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Best bike ride in America

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Best bike ride in America

Old 05-26-07, 04:52 PM
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Best bike ride in America

I will probably get dissenters, but it would be hard to beat the Great Allegheny Passage / Chesapeake & Ohio Canal as the best bike trip in the USA. The final section linking the two was completed last November so there is now a continuous trail of 316 miles from the outskirts of Pittsburgh to Washington DC (Georgetown).

The scenery is beautiful, you don't have to worry about traffic, and the grades are moderate. There is also the opportunity for historic sights such as Antietam, Harper's Ferry, and Fallingwater (Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece). My friend and I did the C&O Canal last year and the Allegheny Passage this month. Here is a short report about this year's trip:

During the week of May 14th my friend Wayne and I cycled the great Allegheny passage. We started in the middle, at Ohiopyle, because we wanted to end our trip near Fallingwater. On Monday we had an 8-hour drive from Toronto. On Tuesday we cycled to Meyersdale, on Wednesday to Cumberland. Thursday morning we were shuttled to the western end at McKeesport by Freedom Trail Riders, then cycled to Connellsville. On Friday we had a short ride back to Ohiopyle, which left the afternoon for the tour of Fallingwater and a start on our drive back to Toronto.

Our first day we had beautiful weather but we had showers and cool temperatures on the remaining three days. We were carrying rain gear and I kept quite dry, but Wayne’s gear was not as good. The rain was heaviest on the final day, I got a bit damp and Wayne got quite wet, and both our bikes were filthy by the time we finished. Of course the sun came out about 2 hours after we finished.

Now that the passage has been completed to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal at Cumberland, I think it will be attracting a lot of cyclists wanting to do the entire distance. We met a few, including two couples who had flown in from Colorado, and I expect it will get quite busy this summer. Wayne and I had cycled the C&O Canal from Cumberland to Great Falls in May 2006.

We also met two young guys from DC who had been driven to McKeesport and were cycling home. They had only two small panniers each and I said “you are obviously not camping” to which they replied “yes, we are”. They couldn’t have had much rain gear or warm clothing so I wouldn’t be surprised if they abandoned when it turned cold and wet.

We stayed at Burgess house in Meyersdale, Walnut Bottom B&B in Cumberland, Victorian Rose B&B in Connellsville, and at Laurel Guest House in Ohiopyle. They are all recommended. Victorian Rose is a few miles out of town along narrow roads, but the proprietor takes you and your bike up to the house, returns you into town for dinner, picks you up again when you’re done, and takes you back again in the morning.

The trail surface is generally excellent and the scenery is beautiful. Despite three days of rain and cool temperatures we still enjoyed the experience and would highly recommend it. The surface of the C&O Canal is rougher but we had no difficulty on either my touring bike or Wayne’s hybrid. The total distance from end to end, from McKeesport near Pittsburgh to Georgetown in Washington, DC, is 316 miles. You need to add extra distance to get to accommodation and restaurants, particularly along the C&O Canal, and we also cycled to Antietim, Harper’s Ferry, and Leesburg Virginia during last year’s trip. We took six days last year, four this year, but we are in our early 60s and wanted to enjoy the sights along the way.
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Old 05-26-07, 06:17 PM
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I am attaching a few more photos. Some are from previous trips in the Autumn.

Would also like to mention that these trails include awesome tunnels, two greater than half mile long, and impressive bridges.
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Old 05-26-07, 06:33 PM
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Thanks for this post, Ken. It sounds like a wonderful ride and you got me thinking that I ought to give it a try. DC to Pittsburgh...quite a ride.
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Old 05-26-07, 07:31 PM
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Thanks for the report. I've done sections of the trail near Ohiopyle and would love to do a multi-day trip on the trail.

Did you get a chance to visit Kentuck Knob while you were in the area? It's another Frank Lloyd Wright home in the area. I visted Fallingwater a few years ago and loved it.
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Old 05-26-07, 07:36 PM
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Originally Posted by tlc20010
Thanks for this post, Ken. It sounds like a wonderful ride and you got me thinking that I ought to give it a try. DC to Pittsburgh...quite a ride.
Actually, Pittsburgh to DC is the preferred direction. It is more downhill and has the prevailing winds.

Amtrak will carry bicycles between the two cities, but not any of the between stops. There are also shuttle services, such as the one we used.

For more information go to https://atatrail.org/ and https://www.nps.gov/choh/
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Old 05-26-07, 07:38 PM
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I am doing the trip from Pittsburgh to DC in July. Really looking forward to it. I rode a few of of your PA trails this past week. Lehigh Gorge (thanks Little Darwin for the recommendation) which was great. Pine Creek trail (I believe it was called) is another great ride I did last week.

I am ready to go though for the Pittsburgh to DC thing. Rooms are reserved. One way car rentals done. I just need for July to get here!
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Old 05-26-07, 07:43 PM
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Originally Posted by Beverly
Thanks for the report. I've done sections of the trail near Ohiopyle and would love to do a multi-day trip on the trail.

Did you get a chance to visit Kentuck Knob while you were in the area? It's another Frank Lloyd Wright home in the area. I visted Fallingwater a few years ago and loved it.
Beverly, we did not go to Kentuck Knob.
You have some pretty nice trails in your part of Ohio, too. Cycled some of the Little Miami about 8 years ago, and liked it a lot.
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Old 05-26-07, 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Ken Brown
Beverly, we did not go to Kentuck Knob.
You have some pretty nice trails in your part of Ohio, too. Cycled some of the Little Miami about 8 years ago, and liked it a lot.
You need to return as they've extended both ends of the Little Miami in the past few years. It's one of my favorite trails in the area. I grew up in a small town along the trail and never thought I would see the day when the railroad tracks I played on as a child would become a bike trail.
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Old 05-26-07, 09:39 PM
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Beautiful pics
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Old 05-26-07, 10:34 PM
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Nice pics! And a great ride report as well.

We're thinking of taking the tandem east...this looks interesting. Thanks for sharing.
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Old 05-26-07, 11:13 PM
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Well, I have to weigh in with my idea of the best bike ride in America. It's in Burbank, CA. It's a whopping 4 miles long, and there are even little squiggles on the path so you don't get bored! 12.5 loops, and there's your century!

Pictures don't lie...

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Old 05-27-07, 09:45 AM
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Just sayin...
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Old 05-27-07, 10:23 AM
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Hey Ken. How's the Big Savage tunnel issue? Last Fall I spoke to some thru cyclists [near Shepherdstown it was] who said there was a nasty detour over the top of big Savage.
 
Old 05-27-07, 11:35 AM
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Coyote, Big Savage has been open for a couple years. They only close it in winter.
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Old 05-27-07, 03:15 PM
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How could the best bike ride not be in California? Get real. I'm sure your ride is nice, though.
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Old 05-27-07, 03:29 PM
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It looks like a beautiful ride. If we make it to the East Coast, I'd like to do it. Just for the pictures, if nothing else. Thanks.
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Old 05-27-07, 06:01 PM
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Originally Posted by cccorlew
How could the best bike ride not be in California? Get real. I'm sure your ride is nice, though.
+1

See my above post regarding the 4 mile Burbank bike path...

Still just sayin' ...
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Old 05-27-07, 07:21 PM
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Great Trail

Here, here! We thought this was a great trail too. California is a lovely state, but rather lacking in this type of long-distance dedicated cycling route. We might be one of the couples from Colorado you mentioned. There was an article about the trails in the Denver Post a few months ago, so perhaps that accounts for some of us doing the ride. We, too, got wet and muddy, but only on two days. The rest of the time the weather was perfect--cooler than we expected, for which we are grateful. The C&O Canal towpath is pretty miserable when wet and muddy, so we would actually recommend waiting for the rain to stop. The Passage drains better and while you still get very dirty, it's not nearly as bad as the towpath. The scenery along the trail is beautiful and it was quiet and tranquil. We were surprised at how rural it felt so near to population centers. Highly recommended. A note for people coming from far away: we found that it was more economical to buy bikes in Pittsburgh and sell them in DC than to either rent or ship our own bikes. I posted an ad on Craigslist and was inundated with responses. We bought Trek 7100's.

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Old 05-28-07, 05:04 AM
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Thanks for sharing! That sounds like a beautiful route. I'll have to put that on my list of things to do.
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Old 05-28-07, 06:39 AM
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Everytime I see touring pictures, it makes me want to take off riding, thanks Ken.
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Old 05-30-07, 11:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Big Paulie
Well, I have to weigh in with my idea of the best bike ride in America. It's in Burbank, CA. It's a whopping 4 miles long, and there are even little squiggles on the path so you don't get bored! 12.5 loops, and there's your century!

Pictures don't lie...
Hate to disagree, but the best bike ride in America is in Coronado, CA. A round trip is 6.0 miles, so a metric is just over 10 laps. You've got vistas of San Diego's skyline, beautiful old homes, the Pacific Ocean, the Hotel Del Coronado, a golf course and lots of coeds walking around everywhere.

Then there's the Silver Strand, which will take you down to Imperial Beach and back (16 miles r/t).

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Old 05-30-07, 12:42 PM
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I did the C/O Trail from Alexandria VA to Leesburg VA back in the late 1980's. That was a great trip out and back. Many good things to see along the way. I am happy to see that they is more to it now, becuase past Leesburg back in the 80's the trail was not well marked or maintained. Looking at the pictures and maps, it has greatly improved!

Thanks for the links Ken!

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Old 05-30-07, 04:33 PM
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Originally Posted by ang1sgt
I did the C/O Trail from Alexandria VA to Leesburg VA back in the late 1980's. That was a great trip out and back. Many good things to see along the way. I am happy to see that they is more to it now, becuase past Leesburg back in the 80's the trail was not well marked or maintained. Looking at the pictures and maps, it has greatly improved!

Thanks for the links Ken!

Chris
I think the bike trail from Alexandria to Leesburg is the Old Dominion. It's a different bike trail than the C&O towpath from Georgetown to Cumberland.
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Old 05-30-07, 06:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Digital Gee
Hate to disagree, but the best bike ride in America is in Coronado, CA. A round trip is 6.0 miles, so a metric is just over 10 laps. You've got vistas of San Diego's skyline, beautiful old homes, the Pacific Ocean, the Hotel Del Coronado, a golf course and lots of coeds walking around everywhere.

Then there's the Silver Strand, which will take you down to Imperial Beach and back (16 miles r/t).

What's great about rail trails is the hills are low rises. That back east ride would be beautiful.


DG, does it affect your ride time if you stop at the great Mexican restaurant on Orange Ave by Second st and fill up? They always have excellent margaritas, but that might affect how straight we ride.
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Old 05-30-07, 08:02 PM
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Thanks for the descriptions & pictures Ken. Years ago I did part of that trail, I'd like to do the full Pittsburgh to DC ride.

Can you please fill me in regarding the bikes you rode, tires, conditions of the trails, etc.?
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