Fort Dupont and No Car Mountain Biking

I say ride from hell mainly because if you try Fort Dupont for the first time and don't know what you're getting into, it can be brutal.

In fact, given yesterday, I'd say that the second time is also brutal.

Fort Dupont is unforgiving. The trails are typically covered in loose leaves and rocks: a standard east coast mess, but made worse by the fact that so few people actually end up riding Fort Dupont. That's because it's here:

Yes. That's across the bridge on Pennsylvania Ave in South East. It's far from downtown and requires biking through some sketchy neighborhoods. That means a pretty mean ride out and back - especially on the road with knobby mountain bike tires. (If anyone knows a dirt way to get there, I'm all ears). So why would anyone ride there? Because it's the only legal place to ride a mountain bike on dirt that you can bike to from downtown DC. I think I'd also be right in saying that there aren't any trails that you can bike to from metro stops - but I wouldn't mind being made sure of that. (In fact, most buses let you put a bike on the front, so I should really start exploring that as an option as well.)

Is there some subculture of carless mountain bikers that I can start hanging out with? The irony of having to drive somewhere to bike isn't enjoyable. If I could take the metro, bus or just bike there, it would be awesome.

A few things that I find really strange about Fort Dupont as opposed to other places I've ridden:

1. Being able to ask a National Park Ranger where the good trails are. (usually, national parks are off limits.)
2. Seeing random hobos in the woods sitting on logs. It is an urban area after all.
3. Not seeing more than one other biker for three hours.
4. Knowing that if I get a flat, I can always take the metro home.

Trail-wise, the dotted lines on this map show the trails:

There aren't many and the Northern parts of the 7.5mi North/South hiker/biker trail aren't too well manicured, but there is decent single track for at least three or four miles in the Southern part of the trails that starts in Fort Dupont at the corner of Ft Davis and Ridge. Suffice to say that after biking on city streets all winter and having to trek hours in cars to find dirt, a huge smile comes across my face when I turn right off the road and find a six inch wide dirt path waiting for me.

Also, I finally got to try out my new pedals and shoes and only had some minor damage.