I would never ride on the road. Too dangerous
I enjoy riding a bicycle and I want the UN off of my side.
"...World Bicycle Day..."
Don’t forget your fruity girdle and hat helmet.
W 0 0 T.
Interesting because the bulk of road construction and repair in the US is paid for by taxes on motor fuels. Try to imagine the fury if a Pittman-Robertson style tax on bicycles and bike related products were proposed to fund bikeways.
But still there are benefits to exercise and riding bicycles is a great form of exercise. Not for everyone though. In an effort to lose a few pounds and an inch or two off my gut, I’ve decided to make bicycle riding a priority for this year. On Saturday I rode in a 30 mile road course in Hershey PA. 30 miles on a bike, 90 miles in a car each way to get to the event. All of this is leading up to a 65 mile charity ride (Ben to the Shore) in July.
Saturday was the first organized ride I have been on in about 25 years. Got my old road bike out last winter and overhauled it. It felt both good and painful to be back pulling the hills. Didn’t take long to get my style back but age is a factor that wasn’t there before. One thing that surprised me was the relative lack of young riders. This was a well attend event but at 61, I didn’t feel out of place.
In my neck of the woods, running literally 3 miles from my house is the 140 mile D&L Trail (The Delaware and Lehigh), which is a multi use rail trail. I have very mixed and conflicted feelings on this trail. It is beautiful and an easy ride, lots of nature and historic vistas. And it does offer economic some opportunities for the local economy.
It (The D&L) is also a very expensive boondoggle. As the trail winds it’s way through Carbon County PA (where I live) it transitions from the old Lehigh Canal towpath to the Lehigh Gorge State Park which uses an old railroad bed as the trail. Connecting the two requires a 200 foot truss bridge over the Lehigh River in Jim Thorpe. The actual span over the river has been completed but closed since last June, due to a lack of on/off ramps if you can believe that. As of today, the bridge project is 3 years behind schedule and 1.2 million plus dollars over budget.
Yet they keep throwing money at this project, called the Mansion House Bridge, which is now at about 4.6 million dollars spent to date but needs another million or so to construct safe passage thru the County parking lot. The lack of the “safe passage” is not supposed to delay the opening of the bridge but my gut tells me that one of the real reasons the project is so far behind schedule is that everyone involved (The D&L National Heritage Corridor, Carbon County PA and the Borough of Jim Thorpe) want to limit the liability in terms of time before the “safe passage” is completed which will not be until 2021 or 2022.
Try to imagine a family with young kids on vacation, riding bicycles through the middle of the WalMart parking lot. This is what it’s going to be like when the bridge opens, probably around Labor Day, before the safe passage is constructed.
The D&L National Corridor has big plans to complete the D&L Trail from Bristol (just outside of Philly) to Wilkes Barre which will make it 160 miles long. Outside of Philly, just south of Morrisville, they just completed a tunnel that takes the Trail under an active railroad. This is the “Conrail Embankment”, I haven’t read of any price tag on that thing but it was sure to be millions.
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I’m 60 and just recently started riding. I’m really really digging it.
I have a nice carbon Specialized bike with Ultegra shifter and I use clips.
Problem I’m having is the nerve in my arm and hand start hurting after 20 miles. Don’t know if it’s age or set up or just need more time.
I swim in the mornings and ride in the afternoon. Great exercise.
Wish I had done that my whole life instead of just running.
Today: 13.3 miles Treptower Park+ ride
My new bicycle
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