Having Monday off turned out to be a little bit serendipitous for me since it turned out to the nicest day of the year. Part of my plan for the day was to go for a bike ride and then Metro up to my wife’s workplace for a lunch date. It appeared one of those activities would have to be cancelled after I sat with friend on the plaza at Pentagon Row for too long in the morning. Not wanting to waste a good opportunity for some biking, I compromised and decided to ride my bike up to see the Mrs. in Friendship Heights.

Leaving from Pentagon City, I rode up to the Mount Vernon Trail (via Washington Blvd.’s sidewalk) and over Key Bridge. In Georgetown, I picked up the Capital Crescent Trail and followed it all the way into Maryland before heading east on River Road to Western Ave. Not knowing the route well, I was surprised to see that I arrived at my destination in about 63 minutes. In retrospect, it was not that far, so the time was decent, but what really got me was that it takes nearly that long for my wife to get from Pentagon City to Friendship Heights, door-to-door via the yellow and Red lines. In fact, if you were not traveling at rush hour, waiting to transfer at Gallery Place could make that more than an hour-long trip. That got me thinking, where else can you get somewhere faster on a bike than on the train?