Jun 05 2010

How to Improve Michelle Obama’s Fight Against Childhood Obesity

I love Michelle Obama’s goals for fighting childhood obesity. I think it is a great campaign and a wonderful choice of causes for our First Lady.

I am especially happy that “Increasing Physical Activity” is one of her major goals in the battle against childhood obesity. But those of you who follow my blog, Twitter posts, and trails website know what I’m going to suggest.

Within First Lady Obama’s “Increasing Physical Activity” section, I hope she adds a goal for increasing access to American Trails. I especially appreciate the goal of Rails to Trails Conservancy: “to have 90 percent of Americans live within three miles of a trail…”


I encourage Ms. Obama to add this goal to her plan. And I encourage you to encourage her. In fact, I would like to suggest that Michelle Obama and the Obama administration partner w/ the Rails to Trails Conservancy in the hopes of increasing and improving our trail network in America.

photo courtesy: Shane Rich photography

You’ve heard me say it before. Trails improve:

  • our health
  • our families
  • the environment
  • the air
  • the economy
  • our world

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/06/05/how-to-improve-michelle-obamas-fight-against-childhood-obesity/

Jun 04 2010

Rails to Trails Conservancy wins $200,000 grant from American Express

AFTER THREE MONTHS OF ONLINE PUBLIC VOTING, RAILS-TO-TRAILS CONSERVANCY AND THE NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION END IN A TIE VOTE


Thanks to your votes, Rails-to-Trails can now make an even better network of trails in the United States.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/06/04/rails-to-trails-conservancy-wins-200000-grant-from-american-express/

Jun 04 2010

Support New Orleans & the Gulf Region

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Kevin Purdy The Tammany Trace Trail is one of the many great places to visit near New Orleans, and it’s a great way to support the economy of the gulf region while also getting into shape and having fun.

Tammany Trace is a biking, hiking, inline skating, & equestrian trail in Louisiana.
www.trailsnet.com
this biking, hiking, jogging, skating trail runs from Covington, LA to Slidell, LA

Kevin Purdy             

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/06/04/support-new-orleans-the-gulf-region/

May 30 2010

C & O Canal Trail

I was looking forward to biking the C & O Canal Trail while I was in the D. C. area. Unfortunately that didn’t work out.

Hopefully I’ll make it back sometime within the next year.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/05/30/c-o-canal-trail/

May 28 2010

Ashuelot Rail Trail in New Hampshire

For updated Ashuelot Rail Trail information including a trail map, trail description and trail photos visit the Ashuelot Rail Trail page on Trailsnet.
 
The town of Keene serves as a hub to both the Cheshire Rail Trail and the Ashuelot Rail Trail in New Hampshire.
 
 
So I found it rather odd that a.) no two people seemed to pronounce Ashuelot the same way (so let’s go with ash-wheel-ot) and b.) no one and I mean no one in Keene could tell me where I could find the trailhead for the Ashuelot Rail Trail. This became especially puzzling when I finally found that the trailhead was located pretty darned close to the heart of the town. So once you get to Keene, just find “The Center at Keene” and the trailhead is directly across Emerald Street from there. Another helpful hint for finding this trail and many other rail trails in the New England area is to get one of the tourist (illustrated) maps of the town (Keene, NH in this case) and they are sometimes easier to follow than other maps.
To start, if you are biking the Ashuelot Rail Trail, I recommend you use a mountain bike. Although a hybrid bike or recumbent bike may be possible to navigate on most parts of this trail, knobby tires and a little bit of suspension prove to be quite helpful on certain parts of the trail. Having said that, I wouldn’t categorize this trail as a strictly mountain bike trail, and it’s not too difficult to ride since it is fairly flat and is never far from one quaint community or another.
Speaking of quaint communities, I loved some of the towns and villages associated with the Ashuelot Rail Trail. For starters, Keene is a nice New England town with a pretty downtown area, a couple small colleges, and plenty of tourist amenities. 
 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/05/28/ashuelot-rail-trail-in-new-hampshire/

May 28 2010

American Cycling Association

Although I’m not much of a racer (quite the opposite, actually) I wanted to send a shout out to the American Cycling Association. It is a non-profit organization that sanctions most road and cyclocross racing in Colorado and southeast Wyoming.
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For information, schedules, and results about races, go to www.americancycling.org

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2010/05/28/american-cycling-association/