PIckin’ Some Routes

I spend a fair amount of the weekend working on the South Dakota portion of the U.S. Bike Routes. I have a pretty good idea on where they will be. I made a copy of a map and went to town with highlighters of various colors. Light blue marked the municipalities with bus service. Light green marked the municipalities with air service. I used these as vague targets. I incorporated where Adventure Cycling has placed corridors. I connected the dots using a yellow highlighter. The yellow lines marked the proposed routes.

Of the neighboring states, Minnesota seems to be the only one really active in this. Since adjacent state’s routes need to meet up, I’m trying to contact who I think is ram-rodding this project in the bordering States.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, so to speak, I’ve used the Lewis and Clark Trail pretty much everywhere it runs in South Dakota. The maps already exist, the routes have been researched, and the routes seem to match the criteria for this project.

While I’m waiting to hear back from key people I’ll try to incorporate driving the proposed routes with other travels I need to do. After all, it’s a quick check and there’s still quite a bit of snow still on the ground.

I will not recommend any route until I’ve personally ridden it. Once it warms up a bit more and the snow is gone I’ll start to plan some rides. The Usual Suspects will be invited along. Feedback from others is good. I’m really looking forward to this part.

In other newz, I’m supposed to find out today if I’ve been selected to ride the Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race. As of press time – no word.

Ride On.