If you’re looking to incorporate a quick and easy bike ride into your weekend plans, it can be hard to know where to start. I’m a beginner bike rider, and I’d love to bike around the city, but it’s intimidating for me to bike in traffic. So I wanted to find the easy bike routes, and then plan some simple trips to get my feet wet. I discovered that Arlington County created a publicly available map* that highlights all of the suggested bike routes in the county. Each segment is labeled with a difficulty level (Easy, Medium, and Difficult) and I created the map below that shows only the routes labeled as “Easy”. The segments are pretty disjointed, but with a little creativity you can connect them for a fun ride!

Try one of these three routes from the “Easy & Suggested” map for a fun outing this weekend! Each route begins and ends at a Capital Bikeshare location and is under 30-minutes so you can use a $2 Single-Trip pass.

1. For a Daytime Date

Meet at the Walter Reed Community Center, play a friendly game of tennis, and then bike up to Ballston for brunch! This is a 16-minute, 2.4-mile route.

Link to custom route on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/Xr33TRUTSp62

Starting Capital Bikeshare Location: Walter Reed Community Center / Walter Reed Dr & 16th St S

Ending Capital Bikeshare Location: N Quincy St & Glebe Rd

2. For Exercise

Biking is great exercise, and this loop offers added interest by routing through Ballston neighborhoods. There’s also a mildly challenging incline in the second half of the route. This is a 30-minute, 5-mile route.

Link to custom route on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/5kEkuM5yhLQ2

Starting Capital Bikeshare Location: Ballston Metro / N Stuart & 9th St N

Ending Capital Bikeshare Location: Ballston Metro / N Stuart & 9th St N

3. For Families

Burn off some energy at Doctor’s Run Park and continue the fun with a bike ride to Clarendon for a bite to eat. This is a 20-minute, 2.8-mile route.

Link to custom route on Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/3BdfxpfNaxp

Starting Capital Bikeshare Location: S George Mason Dr & 13th St S

Ending Capital Bikeshare Location: Washington Blvd & 10th St N

Do you have any tips for finding routes for beginners? What do you think about these routes? Let us know if you try one, and comment below to tell us which other map filters (trails, bike lanes, etc.) would be helpful to you! And don’t forget to check out the Arlington County 2017 Bicycle Comfort Level Map.

*Editor’s Note: Alli used the Bike Route Map from Arlington County’s open data portal to create her “suggested comfort route” map. The Bike Route Map combines data layers from both the regular Arlington County Bike Map and the Arlington County Comfort Level Map. We linked directly to the Maps & Rides section of our website in the intro as they’re a little more user friendly, but wanted to make sure to share the open data information as well.

Map Credit: Alli Torban