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Via-Biking the East Coast Greenway: A Group-Centered Journey


Via-Biking the East Coast Greenway: A Group-Centered Journey

This story was initially printed on September 27, 2023 and was up to date on April 5, 2024.

Biking roughly 3,000 miles from the northern tip of Maine to the southern tip of Florida could be a powerful feat for anybody to perform. However what if you happen to tried the path with only a few hundred miles of biking expertise beneath your belt? And what if you happen to had lower than a month to finish the route? 

Regina Yan, a newbie bikepacker primarily based in Washington, D.C., got down to just do that.

An illustration of a person on a bike with a green backpack, riding next to a body of water.
An unique illustration by Regina Yan

Yan’s endurance biking expertise main as much as her departure was minimal. She’d solely been biking for one 12 months earlier than deciding to tackle the problem. Her curiosity in biking blossomed throughout COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns when she started renting bikes from her native bikeshare program as a option to get open air and keep away from crowded trains. She fell in love immediately. 

“I rapidly found [because of biking] that I like feeling empowered,” says Yan. “I preferred with the ability to take myself locations that my two toes wouldn’t let me go with out a automotive. Ultimately, I simply felt like I wanted to push myself to do one thing that I wasn’t positive I might do.”

So she settled on a aim: Full a “thru-biking” journey alongside the East Coast Greenway.

Gear Up Like Regina

Bounce forward to get a full record of the gear Regina took on her one-month, 3,000-mile bike journey.

The 3,000-mile route, which hyperlinks collectively paved trails, dust and gravel paths, and sections of roadway, is the nation’s longest greenway. The ECG, as locals all alongside the Greenway name it, was established in 1991 and is at the moment practically 40% full. The continuing greenway path venture travels alongside a mixture of nation roads, metropolis streets, multi-use trails and paved bike paths, connecting 15 states and 450 communities from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Florida. 

Most individuals entry brief segments of the path in and round their communities. Round 50 million bike rides, runs and walks happen yearly on the 1,000-plus miles of accomplished greenway path segments. Over 100 folks have accomplished the complete route by bike, in addition to 5 walkers and a runner. Some end the route over many months or years—or in a single fell swoop, like Yan.

A difficult journey for even seasoned long-distance bikers, this trek is just not for the faint of coronary heart. One-third of the ECG route is car-free, whereas the opposite two-thirds share the roadway. Understanding how one can bike alongside busy streets and gaining the boldness to take up area on the street is a should.

“My expertise on the Greenway was a mixture of, ‘Wow, that is so lovely and I can’t imagine I get to expertise this excellent glimpse of various cultures and totally different communities of the U.S.,’” says Yan. “However then there have been additionally sections between cities like Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, the place you’re driving 150-ish miles alongside fairly quick freeway on U.S. 17. Whereas it’s not a foremost interstate freeway, vehicles are going 60 to 70 miles an hour whilst you’re driving on a teeny-tiny shoulder. Some of us even skip that portion if they’re doing the entire journey as a result of it’s fairly harmful.”

Regina Yan stands next to her bike on a corner in New York City.
Picture courtesy of Regina Yan

One Month, Two Wheels, 3,000 Miles

Yan began biking significantly in 2020. She discovered to vary a flat tire and was bike-commuting 20 miles round-trip to work. In that 12 months previous to her ECG try, the longest journey Yan had accomplished was a solo weekend 200-mile journey to Shenandoah Nationwide Park on the Washington & Outdated Dominion Path, amongst others—an accomplishment by itself, to make certain, however nothing close to the bodily and psychological problem of a several-thousand-mile journey.

Now her aim was to bike the complete Greenway—and he or she solely had 30 days to finish the route earlier than needing to return to work. She was terrified, however optimistic. Biking on native trails and close by greenways had already led her to attach with herself on a deeper degree. It additionally led to her craving a extra intimate reference to nature and the group round her.

For Yan, the Greenway felt like a comparatively protected alternative for a solo long-distance problem. The route would take her by way of main metro areas like Boston, New York Metropolis and Philadelphia, the place she had mates with whom she deliberate to remain, together with Raleigh-Durham and Miami, and smaller communities alongside the best way. She knew she wouldn’t be too removed from assist, meals, shelter or provides if wanted. The ECG winds by way of a whole lot of native communities full of motorcycle retailers, grocery shops and group assets—one other advantage of driving alongside a greenway. As epic a journey forward because it was, Yan felt peace understanding she wouldn’t be too disconnected from civilization or fairly as susceptible alongside her route as, say, a solo backpacking journey or backcountry bikepack. 

“I describe myself as considerably of an introvert, however I actually needed to tackle this problem to push myself to fulfill new folks,” says Yan. “I additionally went to highschool in New Hampshire and I’ve a variety of mates who dwell alongside the East Coast, so I knew it might be a option to reconnect with mates.”

On September 19, 2021, Yan rigged up her tenting gear, garments, meals, instruments and spare tubes on her bike, and rolled out on her ECG biking journey. Her aim was to journey a median of 110 miles per day, however on day one, she took on 140 miles to achieve Acadia, Maine—her longest journey of the journey. 

“​​I instructed myself that I knew I might bike 20 miles, and since 140 miles is like 20 miles however simply seven occasions, I believed I’d be completely okay,” says Yan. “No, it was a very unhealthy concept.”

Along with going through extreme chafing after logging her first day (she rapidly found why folks use chamois cream), many different challenges got here barreling her manner too: She hit a sob-inducing storm on the 100-mile stretch from Boston to Windfall, her first time biking within the rain—however she instructed herself to maintain going. One other setback in that very same part was when her brakes reduce out amid car visitors; after a irritating hour of making an attempt to repair the brakes, she couldn’t do it, leaving her stranded 20 miles from the closest bike store. She even obtained beaned by a beer can as soon as whereas pedaling. 

However superb moments occurred too: She noticed a complete area’s value of beautiful panorama and surroundings; reconnected with outdated mates and met new ones; supported and discovered from native bike retailers how one can mend her bike; and gleaned quite a lot of views from group to group.

“Certainly one of my favourite experiences was staying with a Heat Showers host named Tony in Hartford, Connecticut,” says Yan. (The nonprofit Heat Showers is a global hospitality group that connects bike vacationers with free lodging from verified hosts.) “On the time, he was in command of town’s solely bike store referred to as BiCi Co., a cooperative bike the place folks are available in and really discover ways to use instruments and repair their bikes by way of group programming.”

BiCi Co. Group Bike Store, a associate nonprofit to the Heart for Latino Progress in Hartford, Connecticut, focuses on enhancing youth and grownup security, sustainable transportation, youth bike teaching programs, mechanics lessons, job coaching and extra. Yan was in a position to study Tony and BiCi Co.’s involvement with the native biking group and the group’s efforts to make biking extra seen within the metropolis, particularly for numerous communities who lack entry to protected and accessible strolling and biking trails.

Ultimately, Yan started to seek out her groove on and off the saddle. She began nourishing her physique with the best meals, taking time to relaxation and studying how one can fine-tune repairs as she went. She additionally met useful folks in every group she visited alongside the best way, which made the expertise even that rather more impactful. 

“Greenways are nice for thru-riders but in addition for group members,” says Yan. “Having these paths to get from one place to a different, or to only be capable of stroll round on the finish of the day, is so nice for the group.”

As she neared the ultimate stretch in south Florida, a thought ran by way of her head—one she was too scared to have at the start of the journey: “I feel I can really make it to the tip.”

She rolled as much as the end line 29 days after her departure, setting the then fastest-known report for finishing the East Coast Greenway route by bike. Now a board member of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, Yan says the journey helped her understand that we could also be stronger than we predict we’re.

“No manner did I feel I might bounce right into a bikepacking journey and end it, and forward of schedule too—however after we push ourselves, we develop.”

If you’re impressed by Regina’s journey, the East Coast Greenway Alliance recommends long-distance vacationers deal with experiencing the attractive, accomplished segments of the East Coast Greenway, specifically the 250-mile, practically developed stretch of the East Coast Greenway between New Haven, Connecticut, and Boston.

A section of the East Coast Greenway through Scarborough, ME
A piece of the path by way of Scarborough, Maine. Picture courtesy of East Coast Greenway Alliance

A Group Connector

Greenways are important for linking parks, inexperienced area and communities giant and small. They join the individuals who recreate there with the character round them.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano, govt director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, says greenway initiatives intention to remodel the best way folks transfer round and work together with their communities. He argues the largest impediment for people to dwell energetic, wholesome and sustainable lives is an absence of protected infrastructure. That form of funding makes actions like biking, operating, strolling, skating and wheelchair climbing extra accessible. Even those that sit at park benches alongside the greenway can hook up with the communities and the character round them. 

“Communities in all places on this nation want protected entry to benefit from the open air,” he continues. “In order that’s what we’re doing: We’re constructing entry to inexperienced area and nature proper out folks’s doorsteps within the largest cities within the nation.”

Since its founding in 1991, the ECG has develop into probably the most visited park within the nation. This 12 months, the East Coast Greenway Alliance launched Greenways for All, an initiative that helps native authorities and group efforts in accessing regional and federal funding for continued greenway and path buildout. ECG employees work alongside mayors, metropolis council members and county commissioners alongside the East Coast to assist native leaders navigate the applying course of to achieve funding streams that can assist full path segments all through their communities.

“We see the following three years as one of the best potential we’ve ever needed to full the East Coast Greenway,” says Markatos-Soriano, referring to the $550 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Act. This regulation earmarks federal investments into roads and bridges, railways, water infrastructure, web entry and extra. The East Coast Greenway Alliance argues that this regulation can have an enduring influence on biking and greenway infrastructure by way of funding issued for Transportation Alternate options and federal RAISE grants

“We’re working carefully with leaders from the native to the federal degree to reap the benefits of this historic infrastructure second we’re in,” says Markatos-Soriano. “We’d want lower than 1% of that funding to finish the complete East Coast Greenway.”

In Simsbury, Connecticut, a city with just below 25,000 residents northwest of Hartford, mayor Wendy Mackstutis says her group has their sights set on finishing pivotal connection factors between their group and the neighboring cities of New Haven, Tarrifville, Bloomfield and Hartford. 

“Any enhancements to the path system and connecting different cities to Simsbury is nice for financial improvement, nice for tourism and a fantastic alternative for close by communities and guests to see what we’re all about,” Mackstutis says.

The connecting path segments will hyperlink the present 54-mile Farmington Canal Heritage Path, which runs by way of Simsbury to Bloomfield and past, lastly linking up with Hartford’s 16-mile Constitution Oak Greenway path. Mackstutis’s administration is collaborating carefully with the East Coast Greenway Alliance on the completion of the venture. 

“I feel the folks within the communities are what makes the Greenway particular,” says Yan. “It’s nice to have a motorcycle path, but it surely’s the folks and the group you meet alongside the best way who influence you that makes a giant distinction.”

The East Coast Greenway + REI Co-op

The East Coast Greenway Alliance is a grantee associate of the nonprofit REI Cooperative Motion Fund, a community-supported public charity immediately supporting the organizations and initiatives making change within the nation’s out of doors tradition. The ECGA seeks to create a greenway community that connects folks to their locations, making it simpler and extra satisfying to commute, expertise nature, train and journey by bike or foot, lowering the carbon emissions attributable to vehicles. Since 2021, the Cooperative Motion Fund has awarded East Coast Greenway Alliance $160,000 to assist full this greenway venture.

The REI Member group is invited to assist the East Coast Greenway Alliance and the remainder of the REI Cooperative Motion Fund grantee group by making a donation as we speak. Donations are tax-deductible, and 100% of donations from the general public go on to organizations that promote justice, fairness and belonging within the open air.

Gear Up Like Regina

Chamois Butt’r Her’ Anti-Chafe Cream – 8 oz. – Ladies’s

I’m embarrassed to say I believed the padded shorts I wore for each day bike commutes would operate simply as effectively on a 3,000-mile journey. 4 days and a few rain showers in, I started experiencing pores and skin irritation nearly in all places on my backside half. That’s once I found Chamois Butt’r Her’ at a motorcycle store in Boston, which not solely prevented chafing however smelled scrumptious—actually a trip-saver and the distinction between a snug journey and dreaded saddle sores.

Amphipod Xinglet

It’s so essential to put on reflective gear, particularly once you’re a solo rider who doesn’t take up a lot area, touring on roads that will not see a lot bike visitors or driving at the hours of darkness. I made myself as seen as doable by sporting the Xinglet, which is a light-weight, stretchy and adjustable vest with spectacular reflective protection. I’d additionally suggest making use of reflective tape to your bike and helmet, and you may get artistic with the shapes!

Ortlieb Sport-Curler Free Panniers – Pair

Ortlieb panniers are the gold commonplace for waterproof storage. As a lightweight packer, I opted for the smaller Sport Rollers on my again rack, which match all the things however my tent (which I stored in a dry bag). They’re straightforward to clip on and off, and a breeze to wash. After I’m not bike touring, I exploit these panniers for groceries, commuting and all the things in between.

Pedro’s Tire Levers

There’s a variety of hype within the biking world about Pedro’s tire levers. People swear by them, and after seven flat tires on this journey alone, I’ve to as effectively. They’re gentle and durable and can help you easily snap your tire again in your bike once you’re careworn and crying on the shoulder of a freeway … although I hope nobody else ever finds themself on this predicament.

Bontrager Mini Charger Body Pump

I had numerous crying classes throughout my journey, however the largest occurred once I obtained a flat tire in rural Maryland and my low cost bike pump broke. After I lastly made it to a motorcycle store 20 miles away, the mechanic really helpful the Bontrager Mini Charger as a dependable and user-friendly pump. Although it’s bigger than your typical transportable pump, its folding foot and excessive quantity present the advantages of a full-size ground pump. Inflation is really easy it makes having flat tires nearly nice.

Terry Butterfly Ti Gel + Saddle – Ladies’s

If I needed to pinpoint my greatest bike journey funding, it might be my comfy bike seat. My bike’s inventory seat carried out effectively sufficient for commuting, however I knew I’d want a girls’s particular seat if I didn’t need to, effectively, saddle myself with a bunch of soft-tissue issues. The Terry Butterfly Ti Gel + Saddle suits my anatomy completely, and I like to recommend making an attempt just a few choices to see which one is one of the best to your sit bones.

Therm-a-Relaxation Questar 20 Sleeping Bag

I keep in mind spending hours on sleeping bag analysis previous to this bike journey. I needed a bag with sufficient fluff to maintain me from freezing whereas being compact sufficient to suit inside my panniers. I selected the Questar 20 for its superior warmth-to-size ratio and located it carried out extraordinarily effectively when temperatures dropped to 40°F.   

Sea to Summit Ultralight Insulated Air Sleeping Pad

Everybody ought to change to sleeping baggage with pump sack. It takes seconds to inflate your pad and also you’ll by no means be lightheaded once more! Those that discover themselves turning like a rotisserie rooster could discover the pad a bit loud, however if you happen to’re like me and sleep like a mummy, this ultralight Sea to Summit pad is a good 3-season possibility.

Huge Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2 Tent

I prefer to journey compactly however sleep spaciously. I owned this Huge Agnes two-person tent previous to bike touring and determined to convey it quite than buying a one-person tent. I’m so glad I did. Having additional area allowed me to stash my gear inside, really feel comfy and condensation-free on wet days, and luxuriate in my morning cat-cow stretches totally shielded from mosquitoes. In the event you’re touring with somebody, I like to recommend the Huge Agnes three-person tent since you lose all of the aforementioned advantages and achieve a variety of grumbles when sharing a two-person tent (I, sadly, communicate from expertise). This tent is available in a bikepacking model with shorter tent poles, however I discovered the regular-size tent poles match completely on the highest tube of my bike.

—Regina Yan, REI Co-op Member since 2015

Regina Yan in a tent along her East Coast Greenway journey.
Picture courtesy of Regina Yan

The put up Via-Biking the East Coast Greenway: A Group-Centered Journey appeared first on Unusual Path – An REI Co-op Publication.

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