Adventure Cycling invites cyclists to explore their new East Coast bicycle routes,

Nearly 1,000 miles of fantastic riding available for download at adventurecyling.com

Missoula, Mont. — Adventure Cycling Association — North America's largest cycling membership organization —invites cyclists to explore their three new East Coast routes. The Adirondack Park Loop and Allegheny Mountains Loop are both extended loop rides, while the Pittsburgh Spur connects Pittsburgh with the acclaimed 2,028-mile Underground Railroad Bicycle Route. All are available via download from http://www.adventurecycling.org.

The Adirondack Park Loop rambles 394 miles through upstate New York and picturesque Adirondack Park, the largest publicly protected parkland in the lower forty-eight. Utilizing off-road bike paths and low-traffic roadways, the route starts and ends in Niskayuna, just northwest of Albany, and reaches some of the highest elevations in New York State. Highlights of the ride include awesome highland terrain, the Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway along the Mohawk River, Saratoga Springs and the Serotta Bicycle Factory, Ticonderoga and Lake Champlain, and Lake Placid, home of two Winter Olympics.

The 396-mile Allegheny Mountains Loop starts and ends in Blacksburg, VA, and weaves between Virginia and West Virginia, offering adventurous cyclists several route options along the way. Featuring a mix of roads and traffic-free rail-trails, the route takes in classic Allegheny scenery as it follows gentle river valleys and tackles steep, muscle-burning climbs and thrilling descents. One route option takes riders along a gravel ridge-top in Monongahela National Forest, while three others are cut-offs from the main loop, allowing cyclists to customize the length of the loop to suit their needs.

The Pittsburgh Spur stretches for 152 miles from Pittsburgh, PA, to Erie, PA, on the shores of Lake Erie, where it connects with the Underground Railroad (UGRR) Bicycle Route (which can then be then be ridden south to Mobile, AL, or north to Owen Sound, ON). The Spur begins at the John Heinz History Center, where cyclists can view the Underground Railroad exhibit, before following the Ohio River north along rural roads through a pastoral landscape of rolling hills to the Beaver River and on to Erie. Pittsburgh is also home to the Center for Minority Health at the University of Pittsburgh, which partnered with Adventure Cycling in creating the Underground Railroad Route, unveiled in February 2007.

Adventure Cycling Association's route maps guide cyclists along cycling-friendly, low-traffic roads and paths, and feature elevation profiles, GPS waypoints, field notes, and information on historic stops, weather, and riding conditions. Service symbols indicate the location of campsites, motels, grocery stores, libraries (for internet access), restaurants, post offices, and bike shops along the way.

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 Adventure Cycling Association is the premier bicycle travel organization in North America with nearly 44,000 members. A nonprofit organization, their mission is to inspire people of all ages to travel by bicycle. They produce routes and maps for cycling in North America, organize more than 40 tours annually, and publish the best bicycle travel information anywhere, including Adventure Cyclist magazine and The Cyclists' Yellow Pages. With 38,158 meticulously mapped miles in the Adventure Cycling Route Network, Adventure Cycling gives cyclists the tools and confidence to create their own bike travel adventures. Contact them at (800) 755-BIKE (2453), info@adventurecycling.org, or visit www.adventurecycling.org.