BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I don't like driving to a place and riding on a trail for a few miles and then riding back. I like to try to make loops- where I can come back to where I started. This is a ride report of a grand loop- starting on the GAP trail (at the Hotmetal Bridge) going East, connecting to the Montour trail and following that to return on the West end of Pittsburgh. “Circling the GAP” The new section of the GAP connecting PGH south side with McKeesport is an ideal run, scenic, paved and not crowded at 7 am. The “Glassport connector’ is well signed, well meaning but a little ridiculous in trying to keep cycles off of 5th street which is wide and not crowded. It has you running down back alleys, the wrong way on one-way streets and over amazing potholes. It gets the job done. Getting through Clairton and onto the very South end of the Montour trail works even though the sign for the trailhead is small and on the wrong side of a 4-lane road. The eastern-most stretch of the Montour trail is amazing. I thought I was in Colorado. It dumps you onto highway 51 however with an admonition that the safest way to traverse the next section is to “Walk Bikes on the Grass” (i.e., through peoples yards). The next section, taking you to South Park township is also scenic- with a really rural feeling including a couple of cool tunnels. This ends with a sign saying it is 1.9 miles to the third section of the trail but you get no help beyond that. The longest section of the Montour trail starts at Library Road in South Bethel Park. This was really difficult first-time navigation. In spite of GPS, Google maps, and map my ride, I looked for that trailhead for 30 mins. It is not signed and not visible! (Duh). Library Road is no piece of cake either. Having attained the long-sought trail, it was a little slow due to a washboard packed dirt surface and well stocked with dog walkers but gave a nice continuous 20 mile run. After an amazing bridge I dropped down to the Panhandle trail in a reasonably well signed transition. This winds along a river through the quaint town of McDonald. Actually It parallels the road, which I think would be more enjoyable- better surface, better turns, few cars. After maybe 10 miles the trail ends abruptly and I relied on MapMyRide to close the gap to the Heritage Trail system on the Allegheny. This 7 mile transition consisted of several miles of Noblestown Road- narrow with no shoulder but not busy, followed by Carnegie- with its delightful old-fashioned downtown well supplied with food and drink. Finally, a few miles of highway 60 (narrow, no shoulder but no traffic) takes you to that unnerving unavoidable crunch required to get onto the West End Bridge. The heavy Saturday trail traffic made going slow back to the car at the Elisa Furnace parking lot off of 2nd street in Hazelwood. Conclusion: 75 miles, 4000 ft climb. I took 7 hr but I'm old and fat. Is this a viable day route ? Certainly. It is really the shortest way to do a one-way round trip that gets a good portion of the Montour trail. Is this a ‘trail ride’ ? Nope. You need to have the mindset that you are going to be on roads with cars for a reasonable portion of this. Except for the little West End Bridge trick (some of which can be done on sidewalks) the road cycling did not seem scary but there were sections with barriers where you cant escape traffic. Would I do it again-absolutely. Do I think you should ? yeah, and tell me about it. I posted this route on MapMyRide as a public route- check it out.