Bethesda Trolley Trail
Sun Sep 8 23:09:46 EDT 2019
Now that my weekends are not going to housecleaning for county inspections, I'm hoping to do some recreational cyling. Last Monday (holiday) I rode out the W&OD trail and back for a 30mi (48km) trip. Consequential to Colleen's move to Bethesda, today I rode 28mi (45km) to find and explore the Bethesda Trolley Trail, another repurposing of an abandoned right-of-way. Like the (sort-of) connecting Capital Crescent Trail (which I took from the C&O Canal towpath), parts of the trail had a lot of pedestrian traffic. This maybe isn't a problem during bike-commuting peaks - unless a significant number of NIH employees live within walking distance. Some sections are old enough to be bumpy from tree roots (like the CCT). And sections around the NIH campus are hilly and have sharp turns, clearly not the old trolley route. [PDF map]
Signage for following the trail is good, although I lost the trail at Nicholson Lane (White Flint). But this is where the map shows Future BTT, so maybe the rest isn't signed. (A sign to say no more signs wouldn't go amiss.) The trail shows signs of having been designed before bike commuting became popular. The pavement width is often minimally adequate for 2-way traffic, which makes overtaking pedestrians uncomfortably close. Not sufficient for passing 2 pedestrians walking side-by-side, or overtaking cyclists with oncoming traffic. If it's your first time on the trail, there are a lot of surprising right-angle turns (not normal for rail trails) with no visibility of oncoming traffic. There are street crossings that could be difficult when there's more traffic. So not my favorite trail, although time-of-day/week is going to make a big difference in what you experience. Compared to the major streets and traffic of Bethesda and Rockville, the BTT is a haven.
If I had been getting to bed earlier and had time to plan, my participation in Colleen's move would have worked well biking to Alexandria, putting my bike in her moving truck, and biking home from Bethesda. (Yesterday was the first time I'd been in a car since Pennsic (Aug 10-11).)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/1087554.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]
Now that my weekends are not going to housecleaning for county inspections, I'm hoping to do some recreational cyling. Last Monday (holiday) I rode out the W&OD trail and back for a 30mi (48km) trip. Consequential to Colleen's move to Bethesda, today I rode 28mi (45km) to find and explore the Bethesda Trolley Trail, another repurposing of an abandoned right-of-way. Like the (sort-of) connecting Capital Crescent Trail (which I took from the C&O Canal towpath), parts of the trail had a lot of pedestrian traffic. This maybe isn't a problem during bike-commuting peaks - unless a significant number of NIH employees live within walking distance. Some sections are old enough to be bumpy from tree roots (like the CCT). And sections around the NIH campus are hilly and have sharp turns, clearly not the old trolley route. [PDF map]
Signage for following the trail is good, although I lost the trail at Nicholson Lane (White Flint). But this is where the map shows Future BTT, so maybe the rest isn't signed. (A sign to say no more signs wouldn't go amiss.) The trail shows signs of having been designed before bike commuting became popular. The pavement width is often minimally adequate for 2-way traffic, which makes overtaking pedestrians uncomfortably close. Not sufficient for passing 2 pedestrians walking side-by-side, or overtaking cyclists with oncoming traffic. If it's your first time on the trail, there are a lot of surprising right-angle turns (not normal for rail trails) with no visibility of oncoming traffic. There are street crossings that could be difficult when there's more traffic. So not my favorite trail, although time-of-day/week is going to make a big difference in what you experience. Compared to the major streets and traffic of Bethesda and Rockville, the BTT is a haven.
If I had been getting to bed earlier and had time to plan, my participation in Colleen's move would have worked well biking to Alexandria, putting my bike in her moving truck, and biking home from Bethesda. (Yesterday was the first time I'd been in a car since Pennsic (Aug 10-11).)
[This entry was originally posted as https://syntonic-comma.dreamwidth.org/1087554.html on Dreamwidth (where there are
comments).]