Polo matches along the Delaware? Who knew?
This bike ride began with a tip: you can watch polo matches in Tinicum Park, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, just across the Delaware River from New Jersey.
Polo? That blue-blood sport? Who knew?
Continue reading “Biking 2 trails — the D&R and D&L — to watch polo in Pennsylvania”
The Pennypack winds and climbs (if just briefly) alongside Pennypack Creek.
Trails have a reputation for being flat and, to some people, kind of boring. That’s because many were once railroad lines, and locomotives aren’t going to pull a train up a steep hill or around a sharp curve.
Philadelphia’s Pennypack Trail breaks that mold. It winds and climbs (if only briefly) along the Pennypack Creek, offering riders shade and water views.
Continue reading “Philadelphia’s Pennypack Trail: A surprisingly hilly bike ride”
The final (half) day of our five-day, two-nation bike ride brings us back in the U.S.A.
The final leg in our 5-day, two-nation bike tour was the 26-mile Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail, which begins within a few miles of the border crossing in Richford, Vermont, and ends just north of downtown St. Albans.
This is a quiet, if perhaps underutilized, rail-trail — we counted just 23 cyclists, 2 dog walkers (each with one dog), and two women on horseback as we rode the entire length on Saturday.
Continue reading “Closing our loop: Vermont’s Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail”
This was a trip to France without getting on a plane. We biked less than 150 miles over four days along Canada’s Route Verte in Quebec’s Eastern Townships and Monteregie sections.
The one-word summary: Amazing.
The longer summary: This was a trip to France without getting on a plane.
Continue reading “3 1/2 days biking along Quebec’s Route Verte”This is the start of a five-day bike ride from St. Albans, Vermont, through the Champlain islands, onto Canada’s Route Verte in Quebec and back to the U.S. and the Missisquoi rail-trail to St. Albans.
We’re kicking off a two-nation bike loop with a day along the water.
Vermont’s Champlain Islands, which string through Lake Champlain, are a lovely area to bike in, with quiet roads even in July. We generally stayed off U.S. 2, the main road, reconnecting with it shortly before the causeways that let us hop from island to island. The flip side of that is we didn’t see much in the way of services, beginning with easy places to grab a bite, North Hero excepted, as well as our B&B that has a restaurant. And a supermarket? Didn’t see one. Continue reading “Biking Vermont’s Champlain Islands from St. Albans to Alburgh”
We head to a section of the Delaware & Lehigh Trail to test out our new equipment ahead of a five-day trip to Vermont and Canada.
We’re planning a five-day ride in Vermont and Canada. The route is picked out, the hotels booked — yes, this is credit-card touring. But there’s no support crew … no one to haul our bags from place to place. And I want to bring my carbon-fiber road bike, which can’t handle a rack and panniers. What to do?
A bikepacking class at REI led to buying a bikepacking bag that attaches to the seat and seatpost. My favorite local bike shop suggested some slightly wider tires that can handle trails, rather than my slick road tires. But I still needed to make sure it would all work. And Clive’s new toy is a carbon “gravel-grinder” bike that can handle a rack and panniers, but not unlimited weight.
Time to test out or new setups. A section of the D&L Trail — from Morrisville, opposite Trenton, to Bristol Borough — seemed perfect. It’s a new ride for us, and I’ve been wanting to check out Bristol ever since I binge-watched Hulu’s Small Business Revolution show.
Continue reading “A shakedown ride on the D&L Trail from Morrisville to Bristol, Pennsylvania”Sometimes you just suck it up.
Sometimes you just have to suck it up and ride hills.
We had decided we wanted to ride Bike New York’s annual Discover Hudson Valley Ride. And while we came to our senses and opted out of the 75-miler (with 4,000+ feet of climbing!), the 55-mile route still came advertised with 2,900 feet of climbing.
Time to try something other than our usual. Continue reading “Hills and more hills with Bike New York’s Discover the Hudson Valley bike ride”
I spent part of National Trails Day — June 2 — on the Middlesex Greenway, a 3 1/2-mile trail going through Metuchen, Edison and Woodbridge. Part of it doubles as the East Coast Greenway. It was amazing how many people were using the trail early on a Saturday morning. What a great community amenity— and it’s within blocks of the train station, new condos, downtown and a new supermarket, so really useful for transportation and running errands too.
A group of enthusiastic trail advocates are trying to extend it at either end. This is at the Metuchen end: rails still in place on one side with a rail-free section next to it perfect for a trail. But making that happen means getting Conrail and two rail operators to sit down and talk, and then say yes. One day…
Duke Farms has 7 miles of paved trails plus additional gravel miles open to bikes.
Here’s a family-friendly place to ride a bike that you might not expect: Duke Farms in Hillsborough, NJ.
This is the estate of tobacco heiress Doris Duke, and it was opened to the public in 2012 (before that, it was only open for tours). Not only does it have 7 miles of paved trails (plus more miles that are gravel) that go past ruins of the foundation for the grand mansion that was never built, man-made lakes, the one-time horse barn that comes with a clocktower and much more, but it also has a bike-share system!
It has 80 bikes — a mix of cruisers (with a few gears), adult tricycles, even bikes for kids. So even if you don’t know how to bike, there’s a solution for you. Cost is $5 for two hours, though they hardly seem to be timing the rental.
Note that although it’s called Duke Farms, it’s not a working farm. Nor is it a traditional garden. It’s certainly a lovely place to ride! You can read my take on it here.
Now to find a route that will let me bike there from home. Perhaps the D&R Canal towpath (and East Coast Greenway segment) for much of the way?
UPDATE: We tested out a couple of routes! Read about it here.
This 9-mile trail goes from one end of Monmouth County to the other.
This is my latest New Jersey trail discovery. Well, kind of. I knew the Union Transportation Trail existed, but it was disjointed for several years while being built. The last segment was finished early last year, however, and now it’s a 9-mile stone-dust trail in Monmouth County stretching from the Mercer County line to the Ocean County line.
Today’s weather — warm and sunny — is finally a sign that spring is coming. A great reason to get out and finally ride it from end to end. And back of course. Continue reading “New Jersey’s Union Transportation Trail: A cross-county bike ride”
Exploring by bicycle 