Contributor Opinion By Mark Pierzchala: Biking Rockville
Aug 24, 2009 8:00 - 12 Comments
>You’ve heard of ‘Buy Rockville’ but what about ‘Bike Rockville’? In 18 trips from February to July, I biked every street in this fair City. I wanted to see the whole City in a personal way at an achievable pace. A car tour would have been too quick and distant and walking, way too long.
The grand tour took me a total of 48 hours and 35 minutes. There are about 150 miles of City streets but they aren’t exactly laid out end-to-end. I twice covered the length of every cul-de-sac and the crazy pattern of Rockville’s streets meant that I rode some streets 3, 4, or many more times. At an estimated 9 miles per hour I would have covered more than 430 miles. These rides were grueling at times as I hauled my 57-year old body around on a tank of a bike, ultimately using all 21 gears.
The first street I rode on February 21 was Frederick Avenue in Lincoln Park. The last street I biked on July 4 was A Street (it leads to the new Giant off of 355). It took two trips to cover King Farm and three trips to ride through Twinbrook. Excursions ranged from 95 to 285 minutes.
I saw our neighborhoods, Rockville’s industry, its commercial districts and I was able to see how people live. When I entered a neighborhood I tried to understand how the area is affected by pressures on its periphery and how parts of the City connect with one other. I often ventured into the surrounding County to see how the City fits into its surroundings.
Some lessons:
- Rockville is a sprawling metropolis built around the automobile.
- There is an amazing diversity of housing and neighborhoods truly are distinctive.
- The City is wonderfully bikable; its drivers polite (okay, there were a few exceptions).
- Rockville is incredibly hilly. For every 30-second cruise downhill there was a 2 or 3 minute climb on another hill to dread.
- The steepest hill is Crofton Hill Lane (opposite Research Boulevard on West Montgomery). The ascent is so challenging, there’s really no second place.
- Rockville’s bike paths complement the roadways very well. It is often easier to cross from one neighborhood to another via bike path than by a circuitous car route.
- I found 3 errors on Rockville’s bicycle map; I’ll be sharing these with City Staff.
I’m not claiming that I now remember every street. But as I subsequently campaign by bicycle I find that I’m developing a unique and detailed mental map of the City. For example, to get from College Gardens to North Farm to campaign, the route from College Parkway was: south on Nelson Street, left on West Montgomery Avenue, quick right on Addclare Road, left on Roxboro Road, through Bullards Park onto Autumn Wind Way, down Great Falls Road, cross Maryland Avenue onto Potomac Valley Road, right on New Mark Esplanade to its end, onto the short bike path, right on Waddington Lane, through Dogwood Park, onto a secluded path into The Villages at Tower Oaks, down Tower Oaks Boulevard (crossing Twinbrook Parkway), and finally left on North Farm Lane 30 minutes after starting out. Trips like this are not possible by car, they’re fun, and they really help me understand what Rockville is all about!
Mark Pierzchala
Mark Pierzchala is a candidate for City Council.
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Gonna take more than a bike tour of Rockville to get my vote.
That’s an impressive amount of work… and exercise! Thanks for sharing, Mark. I’m afraid I’m doing it the slow way- on foot!
Given that you’re 15, Saul, or so you keep telling us, it’s gonna take 3 more years regardless. to get your vote
Mark, your trek reminds me of “Walking Lawton,” former governor of Florida.Thank you for your effort to better learn the city in this way. We are bike riders, too, and appreciate it..I am very confused by Saul’s comments.He continually rants about throwing “out” the “rascals,” eg., incumbent mayor and council, yet keeps leaving rude comments on all the posts by or about other candidates (non-incumbents) here and on other threads.I fail to see why you need to randomly insert your position on this blog. And, you’ve already insulted me for no reason more than once.
Oh my, what’s a 15-yr old kid to do, surrounded by all these adult role models………NOT!!!
Saul,if you are still in need of Student Service Learning hours, the Rockville Youth Bike Project is a great place to fulfill that obligation and doesn’t actually require you ride a bike.Tommy
I see Mark pass my house every morning on his bicycle enroute to the metro station, with his sandwich type campaign poster on the back of his bicycle. He more than “walks the walk”, he’s an “influence pedaler”!
I thought you might find my old biking itinerary amusing. Back in 1973, when I was a student at Montgomery College in Rockville, I had phobias about learning to drive a car, and the buses didn’t run very often to the college, so I bought a 10-speed racing bike, and did my home>school>work>home circuit every weekday.I lived near the intersection of Seven Locks and Montrose, so I got to the college every morning by taking Seven Locks Road up to Falls Road, then Great Falls and Hungerford to the College. After school it was south on Hungerford to Veirs Mill Rd., down to Twinbrook Shopping Center where I worked at the Sears shipping outlet. After work, around 9 PM, I took Veirs Mill to Randolph, then Randolph to the Pike, where it turned into Montrose, then Montrose home to Seven Locks.It was sheer insanity, only possible with the physical fitness and the self-delusion of the very young. I also did it because it was simply my best non-car alternative, other than having to sit around waiting for about five or six bus transfers every day that would have eaten up about two or three hours of my commuting time. I rode in the road, without a helmet, and was lucky to have had only a few spills that could have really hurt me, but didn’t. I finally came to my senses and found a job at a bank through which I could get an auto loan. But I’ll never forget that sensation of literally RACING through downtown Rockville every day.
Mark,Great piece. I do bike quite often around the city but not nearly as much as you do. I also do a fair share of walking and share your thoughts that you never really feel a neighborhood or the difference a few blocks will make. I hope one thing that all of us agree on is that we can expand on making Rockville a more pedestiran/bike friendly city. It already has a great head start on many surronding communities. Looking forward to this campaign season…..Trapper
Mark - My hat is off to you. That’s a lot of biking. Your observation that Rockville is hilly is worth more consideration. That is a potential limit to the extent that bikes can work as transportation for all people in Rockville. A couple of thoughts - when I first started biking in Rockville at age 25 I found heading up the hills on Lewis coming back from the Metro quite challenging. Now at age 47 they are no big deal. Biking builds the muscles you need for biking. Another thought - battery assisted bikes can make big hills smaller, long trips shorter and sweaty trips breasy and easy.
Saul, you or anyone shouldn’t vote for me, or against me because I biked Rockville. It was a fun thing to do, and educational.All, one thing I didn’t mention but which is very important, is that I’ve lost 40 pounds over the past year. If I stay on bike or on foot the weight stays off. If I get back in the car the weight goes on. Biking is so much fun, and for more people than you know, it is a viable option. Mark
Nice article, Mark. Good luck with the cycling. As someone once told me, the best exercise is little and often, so commuting is perfect. And for those, like me, who find much exercise pretty boring, you’ve actually got a reason to do it. For a starter, the first 2 weeks are the worst. I nearly didn’t get through that but, having done so, managed 28 years commuting to central London (UK) every day. I think I wouldn’t have continued if I hadn’t decided at the start that commuting that way wasn’t going to be optional, depending on the weather. I only stopped for ice. Once you’ve decided you enjoy commuting by bike it’s worth getting some decent wet-weather gear. But even in London you don’t get rained on that much! And there’s the zen of cycling - it’s hard to take office worries home when you have to concentrate on such a different activity.