Road Routes & Paved Trails

I need to clean up my bike. Get some dust off, and remove the gunk that the old bike rack left on it. The chain and sprockets are really gritty.

Trails

The roads in Arnold are fairly useless for biking.

Madison County Transit Trails: An extensive network of flat, dedicated, mostly-paved trails.
Arnold City Park: Flat, sometimes flooded.
Lower Meramec Park: Flat, frequently flooded.
St. Joe State Park: 11-mile paved loop, hillier than any other paved bike trail I have been on, with grades up to 13%. Pretty restored savanna forest. Not crowded. This was my favorite trail during the pandemic.
Cliff Cave Park: The part of the trail in the flood plain is nearly always flooded in one or two places. There is a 5% grade on the upper paved part of the trail.
Grant's Trail: This trail has been extended along I-55 up to the River Des Peres Greenway, making it approximately 10 miles long.
River Des Peres Greenway: This seems to be expanding rapidly. There are now connections to Carondelet Park, and it has expanded both east and west.
Riverfront Trail: Starts just north of the Landing and goes all the way across the old Chain of Rocks bridge.
Fenton Trail System: It probably has an official name. Mainly along the Meramec between Hwy 30 and I-44, but also some north and south of that.
Alton/Grafton "Sam Vadalabene Great River Road Bike Trail": It is about 14 miles long between Alton and Grafton, but it continues west from Grafton to the Pere Marquette State Park, about 20.5 miles total.
West Alton Trail: The next time I'm in the Alton area, I need to check out the West Alton Trail. It appears to be about two miles long, and it appears to provide a bypass nearly from MO-94 to the Alton bridge crossing.
Chesterfield Monarch Levee Trail: A paved trail atop the entire Monarch Levee around Chesterfield Valley. It connects to the Katy Trail.
Creve Coeur Park: I have ridden this many times, but I don't like to, especially when the weather is unusually nice, because it is crowded with idiot pedestrians.
SCCTD MetroBikeLink Trail: A nice ~15 mile paved trail in Illinois that runs along the MetroLink. Appears to connect to a number of other things. There also appears to be an extension NW of the Fairview Heights station, which I haven't explored.

Roads/Routes

Regular MCT Metric Century

I'm thinking about riding a metric century on a regular basis. After the Schoolhouse tunnel at 157 is finished, I think I will start following this route:

Start at the MEPRD trailhead, ride Schoolhouse northwest to Goshen
Ride Goshen south to its southern terminus
Ride Goshen north to its northern terminus
Ride Goshen south to the Nature trail
Ride Nature west to the "Frogger" connector to Schoolhouse
Ride Schoolhouse west to its western terminus
Ride Schoolhouse east to the MEPRD trailhead

The total distance should be about 62.8 miles, just over 100km. I will need more than just a couple of energy gels, and I will need a place to refill my water midway through. Could I cache something at South Roxana? There is a wooded lot right there. I could stash a couple water bottles and a meal. What meal?

Jeff to Chesterfield

Jeff's House to Monarch Levee, West Side: 36.22 miles rd trp
Jeff's House to Monarch Levee, North Side: 40.26 miles rd trp
Jeff's House to Monarch Levee, Both Sides: 46.18 miles rd trp

Telegraph Road

Wide shoulders painted with dedicated bike lanes. About six miles from Fine Rd. to I-255. Going both ways provides three climbs with 6% or 7% grades.

US-61/US-67

This looks like it might be a decent ride for quite a distance, possibly through Festus.

US-61 South of Crystal City

There are shoulders with a decent width, and the amount of slope isn't bad. Google Street View isn't clear about whether the shoulders are gravel or paved, but if I take my gravel bike, I should be okay for whatever. From Mercy Hospital Jefferson to the Phillips 66 at Bloomsdale is 17.5 miles, so 35 miles and 1100+ feet ascent round trip. I have the sense that most of the route is fairly well sheltered from wind.

Lemay Woods Drive

I've not noticed before, but Lemay Woods Drive is now indicated on Google Maps as having a dedicated bike lane.

S. Broadway

There is a dedicated bike lane along S. Broadway starting at Bellrive Park (off the Virginia/Dover exit of I-55) north all the way to Park Avenue. Connects to dedicated lane along most of Russell, which connects to the Compton Hill Reservoir. That connects to S. Grand, which goes down to Tower Grove Park. Tower Grove Avenue has a dedicated lane up past Vendeventer.

Manchester/Chouteau

Starting just east of McCausland, there is a dedicated lane along Manchester heading to the Grove. Then it picks up again on Chouteau all the way to 4th Street. Can hit Tower Grove Avenue, Grand, Jefferson (which connects to Olive). Can go to St. Broadway, the Arch grounds, then to Chestnut.

Metro East Loop

56 miles. Some gravel, some low quality road, some bad neighborhood, but probably 40 miles of this is on dedicate trail. Park at the Fairview Heights MetroLink station. Board the MetroLink and ride to 5th & Missouri in East St. Louis. Ride west across the Eads Bridge into St. Louis, the RFT up to the McKinley Bridge, and then the Confluence Trail for a little more than a mile. A backroad route west to the MCT Nature, Nickel Plate, Heritage, and Goshen Trails. Ride south to Shiloh to pick up the MetroBikeLink trail, which leads back to the Fairview Heights MetroLink station. Can abort a little early by riding the MetroLink back from anywhere on the MetroBikeLink trail.

MetroLink: Bike & Ride
MetroLink: Fairview Heights Station Schedule (about every 20 minutes)

Circum-Saint-Louis Route

A round around the St. Louis Metropolitan Area? (I did once ride inside the perimeter of the city.)

Night Routes

I'd like to ride at night more regularly. It seems to me, that calls for a specific kind of route. The trails are mostly closed at night, so I need to ride on roads. Bike-friendly local culture seems even more important, and maybe I don't want to ride awful hills.

I'll drive there, so where can I park legally at night? In the city, I can utilize on-street parking. Hmm. Perhaps the strategy should just be to find good places to park, and just ride around from there.

Argonne Drive in Kirkwood: There is public, on-street parking on Argonne on either side of Kirkwood Road. I could all over Kirkwood, including many residential streets that ought to be fairly flat.
Olive Street between Beaumont and Leffingwell: There are parking meters here on both sides of the street, but parking should be free at night.
Levee & Bluff Roads: I could ride the Mississippi River flood plain in Illinois at night.

Distant Trails

Bentonville/Fayetteville, Arkansas

There is some kind of trail system that connects Bontonville and Fayetteville. It reaches all the way up to the Missouri border.

High Trestle Trail, Iowa

25 miles through five towns and four counties. Includes an iconic bridge across the Des Moines River valley. (362 miles from Arnold)

Bike 4 Trails, Wisconsin

This is evidently four separate trails linked up for a total span of 101 miles:

Great River Trail (24 miles)
LaCrosse River Trail (23 miles)
Elroy-Sparta Trail (32 miles)
400 Trail (22 miles)

The Elroy-Sparta Trail has "three old tunnels". A state trail pass is required for bicycling. (452 miles from Arnold)

The Heart of Vilas County Paved Bike Trail System, Wisconsin

52 mile paved trail in Northern Wisconsin, a few miles from the border with the UP.

Cowboy Trail, Nebraska

Currently 187 miles developed, a rails-to-trails project following the old "Cowboy Line". (641 miles from Arnold)

Little Traverse Wheelway, Michigan

26 miles. Northern Michigan

Trout Run Trail, Iowa

11-mile loop in Decorah. (392 miles from Arnold)

Kal-Haven Trail, Michigan

34 miles, stretching from Kalamazoo to South Haven, fine gravel, following a former rail bed.

Chicago's Lakefront Trail, Illinois

18-mile paved trail. "Extending 18 miles from Hollywood Avenue" (or Ardmore Street) "on the north end of Chicago to 71st Street on the South Side, the trail leads cyclists through parks, beaches and gardens." (319 miles from Arnold)

Pumpkinvine Nature Trail, Indiana

"Named for its many curves and turns, the 26-mile trail takes in tidy farms, rustic wooden bridges and the bubbling creeks of Amish Country in Elkhart, Middlebury, Goshen and Shipshewana." (404 miles from Arnold)

Prairie Path, Illinois

"Contrary to its name, the 61-mile Illinois Prairie Path actually winds cyclists past more ponds, wetlands and forests than prairies. Leaping suburb to suburb out of Maywood (20 miles west of Chicago), riders eventually choose one of four crushed-limestone spurs to end up along the Fox River near Elgin, Geneva, Batavia or Aurora."

Monon Rail Trail, Indiana

26 miles

George S. Mickelson Trail, South Dakota

"With peaks towering on all sides, the George S. Mickelson Trail snakes through South Dakota tunnels and across 100 trestles, where trains serving Black Hills gold mines once rumbled. The 109-mile route (named after the state's late governor) follows a century-old railbed from Deadwood south to Edgemont, treating bicyclists to the best of both worlds: mountaintop views and mostly easy pedaling." Looks beautiful. What surface? Looks like gravel.

Maah Daah hey Trail, North Dakota

"Pause near the steep drop-offs to drink in the view of the Little Missouri National Grasslands on this 144-mile path. The Maah Daah Hey Trail's northern point is 15 miles south of Watford City (about 180 miles northwest of Bismarck)."

Little Miami Scenic Bike Trail, Ohio

"Starting west of the bridge in Milford and running right through the little town of Loveland (about 25 minutes northeast of Cincinnati), the former railbed has become a tranquil way to tour southwest Ohio. Soak in quaint towns, river views and pretty woodlands as this scenic path plays hide-and-seek with the Little Miami River."

Ohio to Erie Trail

ohiotoerietrail.org - A trail that spans the state of Ohio? It goes from Cincinnati to Cleveland (on Lake Erie). The aforementioned Little Miami trail is one section of this trail. Is the trail paved or partly gravel? Is it complete?

Empire State Trail

A 750-mile bicycle route in New York from Manhattan to the Canadian border and to Buffalo.

Natchez Trace Parkway

A 444 mile National Parkway between Nashville, TN and Natchez, MS. 50 mph speed limit, no commercial traffic, designated a bike route. Has some bicycle-only campgrounds along the way.

Blue Ridge Parkway

A 469 mile National Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina, running mostly along the spind of Blue Ridge, a mountain chain in the Appalachian Mountains. Also, Skline Drive to the north. Closed: the whole parkway is closed indefinitely following Hurricane Helene.

Nacimiento-Furgusson Road, Big Sur

"Some of the coastal views are pretty spectacular." Roads are currently closed.

Virginia Capital Trail

51.7 mile multi-use, fully-paved trail.

C&O Canal Towpath

Campgrounds every 8 to 10 miles. Cumberland, Maryland to Washington D.C. 184.5 miles? The video shows a lot of gravel, often single-track.

Acadia National Park

"One of my favorite rides in the Northeast is Acadia National Park. Staying in Bar Harbor, you can cycle right from your door, do the whole Park Loop Road with the side spur up Cadilac Mountain. Wonderful, scenic ocean views. Not a real long ride - the loop and Cadillac Mounting from Bar Harbor are around 30 miles - but a glorious 30 miles!"

Alpine Dam and Seven Sisters

"In case it hasn't been mentioned, the Alpine Dam and Seven Sisters ride is quite scenic. If you like the Golden Gate Bridge, redwoods, rolling hills with big views of the Pacific Ocean."

Small Town Exploration

I should use my bike to explore small towns. How small? Small enough that I can ride through the city center(s) and out to four points of the city's edge. I guess that would be a city about 6 miles across (about 28 square miles), or less if it is hilly.

cycling - fitness - outdoor