Getting from Dulles Airport to Front Royal, VA - public transportation options

[rccardr]

A Paceline RideFest!!!!

[weisan]

Wgp pal, spaghetti pal, all welcome, the more the merrier. Looks like we have a good group of pals living in the VA-DC area, so excited to have the opportunity to meet up and ride together.

I am flying in on May 8th from Austin, arriving around 11:30am. rccardr pal has graciously agreed to pick me up at the airport and together we will drive over to Front Royal. We will grab a quick bite along the way. NHAero pal has reserved a hotel room from May 8-13. So, hopefully he has already checked into the hotel when we get there in the early afternoon. I will assemble my bike, it will take me about an hour. We can be ready to ride probably around 2pm - best case scenario.
If we don't meet up on May 8, we can also do it on May 9th which might be a better idea so we don't have to rush and rrcardr pal said he's open to staying overnight to ride the next day. Anyway, that's just me thinking aloud. Open to suggestions, alternative times, routes etc. We will be here until May 14 AM. I hope to see and ride with as many of you as possible!

[makoti]

Originally Posted by weisan

Wgp pal, spaghetti pal, all welcome, the more the merrier. Looks like we have a good group of pals living in the VA-DC area, so excited to have the opportunity to meet up and ride together.

I am flying in on March 8th from Austin, arriving around 11:30am. rccardr pal has graciously agreed to pick me up at the airport and together we will drive over to Front Royal. We will grab a quick bite along the way. NHAero pal has reserved a hotel room from March 8-13. So, hopefully he has already checked into the hotel when we get there in the early afternoon. I will assemble my bike, it will take me about an hour. We can be ready to ride probably around 2pm - best case scenario.
If we don't meet up on March 8, we can also do it on March 9th which might be a better idea so we don't have to rush and rrcardr pal said he's open to staying overnight to ride the next day. Anyway, that's just me thinking aloud. Open to suggestions, alternative times, routes etc. We will be here until May 14 AM. I hope to see and ride with as many of you as possible!

May, not March... correct?
I'd think riding the next day would be best. I think I could do the 9th.

[weisan]

Originally Posted by makoti

May, not March... correct?
I'd think riding the next day would be best. I think I could do the 9th.

yes, sorry makoti pal, May is correct.

Noted your preferred ride day. We can have multiple days of group rides and folks pick the day that works best for them and just join.

[weisan]

May 8 Wednesday
NHAero
weisan
rrcardr
Baron

May 9 Thursday
NHAero
Baron
weisan
rrcardr
makoti
Turkle

May 10 Friday
NHAero
weisan
mass_biker

May 11 Saturday
NHAero
weisan
Baron
AngryScientist
Spaghetti Legs
Turkle (maybe)

May 12 Sunday
NHAero
weisan
AngryScientist
Turkle (maybe)

May 13 Monday
NHAero
weisan

May 14 AM Tuesday
NHAero
weisan (possibly, depending on how early we can start or end the ride and/or whether I can get a ride back to Dulles, if not I have to catch the bus at 12pm to bring me back to Dulles Airport. My flight out won't be until 5:50pm later in the afternoon.

Also coming, exact date TBD
Gummee
wgp
Ryun

[Baron Blubba]

My plan is to do a long ride with Marc (NHAero) on Wednesday and Thursday, and possibly something shorter on Saturday morning (I have to zip up to NJ early Saturday afternoon).

I'm going to post a three day menu of routes sometime between now and Monday afternoon. Each day will have three ride options starting from the same location within a 10 - 15 minute drive of downtown Front Royal or starting from Front Royal. There'll be a short, medium, and long option.

I'm hopeful that we'll get a great turnout for this week-or-so of riding, but it's unrealistically optimistic to assume that everyone is going to want to ride the same distances and that everyone is going to be comfortable at the same pace.

By 'riding at the same pace' I don't mean that this is a race or anything like that, but when you ride Skyline Drive, you're either going up for 2-4 miles at time, or you're going down 2-4 miles at a time. When a group of 10 strangers meets to ride a road like that, there tends to be a lot of 'climb at your own pace, we'll regroup at the top' followed by ' descend at your own pace, we'll regroup at the bottom', and almost no one ends up riding together, we just keep on rendezvousing at the top or bottom before parting ways again on the descent or climb.

I'd therefore like to propose that we all set out together each day from the same point at the same time, and that we all have at least one buddy with whom we will stick for the rest of the ride. We'll all start together, but might not all ride all day together or finish together. Then we'll all meet for lunch or dinner at a local restaurant. Front Royal has some pretty good places to eat, and they're all very inexpensive, too! Maybe some bowling or axe throwing or retro arcade/pinballing or pottery painting, too.

I'm looking forward to meeting everyone, this is going to be pretty cool.

Oh, and I can supply gravel route options too, if anyone would like. Nothing gnarly, just really great dirt country roads that'll have you feeling like you've been superimposed into an exotic cycling-vacation-magazine-travel-ad photo.

[weisan]

Baron pal, I like your proposal, looking forward to riding with you.

[makoti]

Look forward to the options. I'd be up for gravel if others were interested. If not, road is fine.
I agree that Skyline, as much as I love it, is a pretty solitary ride, even if you're in a group

[weisan]

I am up for gravel too. I will be bringing the Crux with 650bx42mm tires.

[Spaghetti Legs]

I will get up there for one of those days but have to see how my work is looking; it will be that Saturday if work doesn’t cooperate. Sunday is Mother’s Day, so have to tread carefully there.

[Gummee]

I don't know if I have the Skymass loop in my legs, because there's some HILLS out there that I don't normally ride since I live where it's flat.

M

[AngryScientist]

Well, this escalated quickly!

I'll be around on Saturday and Sunday morning.

[Ryun]

Im moving some stuff into my new place so I might be able to make it one or two of days if thats ok.
I won’t know for sure which days til it gets a bit closer
Ryun

[NHAero]

Originally Posted by Ryun

Im moving some stuff into my new place so I might be able to make it one or two of days if thats ok.
I won’t know for sure which days til it gets a bit closer
Ryun

I call dibs on Ryun as my riding buddy. I will pack a tow rope.

[mass_biker]

Depending on work maybe I can drive down from Baltimore to join…