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Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Pedal your way to a cycling getaway
Would you take a bicycle tour for a vacation?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You don’t have to be a bicycling aficionado to see that Atlanta’s not the best place to take to two wheels. Pedal power can’t match the Alpharetta Autobahn mentality that many embrace, and few of our roads were designed with the biking enthusiast in mind.
I will be the first to admit that I am not a cyclist. You won’t see me in the peloton of cyclists that ride along the beautiful, winding roads in my neighborhood every weekend. I do like to bike though. For instance, I enjoy bike-riding down at the beach, where the roads are wide and flat and the traffic is slow and sparse. While I haven’t done it in ages, I also enjoy riding on trails. Translation, I’m all for biking if it doesn’t get me killed.
With more cars on our roads and a stressed infrastructure, the idea of a biking getaway could prove appealing to our city’s growing number of cyclists. Over the weekend as I watched several cycling clubs pedal by, I saw this AJC article about the Virginia Creeper “biking haven” near Damascus, Va. It’s a 17-mile (one way) train line turned bike trail that runs through beautiful southwestern Virginia, and it draws thousands of riders during autumn’s peak weekends.
A quick check online for other off-road biking-friendly destinations in the southeast turned up plenty of good locales within a short drive of Atlanta — enough to keep mountain bikers pedaling for many weekends of the year.
Road cyclists can obviously take to the streets anywhere, but some places are better than others for a biking vacation. The Natchez Trace Parkway, which runs from Nashville, Tenn. to Natchez, Miss., offers more than 400 miles of paved road through rural areas of Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.
The League of American Bicyclists also designates several regional cities as “bicycle friendly” communities — including Chattanooga, Tenn., Auburn, Ala., Gainesville, Fla., and Columbia, SC — for their commitment to providing safe accommodation and facilities for bicyclists.
Bicycle tours, like Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG), are another good option. BRAG offers bike tours throughout the state.
In addition to safe roads or trails, a biking destination needs a good support system - i.e. decent places to overnight, eat, drink, rest or simply “use the facilities” along the way. And of course, it helps if the scenery is breathtaking and there’s something else to do for fun after you dismount your two-wheeler.
Have you considered a biking getaway in the southeast? What do you look for most in a bike destination - quality trails/roads, length or difficulty of the bike route, overall environment for the cyclist? Have you participated in a bicycle tour and would you recommend them to other riders? What’s the best way to plan for a trip like this?
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