I wish that I lived near you guys and could ride with you your group, you seem like such fine folks. I love your videos, thanks, I guess that is as close as I will ever get to ride with you.
Erin liked the warm tunnel 😊. Thanks for keeping it real, showing the difficulties before the fun parts of the ride. I grew up in WV. Bought my first mountain bike at a local bike shop in Pittsburgh while attending WVU, a Gary Fisher Advance, ‘90 or ‘91. Rigid, triple chain ring, 26” wheels, so fun to ride. Still have it in my basement.
Ha! Seriously - it was 20 degrees warmer in there! A big goal of this channel is to show the reality of "normal" cycling so thanks! Awesome you still have that bike - my first real bike got stolen so my oldest is my '01 MTB that I ride as my snow bike with studded tires.
So cool seeing Pittsburgh by bike again, I moved away 10 years ago and still miss it. I need to learn how to map trails together, did the C&O to GAP a few times now and didn't know about the Montour... last decent camp sight on the gap before Pittsburgh is a good ways and I seem to always get into town early anyway... could cruise around Pittsburgh and go camp for the night on the Montour. *love trails, dig wide shoulders, even stop and go city traffic Im fine with but fast suburban roads (texting, eating, doing makeup, reading, slapping their kids in the backset....everything but paying attention) I avoid like the plague.
Fast suburban roads are definitely the worst. When we did the GAP & C&O we spent a night cruising Pitt first - the Amtrak is so early that we figured we should spend the night there. I've ridden around Pittsburg a few times now - except for our route mistake this last time it has always been great.
Great video. I rode a lot of the montour trail back in October. Had a similar experience with traffic. Started at the point and did a few miles of GAP then linked some ruralish roads to montour trail and then through WV and Ohio back to Cleveland. Was a really cool route and the tunnels and bridges you showed look familiar. Let's do something similar together in 2024. Also thought it would be cool to use the rail trails and bike paths around PGH to do a brew tour.
'bike rescue', i like that better than what I say : "recycling bikes" to describe our passion 'with' bikes, I'm gonna steal this! don't have my own 'shop', but do have another load (wheels this time) to take to ATX 25 year running Yellow Bike Project. :)
You rode one of the least bike-friendly areas in Pittsburgh on your way to the trail, which I only know because I live there! You either ride the main roads and climb a lot, or ride through neighborhoods and climb even more. Glad your stay in PGH was overall a good time, good find with those bikes and parts!
So somehow we did both! Maybe its time to stop planning our routes around beer 😎. Just starting to get into the bike parts - couple cool things in there.
We do the GAP & C&O almost every year. We start in Weirton, WV now and do the Panhandle to the Montour to the GAP. The Primitive Campsites on the Montour are pretty nice. Cool Pittsburgh trip.
I guess I was thinking about it getting darker and colder and we weren’t 100% o sure if our route - so went to the darkside of the musical spectrum! (We did have fun though)
So I haven't looked into this - but I do know that some tunnels that have been refurbished for cycling trails are closed in the winter to avoid the damage from freeze/thaw cycles. So my best guess is those curtains help mitigate that. It was at least 20 degrees warmer in there!
Hey Tim, I just started following your Vlogs. I am a native of Milwaukee but have been living in Germany for the last 40 years. I'm planing a tour from Washington DC to Pittsburg the so called GAP + C&O Trail etc. and was wondering if you have a .gpx file of the entire route?? Thanks in advance. Paul from Bonn, Germany
My routes wouldn’t do you any good as they took us to our camps and lunches. There were also detours in effect that aren’t anymore. That being said this is the most popular touring route in the country and there are tons of resources - there is a website for each the GAP and C&O with the routes.
@@rustyshackleford9498 Komoot is a good source. And there are the Eurovelo routes. I think Komoot shows them. In France there are the voie vertes ...the green ways. In Germany many old trainlines were converted to bikeroutes. 🍻🚲
Yeah, you guys were riding over where I live. That area is not very bike friendly. There are a a lot of roadies that make it work, so the traffic is at least used to seeing cyclists.
I was also guessing if we knew the area a little better we could have bypassed a few bad roads - but with that kind of topography I'm guessing sometimes that can be hard to do.
Yeah, personally I either drive to the trails or drive downtown. The neighborhood I’m in is a closed circuit, so it’s quiet and good for walking my dog. So it’s a trade off but it works.
My goal is to spend as close to zero amount of time in a car as possible - that being said since we drove all the way to PA we could have driven to a Trailhead!
But this way, you have a story to tell. You wouldn’t be telling anyone about your car ride to the trail, but biking a couple sketchy streets added to the story.
![Biking Pennsylvania: The Allegheny River Trail [Caution! Dark, Scary Tunnels]](/img/1.gif)
I wish that I lived near you guys and could ride with you your group, you seem like such fine folks. I love your videos, thanks, I guess that is as close as I will ever get to ride with you.
😎😎
Erin liked the warm tunnel 😊. Thanks for keeping it real, showing the difficulties before the fun parts of the ride. I grew up in WV. Bought my first mountain bike at a local bike shop in Pittsburgh while attending WVU, a Gary Fisher Advance, ‘90 or ‘91. Rigid, triple chain ring, 26” wheels, so fun to ride. Still have it in my basement.
Ha! Seriously - it was 20 degrees warmer in there! A big goal of this channel is to show the reality of "normal" cycling so thanks! Awesome you still have that bike - my first real bike got stolen so my oldest is my '01 MTB that I ride as my snow bike with studded tires.
Thanks guys, wishing I had half your energy during the "winter blahs".
Can't wait to see the goodies...
For me it is all about just getting out the door this time of year!
Hey you drove past my town in beaver Pa, love mindful brewing as well. Montour trail is my place to train and it’s a blast. Glad you are in my area!!!
Yeah - we considered stopping there(Beaver) for lunch but wanted to beat as much of the snow as possible.
@@TimFitzwater we do have a lot of great little places to eat in town. However you did get to visit 2 great breweries so that had me a bit jealous.
Thanks for sharing Tim , and Erin . I think it's great to see you doing things like this , rescuing and reusing stuff ! Be safe out there !
Thanks! Excited to go through the stash and see what we can do with it!
I'm glad the weather was decent.
Little chilly - but no rain/snow(until we were back in OH)
I'm glad I found you on You Tube Tim your cycle videos are amazing!
Thanks so much! Cheers! 🥂
So cool seeing Pittsburgh by bike again, I moved away 10 years ago and still miss it. I need to learn how to map trails together, did the C&O to GAP a few times now and didn't know about the Montour... last decent camp sight on the gap before Pittsburgh is a good ways and I seem to always get into town early anyway... could cruise around Pittsburgh and go camp for the night on the Montour. *love trails, dig wide shoulders, even stop and go city traffic Im fine with but fast suburban roads (texting, eating, doing makeup, reading, slapping their kids in the backset....everything but paying attention) I avoid like the plague.
Fast suburban roads are definitely the worst. When we did the GAP & C&O we spent a night cruising Pitt first - the Amtrak is so early that we figured we should spend the night there. I've ridden around Pittsburg a few times now - except for our route mistake this last time it has always been great.
Thanks for softening the dread of a Monday morning!
😎
Great video. I rode a lot of the montour trail back in October. Had a similar experience with traffic. Started at the point and did a few miles of GAP then linked some ruralish roads to montour trail and then through WV and Ohio back to Cleveland. Was a really cool route and the tunnels and bridges you showed look familiar. Let's do something similar together in 2024.
Also thought it would be cool to use the rail trails and bike paths around PGH to do a brew tour.
Hell yeah!
Thanks Tim!
🤘🏼
bikes bikes bikes; tunnels and bridges are so fun, cool pixelzzzz
🍺🤓
Another awesome video! Thanks!
Glad you liked it!
We're on board with Erin!! The hills are brutal.
It was a super tough way to start a longish, winter ride!
@@TimFitzwater no doubt looking forward to seeing what projects come out of the bike/parts find
Bike Rescue Mission!
'bike rescue', i like that better than what I say : "recycling bikes" to describe our passion 'with' bikes, I'm gonna steal this! don't have my own 'shop', but do have another load (wheels this time) to take to ATX 25 year running Yellow Bike Project. :)
You rode one of the least bike-friendly areas in Pittsburgh on your way to the trail, which I only know because I live there! You either ride the main roads and climb a lot, or ride through neighborhoods and climb even more. Glad your stay in PGH was overall a good time, good find with those bikes and parts!
So somehow we did both! Maybe its time to stop planning our routes around beer 😎. Just starting to get into the bike parts - couple cool things in there.
That is pretty cool stuff.
It was a great little trip!
We do the GAP & C&O almost every year. We start in Weirton, WV now and do the Panhandle to the Montour to the GAP. The Primitive Campsites on the Montour are pretty nice. Cool Pittsburgh trip.
We did the GAP & C&O for the first time last summer - it was great - would definitely be cool to connect this up and do something even longer. Thanks!
The panhandle trail is pretty nice. we did like half of the montour trail to looks like most of what you rode.
Definitely want to try more of both in better weather - and without the 1000 feet of climbing to get there.
@@TimFitzwater Park in WV at start of panhandle. Its all up hill to PA that way but its only like 1 percent grade or something.
Fuck yes
Music seemed a bit ominous but the breweries and ride looked wonderful.
I guess I was thinking about it getting darker and colder and we weren’t 100% o sure if our route - so went to the darkside of the musical spectrum! (We did have fun though)
I have a bad habit of making music that may be a bit dark, someone called it dystopian once !
If you have a full suspension bike. I would be interested. Thank you for a great video.
These are all fully rigid - not sure I'd want to mess with vintage full suspension!
Why did the tunnel have wind curtains on the entrance/exit?
So I haven't looked into this - but I do know that some tunnels that have been refurbished for cycling trails are closed in the winter to avoid the damage from freeze/thaw cycles. So my best guess is those curtains help mitigate that. It was at least 20 degrees warmer in there!
@@TimFitzwater Makes sense. Thanks.
Hey Tim, I just started following your Vlogs. I am a native of Milwaukee but have been living in Germany for the last 40 years. I'm planing a tour from Washington DC to Pittsburg the so called GAP + C&O Trail etc. and was wondering if you have a .gpx file of the entire route?? Thanks in advance. Paul from Bonn, Germany
My routes wouldn’t do you any good as they took us to our camps and lunches. There were also detours in effect that aren’t anymore.
That being said this is the most popular touring route in the country and there are tons of resources - there is a website for each the GAP and C&O with the routes.
Thank you very much for this feedback!@@TimFitzwater
Grey weather.... like here in north Germany.... :-(
The sun is a rarity this time of year....
Let's pretend I'm going to Germany with a bike. How do I find the good gravel routes?
@@rustyshackleford9498 Komoot is a good source. And there are the Eurovelo routes. I think Komoot shows them. In France there are the voie vertes ...the green ways.
In Germany many old trainlines were converted to bikeroutes. 🍻🚲
@@stigohara4961 vielen dank
Yeah, you guys were riding over where I live. That area is not very bike friendly. There are a a lot of roadies that make it work, so the traffic is at least used to seeing cyclists.
I was also guessing if we knew the area a little better we could have bypassed a few bad roads - but with that kind of topography I'm guessing sometimes that can be hard to do.
Yeah, personally I either drive to the trails or drive downtown. The neighborhood I’m in is a closed circuit, so it’s quiet and good for walking my dog. So it’s a trade off but it works.
My goal is to spend as close to zero amount of time in a car as possible - that being said since we drove all the way to PA we could have driven to a Trailhead!
But this way, you have a story to tell. You wouldn’t be telling anyone about your car ride to the trail, but biking a couple sketchy streets added to the story.
It really looks like the best cycling terrain where you live.
I’m surrounded by hills and roads 😐
This is out near Pittsburgh- and these trails are surrounded by roads and hills - which is what is so great about tail trails.