Jan 31 2012

Ski Trails are Trails Too

trailsnet sticker at Snow Basin

trailsnet goes skiing

Trailsnet covers many kinds of trails including mountain bike trails, rail trails, hiking trails, and snowshoe trails. But, other than cross-country ski trails, we haven’t really talked much about ski trails.

After spending a week skiing in Utah, I’m wondering if we shouldn’t reconsider that policy? First, let me correct myself. I wasn’t skiing in Utah, I was Skkiing in Utah. There’s a big difference. As has often been reported on this website, trailsnet is hugely supportive of alternative personal transportation vehicles. In keeping with that tradition, yours truly spent a week trying out the Trikke Skki on the slopes of Snow Basin.

It was absolutely incredible. It is wonderful for beginners, yet still a blast for experienced skiers and snowboarders. And as an added bonus, it allows users to wear their normal, comfortable boots rather than heavy, clunky ski boots. Since no poles, special boots, or bindings are required, the Skki, by Trikke, is comparably priced to a ski package.

You can check out a quick video and some pictures of the 2012 Skki Inn on my Facebook page or at the Trikke website. Please let me know, in the comments below, whether or not we should include ski trails in the trailsnet trail list.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2012/01/31/ski-trails-are-trails-too/

Jan 21 2012

Bermuda Rail-Trail is an Awesome Island Trail

Bike trails, islands, beaches, ocean… These are a few of my favorite things.

Bermuda Rail-Trail

bike trail under palm trees on beach

bike trail on beach

And now it looks like I can enjoy them all in one place. Imagine riding your bike on a great rail-trail one  minute, then taking a break on a sandy  beach the next. That sounds pretty much like trail paradise to me. And thanks to Simon, the awesome webmaster at Bermuda Railway, I have discovered a new favorite island trail. If you’ve never visited Simon’s Rail Trail website, check it out. He’s done a nice job with the website and a general overview map of the trail. In fact, the map on Simon’s site is better than the official trail map I found online.

From the little research I’ve done so far, the trail is far from complete. It has some sections missing and some sections that are far from ideal for a relaxing bike ride. But hey, I’m willing to accept a few imperfections for a chance to ride my bike, on a trail, on an island. And dang, I may not finish the whole trail in one day; that means I’ll have to hang out on the island for a few extra days.

It’s a rough job, but someone has to do it. If any of you have ever ridden the Bermuda Rail Trail, leave a comment below. I’d love to read about your experience.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2012/01/21/bermuda-rail-trail-is-an-awesome-island-trail/

Jan 18 2012

Another Personal Transportation Vehicle Post from Trailsnet

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2012/01/18/another-personal-transportation-vehicle-post-from-trailsnet/

Jan 17 2012

Bike Overnight Bicycle Destination Website

You enjoy active travel tours, but you don’t have the time or money to go on them very often. I have a hunch that keeps a lot of people from enjoying more bike trips and other active travel vacations. Fortunately, there’s a solution to the problem.

Bicycle pulling a trailer

Short but happy bike trips

Overnight Bike Tours

Thanks to a fairly new website called Bike Overnights, you can join or plan a brief overnight bicycle vacation without breaking your piggy bank or free-time bank. BikeOvernights.org allows bike riders to plan short bike trips with other biking fans. These are not full-blown bike tours that last for a week, but they’re also not those daily neighborhood rides that are starting to get a little old.

Bike overnights provides information about bike trips all throughout the United States and Canada including such destinations as Vermont, Ontario, Washington, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. There’s even an event planned for New Zealand.

Active Travel Planning Tools

In addition to the actual bike getaways, you can also find some great information about planning your active travel tour including:

  • family touring information
  • deluxe touring details
  • some how-to articles
  • recipes & food
  • photos
  • routes & rides
  • travel tips
  • bed & breakfast suggestions
  • ideas for bargain travel planning (see “Cheap”)
Check out Bike Overnights and let me know what you think. I don’t know about you, but I hope to get a lot of use out of this great bike travel website.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2012/01/17/bike-overnight-bicycle-destination-website/

Jan 16 2012

Recreational Trail Funding in Danger

Below is a letter from the Council for Recreational Trails. Once again, funding for trails is being threatened. We all need to contact our state

trail through the trees

support trails

senators to request the continuation of recreational trail funding. Remember, all trails are more than just recreational; they are useful for physical fitness, commuting, recreation, the environment, and more. Each trail that is constructed provides incredible bang for the buck.

Dear Members of the CRT Council of Advisors:

The Recreational Trails Program is in very deep trouble.  The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has approved transportation reauthorization legislation known as MAP-21 that would effectively eliminate the RTP by stripping the program of its dedicated funding.

But all hope is not lost.

CRT and its member organizations have been working to identify key Champions in the Senate with the aim of having an amendment to restore dedicated funding for the RTP added to the bill before it is considered by the full Senate.

Reaching this goal will not be possible without your help.

Now is the time for all organizations and individuals who support RTP to tell their Senators to protect dedicated funding for this absolutely essential program.

The key messages are simple:

  • Unless the bill is changed, MAP-21 will effectively eliminate the Recreational Trails Program; and
  • Please amend MAP-21 to include dedicated funding for RTP.

Other helpful messages include:

  •       For the last two decades, RTP has received a portion of the gas taxes paid by users of off-highway motorized vehicles to fund trail building, maintenance and other trail-related projects.  More than 13,000 projects have been funded across the country for all kinds of trail uses.  This is a very successful program.
  • At its current level of annual funding – $85 million – RTP receives less than 42% of the Federal Highway Administration’s conservative estimate of the federal gas taxes paid by America’s nonhighway recreationists.  The Senate bill would reduce that percentage to zero and represents a substantial new tax on motorized recreation enthusiasts.
  • The return of gas taxes to trail users through the RTP is in keeping with the user-pay, user-benefit philosophy of the Highway Trust Fund.  Ending dedicated funding for RTP takes these gas taxes away from the people who pay them.  Ending dedicated funding for RTP is bad public policy and just plain wrong.
  • The RTP is the foundation of state trail programs.  If the RTP loses its dedicated funding, organized trail planning and development will simply vanish in many areas of the country.

Now is the time to act.  Write, email or call your two Senators.  Here’s a link if you need it:  http://www.senate.gov/.   Make sure your entire grassroots organization is engaged as well.

We need to show the United States Senate just how many Americans are committed to the Recreational Trails Program.  If we don’t act, the very backbone of trails in America may be forever lost.

Please be sure to send us a copy of your message.  Thank you for your help.

Marianne Fowler, Co-Chair, Coalition for Recreational Trails

Derrick Crandall, Co-Chair, Coalition for Recreational Trails

1225 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 450

Washington, D.C.   20005

(202) 682-9530  Fax (202) 682-9529

cahern@funoutdoors.com

 

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2012/01/16/recreational-trail-funding-in-danger/

Jan 11 2012

…I biked out to the abandoned rail corridor…

The other day, I reposted a blog that sounded like it was straight out of  the Onion. So today, I have a funny, rail-trail related article that actually came out of the Onion. It was from the section with the short, fake interviews. The interview question had to do with a possible proposed blackout day for Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. So the theoretical members of the public were asked what they thought of such an internet blackout/boycott. One phony-balone guy replied:

“… It would be hard to imagine a day without Google or Facebook. I guess it would be like that time when my girlfriend and I biked out to the abandoned rail corridor and we had a picnic and we saw a couple wild turkeys.”

girl talks on cell phone while riding bicycle

the best of both worlds (-:

What makes the Onion so funny is that it often hits so close to home. For me, it’s hard to imagine anyone who would prefer to sit in front of a television or computer rather than riding a bicycle on a rail-trail. Unfortunately, there are people just like the bogus Onion interviewee who don’t see it the same way. They view rail-trails as boring. That is too bad… for them. I’ll take the rail-trail anytime.

Permanent link to this article: https://trailsnet.com/2012/01/11/i-biked-out-to-the-abandoned-rail-corridor/