i am now doing this fully loaded on a single speed... 
2010-04-02 15:57:36
6
riding north / armstrong trail / route 28 alternatives
i will be heading out mid day tomorrow to new bethlehem, pa... was just starting a thread about going that way because this one: http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/pgh-to-shannondale-pa?replies=10#post-29527
ended up not happening, and i tried to post in/top it twice and it didn't work, i don't know why... hopefully this will.
anyway... my route is heading out of the city and crossing the 62nd st bridge to freeport road and then taking that and the roads it turns into all the way to leechburg, crossing the river there, and then heading up to the armstrong trail till i hit 1018 and taking that to my destination.
any comments, especially on the armstrong trail/leechburg stretch would be appreciated.
2010-04-02 04:11:04
I don't have my copy handy, but I'm pretty sure Oscar Swan's book has a few options for getting out there, and getting to the trail. I think.
2010-04-02 16:43:15
You said singlespeed not fixie right? The last hill on Freeport Rd down to the town of Freeport itself would be a leg whirler on a fixie. Oscar Swan has a ride called Ford City that includes this (paraphrased) info:
"In Freeport SR28 turns into SR128 a winding country Road that leads into Ford City. After the bridge into Ford City you are met on the left by a nice section of the Armstrong Bike Trail which allows you to bypass most of Ford City."
Looks like you can take the Armstrong trail on into Kittanning but beyond that I don't know. And I'm not even sure if that's in your preferred direction.
2010-04-02 19:26:49
The Armstrong Trail will not get you all the way into Kittanning from Ford City, and you might get stuck on Route 66 (?) for a bit, which will not be much fun. North of Kittanning you can ride the trail for quite a ways -- shifting onto a parallel road where the trail is not yet complete. Map of trail sections: http://www.spcregion.org/pdf/biketrailmaps/Armstrong%202006%20Trails.pdf
or http://www.armstrongtrail.org/access.php for detailed turn by turn instructions for trail connectivity.
2010-04-02 20:30:56
what a nice ride this was... i made it to kittanning in 3.5 hours (woulda been much faster with gears... mostly it was flat and easy though). i ended up skipping the whole leechburg thing and just did freeport to 128 to the armstrong trail.... but i took lots of sideroads, staying on freeport for less than half the time.
for the record there is a section of the trail that you can skip the route 66 section between ford city and kittanning, you hit a giant power transformer thing and the road/trail makes a sharp right turn... just look left and there is a dirt path that goes down to the river... not the most official thing in the world but locals were walking it and it wasn't bad to ride.
the first section and the armstrong trail was great! if i can figure out a way to eliminate the hour of hills on freeport rd/128 this ride would be something i could do every day
2010-04-04 13:18:45