Group Rides in Arlington: Join the Bicycle Social

While a quiet ride on your own can be one of the great pleasures of cycling, there’s something quite enjoyable about being part of a rolling get-together with other cyclists. Arlington’s been the start point for a number of group rides over the years, but it seems as if the number of those rides has expanded lately.

In a good sign for cycling in Arlington, the growth in rides isn’t just one of numbers. There’s also greater diversity of ride types, from the standard athletic hammerfest to the decidedly slow and easy family rides.

Shop rides are a mainstay of group rides in Arlington, with the most popular — by far — being the Tuesday night ride that starts at Freshbikes in Ballston (7 p.m.) and stays almost entirely in Arlington. It’s definitely on the fast side of things, and isn’t the best choice for first-timers. Revolution Cycles has several rides every week, with its most popular being the Sunday morning ride starting in Clarendon (8:30 a.m.) and looping out to Potomac, Md. It’s not as busy as the Freshbikes ride and tends to attract a broader range of skill levels. On the western end of Arlington, Tri360's Saturday ride starts at the shop (8:30 a.m.) and rolls around the hills of North Arlington and eastern Fairfax County. While participants should show up expecting to pedal hard, it’s advertised and operated as a “no-drop” ride.

On the somewhat chiller side of things, groups like Babes on Bikes and Potomac Pedalers have a full schedule of rides that start in Arlington and have a wide range of paces. One need not be a member of these groups to join a ride — just check the schedule and show up prepared. In the case of Babes on Bikes, you must 1) be a woman, and 2) join the private list for ride announcements. They’ve found that some riders find a single-gender ride environment more welcoming. It’s great to see this option out there.

As discussed in the last Clarendon Cycles piece, family rides are gaining ground in Arlington. While we haven’t reached a point where a regularly scheduled weekly family ride is sustainable, the big turnout at the Kidical Mass Arlington Father’s Day ride suggests we’re not too far away from it. Kidical Mass Arlington will continue to schedule and host rides over the remainder of the summer. If you’ve got a middle-schooler looking for a group ride, give Phoenix Bikes a call and see when their next ride is scheduled. 

There are, of course, many rides beyond those listed here. As usual, Bike Arlington is a good resource for finding out more about Arlington rides. The new site DCpaceline has also done an excellent job of cataloging most of the sport-focused rides in the Washington area. Finally, there’s always the Washington Area Bike Forums, filled with folks who happily help anyone trying to find or get ready for a ride in the region. Group rides can be intimidating for the uninitiated, but the support you'll find at the forums — from answering questions about pace to offers of a friendly-face on arrival — should help ease most any anxiety.

There’s much to be said for cycling as a solitary activity, moving alone with your thoughts, constrained by little more than your legs and time on hand. But there’s just as much to be said for cycling with others, chatting the miles away and forming new friendships on the road.

And you don’t even have to leave Arlington to try it out.

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Kudos to Arlington County for the recently completely Joyce Street underpass rehab. This vastly improves conditions for pedestrians and cyclists over its former state. While it’s something of an island right now, it will be quite useful in connecting the (eventually) reconfigured Columbia Pike with the (expected) cycletracks on Army Navy Drive. As frequently is said, Arlington needs better internal north-south connections, and this will be one of them.

Mark Blacknell is a member of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee, president of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, and a League Cycling Instructor.