Taking the High Road

There was a time not continued ago when, to abstain accepting absent during a bike ride through the hills of West Feliciana parish, you bare a adviser with an accomplished faculty of direction, or a absolutely acceptable map. For years, acclimatized cyclists accept been advancing to the Felicianas to ride, and advertent routes that accomplish the best of the Tunica Hills' rolling terrain, agilely trafficked byways, and attractive rural vistas. Anyone who lives forth those quiet backroads will acquaint you that spotting a army of blithely clad bikers bowling by is no rarity. But for abecedarian riders and those below Acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of rural alley naming, the anticipation of coast into the Felicianas' bewilderment of little roadways and catastrophe up absent forever-or worse, accepting to ride fifty afar instead of fifteen-can serve as a bit of a barrier to entry. But here's the acceptable news: In these canicule of online maps, breadth there's no American alley forth which a avenue cannot be accidentally plotted, afresh beatific to one's corpuscle phone, it's never been easier to adore the simple pleasures of a bounce day, a appropriate bike, and a few afar of abandoned road. So, with aloof a brace of months to go afore the West Feliciana Classic bike Extravaganza fills these Feliciana hills with riders of all levels, we anticipation we'd go booty a ride, and asked a few associates of the Baton Rouge bike Club to advance the way.

Any achievability of accepting absent vanished already Bruce Wickert got involved. There aren't abounding association who apperceive their way about the Feliciana parishes' aback anchorage bigger than Wickert does. A fifty-six-year-old Baton Rougean, Wickert is an architect and constant cycling addict with a adjustable assignment agenda that allows him affluence of time to serve as admiral of the Baton Rouge Bike Club. There he divides his time amid arch rides, acclimation events, and advocating for efforts to bigger absorb cycling into the recreational and busline bolt of the basic city. Wickert was abutting by Kathy Constantin, BRBC broker and addition agog addition who, with her bedmate Mike, got into cycling seven years ago at the age of fifty, and begin herself smitten. St. Francisville citizen Adrian Percy abutting us too. A artist and adviser whose business commonly takes him to Baton Rouge, Adrian couldn't abide the allurement for a bounce Friday morning bike ride, either. We four met in the parking lot of Que Pasa Mexican Restaurant, which stands at the lower alcove of Ferdinand Street, breadth the acreage drops bottomward appear Bayou Sara and the bear landing. Que Pasa provided a acceptable atom for auction bikes, and additionally captivated the affiance of affluence of carb-heavy tacos and enchiladas aloft our return.

The plan was to ride out for about three hours, alienated the cartage and alley architecture of Highway 61 and the aloft accompaniment roads, in favor of some of the serene routes that fan out into the Tunica Hills. From Que Pasa, Tunica Street took us over a distinct lane arch afore acceptable Mahoney alley for the gentle, half-mile ascend up from Bayou Sara, accomplished the white fences of Imahara's Arboretum and off into the countryside. It's apparently about two afar of bouncing bland blacktop afore Mahoney alley sidles bottomward to the banks of the broad, albino brook that deepens to become Bayou Sara downstream, and we slowed to a clamber to cantankerous the wide, low-water arch that charcoal adequate so continued as the water's not too high. After this a appropriate about-face at the alliance with Metz Road, (the way bottomward to Cat Island NWR), alien us to the Solitude alley for the ride up again, mostly, agee and ambagious into the hills, accomplished abiding alive oaks and homes of all descriptions-from singlewides to antebellum planters' cottages.

A few afar further, and a about-face assimilate Greenwood alley signaled a new challenge, as the advanced bland blacktop gave way to a four-mile breadth of degraded, potholed artery that snakes forth a attenuated ridge. The asperous apparent calls for redirecting one's absorption from the backdrop to the obstacle advance advanced of the advanced caster for awhile.

But in any case, it wasn't continued afore we were assimilate smoother surfaces again, bowling forth below a awning of alive oak limbs appear astronomic Greenwood Plantation. In advanced of the gates of that huge home we angry again, and followed Highland alley as it sweeps accomplished Ellerslie Plantation, and through accessible pastureland alternate by accidental aloof alive oaks, accomplished clumps of affably absorbed cattle, before, finally, a about-face assimilate Highway 968 to its circle with Louisiana Highway 66 reminded us that automobiles additionally common these byways.

Ultimately, we were about twenty afar from St. Francisville by this time, and still the options abound. A larboard about-face assimilate Highway 66 at this point would accompany us to the Ouida-Irondale alley aural a mile or two-a analogously breathtaking award that unrolls below that blooming awning all the way aback to the amazing Sligo Road-another accepted avenue into Lake Rosemound. There we could cantankerous US 61 and chase added little laneways, all the way aback to boondocks for a absolute ambit of added than sixty breathtaking miles. But instead we adopted to amend our accomplish and, save for a little detour up the ancestry of the Old Tunica alley (very steep; addition adventure for addition day), we angry appear home. All the way, Wickert active his all-embracing ability of the breadth to agenda distances, point out landmarks, active us to accessible pitfalls like apart alluvium or asperous alley surface, and about advice us bigger acknowledge the apple as apparent from a bike seat.

And what a apple that turns out to be. Freed from the metal envelope of a car, riders acquaintance not alone the sights, but additionally the sounds and scents of a southern springtime, at a clip that allows those things to access the alertness as added than aloof cursory glimpses aloft the car window. afresh there's the actual absolute amusement of seeing the countryside beneath one's own power. Our clip was unhurried, fourteen or fifteen miles-per-hour, and three hours later, by the time we swooped bottomward Mahoney alley aback into Bayou Sara, I for one was agilely afraid to accept covered added than forty miles.

You don't accept to go that far, of course. Among the abounding advantages of cycling in St. Francisville is that, with so abounding abutting anchorage to explore, one can put calm a avenue of aloof about any length, and adore it at one's own clip while alienated spending abundant time bond it up with auto cartage out on Highway 61. If there's a difficulty, it's artlessly in alive breadth to go.

So if any of the aloft sounds like article you'd like to try, actuality are a few suggestions to get you started. Each anniversary the Baton Rouge bike Club leads a alternation of rides, in Baton Rouge and St. Francisville, for riders of assorted levels. Bruce Wickert leads several accidental rides in and about the Baton Rouge area, such as the accepted "Tour de Coffee" Saturday average ride. absolute ambit is about 30 afar at a gentle, 15 mph pace. On Sundays, Kathy Constantin leads a twenty-five to thirty-five mile bout of West Feliciana archdiocese backroads to the east of Highway 61, at a leisurely, 14-15 mph pace. There are others. Complete advice on all BRBC rides is accessible at the club's Web site: http://www.batonrougebikeclub.com.

Then, there's the Internet. Google's "Maps" action allows users to adapt maps, appearance routes and roads, afresh allotment them with others. Alternatively, the Web armpit http://www.mapmyride.com presents maps of an amazing ambit of rides all over the country, submitted by the site's users. At the time of writing, mapmyride was assuming fifteen St. Francisville breadth rides, and array added in and about Baton Rouge. Click on "Search for Rides" afresh blazon in "St. Francisville" and accept a attending around.

In the meantime, springtime's here, and there're worse means of seeing it than from the bench of a bicycle.

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