff in thanks to shawn smith.

proshop george-town are good for wrenching if ya euro roadie scum like my sadly deported self

the shop next door has track stuff but pricey

lucky bar (18th & m-ish?) is a chilled place for a few beers, common share (18th adams morgan)if you like it rough

check out waba 733 15th suite 1030 for local trail and advocay info. and say hello to maggie for me

there's also ?chainreaction? rhode island av and 6? for 2nd hand bike spares... got for a root around.

pm me if you need any more info...

I'm strongly in favor of the Ethiopian places around Adams Morgan, and Asylum for $.50 tacos and $2 Shiner Bocks during happy hour. And definitely give Mark's Kitchen another go. Old downtown Takoma Park is nifty, good Farmer's Market on Sundays, awesome video store. No bike parking, though. What gives, hippies?!

Be not afraid of Silver Spring. Avoid the craptastic "Silver Sprung" corporo-develoblock with it's various "Grilles" (the private garage there wouldn't put in bike racks because they didn't want to discourage anyone from driving) and hit places off Georgia Av and Colesville Rd. There's a huge variety of different restaurants around there--Cuban, Jamaican, Mexican, Burmese, Vietnamese, +more--all pretty cheap and all pretty good. Also AFI (old movies!) and Roundhouse Theatre (under 30-y-o, $10 to any show, criminally underpromoted).

DC's got a pretty ridiculous network of official groups for whatever interest you have (hang out in Adams Morgan enough and you'll see the WAKA people, for example), and being the bike organization, the Wash. Area Bicycle Association is well organized and helpful. They're throwing a swap meet this Saturday morning at the Bicycle Place 8313 Grubb Rd. Silver Spring.

Speaking of shops, you might be near Mt. Airy (College Park Bicycles) depending on where you are in T.P. People say they've got some good track stuff, but also high prices and loads of attitude. City Bikes is nice but pricey, as is Revolution. Chain Reaction is bare bones, but a pretty awesome organization with some really helpful people working there.

I live near Takoma, and I was scared of the biking distances at first. Then I got a bike and my life here got way better. The hill is 7 miles away, U district 3 or 4, Adams Morgan and Dupont 4 or 5. Easy.

Soft spot in my heart for College Park Bicycles. I've known the manager there Chad for almost 15 years. Definitely some tude there, and they will charge you top dollar, but they do know what the heck they're doing. That is one of those bike shops everybody should visit once, they've got loads of vintage steel road frames (dozens and dozens) hanging from the rafters. The owner, Larry Black has been in the game for about 30 years.

Second the motions for Mille & Al's pizza, Asylum for Courierdom, Toledo Lounge to pick up normal chicks, throw in Madam's Organ too, esp. for Wednesday night Bluegrass and the occassional Robert Lighthouse show. Must mention Meskerem by name for Ethopian food, its no secret. Have had some good Thai food nearby at Star of Siam as well. Love Julia's empanadas. The Black Cat is where its at.

Citybikes can fix almost anything and has no discernable attitude, esp. the Adams Morgan shop with Paul and Mark wrenching, with Shawn working the front. Pro shop in Georgetown seconded for all that is road, fast, expensive, light, and tricky to fix. Those people love bikes (and the manager/owner loves to sell $tuff). I stay away from Revolution next door, the place is too mainstream for me now (trek Trek TREK), and I just can't relate to anybody there except (great wrench) Pinky, and I usually find him at the Clarendon shop. He can fix your bent frame real well (as he did mine) and he is old school.

Great network of bike trails, The Capital Crescent, The Mount Vernon Trail, The WO&D, The Custis Trail, The Four Mile Run Trail. You can go a long way out here without riding with cars. Must mention the Difficult Run trail in Viginia for off-road Reston-Great Falls.

Man I miss biking in DC. I moved to NYC in 98 so maybe some of this is old data:

Northern VA is heaven if you like paved trails. Get a bike path map and a good map of the area and go out. A really great ride is to take Rock Creek down from Maryland, through the City, through the Zoo to Georgetown, Cross the Key Bridge and pick up the path that goes along with the GW parkway. You can ride this the whole way down to Mount Vernon. Makes for a long ride (maybe ~30-305 miles one way) but it is very peaceful and there are some nice nature spots down past Alexandria. There are a lot of paths on converted rail beds all around the Arlington/Alexandria area.

Great bike/veggie food can be found at Teaism... in Dupont off Connecticut.
Juilio's pizza on (from memory, sorry) maybe 16th and S(??) is great in nice weather. Great pies and a nice rooftop deck.

Lots of off-road stuff, the best being 30 - 60 min away.

That's my lunch ride (tho I pick it up just outside of alexandria, so it works out to be about 24 miles) As a matter of fact, I'm going to go ride it in about 20 mins

College Park Bikes is my LBS. I don't see any attitude or "top dollar" prices, but I spend a bit of money there so they treat me well and hook me up. They've repacked my goddamn integrated headset by hand twice for free while I'm waiting on parts from Fuji.

Julio's on 16th & U closed years ago as well... to be replaced by Local 16 (schmancy) and a Starbucks.

ps -- I live in Adams Morgan, and while all these AM suggestions are great, I can't emphasize enough that it's not where you want to be on a fri or sat night. ew.

Agreed, Adams Morgan is nasty on Fri and Sat. People vomiting in the street etc. Roadies ride at Hain's Point at noon during the week, frequently in a fast rotating paceline. I doubt they would welcome you into the paceline on a fixie, but it's always a great loop to ride--day or night: I've ridden down there in the middle of the night many times. There is nearly always some wind though.

Custis Trail, then W&OD *way* out into Virginia is nice. Watch out for morons, particularly morons with dogs and/or small children. Cap Crescent is usually crowded in nice weather. Beach drive out Rock Creek into MD is nice because it's closed to cars in DC on the weekends. The mount vernon trail is good: less crowded than W&OD, but it's shorter: about 45 miles out and back from Dupont. A lot of roadies ride River Road through Potomac to Poolesville. I've done it myself many times on a road bike, but not on a track bike. To and from Poolesville is 80 miles. It's kinda hilly, and the cars are hauling ass. People die on River Road.

Get a gyro at Astor next to Bedrock in Adams Morgan.

A good 75 miler to do is: Start at Ted Roosevelt island, take the Custis trail to the W&OD and follow out to White's Ferry. Pay $1 and take the Ferry across the Potomac and take the C&O trail back.

Well I should clairfy what I meant about CPB attitude. It is mostly like, don't waste my time. I didn't mean to suggest that they are unfriendly, not by any means. Very nice people, very accomodating, love to work on bikes, as your experience with the headset shows, they are very patient and willing especially when it comes to labor. They've loaned me tools, walked me thorough some repairs I hadn't really gotten down pat, just awesome. I bought three bikes there and the support was awesome.

I don't shop much there anymore, because I live in NoVA. I'm on a team, and I patronize the shop that sponsors my team, The Bike Lane in Burke, because they give us good deals. Chad will still hook me up a little, but since I'm not throwing him too much biz, it isn't great. If you think they'll give you a good deal, ask them how much for one of those bikes hanging from the rafters. Then you'll see what I mean by top dollar. Not that it isn't worth it, but it sure isn't a screaming deal. Catch him in November, though, and he will definitely work with you a bit more.

Two responses to this...Haines point. I've seen regulars there on track bikes. My only real comment is you better have a big gear, because they go quite fast. I mean like a 49 x 16 or more. I had a 44x16 one time out there and I was spun out off the back rather quickly.

River road. A women did die on the road to Pollesville about 5 or 10 years ago. There is a very long, steep hill there. She was climbing it, and a car was descending and crossed the center line and struck her. She died. It hasn't happened since. It is a fast road for cars but I have ridden out in that area over 100 times in the past 10-15 years and never had a single problem. There is a great shoulder in most parts of that road.

Also there is a group ride that leaves at the gate at Beach drive at 10AM Saturday and Sunday and heads up to Seneca. They turn off of Beach around 355/Wisconsin, you can meet them on Beach from Takoma Park if you like. Gets real fast at points.