Anacostia River Trail ribbon cutting today. Ride it on Saturday as part of the Cider Ride

Around 10:00am today there will be an official ribbon cutting of the newest section of the Anacostia River Trail which runs between Benning Road and 52nd Avenue in Hyattsville (but connecting to Bladesnburg Waterfrong Park). 

The ribbon cutting will be somewhere along the trail near Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens and include the following dignitaries:

Leif Dormsjo, Director, District Department of Transportation

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (MD)

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)

Victor Mendez, Deputy Secretary, USDOT    

Robert A. Vogel, Regional Director, National Park Service

Pete Rahn, Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation

Then, on the 5th, WABA is sponsoring the Cider Ride which will traverse the new section of trail.

Riders can choose between the 47 mile Honeycrisp route or the 23 mile McIntosh route. The Cider Ride starts and finishes in DC’s Edgewood neighborhood.

New this year: Five miles of BRAND NEW TRAIL that winds along the Anacostia River between River Terrace Park and Bladensburg Waterfront Park, passing the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens on the way. This new segment, which opens on October 31st, connects the 15-mile DC portion of the trail to more than 40 miles of existing trails in Maryland, bringing riders and pedestrians along scenic stretches of the Anacostia River where you can regularly see egrets, deer, and other wildlife.

The route takes riders from Northeast DC out to Maryland’s Anacostia Tributary Trails through Hyattsville and College Park. The Cider Stop is at Proteus Bicycles, just off the trail. The longer Honeycrisp route then takes riders through Beltsville’s agricultural farm lands and to the Patuxent Research Refuge before stopping for a second pit stop in Greenbelt at Buddy Attick Lake Park. From there, the longer route weaves south through Greenbelt Park to the Trolley Trail before returning to DC on more (special) trails. Both routes end at the Dew Drop Inn where riders can enjoy a post-ride celebration.

Comments

[antibozo]

A friend just told me he was attacked and then chased by a bunch of teenagers in Anacostia Park on the Riverwalk Trail today, near the Sousa bridge. He escaped, but tells me that while he was filing a report at the police station, two additional incidents occurred. In one, the ruffians threw an obstacle in front of the cyclist, causing him to do a header and sending him to the hospital. :^(

Hopefully this is just a blip.