Have you ridden rail trails in the Midwest?

[Over50]

I'm hoping some of you have some experience riding the rail trails (on your e-bikes) in the Midwest and can relate them in this thread. I want to plan some long weekend trips with the wife using Class 1 bikes. Areas of interest would be Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. So far, all of the trails I've researched say "nothing motorized" is allowed although they don't mention e-bikes and sometimes mention scooters. The trails I was researching for initial trips are the Cardinal Greenway (Indiana) and Kal Haven (Michigan). What I want to avoid is a 3-4 hour drive by car only to be stopped at the trail head by some official or ticketed along the way for riding our Class 1 bikes.

The ironic part of not being able to use our Class 1 on these paths is that my wife is a slow rider even on an e-bike. When she's on our Tern Vektron, I can keep up with her on my regular bike with ease. I don't see us riding at more than 12-15 mph tops. For example, last year she and I did the Ride of Silence on our regular bikes but she was so slow the whole pack of riders left us in the dust. We finished alone well behind everyone else. For covering 50-80 miles over a couple of days I think we need the e-bikes but the trails don't seem to allow them. I tend to think no one would notice that we have e-bikes but I just want some assurance and am hoping some of you all have experience riding your e-bikes on the rail trails of the Midwest (and can perhaps make some recommendations too). Thanks all.

 

[rich c]

I live in Peoria, IL and I ride the Rock Island Trail. You can ride from Toulon, IL to Morton. Crushed rock from Toulon to Alta, pavement from Alta to Morton. Something like 40 miles. Also ride the Hennepin Canal Trail which has a lot of vintage infrastructure still in place which makes for wonderful stops and photos. Also the I-M Canal. Not as nice as the Hennepin. I also ride the Great River Road Trail. I’ve ridden around Alton/grafton area, and Quad Cities area. All that on a class 3 eBike. Never so much as a glance from anyone. Highly recommend the Hennepin. In IL, motorized is internal combustion.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

This is the closest I've found to a "blanket" policy:

https://www.railstotrails.org/resou...d=11762&fileName=RTC_EBikePolicy_10.25.17.pdf

What I've found in Washington State is that usage rules can be bewilderingly inconsistent. Some trailheads are signed "no motorized vehicles" and under Washington State Law that would presumably prohibit e-bikes. But, at other trailheads on the same trail the sign might be just ideograms that appear to prohibit motorcycles and ATVs. So it is extremely confusing even if you are trying to make a good-faith effort to comply with the laws, whatever they may be.

I'll also plug traillink.com here as a great source of information.

 

[rich c]

An article on Il law. https://www.bikelaw.com/2017/08/new-illinois-e-bike-law/
The statute states that, “A ‘low-speed electric bicycle’ is not a moped or a motor driven cycle.”
Importantly, the law is explicit that the same statewide rules that apply to traditional bicycles, also apply to e-bikes. “A person may operate a low-speed electric bicycle upon any highway, street, or roadway authorized for use by bicycles, including, but not limited to, bicycle lanes.” What you can do on a traditional bike, you can do on an e-bike.

 

[Over50]

...Highly recommend the Hennepin. In IL...

Looks gorgeous from the photos. Definitely gonna add it to the list. Do you have any recommendations for a town to town overnight trip? Maybe a start point where we can safely leave our vehicle, ride 30-50 miles, spend the night in a hotel, and ride back to the vehicle the next day.

 

[John from Connecticut]

This is the closest I've found to a "blanket" policy:

https://www.railstotrails.org/resou...d=11762&fileName=RTC_EBikePolicy_10.25.17.pdf

What I've found in Washington State is that usage rules can be bewilderingly inconsistent. Some trailheads are signed "no motorized vehicles" and under Washington State Law that would presumably prohibit e-bikes. But, at other trailheads on the same trail the sign might be just ideograms that appear to prohibit motorcycles and ATVs. So it is extremely confusing even if you are trying to make a good-faith effort to comply with the laws, whatever they may be.

I'll also plug traillink.com here as a great source of information.

Who's riding out there ??

Last July I started e-Bike riding exclusively on 3-4 Rails-to Trails in CT, and just turned 2200 miles. I have seen two..repeat two
other e-Bikers since last July and the 'two e-Bikers' could have been the same person. I do know for a fact that of the 4 trails
I ride I've only seen the e-bikers on one trail...The trails I refer to are 54, 48, 18 and 20 mile respectively and are well used.
I have yet to do the 'Meet up ' ride informal thing, perhaps there may be other e-bikers in group rides ?

I ride an average of 4 plus times a week, my trail rides typically range from 18-24 miles with an occasional
30 miles ish plus run, so I get to see a pretty good sample of who's out there. If I have a point besides stating the facts as
I've seen them, e-bikes in CT, in my little corner of the world are 'non existent'.

I'll talk up e-bikes and riding locally to anyone that will listen and when I do you'd think I was reading from
the Tax Code....Zero response. As for e-bike laws, it seems to me, in CT we have legislation on the books to
regulate and solve a problem all we need is the 'problem' : )

John from CT

 

[rich c]

Looks gorgeous from the photos. Definitely gonna add it to the list. Do you have any recommendations for a town to town overnight trip? Maybe a start point where we can safely leave our vehicle, ride 30-50 miles, spend the night in a hotel, and ride back to the vehicle the next day.

The East end has more vintage infrastructure because there is more elevation change when they dug the canal. West side is flatter as it nears the Mississippi River and the Quad Cities. All the trail is fairly flat though, most tar and chip with the exception of some gravel repairs. The visitor's center is a nice park, but basically a ghost town during the week. Most of the trail runs parallel to Interstate 80. Bureau Junction to Geneseo might be around 50 miles. Not sure you can park over night at the Bureau Junction parking lot. Geneseo is a really nice little town. A couple of hotel choices there. What I like to do in planning my trips, is to do a satellite view in Google Maps, then follow the trail. You can see the vintage infrastructure, business and hotel choices in the little towns, and other points of interest. I think it's over 90 miles from Bureau Junction to Colona. The trail was closed east of Colona last year due to a washout. But, I was riding my mountain bike and was able to drop down the washout and ride up the other side. People were riding and walking through it, and there was a dirt path. If you do the Google Maps look, you'll see some little parks along the way on some county roads. But again I don't know about overnight parking in them. It is a State Park, so I would call the visitor's center and ask for advise on overnight parking from them. I should mention that my wife doesn't ride. So she is my support on day trips. She drops me off, then I give her coordinates to pick me up when I am tired. Almost like the hot air ballon crews! LOL

 

[Bruce Arnold]

I just rode the Hockhocking Adena Cycle Path from Athens to Nelsonville, Ohio on Friday. Beautiful and well-maintained trail through 2 college campuses, a national forest, and along the Hocking River much of the way. No signs mentioning any restrictions. Status of ebikes is nebulous in Ohio. Legislation similar to California's has passed the House and is in committee in the Senate. My wife and i just rode at a pace similar to most of the pedal bikes on the trail, around 12-15 mph.

 

[Over50]

I just rode the Hockhocking Adena Cycle Path from Athens to Nelsonville, Ohio on Friday...

Nice. I'll add this to my list and do some research on it ....

 

[Joe EE]

I have been riding an old rail trail here in NY and it also states “ no motorized vehicles”. Last year I pedaled past a “trail cop” twice in the same day. The first time he just looked at me quizzically. On the way back he seemed somewhat more “interested” in my Yukon 750, but I was PEDALING and maybe doing 12 MPH. He just looked on and off I continued. I think the key is just not being a jerk about it. Everyone on the trail is happy. Happy to be outside, not working, exercising in the fresh air. I am a bit more concerned this year as my new ride is a bit more conspicuous but my riding style is the same.. just a middle aged guy out for a bike ride.

 

[Over50]

I just rode the Hockhocking Adena Cycle Path from Athens to Nelsonville, Ohio on Friday....Status of ebikes is nebulous in Ohio...

The Athens Ohio website about Hockhocking is a prime example of my dilemma in planning long weekend getaways. On the rules of etiquette it states:

5.) Motorized vehicles are limited to those authorized for emergency or maintenance functions and those used by individuals with disabilities

which it further explains as:

Electric Vehicle Permit
Medically necessary electric vehicles are permitted ... Prior authorization must be obtained.

I believe as I posted earlier that chances are, nobody would notice us on our class 1s. Especially as slow as we ride. But it would really suck to plan a long weekend and make the drive there only to be booted off the path or ticketed. Pretty much all of the greenways or rail trails I've looked into have similar language on their websites.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

From this it seems that operating an electric bicycle in Ohio is illegal. Or more precisely, it is impossible to do so legally:

https://peopleforbikes.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/E-Bike-Law-Handouts_OH_Revision_compressed.pdf

What you need to do is send letter(s) to Chambers of Commerce in Ohio explaining that you'd love to vacation there but because electric bikes are in some sort of limbo you will be spending your tourism dollars in another state.

 

[Bruce Arnold]

As I said previously, the laws in Ohio are ambiguous. There is no classification of ebikes at all. They aren't legal, they aren't illegal. There is a classification of mopeds as motorized vehicles, but ebikes don't meet the definition of moped, but the average cop might not know all that. A bill clarifying the status of ebikes -- three classes, permitted where bikes are permitted unless by local ordinance, etc. -- is working its way through the legislature.

My wife and I rode like the people around us. We didn't get a second look. There were a few weekend warriors jamming down the path a lot faster than we were so we hardly stood out from the other mom-and-pop-and-kids recreational riders.

So, you could wait until the legislature has gone through its process and cleared up the status of ebikes. Or you could fly under the radar like we did.

 

[harryS]

Reminds me of Summit County, CO. We drove 2 1/2 days to get there, and while ebiking was not the main intent, we carried two ebikes. Turns out the National Park and BLM rules basically prohibit ebikes. Some places put up signs. Others don't care. The most picturesque rides were on rail-trail paved paths where there were no postings, no one cared, and we had a great time.

Going into Breckenridge, there were so many verboten ebike signs I figured we would get fined. Meanwhile it was stone crowded with renters gassed out at the 9000 feet elevation, pulling trailers and ready to collapse before us, that we just turned around. Most of those renters could have used ebikes. I recall when I was in my 30's, pulling my 5 year old in a trailer, all gassed out in that area. We went 5 miles back then and called it quits.