Saturday, July 26, 2014
Reston, VA (USA)
[got some paperwork done early and then decided to take advice from the Washington Post (Express): carry my bike on the new Silver Line out to Reston and catch the O&D Trail - I headed over to Huntington Station and had no trouble getting into the city via the Yellow Line - I switched to the lower platform at L'Enfant Plaza and found that the first Silver Line train (from Largo) was just about to arrive - the driver scolded everyone at every stop about getting too close, but he was generally friendly to those on the train - many of them (especially the kids) seemed very excited to be on one of the first trains that was heading out to Wiehle-Reston East - just after we passed the East Falls Church Station, we got on the new tracks - everyone cheered and clapped - at the first stop (McLean), lots more people (many with Silver Line swag, like pennants) got on the train - the track followed the Dulles Toll Road, mainly, and there was a huge distance between stops - it was pretty crowded by the time we reached the end of the line - overall, it was cool to be part of the first hours of service for this long-expected new addition to the Metro system - when I exited the station, I realized it had probably taken me about an hour and a half to get there (1430) - I walked out across the gantry over VA-267 and came to a plaza in front of the parking garage - I ran a gauntlet through lots of booths run by local business and government folks - the W&OD Trail (near mile marker 17) was almost across the street (to the north) - I got started right away, heading east on the new section - it was downhill most of the way - I had originally intended to get back on the Metro when I reached East Falls Church station - however, since it took so long to get around this afternoon, I decided to just keep riding - I went all the way to Shirlington and then took the Four Mile Trail for about three more miles to the Mount Vernon Trail - I toyed with heading North towards the city, but I decided instead to head down towards Old Town - I took a detour at Slaters Road and got some ice cream at a little shop that sold organic products - I continued west a bit into Del Rey and then paralleled the west side of the Metro and VRE tracks all the way back to the King Street stop - got on the first Yellow Line train and made it back to my car - whew! - rode roughly 25 miles today and felt really good - weather was awesome - will have no problem getting to sleep tonight!]