Since I have been keeping tracking of transit usage for years now, isn’t about time I added trails I bicycled on as well?
More than that, I’m recapping what was a pretty good year for bicycling for me and my region.
Cover photograph by Christopher Roell
Trails I biked along
Each trail I can recall biking on is broken out by state – multi-state trails appear twice.
Virginia
Washington, D.C.
- Anacostia River TrailECG
- Capital Crescent Trail*
- Marvin Gaye Trail
- Metropolitan Branch Trail
- Rock Creek Park Trail
- South Capitol Street trail
Maryland
New Jersey
Benjamin Franklin Bridge Footwalk5
Camden Greenway
Wildwood boardwalk
Pennsylvania
Benjamin Franklin Bridge Footwalk
Delaware River Trail
Schuykill Banks Trail5ECG
Schuykill River Trail
*Clinched entirety of trail during the year
ECG Includes sections of the East Coast Greeway – I biked on it in Northern Virginia, D.C., Maryland and Pennsylvania in 2025.
I did not include bike lanes though, there were many.
Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail
In addition to riding along the Mount Vernon Trail, I went to a handful of FoMVT volunteer events and worked on the blog. It turns out i re-themed it back in 2024, not 2025.
I need to take and keep more photos of it this year.
Group Rides
Group rides are great way to go places I would not necessarily think to bike and to meet like-minded people. I participated in several group rides over the year. Typically, I pick them based on where they are going. New route? Yay. Too hilly? Maybe next time.
One of my goals for 2026 is to build out a page with all the group rides I know of – there are many. And who knows, maybe family and friends will start joining me?
TBD Cycling
I think I logged more group miles with TBD than any other – 3 or 4 trips, including a metric century more or less.
Urban Adventures
Chris Roelle’s group rides on Sunday mornings have a theme – like the stadium ride or the Christmas Tree ride. I went on several of these.
626 Ride
I only got out with this Thursday night group twice, but hope to return for more rides in 2026. They start up again when we go back to daylight time.
DC Bike Party
I think I did the biggest group ride 2 or 3 times this year. It’s a little slower, so I only go if it’s a really interesting route.
Handy Bikes
I don’t have a photo from the one ride I did because I was wheezing too much. Next time, skip the hills William.
Streetscalling DC
No photo, but they gave us food after the ride. I need to go on another Streetscalling ride in 2026. I stopped by their table at Philly Bike Ride.
Gran Fondos
In 2025, I also participated in three big organized rides. I will try to do these in 2026 as well, if practical. Note: wear the same jersey for every one this time around.
DC Bike Ride
My third – I didn’t even blog about it.
My previous two trips:
Tour de VRE
My first time – I only found out about a few weeks earlier.
This was an exhilarating ride from Springfield to Mananas with a train ride back.
Philly Bike Ride
My second time to the city of brotherly love for this ride.
2025 Philly Bike Ride and other observations from riding around the city of brotherly love
I hope this will be the year I get to do one of my biggest goals – the Five Boros Bike Tour. I haven’t bike in New York yet.
Good Alexandria news
Acouple of big milestones, close to home, this year:
- The Holmes Run Trail under Interstate 395 is open again, over 6 years after a devastating flood.
- A new buffered cycletrack along Mill and Jameson roads near Carlyle. Apparently, when it was up for repaving, Transportation and Environmental Services just decided to put in the cycle track. When no one opposed at the public hearing, T&ES went and did it (Alexandria BPAC). More of this Alexandria!
Let’s hope for a good 2026 for cycling – there are a lot of headwinds from the current federal administration against cycling, any non-automotive mobility and in general.
Bike touring via train
Tour de VRE gave me an idea – using MARC rail to go on a newly-completed Maryland trail. I regularly go on Metro with my bike, so why not MARC? I have also used SEPTA commuter rail and PATCO to go back and forth to Philadelphia for Philly Bike Ride.
Sadly, it isn’t very practical to do on VRE or most MARC lines since they are rush hour focused, but doable on the Penn Line.
Oh and by the way Amtrak has a surcharge for taking your bike and space is limited.
All 2025 Bicycling posts
Footnotes
- Finally closer to whole: The Holmes Run Trail is finally connected under I-395 ↩︎
- I also volunteer with Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail, working on the web site and other events. ↩︎
- I wrote about my first time on the trail: First bike ride on the Sligo Creek Trail ↩︎
- I had my first ride on this too: Bicycling along the newly completed WB&A Trail ↩︎
- My second time – not as white knuckle as the first: Bicycling across the Ben Franklin Bridge is a lot less scary on the inner portion of the trail ↩︎
- First ride on the Schuylkill Banks trail ↩︎