Here in SoCal the Metrolink commuter rail system is extensive enough to get quite a ways from home. It connects to the San Diego system in Oceanside, and from there you can get to downtown SD or inland to Escondido. My wife & I have taken Amtrak to Ventura for a few days cycling that area, and home again on the train. Amtrak has 3 bike hooks per car, but won't allow more bikes inside the car. Metrolink is much more casual. We routinely get 3 bikes in the space for 2 and have gotten 5. As long as the train isn't crowded, they're pretty easy. OTH, I've gotten skunked when the train is full and the only option is the next train. You meet some interesting cycling people, too, esp during the week.
dougP On Jul 16, 8:45 am, Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery <thill....@gmail.com> wrote: > It was a really fun, sometimes challenging ride with good friends. > Some interesting bikes in the group: > purple Rambouillet > green Redwood > white Weigle > blue Surly LHT > red Rawland dSogn > red Miyata 1000 (totally refurbed and hotrodded) > red Trek something (1980s) > and my manly-pink Univega > > All steel bikes, all Brooks saddles, and at least seven wheels that I > built (luckily none of them pringled during the ride). > > The Amtrak station had some used (free) boxes, and most of us were > able to travel with our bikes for just $5 over the passenger ticket > price. It would be nice if Amtrak had bike hooks on this route, but > the boxes are easy to use and really not a deal-breaker. Winona is the > first luggage stop, so that's where we go. It just so happens that > there's some beautiful countryside between Winona and Minneapolis, > both from the viewpoint of the train passenger cars (along the > backwaters of the Mississippi), and from the back road route through > the downhill-rich "driftless area" we rode on our bicycles. > > On Jul 15, 2:58 pm, Bill Connell <bconn...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Rather than tack this onto the triathlete thread, i thought i'd start > > something new on traveling to a ride, and tie into the earlier threads > > on British cycle touring. > > > The vast majority of my bike riding (aside from most CX races) start > > and end from home. Over the 4th holiday weekend, however, a few > > friends and i got an assist to the start of a ride that ended at home > > - we took the Amtrak a couple of stops south and rode home. Three of > > us did this ride a couple of years ago, but were thwarted last year > > because flooding on the line stopped the trains on that stretch for a > > couple of weeks. Things worked out great this year with beautiful > > weather and a challenging new route mapped out by Jim Thill, who > > commented on the ride down "the great thing about this route is that > > it has lots of descending!". That guy really knows how to look on the > > bright side of 150 miles of hills, gravel, and beautiful southern > > Minnesota riding. > > > My ride > > report:http://wjc.fidean.net/log/2009/07/08/the-2009-winona-trainbike-extrav... > > > Jim's report (i don't think he'll mind me linking > > here):http://planetary-gears.blogspot.com/2009/07/winona-riders-2009.html > > > -- > > Bill Connell > > St. Paul, MN- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
