Gravel Ride of the Week: Cruising Along The GAP Trail From OhioPyle
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This week's ride is all about a light and easy cruise that allows the opportunity to take in the scenery - call it the party pace, if you'd like. If you have a spouse that needs convincing about how awesome gravel riding can be, then this is the ride that can plead your case! In fact, this one is so chill that you could hitch a carrier to the back of your bike to tug the kids along too, getting the whole family outdoors for an adventure!
As you may have seen in our last video, Christin and I traveled up to Southwest Pennsylvania a few weeks back to participate in The Quick & the Dead gravel race in Addison. If you haven't seen that video and blog post yet, be sure to check them out! For this trip, we decided to take advantage of Addison's close proximity to the Greater Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail, and planned a relaxed cruise along the Youghiogheny River the day before the race.
Ride of the Week
The ride began in the picturesque town of Ohiopyle - a true gem for anyone interested in outdoor activities. Here you'll find so many great spots for river rafting, hiking, camping, picnics and, of course, biking! We'd been to Ohiopyle once before when I attempted to bike all the way from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. Be sure to check out those videos too! The GAP is an incredibly well-maintained crushed limestone surface, with little elevation gain on that section. Heading northbound from Ohiopyle, there's a minor decent and on the way back, we clocked a mere 83 meters of vertical ascent. The scenic bridges around Ohiopyle offer some seriously stunning views and were the highlight of our ride. Other notables include lush greenery, such as rhododendrons and pawpaw trees, wild flowers, towering rocks, trickling springs and the occasional deer spotting.
Aside from all the outdoor fun, you can get your historical and artistic fix just a ten minute drive from the center of Ohiopyle at Fallingwater, a home designed by master architect Frank Lloyd Wright. We checked it out the last time we were in the area and can certainly recommend it as a must-see attraction! Find more details about this in our previous blog post. Wright’s Kentuck Knob is also just a 7-minute drive from Ohiopyle, but that one is still on our list to check out.
This route is an out and back course. We turned around after 10 miles, but if we'd continued on another 8 miles, we would have wound up in the town of Connellsville. The GAP extends northbound for many miles beyond that as well, eventually reaching the trailhead in Pittsburgh. In the opposite direction from Ohiopyle, the trail runs through Confluence, then Meyersdale, ending up in Cumberland, Maryland, where the GAP turns into the C&O Canal trail.
All in all, it was the perfect pre-race shake out that I needed, and meanwhile it was an opportunity for Christin to test her limits after a few months away from the bike. The GAP trail is such a scenic route and it truly offers something for everyone!
What’s your favorite family friendly route? Let us know in the comments below!
- Wiehan & Christin
