Getting ready for 2016 Cycling; Streets and Bike Safety

Hello fellow cyclists, 

I'm looking forward to warmer weather and getting out on the trails, are you? 

Get your bike ready now when bike shops aren't busy. My favorite shop for a tune-up is Papillon Cycles but go to your favorite shop now for your tune-up. 

Now that our neighborhood streets have pretty much been smoothed out, thanks to the responsiveness of the Northern Virginia Regional office staff from Virginia Department of Transportation, the roads are much safer. There are still new potholes showing up -- e.g., Stoneybrae Drive! I just photographed the two nasty potholes and crumbling asphalt near Crosswords Drive (see attachments) and submitted them to my.vdot.virginia.gov. 

If you see potholes, report them on that website. You don't need a photo, just the address and nearest intersection.

We'll be doing the 3rd Annual Cherry Blossom Ride sometime during the Cherry Blossom festival, March 20-April 17, depending on announcements about the peak bloom period which will be out as we get closer to those dates. I hope you'll join in. 

Other group rides will also be planned as in prior years, but I hope to see more participation in 2016. 

Two bills under consideration this session by the Virginia Legislature would make bicyclists in Virginia safer on the roads.         

For more background, click on this link and add your voice to bike safety.

 http://org.salsalabs.com/o/451/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=19110&_ga=1.115064655.933516351.1456231977

That's the news. If you no longer want to be on this list, let me know. And if you know someone who wants to be on the list, let me know that too!

The Lake Barcroft Bike Club welcomes cyclists of all levels to participate on group rides scheduled throughout spring, summer and fall. We are a road bike club (no mountain biking)  and ride at a recreational pace on the great paved trails that wind there way through Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun Counties. If you’d like be a part of this fun activity, get on the mailing list by contacting Larry Golfer, Bike Club Organizer, at lgolfer2@gmail.com or 703-626-0801.

Cherry Blossom Ride 2015

What a great day for a bike ride and for viewing the cherry blossoms. For the third year in a row, a group from the bike club experienced a crisp, blue-sky day for the club's annual ride to DC. 

Our group included riders (below, from the left) Andrea Fus, Rueben Cleetus, Matt Friedman, myself, Phil Kemelor, Lloyd Flanders, and Paul Mulligan. Tony Lower-Basch (not pictured) also joined up for a portion of the ride.

Phil, Tony and I left from the Potterton Bridge and met up with several other riders at one end of Bluemont Park, at North Manchester Street near Arlington Boulevard. A slight snafu in directions arose for a couple of riders who followed Google maps directions, which also pointed them to a site labelled Bluemont Park at North Manchester Street, but that one was near Wilson Boulevard, at a point slightly north of our group. You may know how Arlington streets are broken up on the map with several sections of the same named street separated from one another. Nevertheless, a quick mobile phone call and we all eventually caught up together for the ride into the city.

We took the ride at an easy recreational pace, down the Washington and Old Dominion Trail to the Four Mile Run Trail to National Airport, then north on the Mount Vernon Trail.  Before long, we were crossing the 14th Street Bridge and landed right at the foot of the Jefferson Memorial. 

The flowers were at peak bloom, just as predicted by the National Park Service. We locked up our bikes and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful cherry blossom trees, with the Washington Monument in the background and the blue sky reflecting brightly in the Reflecting Pool. Here are some photos of our day.

Matt, Phil, Andrea and Paul taking a break at Gravelly Point.

In the background, across the Tidal Basin, you can see the Martin Luther King Memorial.

After our time enjoying the scene, the group decided to split up for the return ride, with some heading back on the same trails as the ride in, and the rest of us taking the more challenging return ride up the Custis Trail. I have to say that this trail is not everyone, and I was huffing and puffing to keep up with the stronger riders. My recommendation on the Custis Trail for anyone considering it is to ride INTO the city on this trail, and return via W&OD/Four Mile Run, unless you want a really tough workout ride. 

All in all, a great ride for our club. 

Upcoming rides being considered include rides to Vienna (for Cornish pasties at the Great Pasty Company), Ashburn (for Carolina Bros. BBQ), Mount Vernon, and for the more adventurous (and fit), Great Falls, Virginia. If anyone has other suggestions, please let me know. 

Happy riding everyone!

Advocating for the Arlington Boulevard Trail

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) is advocating for a continuous trail from Fairfax City to Rosslyn along Arlington Boulevard. I commuted from Annandale Road to Rosslyn along Arlington Boulevard for nearly 10  years, using many of the existing parts of what could become the trail, including the service road and some actual paved pathways, currently only partially connected, that would all be linked continuously with some new infrastructure if funds can be found to support this. 

If you're interested in reading about it or joining in on advocating for it, here is the plan:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/246871046/Arlington-Boulevard-Trail-Concept-Plan

You can follow WABA on it's blog here: 

http://www.waba.org/blog/

Or join to help support  bicycling in the DC area:

http://www.waba.org/

Hope this chilly weather lets up soon.

Larry 

Thinking of Biking...Spring is Coming

Ah, to be out on a bike....warm sunny days...fragrant spring flowers...breezing along the bike trails...it all seems like a distant fantasy, with snow predicted for the first day of spring.

Nevertheless, bike season is beginning. Get your bikes ready with a check up or tune up at your favorite bike shop. My go-to bike shop is Papillon Cycles on Columbia Pike and Walter Reed Drive. 
http://papilloncycles.com/. 

I will be devoting more time to organizing rides this year and hope to see many of our fellow Lake Barcroft Bike Club members out on the trails with us. 

I recently received a news announcement that the organizers of the 2015 Cherry Blossom Festival predict peak bloom this year from April 11-14. Our bike club was very fortunate in both 2013 and 2014 to have enjoyed terrific blue-sky, warm temperatures on our Cherry Blossom rides, so I'm hoping we'll have a similar experience this year as the 3rd Annual Lake Barcroft Cherry Blossom Ride approaches. I'm planning for this year's ride to take place on Sunday April 12, starting at 9am or 9:30am, depending on which departure point you choose (Potterton Bridge or Bluemont Park). More to come about this, but mark your calendars now.

The warm up, first ride of the season, weather permitting, will be on Saturday, March 28, leaving around 9am from the Potterton Bridge, or 930am at the Bluemont Park parking lot on N. Manchester Street. Make a note on your calendars and save the morning for an easy ride down the Four Mile Run Trail to Slater's Lane in Alexandria, where we can have coffee and treats at Buzz Bakery, or something more healthy at the Tropical Smoothie Cafe just a few doors away. 

The ride is about 9.5 miles from the Potterton Bridge, or 7.2 miles from Bluemont Park. It's just a bit over 45 minutes to get to our destination, riding at an easy recreational pace. Anyone can do this ride. No serious hills (except up Beachway to Mansfield, but many of us are used to this). If you don't like that hill, meet at the Bluemont Park parking lot at the end of N. Manchester Street. 

Let me know if you plan to join us. Don't forget to bring water, helmet, mobile phone, and a spare tube. 

Watch your email for weather updates and postponements/cancelled rides.

I hope to see a good number of you out there with us on the 28th. 

Until then, happy riding!

Larry

Second Annual Cherry Blossom Ride

On a gorgeous, blue morning, 12 members and one guest of the Lake Barcroft Bike Club set out for the 26 mile round trip to see our nation's capital's best show of the spring, the Japanese Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin.

With myself in the lead and Jerry Mendenhall as the sweep, our group enjoyed the cool breeze as we made our way up Beachway and over to the Four Mile Run and W&OD Trails. Here are some photos of our group along the way.

Newt, Lloyd, John and Linda meet up at Bluemont Park

Ellen checks her phone before departure

Jerry and Lloyd 

Newt and Mike installing a wheel on Andrea's bike

Stopping at Gravelly Point, near Reagan Airport, is always a thrill.

Ride leader, Larry (photo by Newt)

Planes swooping directly overhead toward their landing

Guest biker Mark

Arriving in front of the Jefferson Memorial, the group stops to take in the scene and for photos.

Mike, Lloyd, Jerry, Newt, Andrea, Gail and Jim

Blossoms just past peak

Enjoying the scene

Mark and Newt, left, Gail and Cindy, right

View over the Tidal Basin

Visitors enjoying the scene

Cindy, Gail and Larry (photo by Newt)

John and Linda 

Tourists with great hats

The group shot: back row: Larry, Lloyd, Andrea, Mark, Newt, Gail and Jim
Front row: Mike, Jerry, Cindy and Ellen. (Not pictured here: John and Linda) 

After enjoying our morning and the beautiful scene, riders took off for the return trip. Newt, Mark and I lingered a bit and visited the Martin Luther King Memorial before heading back. On the way, a surprise: the Bolivian community was holding it's annual Carnival de Oruro along Four Mile Run Drive. Based on a 2,000+ year-old religious and cultural tradition in Bolivia, the parade featured music and colorful folk dancers from different areas of Bolivia. 

With all this Bolivian culture, we stopped at Cafe Sazon at the plaza at 4704 Columbia Pike, where the bike trail crosses, for an excellent Bolivian lunch. Highly recommended for both food and service. 

Reviews are in and everyone reported a great day for biking and a fun outing.

The next ride of the Lake Barcroft Bike Club will be posted soon.

Opening Season Ride to Vienna, Virginia

The Lake Barcroft Bike Club's first ride of 2014 on Saturday, originally bound for Buzz Bakery in Alexandria, diverted to Vienna, Virginia instead, for a fun but challenging, chilly and windy morning ride. 

Our hearty three person contingent included Rick Uritus, recumbent bike aficionado Bill Cook and me. The newly constructed, but very unwieldy detour on the Four Mile Run Trail (just before the Mount Vernon Trail) led me to make this last minute change to our itinerary. Unfortunately that detour will continue into the summer, and bike riders will need to face it if they want to enjoy rides south into Old Town and on to Mount Vernon. But maneuvering that detour on a recumbent bike would be difficult.

We set out at 8:30 a.m. and faced a tiring and chilly headwind as we pedaled west to the W&OD Trail, through Falls Church and Dunn Loring and then on to Vienna. 

Bill and Rick at Bluemont Park

Despite the relentless wind we finally made it to Vienna under a bright blue sky and warmed up with coffee and bagel sandwiches at Caffe Amouri, a great little local coffee shop on Church Street. Check our their website here: http://www.caffeamouri.com/ .

Rick, Bill and Larry outside Caffe Amouri

On Bill's recommendation we then headed over to the Pure Pasty Company,                         http://www.purepasty.com/, to pick up some Cornish pasties (pronounced "pass-tees") to take home. These baked gems wrapped in a wonderful pie crust are traditional meat and vegetable pies, somewhat like empanadas but with a lot more filling. The wives and mothers of tin miners in Cornwall would make them for their hardworking husbands and sons to help them get through the day. Easy to carry even on a bike, they make a satisfying meal today as well.

Loaded down with our pasties, we headed east down the W&OD trail, with the wind at our backs on the return ride, for a well-earned afternoon of relaxation and Cornish pasties.

Next week, the 2nd Annual Cherry Blossom Ride. Check your email for details.