There is nothing to reduce stress in the morning like peddling into town at full speed. There are a variety of ways to ride into town from the Mount Vernon Trail to the south, the Custis Trail to the west, and the Capital Cresent trail to the north. What I found on the Cresent Trail in the mornings was that a lot of people with backpacks were biking into work each morning. The best part of the Cresent trail is that it is a mostly downhill fast ride into town. Obviously, when you arrive at work you need to change clothes and clean up and you need a secure place to store your bike.

Starting in Bethesda most of the traffic is headed the same way on the trail. Sometimes you are passing slow riders and sometimes fast riders come racing past you.

Once you arrive in town the traffic starts to be a concern but DC has become a better bike town in recent years and now has some bike lanes to allow safer riding in town.

The downside of the Cresent Trail is the ride back up the hill at the end of the day. It is not really that bad. You ride for a mile or two beside the canal before climbing a steep hill for another mile or two and then the rest of the way is an easy incline back to Bethesda.
On the weekends I sometimes ride down through Rock Creek Park to Georgetown to get some lunch and rest in there. Then return up the Cresent Trail. It is a nice paved loop that allows me to use my street bike. When riding town off the trails I use a mountain bike with suspension that can handle running over potholes and curbs without hurting the tires.
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