Is it worth it to ship a bike to DC?

[572cv]

What kind of riding do you do? My daughter is down in DC for grad school and found a great training ride group.... she still races crits when she can. She says there are lots of different riding opportunities there.

[bikinchris]

If the airline crushes your bike, you are SOL. Unless you happen to be an attorney and can file a court claim on your own (I know a guy who did that) the airline is going to throw up their hands and say "So sue me?"
I you ship by Bike Flights, you can insure the bike and then if the shipper breaks your bike, you can get SOME satisfaction out of it.

[zennmotion]

For 3 months, it's worth having your own bike, as you will ride a lot more than if you're paying each day/week for a rental- you can get some short rides in before/after work that you wouldn't find it worth paying for a rental. The riding in/around the city is decent with a good MUP network, you can go quite far in several directions. If your living space is too tight for a bike, one idea would be to get a membership to Bikestation, which is indoor secure bike parking next to Union Station, with a locker room and repair facility (theres a couple in the bay area as well, same outfit)- you could safely leave your bike there, 24hr access. I'm living between both DC and Bay Area, and while DC/MD/VA isn't the riding destination that SF area is, there's some great riding especially if you are able to get out of the city 30mins-1hr drive. Loudoun and Fauquier counties in VA have endless networks of gravel roads horse farms and Blue Ridge views. Shenandoah park/skyline drive (look up the "skymass" ride is pretty spectacular. MD has lots of nice rural roads, rolling hills and even some hard climbing if you want. As mentioned before, look up the Potomac Pedalers rides, and their website has links to lots of cue sheets, rated for difficulty hills and length.

[bikinchris]

Delaware has nice roads if you don't mind flat.

[ripvanrando]

You could buy a beater at the coop and you might get lucky and it would have schrader valves. Then sell it on craiglist for a small profit.

I think this OP's mere question is grounds for an immediate and permanent ban.

(ship it right to your hotel via bikeflights.....some of the best riding in the country is not far from DC proper)

[weisan]

that depends on how much you spend on coffee a week...

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by ripvanrando

(ship it right to your hotel via bikeflights.....some of the best riding in the country is not far from DC proper)

Define "Best Riding in the Country". If you're talking Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline drive, I agree. If you're talking "Rideable from DC" I'm curious what you mean.

I've spent a lot of time there and thought the Virginia side of the area is nothing but a suburban cycling hell. I'd take the W&OD out towards Leesburg but the roads are not super cycling friendly until you're much further out. I found the Maryland side of the area to be much nicer for road riding, though getting out there was sometimes stressful with traffic. It's a large, busy metro area though it is well connected by a trail network.

[.RJ]

I dont know about best, but it is good. Getting out into the potomac, MD area and further west is awesome and if you dont mind a short drive the roads out past loudon county are great, especially if you're into gravel.

[zennmotion]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Define "Best Riding in the Country". If you're talking Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline drive, I agree. If you're talking "Rideable from DC" I'm curious what you mean.

I've spent a lot of time there and thought the Virginia side of the area is nothing but a suburban cycling hell. I'd take the W&OD out towards Leesburg but the roads are not super cycling friendly until you're much further out. I found the Maryland side of the area to be much nicer for road riding, though getting out there was sometimes stressful with traffic. It's a large, busy metro area though it is well connected by a trail network.

You don't need to go as far as Leesburg, this is my favorite frequent gravel ride from Haymarket, about 50 mins from the US capitol bldg. Closer of course, if you're already in the VA burbs. At least half is smooth and unpaved, very little traffic on any of it, endless stone fences, horse farms, rolling hills. There's lots of variations of this ride but it's a good length for me, minimizes the drive time to "the good roads" and it's just challenging enough to be fun without spending the rest of the day in a nap.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/20341781

[flydhest]

DC Native here. Transplanted to NY. Plenty of good riding in DC. Where will you be living? Agree with Saab that the Northern Virginia suburbs are a bit rough. The more west and north of DC while you are in VA the better. The “standard” 40 mike loop of MacArthur BlVd to Potomac to Tuckerman to Beach Drive in the District is hard to beat in the area. Not heaven on earth, but for a major metropolitan area...pretty good.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by flydhest

DC Native here. Transplanted to NY. Plenty of good riding in DC. Where will you be living? Agree with Saab that the Northern Virginia suburbs are a bit rough. The more west and north of DC while you are in VA the better. The “standard” 40 mike loop of MacArthur BlVd to Potomac to Tuckerman to Beach Drive in the District is hard to beat in the area. Not heaven on earth, but for a major metropolitan area...pretty good.

Yes. It's OK but hardly "Best Riding in the Country". Traffic on MacArthur can be hostile and the rest is just suburbia. Once into the Maryland countryside it's pretty good, but I'm still hesitant to use the phrase, "Best in the Country". That's just laughable to anyone who has ridden in better places, of which there are countless.

[zennmotion]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Yes. It's OK but hardly "Best Riding in the Country". Traffic on MacArthur can be hostile and the rest is just suburbia. Once into the Maryland countryside it's pretty good, but I'm still hesitant to use the phrase, "Best in the Country". That's just laughable to anyone who has ridden in better places, of which there are countless.

You can skip MacArthur Blvd completely by just going out the C&O canal gravel towpath from Georgetown past suburbia to the "Agriculture Preserve" area of Montgomery County north of Potomac. The towpath itself is quite pleasant and doable with skinny road tires when it's dry and it's really quite nice out in the ag preserve area, low traffic, scenic farmland that's protected from development. If the OP or anybody wants, I can point to or put together some routes, or check the cue sheet library at Potomac Pedalers website.

[tuxbailey]

A lot of good riding here.

This site is kind of old, existed before all the GPS route sites but it still have a lot of good suggestions.

http://bikewashington.org/

[btanner]

Another excellent resource for rides and riding in DC is DC Randonneurs: http://dcrand.org/dcr/

They're a great organization.

[echappist]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Define "Best Riding in the Country". If you're talking Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline drive, I agree. If you're talking "Rideable from DC" I'm curious what you mean.

I've spent a lot of time there and thought the Virginia side of the area is nothing but a suburban cycling hell. I'd take the W&OD out towards Leesburg but the roads are not super cycling friendly until you're much further out. I found the Maryland side of the area to be much nicer for road riding, though getting out there was sometimes stressful with traffic. It's a large, busy metro area though it is well connected by a trail network.

One thing that MD doesn't have are roads with sufficient shoulders. Riding on two-lane roads where people drive 45-50 mph is a bit scary.

Originally Posted by zennmotion

You can skip MacArthur Blvd completely by just going out the C&O canal gravel towpath from Georgetown past suburbia to the "Agriculture Preserve" area of Montgomery County north of Potomac. The towpath itself is quite pleasant and doable with skinny road tires when it's dry and it's really quite nice out in the ag preserve area, low traffic, scenic farmland that's protected from development. If the OP or anybody wants, I can point to or put together some routes, or check the cue sheet library at Potomac Pedalers website.

agreed on NoVA being no good for most riding. I lived there for four years and never once rode 5 miles away from Pentagon City.

One place people haven't mentioned in Hains Point, which is a 3-mile loop. It's easy to overlook, especially if you had Central Park in your backyard, but I've come to the conclusion that Hains is better as it's effectively free of dumb tourists (at least for the time the OP will be there) and as it's about as safe a place to bike as possible. The cars actually drive less than 30mph here. One shows up the hours when one would ride in CP, and Hains is effectively cyclists' domain.