Next Proteus ride : Sunday March 4th at 1pm

Join us for a 22-mile loop from Proteus bicycles around the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center to the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge visitors center and back. We'll take a moderate pace, and may split into groups of different paces. Last time we did this ride, we split into two groups, with the "fast women" going at a little more of a workout pace and the rest of us in social ride mode. No one will be dropped.


Here is the ride route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/896301


This is roughly the route from DC to the shop: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/784592
And roughly the route from the shop back to DC: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/797417


From DC, here are my directions:


From downtown DC, I take the MBT to Monroe Street Bridge (bike lane)
Left at 12th (sharrows) and right at Newton (bike route)
Left at 18th, and right at Varnum (bike routes)
Cross Eastern Ave and the road becomes Arundel Road (bike route, bumpy road -- beware unmarked speedbumps)
Jog one block to the right at 34th street (otherwise you'd be on a one-way Allison Street going the wrong way)
Left at 38th Street, over the bridge, and right on the NW branch trail
Cross Rhode Island at the crosswalk/trail alongside Armentrout Road (beware the construction/cyclocross challenge)
Down the ramp and up the NE Branch Trail to Lake Artemesia
Pick up the Paint Branch Trail at Lake Artemesia and go under the CSX track.
Take the College Park Trolley Trail/Rhode Island Ave (bike lane, sort of) across University Blvd (not a pleasant intersection)
Cross left to the outer road alongside Rhode Island
Left on Erie Street up the hill to the bike shop (Route 1 at Erie)


And here are directions from U of Md: Take the Paint Branch trail north from the campus (near the Comcast center). The trail goes under University Blvd and around the Paint Branch golf course. After the golf course, there's a spur off to the right that goes up to Route 1 near the bike shop, and there's a new traffic light to cross over at Hollywood Road.


Here are video directions to the shop from the Greenbelt Metro:
http://vimeo.com/21279584