On Saturday, October 4, 2025, a reported 445 cyclists rode in the fifth Tour de VRE. The gran fondo raised money and awareness for the Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Foundation.

It was my first time bicycling in this event, having only heard of it in September. In addition to riding along a route parallel to the Virginia Railway Express Manassas line, riders were transported between end points on a VRE train.

35 miles between Backlick to Broad Run stations

Tour de VRE was an exhilarating ride along trails, bike lanes, winding country roads and stroads through Fairfax and Prince William counties.

Ride with GPS route map

Fairfax County

Departing from Backlick Road station, hundreds of riders following Tour de VRE signs, left Hechinger Road and turned down Backlick Road in Springfield. Leaving Backlick Road, riders went towards Lake Accotink, eventually finding themselves along trails in the county park. The were several moderate climbs in the Lake Accotink area and beyond.¹

As the ride traversed southern and western Fairfax County, the route shifted between suburban neighborhood streets, trails like the Burke VRE and Fairfax County Parkway trails. The final portion of the parkway trail included an unpaved climb through a construction area near Popes Head Road.

After the parkway though, the route utilized two lane country roads² like Popes Head, Clifton, Compton and Ordway into Prince William County. That section was the most concerning when I was contemplating signing up for the ride, but thankfully the car traffic was light and we had numbers on our side. It was also the furthest removed from the actual VRE tracks.

Prince William County

After crossing over Bull Run, the exurban sprawl resumed. Through Manassas Park, the ride went past the little bungalows and cottage sized houses before returning to the VA 28 stroads with Cookout and Sheetz locations nearby. Heading into the city of Manassas proper, the journey along Euclid Ave was in mixed traffic, but not terribly concerning with bunches of bicyclists.

In Olde Towne Manassas though, signs were missing and a number of riders missed the turn onto Prince William Street. I suppose that helped round up the route to 35 miles.

Leaving Manassas, the route followed the Winters Branch Trail which was delightful though fairly brief. From there, it was onto the arterial Goodwin Drive. Turning onto Clover Hill Road we traveled past the Prince William Parkway (VA 234) and into the land of data centers and Manassas Regional Airport. The final stretch was along the relatively empty roads leading to the Broad Run station terminus.

Overall, the route had just under 1,600 feet of elevation change overall. There were not any huge hills, but more than several moderate hills.

Wayfinding

Tour de VRE signs were generally sufficient to provide navigation without using a mobile GPS app with a couple of exceptions – between Springfield and Burke in a few places and Old Towne Manassas. Generally speaking, I think most riders counted on the signs rather than GPS which worked out fairly well aside from the two exceptions. Perhaps signs were placed, but were removed.

One recommendation³ is to post signs when the trail is unpaved – there were several brief sections and at least one water crossing during the route.

Pit Stops

Throughout the course, there volunteer run pit stops with lots of high-carbohydrate foods, water and Gatorade. One rider joked that he “ate his registration fee in snacks.” For the most part, I skipped the snacks, but I did grab a Paul’s Bakery maple-iced donut at the Mannasas Park stop and oh my, that was a good donut.

Finish line

At Broad Run Station parking lot near Manassas Regional Airport, there was a well-catered luncheon under a tent. Lots of fast food chicken nuggets, cookies, veggie trays, pita chip and humus around to get some calories back. I ate too much.

The event sponsors, mostly civil engineering firms, also had booths with information about their organizations and of course swag. I’ll single out ACTS⁴ for giving out visors – that was clutch in noon, early autumn sunshine on a blue bird day.

A raffle was held too, but none of the five tickets (provided as part of registration) were picked.

Transportation

The hook that grabbed me for this event was the VRE ride. I like riding trains, but generally stick to Metro because that’s what serves my community. I hear the trains of VRE, Amtrak and freight from my backyard all the time⁵, I just rarely ride them.

The Bus

Alexandria vice-mayor Sarah Bagley⁶, arranged for DASH bus service to Backlick station. This was very helpful, because there is a flea market there every Saturday, so I was not comfortable trusting the parking situation. The Backlick station also has several hills on its approach from Alexandria. Although I had to get the DASH shuttle at King Street, I was happy to have the option, even though it meant parking a Van Dorn station and going the opposite way on the Blue Line to get the shuttle.

I’ll be sending an email to the vice-mayor, thanking her for setting it up and recommending at Van Dorn shuttle stop for next year.

The Train

VRE ran a special train from Broad Run – Airport to Backlick⁷ in the morning and afternoon. I took the afternoon trip which left at 1:51 p.m. – about 2 hours after I finished the ride and had consumed lots of food and maybe had a beer from one of the sponsor coolers.

This was my first time traveling from the Manassas line western terminus. In under 40 minutes, we were back at Backlick, a steady comfortable ride through areas that I rarely see. Oddly enough, we stopped at Manassas station and picked up a few other participants. I am not sure if that was planned – it sound like they waived down the train and it stopped. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take…

Getting on a train with a bicycle isn’t easy, as I learned 2 years ago⁸ for Philly Bike Ride⁹, but I managed. Taking the train ride back was part of the appeal of Tour de VRE. Also, I have now clinched the VRE Manassas line except between Backlick and Alexandria Union Station¹⁰. Incidentally, that’s the section of track closest to my home – I hear the trains regularly from my backyard about 1.5 miles away.

Swag

Registration was held at the finish line with typical, branded giveaways:

• draw-string bag
• t-shirt¹¹
• medal
• stickers¹²
• VRE water bottle

Final thoughts

I really enjoyed Tour de VRE. I enjoy group bike rides for lots of reasons generally:

• Lots of happy people on bikes
• Going places you may never thought to have biked
• Riding with a group motivates me to go farther or up hills I might not do otherwise

Tour de VRE was enjoyable for specific reasons too:

• It includes a train ride
• Lots of snack and good finish line food
• A train ride
• A good cause
• Great value – under a $1 a mile!

Moving forward, I expect to be a Tour de VRE regular and I’ll encourage family and friends to join in.

Footnotes

1. Going on Christopher Roell’s Urban Adventures rides certainly helped my conditioning here. ↩︎
2. Not even being sarcastic here, Fairfax County still has occasional rural-ish character. Zoning! ↩︎
3. Another recommendation is to give me one as a souvenir. ↩︎
4. If your swag is good, you might get linked! ↩︎
5. A train whistle in the distance is such a wonderful ambient sound. ↩︎
6. Often seen riding around the city on her e-bike. ↩︎
7. Backlick? A reddit thread has some theories on the name ↩︎
8. A cursory look at Philadelphia’s SEPTA regional rail, subway and PATCO ↩︎
9. 2023 Philly Bike Ride recap ↩︎
10. I’ve used the following VRE stations: Union Station, L’enfant, Crystal City, Alexandria, Franconia-Springfield, Backlick, Rolling Road, Broad Run. That’s more than any other commuter railroad. ↩︎
11. My t-shirt rotation has gone from stadium giveaways to cycling events ↩︎
12. I need to figure out do with all these stickers I keep getting at events. Laptop? A wall in the basement? ↩︎