MS-150 ride from Pittsburgh to Conneaut Ohioto raise money for the MS society. This will be my 4th year doing this (last year being the first year I didn’t have to get off and walk at all).
Armstrong Trail, Kittanning to East Brady (Joe Montana’s birthplace) along the Allegheny River. Brady’s bend is supposed to be one of the most scenic parts of the river.
And
Youghogheny River Trail, lower section. Connellsville to ? (haven’t thought this one through yet.) Thinking of going upstream through Ohiopyle State Park.
This trail is supposed to be complete from Pittsburgh to the Maryland border late this summer, where it will eventually hook up with the C&O Canal trail. I have a LONG trip planned for that sometime in the future.
So, anybody else have any long bike rides planned?
I’ll probably sign up for the Best Dam Bike Tour (it’s Wisconsin’s MS 150 ride). I’ve done it three times before, but my last time was a couple years ago. I need something to train for so I have some motivation to get on my bike again. A long, cold, and snowy winter filled with Playstation, beer, and lethargy has not been kind to my waist.
Actually, I just had the bike down off the garage wall this weekend to give it the annual spring overhaul. The snow has mostly melted here and the temps are in the 40s. Prime cycling weather is starting!
Well, not long bike rides, but I am planning on riding my bike to work this summer.
The job I’m at now is right on the Rivertrail here in Lansing so I won’t have to ride on the streets. Plus, it’ll get me out of the traffic that will be congesting the surface streets when I-496 closes down in 2 weeks for construction ALL SUMMER. Ugh.
I was going to take a bike trip to Ireland for 10 days, but unfortunately I had to get a new car and it took most of my trip money. So I may do the MS 150 from Houston to Austin insead. Along with my usual weekend rides, and possibly some others like the hotter-n-hell ride, etc.
If the foot & mouth crisis gets resolved and the trails get re-opened, I plan to do the entire South Downs Way. Its an off road route from Winchester to Eastbourne, about 100 miles. If the trails stay closed, I may go to Spain or Morocco for a mountain biking holiday.
Other than that, I have a favorite 60 mile ride that I do a few times during the season. I’m mostly a road rider, but I’m trying to get psycat into cycling, so we’re going to be doing a lot of mountain biking this season. Maybe I can get her set up with a nice road bike next year.
On another note, what do you guys ride?
Me:
Road: 96 Fuji Team. All Ultegra.
Mountain: Crappy old Peugeot Chatteau Thierry(no suspension, but a decent enough bike for my purposes.)
Great, so am I. I just bought a house near a bike trail which goes most of the way to work. How long of a commute will it be for you? It should be about 6.5 miles for me. Pretty good. About 40 minutes to work(uphill), 30 minutes from work (downhill). I am also waiting for some warmer weather. We got snow mixed with rain last night. Rain all day and snow Friday.
I also forgot to mention another ride I have tentatively planned on the W&OD Trailfrom Leesburg to Washington D.C. I did 2 rides on this trail (60 mi. and 92 mi.) last year.
bunnygirl posting to this reminds me of a story from my solo W&OD trip last year:
A group of 4 girls (maybe college aged) were in the process of passing me up on the trail. (Yes, GIRLS passed me. I was approaching my 50th mile.) There was a rabbit on the side of the trail. One girl said: “Lookout for the bunny.”
The other girls ignored her.
Once they were past me she said “Did you see that cute bunny?”
“Oh,” replied one of the girls, “When you said ‘Lookout for the bunny’ I thought you were talking about us! You know, ‘Lookout, bunnies coming through!’”
Despite the fubar economy, Mr. Pug and I are going to France in June and will do a 10 day bike tour of Provence. Hey, if you’re in France, cycling is a necessity to burn off all the cheese and wine!
Democritus, tell psycat that Mr. Pug talked me into cycling about three years ago. I lost 40 pounds and adore road cycling. Cycling’s a terrific exercise because it never gets boring, like going to the gym or walking the same route every day.
We have titanium frames (I forget the manufacturer, but they are in Watsonville, California), and love them because they combine just the right amount of stiffness and flexibility, as well as being lightweight. Campy hardware. We’re planning on buying stock in Cytomax, too!
Chimaera, Ireland sounds awesome. Maybe next year you’ll be able to swing it. I hear biking the southwest is cycling nirvana.
D’oh, sorry about the link. Forgot a quote. W&OD Trail.
Democritus: I have an old Nishiki “touring” bike which I use for road rides. It has a cro-moly frame (Which I like just fine, thank you very much, since some of us can’t afford titanium). I need to overhaul it some, but it is in very good working condition.
I have a GT mountain bike which I am thinking of replacing. I try to stick to the road bike where I can (many trails here are fine for the road bike.)
pugluvr: I’ve been trying to get my wife to bike with me for years. She will ride the trails with me (never very long rides) but won’t go near the road (fear). Since we now live about a mile from a bike trail, I think she’ll be riding to the trail with me this summer. Where do you live? Our roads here in Western PA suck for road biking.
LateComer: We live just south of Silicon Valley, California (25 miles south of San Jose, that is). A lot of the roads here bite for biking, too, but there are still plenty of great country rides. We’ve only lived here a year and a half, and are still scouting out and finding good rides. We like to pack the bikes up on the car and drive a little ways to find a good ride. Wide bike shoulders are one of our criteria for selecting a route, as well as a couple of moderate hills. It kind of limits you! Still, this area has the reputation of being a great cycling place. I used to be a fearful of traffic, too, but I talked myself out of it. Let your wife know that I took a deep breath and ventured out on the roads, and I’m glad I did.
Gee, I would have thought that PA was full of good rides. I’ve never been there, but I imagine it as full of mild, rolling hills and green picturesque farmland.
Well, yes and no. Don’t forget that PA has a large mountain range right in the middle. When I lived in South Central PA, we were in a large valley with the foot of South Mountain about 8 miles away. This area had a lot of stream-dug valleys which are VERY STEEP. I would often hit around 40 mph down a hill, and maybe 5 mph back up the other side. I was able, through the years, to find some nice routes though (mostly in Maryland where their roads actually have shoulders).
The best road biking, I would venture, is in Amish Country, Lancaster County and toward Philadelphia. It is flatter there and
It seems to me that people’s definitions of “Rolling Hills” vary wildly.
Here in Western PA, the terrain is the result of Glacial runoff. Deep valleys and steep hills are the order of the day. Of course, here in Indiana County, we are on the last of the Allegheny foothills. To be honest, I haven’t been here during “biking season” so I haven’t found any good routes (excluding the bike trail) yet.
Now, aside from the hills, there are the roads. Pennsylvania does not understand how to build back roads. They are mostly high speed limit with little shoulder. Again, I hope to find some good summer routes. The trick is to find seldom travelled roads. There are 2 lakes within easy biking distance, so some 20 mile ride/1 hour swim/20 mile ride home trips are possible. That would be nice.
I was in California in February of 1998. Wish I could have brought my bike, even though it rained like hell most of the time.
I’m jealous. I was out there last year and would love to take a ride like that, down into the Columbia River Gorge. Of course I severely sprained my ankle at Cape Disappointment (ironically) when I was out there. Maybe the West Coasst is bad luck for me.
I was looking at the web site and can’t find anything about the route. Do you know which roads it takes (roughly)? I would imagine that you take some major roads (Not interstates which I took from Seattle to Portland in the trusty rental car.)
Democritus: I’ve flirted with Century’s (92, 90 miles) but have never pushed myself over that edge. My (very) tentative W&OD ride could easily become a century.
I’m guessing 6 miles round trip. That’s a guess though. I’m only counting the miles 'till I get off the Rivertrail - I don’t know how far on campus I’ll have to go; probably not that far.
