New Connector Links Up Pine Creek Rail Trail and Downtown Jersey Shore

Here's some great news for cyclists and hikers in Jersey Shore (no, not that Jersey Shore, the one in Pennsylvania!)

WNEP's Jim Hamill has the skinny:

Image source: WNEP 

Thousands of people use the Pine Creek Rail Trail in Lycoming County every year. Now the trail is connected to downtown Jersey Shore. 

The community is banking on the rail-trail connector to bring tourists into the downtown.

The hope is the more tourists, the more need for small businesses where bikers, hikers and the like can eat and shop and stay.

The connector looks to be a 1.5 mile paved strip that runs from downtown to the trail itself. I've never been on the Pine Creek Rail Trail, but according to TrailLink.com:

...the Pine Creek Trail in Pine Creek Gorge offers travelers a spectacular 62-mile journey through the area commonly referred to as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. With numerous trailheads, comfort stations, campgrounds and small towns along the route, the well-maintained trail is ideal for an afternoon excursion or a longer trek. The trail is crushed limestone but is suitable for most bike tires.

62 miles of well-maintained trail? I would love to go banging down that! Sounds like the perfect opportunity for someone who wants to ride a 100K without going in circles and dodging cars. Also sounds like a great place to set up a bike shop/bike rental fleet.

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50K and 100K Routes Updated for 2012 Flaming Foliage Ride

Received an email from Ed Pane at Serento Gardens that the 50k and 100k routes for the 2012 Flaming Foliage ride have been updated.

Updated 50K Ride Map

Updated 100K Ride Map

According to Ed, PennDOT recently tar and chipped the roads along the old routes, making them awful to ride on. The new routes go around the affected areas, which is good. I'm glad the ride organizers acted quickly to change the routes and didn't decide to just make us tough it out.

If you've never had the displeasure of riding on chip seal, allow me to break it down for you. Chip seal is extremely rough to ride on. You'd think it would be about the same as riding on a well groomed trail, but it's not. It's very hard and unforgiving, whereas a gravel trail tends to offer a softer ride.

It also slows you down and makes it hard to keep pace. Ever have one of those dreams where you're running as hard as you can, but just can't move forward? That's exactly what it feels like. Then the rocks stick to your tires and slowly dig in, until you end up with something like this. Oh, it's fun stuff, and I don't think it's a coincidence that I rode across chip seal and then had a blowout on my very next ride. There's a reason I don't use the Quakake Road past Weatherly anymore.

Chip seal is awful; I hate it. Rather than attempt to fix a road properly, someone decided to save money by pouring tar all over it and stuffing holes and cracks with millions of sharp, tiny rocks. It's a half-assed solution that doesn't fix the problem, it makes the existing problem worse.

Again, big thanks to Ed Pane and the ride organizers for helping us avoid this mess.

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