Has anybody ridden a significant distance on the Montour Trail? One of my buddies and I are considering riding from Pittsburgh to Ohiopyle and then back in a month or so. I have never done a long distance ride so I am not quite sure what to expect. I figured I was going to start getting ready in a week or two by riding from Bethel to Robinson and back on the trail at least once a week. At some point I would love to be able to take a long weekend and ride to DC on the trail but I figured we would start slow by going to Ohiopyle.
I did the pitts-dc a month or so ago… it was a really nice ride to cumberland on the GAP, but after that you run the C/O canal and it gets much rougher.
Here to ohiopyle wouldnt be bad at all… it would depend on how long you wanted to take doing it. It should be a fairly nice weekend ride. The elevation is mostly climbing out to ohiopyle, so your return would be much easier on the legs. I know I wasnt worried about my legs that much, but your butt is a different story. get the right saddle and you’ll be good… a pair of riding shorts/knickers/pants are also manditory. My buddy bought a 2nd pair in cumberland on our dc ride! Other than that, my knees were feeling it after the 200mi mark, but proper diet and stuff you’ll be fine.
I lived right next to the montour trail since it was built. I’ve riden the whole trail from the Allegheny county Washington county line. I belive it might have been extended past there. But it’s prob about an hour and a half to the end of the trail in Coraopolis at a decent pace.
HA, I used to ride a BMX bike from castle shannon to south park all the time, once rode to mon city. People thought I was crazy… here to ohiopyle would quite an enduro run…
I have been wanting to get back into riding for quite some time now but looking into mountain bikes instead of BMX. I think I may just go get a cheaper full suspension at dicks or something. I found a few I like and their more like the downhill style bikes
I’m quite familiar with the first twenty miles of the trail and have been wanting to bike to confluence for some time but have yet to do that.
i did the yough trail from somerset or right around there to mckeesport it was rediculous. my ass fuckin hurt for a month afterwards. it was great for the first 40 miles then after that i hated my life until i got off my bike.
Are the shorts really necessary? I usually ride about 14 to 20 miles and my old bike used to give me some pain but that was a mountain bike with no shocks and a crappy seat. Now I have this and the seat and front forks have shocks:
that is one baller path bike! I agree, that setup wouldnt be bad for some distances. I still would recommend a chamois bike short though.
my path buggy:
we all did the pittspeed ride afew years ago from connelsville to ohio pyle , its like 18 miles or so , whe you are fat and out of shape thats a tuff ride
yup we did!
i have been riding it alot latley
i was thinking about getting a good ride…i kow i can start at my house in south fayatte/ south point exit on 79 and ride the whole way to jeffs 1st try engineerings.
I’ve ridden Connellsville to Confluence a few times. I’m trying to get back in the groove. Recently been riding Greensburg - Youngwood (actually Lynch field to S Greensburg). Unfortunately the trail is closed just north of Youngwood, so I ain’t going the whole way.
My legs hurt bad these days. Sucks to be approaching 40.
We should get a saturday ride together sometime. I didn’t realize how many people on PS rode on the paths.
That’s a nice ride. I have done that one a bunch of times. The best part is fox’s pizza when you get to ohiopyle - that’s motivation. 
I was looking at the montour trail map a few weeks ago. It’s about 25 miles.
make sure and stop at mile marker 6.5 near the pop machine and get a drink 
Lol cans for a dollar that day.
does montour actually connect to the YRT? I didn’t think that is was totally complete yet. I also think there might be a portion between mckeesport and west newton that is either not finished, or dumps you out onto the road.
That is based on the maps I could find online and I’m not sure how accurate they are.
My wife and I did 46 miles of YRT from west newton trailhead to dawson and back so like 23 miles each way. The pedaling is easy peasy, the ass and wrists if the bike isn’t properly fitted, are what get you. The full details are online somewhere, but the trail raises like 2000 vertical feet from here to confluence but only ever has a sustained incline of like 0.01% so it’s about as flat as you can get while still climbing.
Things that suck: long periods in the sun and some of the limestone dust.
Things that are good: plenty of rest and camping areas and it’s flat.
We are going to try to do a century by going from west newton to ohio pyle and back. We need to add like 4 miles somewhere though, so we might just go up to confluence instead. We both have padded shorts now. Just waiting for some bar ends for both of the bikes so that we have plenty of hand hold options.
I don’t get what is enjoyable about riding a pedal bike that far. Trails, downhills, jumps, etc… is fun as hell on a bike, but pedaling for hours on end seems boring.
I dont believe the montour trail ‘officially’ connects to the GAP trail, or that section i assume your calling the yough trail. When we departed for DC, we started in McKeesport b/c it was basicly considered the start of the GAP trail.
imo, its exercise for me thats way better than running
yeah I’m a little confused by the whole GAP, YRT, Montour trail thing, but still believe that there are some sections of on-road between mckeesport and Boston or Sutersville. It might be similar to the way the connellsville portion makes you cross 119 and crawford ave.
as far as biking for distance, I agree that biking south park trails is more fun and maybe a better workout because of the climbs but the rails-to-trails stuff is still good exercise and it’s kind of fun seeing how far you can go. Just something else to do in the area that is pretty cheap.