Bikes and Baggage Cargo Ride — Proteus Bikes, College Park

[Arlingtonrider]

A few stores, e.g. Burlington Coat Factory, “require” you to leave your bags in front. That comes in handy sometimes, especially when you accidentally leave them there and have to come back to get them.

[Dirt]

Back to the original topic for a second…

I’ll be rolling to this Sunday morning with something large and with a very low IQ. If anyone would like to join me, the ride will be at a reasonable and friendly pace. I might stop and shop at a garage sale if I see anything that catches my eye.

If you’re interested, let me know. I need to figure a good route then plan my start time accordingly.

Love,

Pete

[Greenbelt]

Pete — just a check, it’s the following Sunday, October 30th, not this coming Sunday. (PS This coming Sunday is DCCX, which sounds like big fun.)

[Dirt]

Yup. I know. I have book club this Sunday. I RSVP’d with Jill. She seemed happy and asked me to pick up a few sheets of 4×8 plywood on the way over.

[Dirt]

Is anyone interested in riding over to College Park from NOVA on Sunday morning? It should be a pleasant ride. I haven’t figured out my route yet, but I will likely do so in the next day or two. Maybe Greenbelt can suggest a route. I used to commute to College Park, but haven’t done so in a decade or more.

[Greenbelt]

I’m not very good with Google maps, but here is a link to an attempt at a route suggestion

From downtown DC, I take the MBT to Monroe Street Bridge (bike lane)
Left at 12th (sharrows) and right at Newton (bike route)
Left at 18th, and right at Varnum (bike routes)
Cross Eastern Ave and the road becomes Arundel Road (bike route, bumpy road — beware unmarked speedbumps)
Jog one block to the right at 34th street (otherwise you’d be on a one-way Allison Street going the wrong way)
Left at 38th Street, over the bridge, and right on the NW branch trail
Cross Rhode Island at the crosswalk/trail alongside Armentrout Road (beware the construction/cyclocross challenge)
Down the ramp and up the NE Branch Trail to Lake Artemesia
Pick up the Paint Branch Trail at Lake Artemesia and go under the CSX track.
Take the College Park Trolley Trail/Rhode Island Ave (bike lane, sort of) across University Blvd (not a pleasant intersection)
Cross left to the outer road alongside Rhode Island
Left on Erie Street up the hill to the bike shop (Route 1 at Erie)

Alternatively, you can take the Paint Branch trail all the way around, under Route 1, past the U of MD campus, under University Blvd, past the golf course, and back up to Route 1 at Hollywood Road, which is a couple blocks up from the shop. You can cross over and double back through the neighborhood streets.

I’d strongly recommend NOT riding on Route 1.

I don’t have a video of the exact route to the shop from DC, but this one shows from Lake Artemesia to DC (most of the route in reverse, essentially): http://vimeo.com/23366829

[Dirt]

Perfect. I’ll play with that. I was looking at wonderful ways to avoid Rt.1. When I look at Google Maps cycling routes for that area (which is sometimes sketchy as it is) there seems to be a pretty good void through there.

I’ll map that out when I get home tonight.

Pete

[Dirt]

I made a public event on Facebook if people want to join the ride over to College Park: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=284460614908249

Let me know if you have problems accessing and I’ll invite you to it.

Hugs and kisses,

Pete

[acc]

What a great excuse to buy a messenger bag! Thanks Dirt for giving me an excuse to shop. I even got to choose my own color combinations at Timbuk2 — in retrospect probably not a good option for me. Lime green-neon red- florescent yellow seemed like a good idea at the time. See you there!

ann

[Dirt]

@acc 9719 wrote:

What a great excuse to buy a messenger bag! Thanks Dirt for giving me an excuse to shop. I even got to choose my own color combinations at Timbuk2 — in retrospect probably not a good option for me. Lime green-neon red- florescent yellow seemed like a good idea at the time. See you there!

ann

My eyes! My eyes! AAaaaaaaaahhhhh

[acc]

I wasn’t going to mention this, it really should stay quiet, I was going to surprise you. But this afternoon because it’s raining and I can’t ride (Ok, fine – I won’t ride in the rain for no good reason), I spent the afternoon sticking fifty rhinestones on my helmet. Let the screaming commence.

Looking forward to Sunday,
ann

[Dirt]

Looks like we’ve got 7 people riding and the possibility of 4 or 5 more. Should be a fun group.

[Greenbelt]

Good to see/meet people! Here’s some video from today’s ride:
[video=vimeo;31347210]http://vimeo.com/31347210[/video]

[Dirt]

What a great event! The people at Proteus are awesome. I love that shop more than ever. If you’re in the area, check them out. They’re truly a cool community bike shop with a great attitude and a great support of the local riding scene.

Seriously cool that I got to meet Greenbelt!!! It was great to finally ride with another contributor to the forum.

Hanging out in the shop after the ride.

Great signage.

Lovely scenery

The ride to and from was awesome. Cool to hang with some folks from the Forum and mix them with the band of characters with which I normally ride.

Many thanks to Jill at Proteus and her team!

Rock and roll.

Pete

[Mark Blacknell]

It never occurred to me that you were Greenbelt.

Doh.

(Thanks for leading, and yes, this was a very cool idea.)

[Author]

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