Get your riding in before the rain arrives tomorrow! I have to run some errands near Silver Spring this afternoon and I am going to use that as an excuse to putter around on a trail or two. In the first few months after I moved to DC, I went to visit some friends in Takoma Park. Not knowing any better, I hopped on my fixed gear bicycle (look it was 2008, that’s just what we did back then), and took what looked like the most direct route. You know, New Hampshire Avenue. A few harrowing miles later I arrived and my friends looked at me with a mix of concern and condescension while explaining that the Sligo Creek Trail existed, and that you could take it and a few quiet streets to get back into DC. Moral of the story: be a hero, tell your friends about trails, and the Google Maps bike layer.
Things to do this week:
- Applications for DC’s E-bike rebate open on Monday. Based on a limited budget and a lot of interest, this round will likely go entirely to Preferred Applicants (DC residents enrolled in SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, or the DC Healthcare Alliance). If that’s you or anyone you know, check it out.
- Interested in leading a Bike to Work Day Convoy this year? Sign up here.
- Saturday: Urban Design Walking Tour with DC Office of Planning
- Tuesday: Ride in or through Georgetown? Give feedback on the draft Georgetown Transportation Access and Circulation Study.
- Thursday: Learn how to be a tandem captain with Metro Washington Association of Blind Athletes.
- MoCo folks: we’re gearing up for budget season. Let Seth & Peter know if you’d like to get involved.
- Sign up for the Bloom Ride & Spring Picnic on May 4th.
- Register for Bike to Work Day—it’s on Friday, May 17th this year and the t-shirts are a peppy orange.
A Fun Route Idea For the Weekend
Pack your raincoat, head to Shady Grove and do a loop out towards Olney and Damascus. Gregg Road is one of my favorites in the whole region. Some cool farms, and I think there are now four breweries along this route? I emphatically do not recommend trying to stop at them all, but any one of them is a pleasant and scenic spot for a pit stop.
Have a great weekend.