I am extremely lazy, which means I am more than happy to ride the same routes over and over again. That said, the people I ride with probably DON’T want to ride the same shit over and over again. So a few months ago I decided to put together ten solid routes that I could rotate through to keep things interesting. They are not flat. If you like flat then go ride the WOD or MacArthur or whatever psychopaths who like riding flats do (like eating healthy or bragging about how good they are at Zwift).

They all start near my house (like I said, I’m lazy) and aim to get between 90-100 feet of elevation gained per mile. Climbing rules, bombing descents is even better, and it’s just one of those facts that everyone knows. I’ll share them here from time to time with a few notes to get you excited or whatever about going out to ride them. In most cases there are some fun segments that someone has created that you can try to top 10 or kom. Or not. Just ride your bike.

Heading back to Chain Bridge from DC (photo credit: Brad Greenberg).

This first one is called Coastal Elites and takes advantage of some of the best climbs on the Virginia and DC sides of the Potomac. It starts off with Franklin Forest Climb which is a steep fucking climb in Franklin Park that will get you in the right frame of mind. You’ll grind some climbs on the east side of Military before heading across Chain Bridge and up Arizona to do all of climbs that take you between MacArthur and Loughboro. The climbs aren’t as punchy as Virginia but they are definitely longer and there are some beautiful houses and parkland (Chain Bridge Rd, Foxhall, and W Street to name a few).

Anyway, here’s the file: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/26916813

There is more climbing than indicated on that page, mainly because Ridewithgps tends to under report elevation. Load it up and let me know what you think. No crying.