Hi,
My grandfather told me when I was young that he and his brother rode their bikes from Youngstown OH to Pittsburgh to visit some family friends. this would have been in the 40's, single speed bikes, fat tires. About 4 years before my great uncle passed, he gave me the approximate route they took, most of which is still intact, but some sections have been replaced by 4 lane highways.
My Uncle, sister, and myself decided we would repeat the journey in September over Labor Day weekend. I live in Atlanta, my sister lives in NYC, and my uncle is coming in from AZ.
At first, the idea sounded great, but when we started looking at the logistics, that's where it starts getting tricky. If we wanted to fly in, we would go into Pitt, but then how to rent bikes, get them to Youngstown to ride back? It would be simpler if we flew into Pitt, then did the bike ride round trip, but it's 70 miles each way (going by the original route), and none of us has ridden 70 miles before, so I'm not sure what kind of shape we would be in for the return trip.
And if we rented bikes, they would not have racks for a pannier bag (we could ask for one maybe).
Maybe another option would be to find bikes in Youngstown on Craigslist then donate them to someone on the street in Pitt, but the bike listings on CL in Youngstown are only a few per day, so not a large selection.
At any rate, I was hoping for general tips on how to accomplish a ride like this if anyone has experience with it.
Thanks,
Jon