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Comment by exabrial | Hacker News Reader

I've really started to enjoy biking "rail to trail" lines in Kansas. The Flint Hills Trail is 115 miles of biking, relatively no elevation change... but the best part is absolutely 0 motorized vehicle traffic, making it quite enjoyable.

If you ever get a chance to bike it I would, and consider making a donation to the foundation that builds these out.

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Another good one is the American Tobacco Trail in Durham, NC [0]. A fantastic biking trail in an otherwise car-centric area.

[0] https://www.abandonedrails.com/durham-to-duncan

If you’re relatively close and interested in a long rail trails, I’d recommend checking out the Katy Trail next door in Missouri. It’s the longest rail trail in the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_Trail_State_Park

I wanted to call bs on this, but for now it seems you are right. In Texas, there are plans to take an abandoned railroad line from about Farmersville to a location fairly close to Texarkana. I am not sure the exact mileage, but I would think it must compete. Here is an off the cusp link about it.

https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/traveling-130-miles-alon...

It only manages to pull off this designation because the route from Pittsburgh to DC is technically 2 rail-trails (there's a tiny road segment of less than a mile that connects them in Cumberland, MD). Either way, the more rail-trails the better!

One of the rails to trails routes here in Virginia that I've ridden my bike on features a pretty large and relatively high bridge that spans acroases a river and much of the woods surrounding it. The more narrow bridge makes it easier to see over both sides like a typical pedestrian bridge but having that experience in the middle of the woods and above the trees was rather magical.

Here is a picture of in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Bridge_(Appomattox_River)...

They've done that from NYC to Albany and it's great. As you say, no traffic. I can't think of a much safer way to bike.

I'm not sure I'd characterize that particular trail as "no traffic" [1]. Large segments of the route you describe are along country roads where you share the road with cars and trucks traveling at 55mph. As much as I wish it weren't so! That'd be so much fun. :)

Perhaps you're thinking of the Erie canal trail (Buffalo to Albany), which is composed of a much higher proportion of bike trails?

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/11/05/nyregion/ny-e...

If you're in the Atlanta area, we have the PATH foundation which helps create and maintain most of the rail-to-trails in our area!

https://www.pathfoundation.org/our-trails

Mountain Bike needed I assume? Or is it more like a dirt single track?

I'm not familiar with this particular trail, but they're usually paved.

Not at all! I use a "gravel bike", which is sort of made for this kind of stuff (slightly relaxed road riding position, more aggressive weight balance towards rear, wide tires, beefier frame, plenty hardpoints for water). A road bike would suffice with wide enough tires (probably at least 38mm). The surface is mostly packed pea gravel, but there is some clay dirt streches and some spots that are "Kansas Road" grade... meaning chipped/rutted chert/limestone.

A mountain bike would certainly work but is overkill. The upright riding position of a mountain bike catches a lot of wind and you'll expend a lot of calories/water inefficiently, and they're not made for low rolling resistance.

Awesome - I have an old 80s touring frame that I have completely revamped with lighter 29er wheels and 35C touring tires (usually works pretty well on gravel), wide dirt drops, full racks, etc etc. Brooks saddle of course. Probably would work great for that (although maybe even wider tires would be better - bike has cantilever brakes so I can go pretty wide if I wanted)

We need to do this write large. All abandoned lines should be seized by eminent domain and turned into trails.

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