cycling in Raleigh?

[drkelly]

We are going to go cycling in Raleigh on Sunday since it is going to be 63 and sunny. I've ridden the Northern end of the Neuse River Trail once, and the American Tobacco Trail many times. It looks like a few sections of the Neuse River Trail are closed with no detours. The Northern section of the Neuse River Trail does not appear to have any sections closed, so we might just go there, but I thought I would ask if anyone who rides regularly in Raleigh has any recommendations for a good ride. We are looking to ride about 20-30 miles. Thanks.

 

[shawn]

We are going to go cycling in Raleigh on Sunday since it is going to be 63 and sunny. I've ridden the Northern end of the Neuse River Trail once, and the American Tobacco Trail many times. It looks like a few sections of the Neuse River Trail are closed with no detours. The Northern section of the Neuse River Trail does not appear to have any sections closed, so we might just go there, but I thought I would ask if anyone who rides regularly in Raleigh has any recommendations for a good ride. We are looking to ride about 20-30 miles. Thanks.

What do you mean by "cycling"? Road bike?

Neuse is closed at Louisburg road due to bridge construction, but people go around the fence. It's closed south of Buffaloe Road Athletic Park to New Bern Ave due to sewer main replacement. You can cut through the woods to the left of the dog park to Beaver Lane, through Foxcroft, through Hedingham, then pick it up again at Raleigh Beach. Or just start at Anderson Point and head downstream on the neuse or up Mingo Creek to Knightdale or West on Crabtree to DT Raleigh.

There's hundreds of miles of greenway in Raleigh, though. You can park your car in Clayton and ride to Wake Forest, Apex, or Durham if you want.

There's also Umstead for gravel, 286 for MTB, Williamson can be done on gravel bike or MTB, Beaver Dam and New Light are MTB only.

 

[drkelly]

What do you mean by "cycling"? Road bike?

Neuse is closed at Louisburg road due to bridge construction, but people go around the fence. It's closed south of Buffaloe Road Athletic Park to New Bern Ave due to sewer main replacement. You can cut through the woods to the left of the dog park to Beaver Lane, through Foxcroft, through Hedingham, then pick it up again at Raleigh Beach. Or just start at Anderson Point and head downstream on the neuse or up Mingo Creek to Knightdale or West on Crabtree to DT Raleigh.

There's hundreds of miles of greenway in Raleigh, though. You can park your car in Clayton and ride to Wake Forest, Apex, or Durham if you want.

There's also Umstead for gravel, 286 for MTB, Williamson can be done on gravel bike or MTB, Beaver Dam and New Light are MTB only.

I'm looking for greenways to ride on. We are not on MTB's. Raleigh has a WAY better greenway system than Greensboro. The ones we do have are in poor condition from roots causing the asphalt to buckle up a few inches. I noticed the far southern end of the Neuse at Clayton, but from the interactive map it looks like a large section is closed a few miles or so North of there. If there is a way around the fence at Louisburg Rd, then we will probably be fine to park at the North end and get all the riding in that we want. Thanks for the response.

 

[DSM Turbos]

American Tobacco Trail is also a good one, it's basically completely flat though, if you do want some elevation changes not the one to do.

Like Shawn said though, so many greenway options to chose from around here.

 

[BoltOnJohn]

If you park at Anderson Point park you can ride the Mingo Creek Trail (to Knighdale and back) and/or the Crabtree Creek trail and/or the Walnut Creek trail and/or head south (as far as is open) on the Neuse River trail. Point being you can ride as much as you want starting from there. All paved greenway options.

 

[shawn]

Neuse River trail is fully open south of Buffaloe as of Saturday.

 

[simpleman01]

Watching this thread. My son and I have been planning to bike from northern Durham to Clayton via a bunch of interconnected greenways this coming March. Didn't know anything was closed!?!

 

[shawn]

Watching this thread. My son and I have been planning to bike from northern Durham to Clayton via a bunch of interconnected greenways this coming March. Didn't know anything was closed!?!

This has info on city of Raleigh trail status. You have to search for Durham/Cary/Wake Forest/etc separately.

Greenway Alerts

raleighnc.gov

 

[drkelly]

We went yesterday and had a great ride. I took @BoltOnJohn advice and parked at Anderson Point since it looked like a good spot with plenty of parking and bathrooms and plenty of trails to take like he mentioned. We headed south on the Neuse River trail. About 2 miles in, a group of four Coleman/B&S/Tractor Supply minibikes came by us with one guy holding a 5 gallon gas can in his lap, LOL. VERY scenic trail in great condition. I expected to run into a closure after a few miles or so, but the trail was open. There is some heavy construction going on at that location, and it looks like the trail was closed before, but it was open yesterday.

I think one of the reasons the greenways in Raleigh are in such good shape is because they cut all the trees down within about 10ft of the edge of the paved trail. The greenways in Greensboro have trees right next to the pavement, and the roots cause terrible damage.

We will definitely be going back again. I prefer the rural trail riding away from roads and housing developments.

I was getting ready to go into the bathroom at Anderson Point, and some guy was telling me that he had come from the North and it was open all the way to the dam, but it wouldn't be in 1 month due to more planned construction. Dude was talking me ear off, and I couldn't get away. Then some other guy rode up and stopped and he started talking his ear off about his bike. When we rode off my son said that poor guy is going to be stuck there until somebody else comes by and stops, LOL.