St Tammany Trace

[Doccus]

My wife and I rode this rail-to-trail from Covington, Louisiana to Slidell. I was on the S40 while she was on DF road bike.
This is one of the most interesting trails with a change from swamps to sandy pine woods. There are phenomenal restaurants in Covington and Mandeville and on the weekend there are usually homemade goodies for sale at the trailheads with craft shows. The 31mile trail is flat with two tunnels and several bridges. It is perfect for the S40. It is difficult to make great time though as there are many crossroads. I put my Camelbak bag in the race cage, using a rubber band to attach the hose to the headrest supports. (I’m still working on getting the sports bottle in and out of the holders in the front of the race cage.)
No one here will be surprised but I had no soreness, tenderness, aches or pains while riding or later. (Wife was jealous. I think she needs a Cruzbike.)

 

[Greg S]

In an astonishing coincidence given that I live in Wisconsin, I rode the Tammany Trace today, starting from Mandeville. What are the odds that two people on this forum, from different parts of the country, both on S40s would ride the same trail on two successive days?

I did this route

 

[Doccus]

Small world! I wish we could have met up. I have so many small issues/questions that I would enjoy getting answered by experienced riders like you.
Really neat trail. The whole area has great food from booths on the Trace to high dollar restaurants.
What brought you to Mandeville? My son lives in Abita Springs and sister-in-law in Bush. How was the rest of that ride?

 

[Greg S]

What brought me to the ride is I’m doing the RUSA “American Explorer”. You do minimum 100k in each state to “get” that state, I needed LA, I also picked up AR on the way. Currently at 38 states, will pick up a bunch with a NE swing later this year.

The rest of the ride was really nice. It’s always moderately stressful riding somewhere you’re unfamiliar with (dogs? Busy roads? Unsafe crossings? Unfriendly drivers?) but in this case the majority of the route was on very low traffic roads (especially mid-day, during the week), drivers were courteous and no chasing dogs. Enjoyed it very much. The AR route on the other hand was terrible and came close to quitting.

Would have been cool to meet up and chat. Headed northward now (in French Camp). Will pick up KY on the way home (ironically, I grew up there and have ridden there a bunch but never “for credit”).

 

[castlerobber]

Would have been cool to meet up and chat. Headed northward now (in French Camp). Will pick up KY on the way home (ironically, I grew up there and have ridden there a bunch but never “for credit”).

French Camp? Sounds like Mississippi. Are you on the Natchez Trace?

 

[Greg S]

French Camp? Sounds like Mississippi. Are you on the Natchez Trace?

Yes I am. Will ride here today and tomorrow then head Northward.

 

[kizarmynot]

RUSA “American Explorer”

Never heard of this but I’m intrigued. Where in NE and when will you be riding?

 

[Greg S]

I’m missing a lot of the northeast: VT, RI, CT, MA, ME. Took a trip up there late last year with a couple of friends with plans to get the lot but a cold front came in: 18F with 20-30 MPH winds for 100k is more than any of us wanted to endure for 5+ hours.

Once I “get” those states then the ones I’m missing are kind of scattered. The only ones I’m missing west of the Mississippi are NM and OR, the only ones in the south are SC/NC.

 

[Greg S]

Never heard of this but I’m intrigued. Where in NE and when will you be riding?

To talk up the RUSA American Explorer program a bit, many of the rides I’ve done to get a state are what RUSA calls “permanents”. These are routes of all distances (up to 1000k) that in most cases were developed by locals who actually ride them so they’re pretty decent routes and they can be ridden any time. You can look on the RUSA site to see how many times a particular permanent has been ridden and look at the route before you ride it. You need to be a RUSA member to ride the perms for credit but the cost is nominal ($30/year). If you like to ride in and see different parts of the country (I do) it’s a great excuse to do it.