[SkateDC] New Route for Friday Night Skate

[Rakelle Sutton]

I'm also a big fan of the new route and look forward to joining a Friday
night skate in the very near future. ~Rakelle

On Wed, Mar 24, 2010 at 12:19 PM, Michael ° <nahgarc at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> George,
>
> Thanks for pioneering a new route.  It looks like a good one.
>
> I've been skating since 1991, and I'm far from a beginner skater, but the
> first time I went out in DC (on a pre-season Friday night skate last year)
> and the other two skaters took me down 15th and onto what seemed as the
> access to the interstate, all I could think was: these people are crazy.
>  The route looks much better now, although now that I know them better it
> might not change my judgment.
>
> Last year we escaped a disaster when someone whom I never saw before (or
> again, I'll add) could not stop going down the hill and ended up rolling
> into Maine Avenue.  Fortunately he did it just after the light turned red
> and the Maine Ave traffic wasn't rolling yet.  But I thought for sure he was
> a goner.  If he had been 5 seconds later it would not have been good.
>
> I've also stayed behind on 15th on a few occasions with a couple of skaters
> who didn't make the light.  It is not any fun trying to get around to Hains
> Point with just one or two beginner skaters.  That is a high pressure
> stretch of road.
>
> Another advantage of this route is the "outs".  I led many skates at the
> New Jersey Shore and I can tell you that new skaters are often grateful for
> the shortcuts.  I have seen many, many newbies come out and week after week
> cut off the extra 4 mile loop that the rest of the group would do.
>  Shortcuts are a nice way to skate with people who want to skate but don't
> want to do 11 miles or who want a longer rest.  When someone is struggling
> and you can say, "wait here and we'll be back in 15 minutes", that is a nice
> option to have.
>
> I am looking forward to trying out the new route.
>
>
>
> --- On Tue, 3/23/10, George Marinkovich <skatewash at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > I'll be using the following route for the Friday Night
> > Skate when I lead.  The route may change in the future
> > as we explore other alternatives (and specifically when
> > construction around the Tidal Basin is completed).  For
> > now it is the safest, most gentle skate route I could put
> > together that follows the traditional route as much as
> > possible.
> >
> > The reason behind this change is to make the FNS a little
> > easier and safer for beginning skaters.  The downhill
> > section of 15th St. from the Washington Monument towards the
> > Jefferson Memorial was always the least favorite part of the
> > route for skaters.  A downhill that often requires one
> > to stop at the traffic signal at the intersection with Maine
> > Ave. on pavement that seems to get more wavy each year was
> > never ideal.  Not to mention the rough pavement in the
> > intersection itself and having to compete for space with
> > vehicle traffic on Maine Ave. because the sidewalks in that
> > area are an even worse choice.  Then we often had to
> > contend with vehicle traffic in order to make a left turn
> > onto Ohio Drive on what is effectively (at least in the
> > minds of drivers trying to get out of Dodge) the on ramp to
> > the 14th St. Bridge and I-395.  We've done this for
> > years and we probably don't give it a second thought, but I
> > imagine it could be a little intimidating for
> >  some beginning skaters.
> >
> > The new route avoids the 15th St. downhill entirely.
> > We eliminate the Ellipse, but otherwise the route is the
> > same until we arrive at the Washington Monument.  We
> > stay on Mall pathways and go up to the Washington Monument
> > itself and then over to the World War II Memorial.
> > From there we take a Mall pathway around the Korean
> > Memorial, cross Independence Ave., and take Ohio Dr.. to the
> > intersection with Buckeye Dr in East Potomac Park.
> > There skaters can choose to do the extra 3 mile Hains Point
> > loop or not.  We then backtrack on Ohio Dr. to the
> > Lincoln Memorial and from that point the rest of the
> > traditional skate route remains unchanged.
> >
> > In addition to the advantages for beginning skaters I think
> > it offers something for everyone.  It avoids bad
> > pavement that nobody really likes.  It visits some new
> > memorials:  Washington Monument (up close and
> > personal), the World War II, and the Korean War
> > Memorials.  It's 12 miles long with the optional Hains
> > Point Loop and only 9 miles long without it.
>
>
>
>
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