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Road Cycling
Freewheeling it along a canal-side towpath, country lanes, and converted rail beds
By Peter Oliver
PEDAL ON
For rough riders: a mud-splattered mix of alpine trails and forested jeep roads
Freewheeling it along a canal-side towpath, country lanes, and converted rail beds
All the right stuff for biking
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Wisconsin Rail Trails
The Rails-to-Trails idea, wherein abandoned railroad tracks are converted to hiking and biking trails, started in 1964 in Wisconsin, which can still claim the most rail-trail mileage (1,247 miles at last count) of any state in the country. The original trail is the 32-mile Elroy-Sparta Trail, the nexus of four interconnected trails that form a hundred-mile chain from the
Mississippi River to Reedsburg in the state’s southwestern quadrant.
This chain can comfortably be ridden in three or four days; while trail surfaces vary, they can all be traveled on standard road bikes, and there are no big climbs. You can ride in either direction, but it’s probably best to start at the Mississippi end in Marshland, where services are few, and finish in Reedsburg, where numerous inns and restaurants welcome ride-weary
bodies.
On your first day along the Great River Trail, the 24-mile stretch from Marshland to Onalaska, you’ll pass through wildlife-rich wetlands along the Mississippi. You can stay overnight in Onalaska or continue along the La Crosse River Trail eastward 21 miles to Sparta, where the Franklin Victorian B&B (doubles, $75-$95; 800-845-8767), an antique- and heirloom-filled
Victorian house with five guest rooms, provides comfortable lodging. Travel along the Elroy-Sparta Trail the next day, passing through classic Wisconsin countryside 鈥� farmlands, wooded valleys, wetlands, and small towns 鈥� as well as through three tunnels (bikes must be walked through these; flashlights recommended). In Elroy, the East View B&B (doubles,
$65-$75; 608-463-7564) is a three-guest-room country-style inn that sits on a ridge affording great views of the surrounding farmland. Finish the trip on the 400 Trail, crossing 10 bridges over the winding Baraboo River during the 22-mile ride to Reedsburg. Passes are required for all rail trails ($3 per day, $10 per year); call 608-266-2181.
The Hysterical Parent
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I worry about a trip’s scheduled miles per day. Too little of a challenge and my child will be bored. Too much of a challenge and he’ll be exhausted and frustrated. What’s a good rule of thumb for determining how far a child can bike in a day?
Midtrip meltdowns are episodes to avoid; miserable children make for miserable parents. But outfitters are loath to make definitive determinations about mileage for various age groups because, as we all know, kids mature at different rates.
The best advice is to take a number of practice rides with your family to see what your group can comfortably handle. Besides the practical aspects of such an exercise, these pretrip outings are a great way to get your crew psyched for the adventure to come. Don’t let these practice rides deteriorate into speed trials or endurance tests; have a good
time and make a note of what distance your family can handle before the wheels start to fall off. Remember: Shorter rides made on consecutive days will be a better indication of which trip is best suited to your family.
One final note: On a bike trip, your gear is crucial.
Most important, of course, is the helmet. The use of helmets is mandated by law in 15 states and 71 individual communities; law or no, strapping on a helmet before starting the ride should be as reflexive as strapping on a seat belt before starting your car. Another piece of equipment that might seem frivolous but is anything but is bike shorts. The
padding in the crucial areas, as well as the lack of chafe-inducing seams, make it possible to sit tall in the saddle long after a pair of jeans would have you and your kids doubled over in pain. 鈥� Lisa Twyman Bessone
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C&O Towpath, Maryland
Riding the 184.5-mile towpath along the C&O Canal 鈥� a national historical park 鈥� is as much a tour through history as it is a tour through the Maryland countryside. From one end in Cumberland, Maryland, to the other in Washington, D.C., the relatively flat, hard-dirt path declines a total of 605 vertical feet, so an active family should be able to complete
the trip in five days. Just be sure to bring bikes with sturdy wheels rather than sleek, road-racing machines (mountain bikes are recommended) so you can negotiate spots that suffered damage in recent floods.
From Cumberland the canal approximately parallels the Potomac River, passing in its first 100 miles through quiet Maryland farmland and small communities. Free hiker/biker campgrounds (with water pumps and Portosans) are spaced every five miles or so, but there’s plenty of lodging in about half a dozen towns along the route. One good choice at Mile 124 in Hancock is the
more than 230-year-old Colhill Manor (doubles, $50-$75; 301-678-7573), where goats, ducks, and geese wander about 11 acres. For your next night’s stopover, you should be able to make it to Mile 81 and Ground Squirrel Holler B&B and Llama Retreat (doubles, $80; 301-432-8288), a Victorian B&B with three guest rooms that’s friendly to towpath users.
Don’t rush the next history-rich 20 miles. Worthy side trips include Antietam National Battlefield (at about Mile 76 near Sharpsburg), site of the bloodiest single day of fighting in the Civil War, and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, where John Brown staged his famous revolt. In Harpers Ferry, before heading into Washington the next day, you can overnight at the Hilltop House
(doubles, $65-$150; 800-338-8319), a 110-year-old hotel sufficiently embedded in local lore to have been cited in a Carl Sandburg poem.
Southeastern Vermont
In southeastern Vermont, it is all but impossible to travel five miles without passing some converted eighteenth- or nineteenth-century home that now oozes with country-inn charm. Connecting these inns is a network of winding roads that are (for the most part) adequately shouldered and smoothly paved and that are (also for the most part) traveled by cyclist-friendly
motorists.
You can ride a loop of approximately 115-120 miles by starting in Woodstock, heading south on Vermont 106 and connecting with Vermont 11, 35, 30, and 100 and U.S. 4 to return to Woodstock. Be sure to spend time on your first day in Grafton, 40 miles south of Woodstock (on Vermont 35) and renowned for its beautifully restored nineteenth-century architecture. Continue ten
more miles on Vermont 35 to the quiet hamlet of Townshend and the Boardman House B&B (doubles, $70; 802-365-4086), an 1840s Greek Revival farmhouse on the village green.
As you head northwest from Townshend on Vermont 30 and 100, you’ll want to allow yourselves extra time as the terrain gets hillier. After about 20 miles, you’ll reach Londonderry and the Londonderry Inn (doubles, $59-$79; 802-824-5226), a 172-year-old converted dairy farm with 25 rooms decorated with period furnishings. In Weston, five miles north of Londonderry, check out
the Vermont Country Store (802-362-2400), where nostalgia is played to the hilt; they sell everything from bedding to underwear to old-fashioned candy. From Londonderry, it’s a leisurely ride of about 30 miles on Vermont 100 to Plymouth, birthplace of Calvin Coolidge. Overnight at the Salt Ash Inn (doubles, $69-$105; 800-725-8274), a former stagecoach stop that has also done
duty as a country store and a post office. Finish the trip with a 15-mile ride on Vermont 100A and U.S. 4 to Woodstock.
For a more complete listing of area lodgings, call the Vermont Chamber of Commerce (802-223-3443). Vermont Bicycle Touring (800-288-2359 for reservations) and Bike Vermont (800-257-2226) lead tours in the area.
Copyright 1998, 国产吃瓜黑料 magazine
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