Class B Biking Acquaintances Midwest - L1, L2

[Luckysnuck]

Class B Biking Acquaintances Midwest - L1, L2 (CBBAM-L1L2)


Friends,

This idea hatched purely from the concept of connecting with people with a shared interest in comingling Airstream Class B adventures and bikers of like ability and ambition.

“Connecting” might mean a coordinated trip with others to a location with good bike trails or maybe just a discussion of anything related. The objective of this effort is simply to establish a sub-forum identifier (maybe CBBAM-L1L2 for short) that encompasses this level of biking with people that also embrace RVing adventures.

I came across the below listed levels which identify the type of rider/riding a person may be and for purposes of this sub-forum I specifically chose the suffix L1L2 for this is the type of riding my wife (58) and myself (62) pursue and enjoy. This type of identifier leaves open the opportunity for others to pursue the assembly of riders whose biking ability and ambition fall under the L3, L4 or L5 category. “Midwest” in this identifier represents the region we see ourselves realistically being active in. Again, an opportunity for others to alter the suffix to “West”, “East” or another region that best represents the geography of their activities.

How well this might work…who knows, but I grew tired of just thinking about doing this so I’m putting it out there with the spirit that was intended. My first post (when uncertain?) will be an open invitation for others that might feel so inclined to join my wife and I for a night or two at a location, likely <300 miles from our home in the Cincinnati area, stay tuned in. I'm hopeful that others may beat me to the punch and post a gathering idea at a great location that I'm not familiar with.


Level 1 – Casual
You are: An active vacationer and leisurely rider who enjoys taking your time pedaling while sightseeing. You’re most comfortable riding on bike paths and most of your riding is done while commuting or on vacation.
Typical number of weekly rides: 1
Current average weekly mileage: 25
Average feet in elevation you’re comfortable doing in one ride: 1000
Miles you’re capable of riding in one day: 40
Average speed on a typical ride: 10–14 mph

Level 2 – Recreational
You are: A fit person and adventure rider who enjoys participating in gran fondos or bike charity events and riding on the weekends or vacation. You’re not interested in racing or being competitive, but you appreciate a good challenge and can comfortably handle a few hours on the bike.
Typical number of weekly rides: 2
Current average weekly mileage: 50
Average feet in elevation you’re comfortable doing in one ride: 2000
Miles you’re capable of riding in one day: 60
Average speed on a typical ride: 12–17 mph

Level 3 – Avid
You are: A casual amateur athlete who competes in the occasional bike race or triathlon. You enjoy long days in the saddle every once in a while and love exploring new destinations by bike. This is our most common rider category.
Typical number of weekly rides: 3
Current average weekly mileage: 100
Average feet in elevation you’re comfortable doing in one ride: 4000
Miles you’re capable of riding in one day: 100
Average speed on a typical ride: 14–20 mph

Level 4 – Weekend Warrior
You are: A competitive amateur athlete who races Cat 2/3 or can podium in your age group in a local triathlon or gran fondo. You regularly ride with a fast-paced group once a week and are comfortable on technical descents and challenging climbs.
Typical number of weekly rides: 4
Current average weekly mileage: 150
Average feet in elevation you’re comfortable doing in one ride: 5000
Miles you’re capable of riding in one day: 100
Average speed on a typical ride: 16–22 mph

Level 5 – Racer
You are: A very competitive athlete who races Cat 1/2 on the road and can win your age group in a regional triathlon or large gran fondo. You’re at the front of the pack during your weekly group rides and you thrive off of big days with tons of climbing.
Typical number of weekly rides: 5+
Current average weekly mileage: 200+
Average feet in elevation you’re comfortable doing in one ride: 6000+
Miles you’re capable of riding in one day: 125+
Average speed on a typical ride: 17–25 mph

[kscherzi]

Biking a 1,000 foot grade doesn't sound very casual to me.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by kscherzi

Biking a 1,000 foot grade doesn't sound very casual to me.

It isn't as hard as it sounds, unless perhaps one is on a fixed gear bike.

We are located nowhere near the mid west, but wish the organizers well.

I found the categorizations interesting. Mont Ventoux was a 5000 feet climb for us, over several hours, but that was only a portion of the full day, I don't know what the day's total climb was. The really serious riders did all three routes up and down, in one day, so triple the climbing. We just went up one, and down another.

Across Italy was over 27,000 feet of climbing over 5 days. But we started and ended at sea level, so we got some pretty good descents in as well.

We consider ourselves casual riders on our city bikes, and avid riders on our sport bikes or touring bikes, but it appears we are weekend warriors for distances and speeds in this chart. We have never competed, and don't plan to. We just don't ride on weekends, there are too many casual riders out then.

[kscherzi]

Have you tried this ride? 14,000 feet, four peaks in 103 miles. I tried one peak, it was a 24% grade and really, really hard. https://deathride.com/

My wife can be defined as casual. Slow, likes to look around, but would object is the uphill part had much climbing. No way she'd bike up a 1,000 foot high hill.

[jcl]

Originally Posted by kscherzi

Have you tried this ride? 14,000 feet, four peaks in 103 miles. I tried one peak, it was a 24% grade and really, really hard. https://deathride.com/

My wife can be defined as casual. Slow, likes to look around, but would object is the uphill part had much climbing. No way she'd bike up a 1,000 foot high hill.

No, we haven't. We have done trips to Solvang (a ride camp for a week) but those are small hills.

We've been on 17% grades on the Costa Brava, and there were lots of steep hills across Italy through Umbria and Tuscany, but Provence had the longest sustained climbs. And it was hot.

My wife and riding partner can outclimb me any day of the week. She waited for me at the switchbacks up Ventoux.

[Rig Rat]

Yes, we’re interested! The wife and I are category 1 - 2 riders and call Columbus our home.
This May she’s riding a tour of the OHIO to Erie trail and I’ll be the sag for her in our
AI.

[Luckysnuck]

Excellent, you'll see it hear when we have a date(s) and a location in mind.

[Athboy]

I’m interested. From the south but willing to travel
Hank
25 ft Flying Cloud

[Rig Rat]

Originally Posted by Luckysnuck

Excellent, you'll see it hear when we have a date(s) and a location in mind.

Are you open for suggestions?

[Luckysnuck]

1000%, this was one outcome that I had hoped for, others sharing their biking experiences while out on RVing adventures.

To that end a location my wife and I have enjoyed a couple of times in recent years is Patoka Lake State Park in south-central Indiana (https://www.in.gov/dnr/state-parks/p...s/patoka-lake/). Last summer ourselves with two sets of neighbors (them tent camping) loaded up our bikes for the 188 mile trip from Cincinnati. Great campsites, excellent biking trails (which are equally good for walking/running) and had a great time.

[InterBlog]

This is one of those threads where my first reaction is, "I'm listening".

Specifically, I'm listening to this general part:

"...a shared interest in comingling Airstream Class B adventures and bikers of like ability and ambition. “Connecting” might mean a coordinated trip with others to a location with good bike trails or maybe just a discussion of anything related."

It sounds like you have a similar idea to one that I have been working on, but are maybe approaching the desired end result from a different starting point. Let me explain and ask questions.

(1) ROADS? -

For the number of miles you are citing in your L class examples, it sounds like you will be either limited to some very specific destinations, OR, you will be doing some road-riding. Is that correct? Because where do you go to ride bikes for 25 to 40 miles, and not be on roads? Sections of the sparsely-populated western U.S. probably, but where else?

There's a whole class of casual bikers who don't want to ride on roads because of the risks. Just as one example, in 2021, five hundred and fifty one (551) cyclists were struck by cars in Harris County Texas, resulting in 23 fatalities that we know of, and who knows how many permanent disabilities because those are not publicly reported.

(2) DESTINATIONS -

I have stated previously on this forum that my husband and I are members of the nonprofit Airstream park known as Texas Airstream Harbor (TAHI). But we are not the stereotypical rally-ers and caravanners. Those events are great - we have attended both types of gatherings, and we intend to continue. But this is 2022, not 1962, and even the most dedicated caravanner expects to have something else to do with the other 15 to 27 days of each of their months, right?

For me, that "something else" must involve strenuous exercise, no matter what it consists of. So one of the initiatives I've taken on as a volunteer is to collaborate with other like-minded people in the local area surrounding TAHI to rehabilitate and steward the nearby Cassels Boykin Park multi-use trail system, which is open to bikers (but not motorized vehicles; image below). Lake Sam Rayburn is a reservoir, and recent abnormally-high-water events had damaged the trails to the point where they had fallen into disuse and obscurity, but we have worked hard to bring them back to active status.

But these are not the thousand-foot elevation change type of trails that you are describing. These are gentle pineywoods trails that anyone beyond the L1 ridership level would find boring. So I don't think that TAHI would be a destination in itself because of the trails that we are now connected to (informally connected to - I'm working on that part). But I think we would make a great waypoint for groups such as what you are trying to put together here.

For instance, if a group of you decides to do a longer trip to our 300,000-acre Big Bend Ranch State Park, which is a destination where you CAN do some serious biking without getting into conflict with motor vehicles, then TAHI is potentially a good stop along the way, a stop where you can also bike, and meet like-minded people.

So, my point is, as you gathering information and making plans, please keep waypoints like ours in mind.

Our local trails initiative has been a game-changer for me personally. I am not retired, so when I am at TAHI, I work remotely during the day. By the time late afternoon rolls around, I've degenerated into a lump of stagnant flesh from sitting at my computer for so many hours. So I walk out my door, hop on my mountain bike, and I can ride 10 miles of trails without ever needing to get into my car or my Interstate. Game-changer.

Here's an informal sketch of what our configuration presently looks like. The yellow, orange, blue and green trails are a bit rough in places, but fully cleared and open to bikers.

[Luckysnuck]

Firstly, glad your “listening” IB, but even more happy that you contributed to the conversation, for your thoughtful content led to a sharing of a couple of locations (Big Bend Ranch State Park & Cassels Boykin Park) that albeit may not check all the boxes for every level of casual biker (who happens to also enjoying RVing), but I’m sure informed a few, including myself, to some new locations worth exploring if ever in that neck of the woods.

With respect to the rider/riding Level Classifications (L1-L2); it was by pure accident that I came across this chart, but upon reading it I felt that it captured as close as I could find the category of riders that many of us “casual” bikers are and the audience I was attempting to appeal to.

It has been our experience that in most cases with any system of nicely paved or well established crushed rock flat trails of any decent length that some small amount of “road riding” is hard to avoid, for often a larger system of dedicated biking/walking/running trials are interconnected via short lengths of public road. For me personally I do not pursue road biking, primarily for the risks that you cite. Consequently to achieve what might be a distance objective on a particular day may mean having to ride a “trail loop” or “out & back” twice or three times…ya have to work with watchya got!

One system of trails my wife and I found that entailed zero public roadways was Acadia National Park; a system of 45 miles of what were once roadways for carriages, but are now shared by walkers, runners, horseback riders and bikers. During our visit bikers were clearly the largest user group with the “casual biker” the most predominant. A word of warning if considering a visit and hoping to ride the trails; there is what they call the “mud season” due to seasonal rains which causes enough damage to close the trails. I’d be happy to share more about our Acadia trip if anyone would like to PM me.

So in summary...no dynamic agenda here, just some folks reaching out wanting to encourage the idea of sharing ideas as it relates to taking our collective rigs here or there and if we’re fortunate taking in a bike ride, hike or simple walk along the way...and if we're really fortunate making some new acquaintances in the bargain.

[InterBlog]

I hope everyone posts back to this thread describing what trips they actually did in this context. Either with other Airstream Class B people or with other people generally.

There are lots of people on the gram who happen to own Class Bs and who happen to take biking trips, but meet-ups (if any occur) are usually incidental to individual initiatives. Or depending on the event, the Class B lifestyle is incidental. It's one or the other, but not both.

The question is how initiatives could be coordinated around not one but two organizing concepts. That's the new idea.

[Rig Rat]

We prefer to ride dedicated bike paths. With that in mind here are some suggestions of trails that we have ridden.
For a day trip I’d suggest the Cuyahoga Valley national park.
It has a 26 mile crushed stone path that follows the Cuyahoga River and the old Erie canal.
A bonus is you can ride this path in sections and put your bike on the train that runs parallel to the bike path from Akron to Cleveland. This year they also have a steam engine that will visit the park in May and again in September that is interesting especially if you like nostalgic steam powered trains.
Close by to the northern part of this bike trail is the house where they filmed the Christmas story as well as the rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

For a multiple day trip I would suggest the Allegheny passage which is crushed stone and follows a former railroad line between Pittsburgh and Cumberland Maryland. We have ridden many sections of this and someday would like to do the entire length including the part from Cumberland to Washington DC.
There are several tunnels you ride through as well as trestles you pass over in addition to following the scenic Youghiogheny river. Since this is a former railroad right away the maximum grade on this trail is 4%. Side trips to this ride could include visiting Frank Loyd Wright’s falling water as well as White water rafting.

Another multiple day trip is the Ohio to Erie trail. While the majority of this trail is also on former rails ways, some of it is on public roadways.

[Luckysnuck]

Thanks Rig Rat for sharing, the Cuyahoga trail, per the YouTube video** I came across showing clips of about 20 miles of it, is right up my wife & I's alley. Do you happen to know if the Spring rains make this destination a better choice during the dryer summer & fall months? The trails in the video appeared like they could get rutty after some heavy rains(?). Also, do you have a favorite location in that trail's vacinity that you know is a good place to overnight with the rig?

We're have some first hand experience with parts of the southern leg of the "Ohio to Erie" trail, I'll offer some comments on this another time...

Thanks for your informative post!

**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNZeucfifwo

[Rig Rat]

I don’t recall the towpath trail having any issues with water retention/ponding
the times that we have ridden it. We’ve always found it well-maintained and a great riding experience.
Usually when we ride our bikes there and spend the night we dry camp/Boondock. So unfortunately, I don’t have a campground that I could recommend.

[h2oski]

Just picked up our 2017 AI last week. My wife and are are recreational / avid mountain bikers and looking forward to several trips this summer.


Currently our only trip planned this year dedicated to biking is heading up to the ore2shore race in Marquette (*upper peninsula of Michigan )




It appears that this thread is mostly road/gravel riders?

[Luckysnuck]

h2oski,

Short answer to your question; recreational biking~yes, mountain biking~no, but speaking purely from my wife and my perspective.

Your question however highlights a pretty obvious ommision from the "Level Chart" I posted...this chart apparently pre-dates the mountain biking universe for I do not see it captured anywhere. My perception is that folks centered on mountain biking is similar to avid road biking enthusiast, where there is minimual crossover from these two activities into the casual (L1,L2) realm(?).

Anywho, congratulations on your Interstate EXT acquisition...exciting! We have the similar rig just one model year newer. Best of luck on your adventures and hopefully you'll find AF as a terrific source of knowledge along with great folks that like to share their Airstream knowledge and experiences.

[Luckysnuck]

Looking at making a run up toward the Cleveland/Akron area (Cuyahoga Valley National Park) this weekend and bike the Ohio & Erie Towpath Trails and wondering if anyone has a favorite RV Campground nearby? Electrical hookup always a preference for us and near a bike path trailhead would be ideal, but understanding the reality that we'll likely have to drive & park near a trailhead to offload our bikes.

Looking at just a couple nights out (Friday & Saturday) as this is our first "knock the dust off the rig" run of 22.

Thanks in advance...

[Rig Rat]

Electrical hookup always a preference for us and near a bike path trailhead would be ideal, but understanding the reality that we'll likely have to drive & park near a trailhead to offload our bikes.

************************************************** **********

Sorry, I can't help you with where to camp but I can on where you can park your AI as well as access the trail.

Depending on where you want to start riding the 26 mile path from the North (Rockside station), Middle (Penisula, Ohio) or South (Akron Station), here's 3 spots where there's room to park your AI.

We plan on riding there on May 20th!

Enjoy your ride!

Mark