Tag: Trek the Trails

TREK, TREAD OR TROT — THE TRAILS

Here in Fort Wayne, Indiana where I live we currently have about 130 miles of paved trails. The city of Fort Wayne and the Fort Wayne Trails organization offer programs to the community where once a week guided bicycle rides and guided walks are offered to the public giving people an opportunity to get better acquainted with our trails. A different section of a trail is featured each time. Also twice a year (I think) they offer the same thing to horse riders. That is the only time horses are allowed on our trail system.

I have written about this before. And HERE is another posting about it. Those articles only covered the TREK the Trails. I have never written about TREAD the Trails nor TROT the Trails before.

TREK the Trails is for bicycles and happens Tuesdays at 6 PM during the months deemed comfortable enough weatherwise to do so. Most rides are 8-9 miles long covering a different section of the trails each time. The average speed is 10-12 mph. There is always someone bringing up the rear so no one will be left behind due to not keeping up with the group or mechanical failures.

TREAD the Trails is for walkers, runners, etc. and is on every other Thursday evening. It is a 5 km walk starting at a different place each time.

TROT the Trails is for horses. At present there are no horse trails available in Allen County although they are working to change this. For now twice a year a limeted portion of one of our multiuse trails, the Maumee Pathway, is made available … always on a Saturday and only during strict hours. Much of the riding is done on old golf course trails on a defunct golf course the city now owns which is adjacent to the trail. The satellite image below shows the golf course property outlined in red. You can see the golf cart trails running thru it. Clear to the bottom is the Maumee River and the Maumee Pathway (Trail) alongside of it.

Fort Wayne Trails

KEEP ON TRIKIN’

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TREK THE TRAILS

Here where I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana we have what is called Trek the Trails. It is an organized bicycle ride led by various people. It is usually about  8 miles long and features a different trail or section of a trail each time. It is held on Tuesday evenings starting in April and ending in October each year. The purpose of this ride is to help people learn the trail system. Here is a video of an interview with the manager of the trail system talking about Trek the Trails. This interview took place in April 2019.

And here is the assistant trail manager in a more recent interview.

And here is another organized ride held in the wintertime …

The Towpath Trail …

The St. Marys Pathway …

Lastly here is a video showing various trails here in Fort Wayne …

When I first started riding on our trail system we had about 21 miles of trails which is what is called the Rivergreenway consisting of trails along the three rivers here in Fort Wayne. Today as I compose this article we have approximately 130 miles of trails. Even so my favorite riding is still on those original 21 miles. I also like the Towpath Trail and Pufferbelly Trail. The Pufferbelly Trail has a long way to go before completion but once it is done it will really be nice as it will connect to other trails making it possible to ride about 90 miles one way between near Bluffton, IN to the south of Fort Wayne to north of Angola, IN near the Michigan State Line.

This year due to the Covid 19 PLANdemic the Trek the Trails program won’t start off until June 2nd.

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TREK THE TRAILS

Every Tuesday evening at 6 PM from April thru October here in Fort Wayne, Indiana the local trails authority conducts what they call Trek the Trails.

Trek the Trails ride meetup

Each week they have an organized ride where bicyclists can show up at a designated starting point to form up and head out riding a different section each week. By the end of the “riding season” they will have covered the whole trail system and probably repeated some of it. The rides are usually about 6 to 9 miles long. They are open to all and families are most welcome.

Depending upon the weather the turn out is usually pretty good … 60 to 100 riders. Someone always leads the rides and someone always brings up the rear making sure everybody made it ok. I have only personally ridden on a couple of them as I ride all of the trails frequently and know them all quite well. The main purpose of these rides is to introduce people to the local trails and help them to learn about them.

Trek the Trails ride

Probably at least 4 times during these rides they offer special events in addition to the ride itself. Sometimes they have a live band, food, dance, bicycle giveaway by drawing, etc. On one such ride they go to a predetermined location out away from the city lights where they have telescopes set up to check out the stars and whatever else they can see in the heavenlies.

Here is a video of one of the rides from 2012. It is on the Saint Joseph Pathway to Shoaff Park. It started out at Johnny Appleseed Park.

And HERE are other videos of these rides. And HERE are other videos of  Fort Wayne Trails.

In addition to these Tuesday evening rides they also have a Saturday morning ride once a month which is longer and geared a little more for those more serious about riding including a little faster pace and longer distance. But again, it is open to all and someone brings up the rear ensuring everyone makes it regardless of whether they keep up the pace of the leader. These rides always get spread out considerably. Even the Tuesday evening rides do, but probably not as much.

Trek the Trails ride 3

Anyway, I think it is a pretty good thing that they offer this. It is good to promote the trails and help people learn of them. In doing so it raises awareness and more and more people are taking to the trails. And after all … that is what it is all about. Just so they don’t get too crowded as we want to be able to continue to …

ENJOY THE RIDE!