woodysroad

Anyone have experience with PA Bike Route V, mid-state, Ohio-New York?

indyfabz

I have done the portion between Emlenton, PA and White Haven, PA. It doesn't go to New York, but ACA's new Chicago to NYC route does after route V ends at the PA border. It uses a lot of route V (possibly all of it).


If you want to start in the Warren, OH area, I have a nice route from the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport to Franklin, PA. From there, you head south along the (paved) Allegheny River Trail to Emlenton to pick up Route V. Very pretty ride, and there is free camping (with shelters and tent pads) along the river in Franklin.

rhm

I have ridden a couple sections of it, adding up to maybe 45 miles, at the eastern end. From what I've seen it is very nice.

An oddity of these BicyclePA routes is that they use only state roads; roads that belong to the county are not used. This results in occasional detours that don't make sense otherwise.

Another oddity is that the website does not appear to be well maintained. Just now I tried to look at the map of the route in question (ftp://ftp.dot.state.pa.us/public/pdf...state_mapV.pdf) and it wouldn't load. To figure out what the route is, I went to RideWithGPS and looked at the "OSM cycle" map.

indyfabz

A buddy of mine spoke to with someone who works for the state about the use of state roads. He was told it was so the state didn't have to get permission from every local government entity to put up route signs. It's a shame because I know of at least one place along Route S where they put you on potentially busy PA 23 instead of taking much quieter and scenic roads, including some that go through a state park which has camping.


And the maps no longer load like you note. It's almost as if the state has disowned the routes. With that said, the route was marked very well in most places. In fact, along at least one stretch it was over-marked. When you descend from Raymond Winter State Park to Lewisburg there is really no way to turn off PA 192, yet there seemed to be frequent route signs. Route V also has a decent amount of camping on or close to the route.

rhm

Yup, that agrees with my experience. It's kinda too bad, really, but I think the important thing for present purposes is simply to mention these issues so potential users like @woodysroad know what to expect, and won't be discouraged.

Of course, in a lot of the places where I've ridden, the BikePA route was pretty clearly not the nicest route for the cyclist. I've ridden all of the S route east of Gettysburg, some of it many times. There are sections I'd avoid. It's not that they're bad, but you can do better.

woodysroad

Thanks for the info indyfabz and rhm. I'm planning a trip next Spring from Amherst, OH to Hartsdale in Westchester County, NY. I'm an old guy and kind of want to pay my respects to the four students killed at Kent State in 1970. So, I'm going to visit each one's burial place and be at Kent State on May 4, which will be the 48th anniversary of the day of the shootings. One is buried in Amherst, one in Canfield, one in Wilkins Township near Pittsburgh, and one in Hartsdale. Amherst, Canfield, Kent, and Wilkins Township are all relatively close; to reach Westchester County in NY of course requires crossing PA and it looks like Bike Route V is the most direct route. I've not had any problems with the website and the maps open okay. I haven't looked at the RideWithGPS app yet, just downloaded it yesterday; nor have I looked at a more southern route across PA and then a NE turn toward NYC. I'm just now starting the planning so I was curious about Route V as it seemed pretty straightforward and uncomplicated. I'm open to any suggestions. I need to make it about a 10 day trip, so the straight-across-the-state of Route V looked appealing. I have a good friend living in Sewickley, NW of Pittsburgh so I need to get there and then from there down to Wilkins Township which appears to be on the SE side of the city. From there, I need to go N or NE up to Route V if I am to take it eastward across the state. I've traveled across the country and back by bike, and toured a lot in the Southeast just using old fashioned maps I picked up in stores, so I'm not locked into a finite route following a GPS, but the only touring I've done in that region is from McKeesport, PA to DC via the GAP/C&O trail. Anyway, sorry to meander, I appreciate your thoughts.

jamawani 

Very nice idea, Woody -

Visited the Kent State Memorial on a summer Sunday morning on my 2016 x-USA trip.
It is something that I have wanted to do for a long time.
It was completely empty - and very moving.
I left four shells from the Pacific Coast -
One each for Sandy, Allison, Jeff, and Bill.

I biked on thru Pennsylvania, close to the V Route, but my own.
I really wanted to bike via State College and Lewisburg.
I agree with the others who say that the state bike routes only use state highways.
But county roads - esp. in western Pennsylvania have killer grades - I know.
And the mining country of northeast Penna has been hard-hit economically.

Here's my journal:
https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/c2c/

Best to you - Juan

indyfabz

There appears to be a new site:

https://www.penndot.gov/TravelInPA/Ri...le-Routes.aspx

Kind of clunky. I liked the old ones better. You could print out individual pages and then plot them using RWGPS.

If you are going to be in the PGH area you could take Route A up to V. Or you could take the GAP to Rockwood and then Route S to Route V.

Route V across the center of the state from Emlenton to White Haven isn't that bad hill-wise. Some stretches of constant of ups and downs and a longer climb to the hill west of Clearfield (and then a long descent into town), but nothing killer. The Brush Valley east of State College is really nice Amish farming country. East of White Haven you will have some harder ups and downs on PA 534. My trip was in mid-September. Traffic was not bad most places. Some stretches were nearly traffic-free, even on numbered state highways.

Again, check out ACA's new Chicago to NYC route. From Portland, PA (home town of the guy who wrote ("All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth"), where Route V ends, it heads north through Worthington State Forest and the NJ side of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area to Port Jervis, NY. Splendid ride I have done numerous times. It eventually makes its way to NYC.

woodysroad

jamawani, good to hear from you. Thanks for the info, I opened your journal and read a few pages, I like it, will read more over the coming days. I guess I have a few years on you, I was in college when they were killed. My birthday is May 1, the day I will be starting the ride, will be 67. Take care.

woodysroad

indyfabz, this looks very helpful, appreciate you taking time to share with me. Take care.

unterhausen

I occasionally ride on route V east of State College. It's not the worst PA state bike route, that is probably reserved for route S. There can be a lot of traffic on it at times, I was getting pretty tired of traffic the last time I rode on it.

woodysroad

unterhausen, thanks, that's good to know

indyfabz

Really? I didn't have much traffic at all east of Bellefonte through the Nittany Valley to PA 445. What traffic there was was heading west. (The climb up PA 445 is pretty but a beast near the top. I like how they have a pullout for the horses to catch their breath.) PA 192 east to Raymond B. Winter and beyond was virtually empty until closing in on Lewisburg. That was on a Tuesday and Wednesday (camped at Raymond Winter Tuesday) in mid-September, 2014.

jamawani 

PA 192 from State College to Lewisburg is a delight.
There is a large Amish community around Rebersburg -
Interestingly, they can hire rides in cars/trucks from non-Amish.
(Every Amish community has its own guidelines which vary.)
I helped a woman load her weekly groceries into the back of a van.
Small part of a tour, but a delightful memory.
Because PA 192 follows the valley, riding is easy with great mountain views.
Winter State Park is also a nice break - whether camping or just for lunch.