alternative hippopotamus

Today was about as nice as things get on an early winter day in our fair city. I had made up my mind after an exploratory trip yesterday that I couldn’t let the Christmas break go by without skateboarding on the bike path from Roslyn, VA.

The original concept was to take the path out to Roosevelt Island, come back to Key Bridge, and skateboard into Georgetown. The point being that Metro to Roslyn, and then skateboarding over Key Bridge is probably the simplest way of getting into Georgetown. (It’s a long story. But getting into Georgetown is a pain in the neck.)

What should be the simplest way is taking Metro to Dupont Circle, skateboarding down P St., and then through Rose Park. The reason that this doesn’t work is that bike paths in DC proper are in very poor condition. Which is an understatement. Saying that DC bike paths are in poor condition, is like saying Dick Cheney has problems with openness.

I’ll just emphasize here that we’re not talking about parts of DC that are often victims of neglect. If the Rose Park bike path were in Anacostia, we’d uniformly shake our heads and say “This isn’t right. I demand Mayor Fenty make it his business to get this fixed. ”

Amazingly, we’re talking about Dupont Circle going into Georgetown. Why this part of town has bike paths in a state of neglect I can only call post-apocalyptic is beyond me.

Anyway, I ended up bagging Georgetown this trip. Here’s what happened. I took the path to the Roosevelt Island turn-off, and thought “Man, oh man, this is pretty sweet.” So, I kept going. The path gets a bit rougher after Roosevelt Island, though, and soon, I was looking for the nearest spot to get off the path. So, I high-tailed it across the Parkway, taking the Arlington Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial. By the deep ruts in the grass, I could tell I wasn’t the first to take this shortcut.

For those of you not familiar with the local geography, there are three bridges crossing the Potomac from Virginia into DC: Key Bridge, Teddy Roosevelt Bridge, and Arlington Memorial Bridge. (Okay, there are other bridges, but they don’t figure into this post.) The bike path on the Virginia side has a fork in it south of Roosevelt Island. The branch to the right goes over the Roosevelt Bridge to the Kennedy Center. The branch to the left goes under Memorial Bridge, past the airport, and into Old Towne. There may well be some official way of getting from the bike path to Memorial Bridge, I’ve just never found it.

Here, a note on equipment is in order. I use a standard skateboard, but with longboard wheels (Kryptonics 62mm, 78a). A better match for the bike paths would be a longboard with, say 70mm wheels. I’ve got my eye on this Sector 9 longboard, as an example. Because the terrain along the Potomac is flat, a larger wheel is definitely worth looking at.

Standard skateboard wheels, on the other hand, would be a total drag on the bike paths, and problematic on the bridges. I would not recommend it at all. On the other hand, a 56mm/medium hardness skateboard would work just fine on Pennsylvania Ave or thereabouts. Freedom Plaza is another thing, entirely. It’s totally made for skating. I mean real skateboarders who can do the shape-shifting required of the sport. What I do is better described as “urban longboarding.”

Back to the bike path. Once you cross Memorial Bridge (kind of rocky, but still fun) you’re at the Lincoln Memorial. The sidewalks here were resurfaced recently, and consequently, are very sweet. The angle from the Lincoln Memorial down to Constitution Ave is just right for a leisurely downhill gait. It’s moments like this when a skateboard feels just like a magic carpet, with occasional bumps as it goes over the cracks in the pavement.

Also worth noting here is that there’s a stretch of asphalt sidewalk on Constitution between 23rd st and 19th st that’s been recently repaved. You step on the magic carpet, push off, and effortlessly, you’ve moved 4 blocks.

Because the knot of visitors today was so, well, knotty, I walked up a couple of blocks to E St. and took that to the White House. I don’t normally visit this part of E St., but you know, it’s nice. I took a breather on a park bench, looking at the local park and the buildings, and I’ve got to say this is a pleasant part of town.

There was a huge crowd around the White House and the Corcoran Gallery (there’s an Ansel Adams exhibit that’s about to close) so I hoofed it up to Pennsylvania Ave., skateboarding near the White House and through Lafayette Park. I wasn’t sure if I could skate on the closed-off section of Pennsylvania Ave, and there may be some kind of laws against it, but I saw an in-line skater with a hockey stick, and thought I was probably less threatening an apparition than him.

So, I skateboarded in front of the White House today. That’s something I should put in my scrapbook.

All, in all I travelled about 3 or 4 miles. Over a 2 hour period. So, I didn’t set any land-speed records. But, it was a superb trek through our fair city. I have the weary old bones to prove it.