Pittsburgh to Washington
 

My daughter and I are planning to bike from Pittsburgh to Washington DC early June.

If I drive to DC, is there anyone in the Pittsburgh area who could store my bikes and maybe pick us up at the train station?

I would buy dinner for anyone who could help :)

Bus?
Train?

Probably train? I'm open to suggestions....

A good friend did this last summer, and we are thinking of doing it with him this summer. PM me if you want to talk logistics. We would probably rent a van and drive w/bikes one way from DC to Pittsburgh.
-John

I'd try the bikepgh message board or warmshowers

also try rccardr here on this forum.
not that he'd do it, but he might have angles.
he's done that trip before.

Pittsburgh-DC is one of the few Amtrak runs that have bike service at each end.
So you could leave your car at either end, train with the bikes to the other end and ride back.
Easy to bike from the train station to the trail end in both cities.
It's a lovely ride.

The schedule at the Pittsburgh end is a little rough. Per Amtrak's schedule, departure time eastward to DC is 5:20 AM. Arrival time from DC is 11:48 PM, if everything is on-time.

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/422/889/...e-060914,0.pdf

I rode the entire GAP-C&O trails last June with a couple of friends. Here is what we did. We drove to DC with our bikes, and left the car at a relative's house in Bethesda, MD. We then packed up our bikes and rode to Union Station in DC, arriving about 2 hours before departure. That gave us plenty of time to pack our bikes in the Amtrak boxes and get something to eat. We took the train to Pittsburgh, arriving close to midnight, unpacked our bikes and rode to our hotel in the dark. We all had good LED lights, which are useful for the tunnels as well. We headed back toward DC the following day, averaging about 60 miles a day. We reached Georgetown in 6 days and rode from there to the home where we left our car. If you don't know anybody in DC, you could park your car at the Reagan airport. Parking is very expensive in DC, as you probably know.

I saw the title of your thread and thought you were gonna ride cross country to Washington state!:lol:

http://www.zoominto.com/zoomapi/ZoomButt.gif


...which would be much cooler. :)

As suggested I would post on Bike Pgh when you know the dates , I may be able to help you Too. I live 10 miles from Pittsburgh along the gap by the Waterfront in Homestead PA 15120 if you stay a day in a hotel someone would love to give you a tour of the city < I will if I am free and have seen several others that have done this too. The point is not far from the bus or train terminal and would be easy to find . :D

My daughter graduates high school this spring. She chose the bike tour as her senior spring trip :)
She did go to Florida last spring with some friends.

The cross country tour will be the summer of her college graduation.
I'll ride anytime she invites me! Great stuff.

Thanks! Will keep you posted.

@Flog00 - Congratulations on your daughters graduation. I think it's cool that she chose something somewhat out of the ordinary for her trip. What bike will she ride? I'm not familiar at all with the east, so how many miles per day will this take, etc.? What will the weather be like?

I'm sure you will take lots of photos, and this will be a wonderful trip whose memories will last a lifetime.

Indeed!

Very cool to hear about this Scott...this is a trip that I want to do one day...now that you are doing it...you can help coach the rest of us!!!

BTW...did I miss a thread on the Tomii? Still waiting to see it!

Thanks,
Sarah will ride her Raleigh Sojourn, weather should be nice in June. Miles? When we tour, we usually ride 35-50 miles per day. We like to see the sights and take it slow.

Duane,
I'm waiting on some parts, and still undecided on some things.
The weather has been so poor here I haven't been able to take any good photos yet.

Whenever I ride the train from Eugene to Portland, I've been told never to leave the bike around the train station. So, they charge me $5 to take it on the train as 'baggage". Then I always have the bike with me which can also be handy.

Anyway, ask your local train station whether they have baggage service for bikes.