BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I don't think they do it on trains. I've never had it happen. I was on a different train this summer and they didn't do it then. So it's safe to bring your gun and other stuff.

Edit: I actually took the Park pedal wrench on a plane. They didn't want to let me on with it but OK'd it when they saw I also had the pedals. Which, BTW, would make a pretty good weapon (they were heavy Shimano M520s), wrapped in a sock, with the pedal wrench as a handle.

Duct tape it to the frame.

Good idea. I figured I would be ok. Just wanted to see if anyone else had any experiences. No firearms on this trip lol but good to know. I could have taken a bazooka on the train last time I rode it.

I took the Amtrak w/my bike from DC to Pittsburgh last month and nothing was searched on my bags. I had a pedal wrench, a knife, and it was all cool, so you'll be fine.

ON A SIDE NOTE, while I had my pedal wrench and tools with me to ready the bike to box it for the train, the "BikeDC" rental place outside of the Union Train station did all that for me for free. They told me they do that all the time for bike-travelers on the train, and they didn't charge me any money for it.

Hope this helps!

I often travel with a set of knives in my bag, and have done so on amtrak, greyhound, and megabus, and never had a problem.

Cool beans. The only "problem" my friend and I had the last time I did this was waiting for like 2 hours for someone to bring us a bike box. We ended up almost missing the train because that took so long.

But yeah, we were cautious and mailed our "sharp things" back to us in the mail — but then realized we could have just brought it on the train when all was said and done.

But I know things have gotten so much worse in the airports in the last few years and I haven't done this ride in a few years so I had no idea what to expect — seems "business as usual"  which is cool with me.

The ironic thing is that a friend of mine is an Amtrak engineer and he "drives" the Capitol Limited quite a bit (from DC to Cumberland anyway). I was even talking to him today and he pretty much said it was unheard of for them to be searching bags etc.

just did it 2 weeks ago...nothing searched. No need to ship anything back. Take it all on the train.

Enjoy your ride!!

I just took Amtrak from D.C. to Pittsburgh this past Saturday 8/25/12. The bike box was $20 and it took them awhile to bring it for us as well. They were real anal about not putting anything, but the bike in the box. They say you need to take the pedals off and turn the handlebars, but a few people in my group had to completely remove the handlebars, because the bikes didn't fit in the box height-wise. Also, my bike didn't fit length-wise (and my bike isn't super long I have a Trek DS 8.2), so my bike box wasn't completely shut. They won't let you take the front wheel off, because they don't want your fork to get damaged.

They definitely do not search any of your bags and I didn't have to go through any medal detectors or anything, but I know that Homeland Security is planning on implementing TSA-style security checkpoints for Amtrak in the future. Not sure if they will, but they did announce they are looking into it. The closest thing I had to my bags being checked was when the police drug walked by and sniffed them.

One cool thing about the train is that if you do it on a Friday or Saturday volunteers from the National Parks Service give a lecture on board about the history of the C&O Canal as you ride past it. I thought that part was pretty cool.

The easiest way to get from the end of the C&O Canal Towpath (easiest and safest, not fastest) is to make a right down either 30th St or 29th St in Georgetown (both of those streets intersect the towpath) and at the end of one of those roads on the left under an overpass (on the right side) is a paved trail called Rock Creek Trail. Follow the Rock Creek Trail all the way into the National Mall (puts you by the Lincoln Memorial) then cut through the National Mall up to the Capitol building and go straight up Louisiana Ave.

One other thing I didn't like about taking Amtrak is that I was on a set time frame for our last day. We had to get from Leesburg, VA to the train station for our 4:05 p.m. train on the last day. This meant we didn't have a ton of time to look at things in D.C. once we got there. Also, the hotel we stayed at in Leesburg didn't start shuttling people to White's Ferry until 10:00 a.m., so we ended up not being able to the last section of the C&O Canal Towpath into D.C. due to time constraints and I didn't get to see Great Falls which I hear is pretty cool. We ended up taking the W&OD Trail and connecting up with the Curtis Trail and crossing over the Rosslyn-Key Bridge to get into Georgetown. The W&OD Trail and Curtis Trail are both asphalt trails, but they were also both very crowded.

got some info about my train experience here:

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1&page_id=299547&v=b

I made it back without incident.

I've done this ride before but this last one was the most enjoyable.

I did have one incident where a 1200lb BULL was in the middle of the trail and I was alone — and got charged by it!!!!

I out sprinted a bull on a 60lb BIKE!!!!

But anyway, the train station was as usual. No bag searches of any kind. I took EVERYTHING on the train with me this time, everything from knives to a barely used butane canister from my backpacking stove.

I do have friends who work for the railroads and it was a 50/50 chance a friend of mine would have been the engineer on the Capitol Limited before they change in Cumberland but he had the day off.

Either way, I did get the scoop from them before I rode down and the only reason I posted this thread is because they have been talking about setting up the TSA treatment at train stations for a long time.

But now, they are talking about cutting government funding for Amtrak completely so there may not even BE the option to take a train home next time I do this ride.

I did not bother doing ANY sight-seeing in Washington D.C. I ended up getting to the end of the crescent trail at 9:30AM and rode K-Street / Massachusetts Avenue straight to the train station.

One thing I learned is DEFINITELY buy your tickets online — even if you have to use a smartphone from the trail to do it. They gouged me an extra $40 for the train ticket because I bought at the counter vs. online. I assume I could have bought online RIGHT THERE with my phone and then just picked up the ticket at the booth.

And yeah, the bike boxes were $20 and I had to wait from 10Am until 11:30 AM in the baggage area for some lazy dipshit to bring out a box.

I cannot STRESS ENOUGH about having to get to the station SEVERAL HOURS EARLY to get your stupid bike box.

I had my bike stripped down and ready to put in the box well before they even brought one out, and STILL sat there for over an hour watching them all stand around bitching about their do-nothing jobs before someone FINALLY came up to me.

Total time from train station arrival to bike-in-box and ready to board train was over 2 hours. The last time I did this, it took them OVER 2 hours just to bring out the bike box. Every single person I have known who has done this train ride will tell you the exact same story too.

You CANNOT get there at 2PM and make your train at 4 if you have a bike.

Then, after getting off the train in Pittsburgh I had to sit and wait for an HOUR for them to bring the damn checked luggage into the train station from the train — which is RIGHT THERE. There were a total of 4 people waiting for checked baggage from the train.

Next time I will call my friend to pick me up when the train pulls into the station, knowing he will get there before I even get my bike back.

But that is what you get when you are dealing with government-funded lazy ass union workers.

Wonderful trip — was the first time I ever did a long distance trip with NOTHING on my back (not even a camelbak bladder). This was the heaviest load I've ever carried on a long distance trip and yet the bike seemed lighter and it was very pleasant.

I always just write off the last day — camp 15 miles from DC at the Swain Lock campsites and get down there ASAP in the morning just to avoid any hassles at the train station.

I basically count getting to that campsite as "making it" since I have never been able to get to D.C. from Harper's Ferry early enough to catch the train without another night of camping.

There is one new detour in the C&O national park which kinda sucks because you have to take your bike up and down VERY slippery staircases (when it is wet from rain). Otherwise, nothing out of the ordinary to report.

The BULL that charged me was at mile marker 166 on the C&O so WATCH THAT if you plan on doing this ride any time soon.

A bunch of us chased it off the trail (after I flagged down several bikers) — and we eventually got a cell signal to call the 911 dispatch to see about getting a ranger out there to handle it — since who knows if some little kid and his/her family would have gotten mauled by this thing.

It charged me full-bore and I was ready to jump into the stagnant canal water and ditch my bike if necessary to survive.

That was probably the craziest thing I've ever had to sprint away from on a bicycle!!!! A charging 1200lb BULL is much scarier than any DOG I've ever encountered!!!!!!!

I didn't have the problem with the bike boxes coming back on the train with my kids -- got the bike boxes + stripped and packaged 4 bikes in 2 hours I think. But maybe they took pity on me because I was there with kids and clearly needed their help to make the train.

Riding into DC is the most unnecessarily annoying part of the ride, especially if you arrive on a weekend. The trail near Georgetown is packed with joggers, running in tight packs, and everyone is wearing iPods so they can't hear. You finally get their attention so they move aside to let you through, and then immediately move back cutting off the next rider. It's a real demonstration of DC ass-holery and competitive instinct.

Whenever I ride long distances — the difference between "city folk" and "country folk" are amplified in my opinion. You can tell how close you are to any city by how people treat you as you ride by LOL. The farther away, the better.

However — the one group of people who CONSISTENTLY pissed me off the whole weekend across the entire trip were the "white middle class ignorant yuppie self-centered clueless dipshits" who have absolutely no class. You know, the khaki-wearing minivan-driving (I guess they are all SUVs now hahaha), collared shirt with the little alligator on them etc etc…

I swear EVERY TIME I came across these types of people, either walking or on bikes I had to SCREAM at them to get the hell out of the way. They always walk and ride side-by-side — and even if they are coming from the opposite direction and can SEE you coming for over a HALF MILE away —— it got to the point where I would start laying on the bell HARD the second I would see these people and then when I am about 100 feet away am screaming at the top of my lungs for them to "GET THE F OUT OF THE WAY!!!!!!"

These people look at you with the most dumbfounded looks on their faces and have absolutely NO CONCEPT WHATSOEVER of staying to the RIGHT of the trail just like a ROAD. THEN they give me the dirtiest looks because I am trying to PASS THEM.

I just can't understand how these idiots can see a cyclist coming at them around 15mph and just stand there like a deer in front of headlights and can't STEP TO THE SIDE!!!!!!

An honest mistake I can TOTALLY understand — but there were SO MANY PEOPLE on the trail last weekend who would just REFUSE TO MOVE. And frankly, I'M NOT STOPPING — I'll just hit them if necessary.

I had one old lady on a beach cruiser who could see me from well more than a half mile away, wait until the very last second (where I had decided to just ride between her and her husband) literally SWERVE HER BIKE DIRECTLY INTO ME as I went past screaming about how I was being a jerk as I passed her. My panniers grazed her front wheel as I passed! Dingbat should not have been riding in the oncoming lane.

AND — from how crowded the trail was last weekend, especially the C&O — it was only going to be another MINUTE at the most before someone just like me came flying past them again. It is not as if they hadn't been passed by over a dozen bikers before the time I came up on them.

Other than those people the trip was totally awesome and pleasant but every time I came up on trail hoggers like that I would get really angry. When approaching people traveling the same direction I would lay on the bell as soon as I saw them.

MOST people would move to the side and were friendly, I definitely got a bit sick of saying "good morning" over 100 times in a 1.5 hour span LOL but even so it was NICE!!!

But the people who just sit there and don't MOVE OUT OF THE WAY are just asking to get plowed over by a cyclist with a heavy loaded up bike at some point.

We didn't have any problems with the bike box either. They had them out in a few minutes, way before we had our bikes ready. We got there at 2pm and still had an hour to eat and wash up in the bathrooms before the train left.

And frankly, I'M NOT STOPPING — I'll just hit them if necessary.

and

I had one old lady on a beach cruiser who could see me from well more than a half mile away, wait until the very last second (where I had decided to just ride between her and her husband) literally SWERVE HER BIKE DIRECTLY INTO ME as I went past screaming about how I was being a jerk as I passed her. My panniers grazed her front wheel as I passed! Dingbat should not have been riding in the oncoming lane.

Ok, I'll bite. You can see people from a half-mile away, and you _still_ almost caused a crash because they were in your way? Jeez, dude...

@reddan, right. Here are some other options if people see you and won't get out of your way:

1) Riding off the trail a little bit.

2) Stopping.

I exaggerate a "little" bit there. I am not going to hurt someone just to save 10 seconds but it is definitely irritating to say the least when people see you coming from that far away and not only refuse to move out of the way but get angry with you for having the "audacity" to pass them LOL.

Even so, those people still account for about 1% of the people on the trail.

The only one I felt the need to stop for was the 1200lb bull LMFAO... I had no problem stopping and my max-speed topped out at over 30mph when I had to sprint in the opposite direction when it charged me!!!

I found out I can beat Lance Armstrong in the Tour De France even if he was all drugged up so long as they have a large animal like that chasing after me. I wonder if they would consider THAT cheating!

Jeez Adam, you could be a car dirver with that sort of attitude: "Those pesky bikes just won't get out of my way and they slow me down!"

Adam, if you walk on sidewalks near any college campus you'll encounter the same problem. Stopping as a solution only works for oncoming traffic, where you stop and become an obstacle forcing them on to their half of the trail/sidewalk. If you're passing people, it won't work, as you'll simply be perpetually behind them stopping and starting.

Sounds like DC trails need widening. What a lovely problem to have - complete trails that are so busy they need to be expanded. sigh.

And props for escaping the bull. how did you manage to get past it, or did it finally leave the trail?

If a biker is riding against the flow of traffic in the middle of the lane in the wrong direction then yeah, they deserve to get hit head-on by a car.

That is the crux of what I am talking about. People get bent out of shape so bad on this forum whenever I say anything that isn't 100% P.C. LMFAO...

The rail trails are plenty wide enough. If anyone else was with me they would have been in total agreement with how stupid people are. AND, not that anyone really reads them, but ALL of the "TRAIL RULES" posted everywhere along the trail say that people need to ride/hike single-file to the right-side of the trail. I am fine with people riding 2-abreast as long as they are willing to move out of the way when someone is coming toward them in the oncoming lane.

Even I was riding on the left side of the trail from time to time when the surface was smoother on that side, but I would gladly move out of the way well in advance of any oncoming traffic on that side. I wasn't expecting people to move out of MY way when I was on the wrong side.

I am not nearly as angry about the situation as I may sound. It was just something that annoyed me more than once in awhile and it always seemed to be the exact same "type" of person every time.

As for the bull? LOL That was about the craziest thing I've ever seen on a bike ride.

There are some farms alongside the trail in certain places and one of them must have found a way out of the fence. He was standing on the trail as I came around a bend and I stopped and put the bike between it and myself. It started walking toward me and I yelled toward it, at which point it put its head down and ran at me full bore. I had enough distance between it and myself to jump on my bike and get moving before he started to close the gap on me, and I sprinted like a mad man for about 1/2 mile and glanced back to see he had given up the chase.

Then I waited and flagged down all the cyclists who were going the same direction until we built up a "posse" of around 5 cyclists. We all grabbed rocks and branches and anything we could use to scare it and headed back. This time the bull was angry but was hesitant to charge us. It bluff charged us but the 2 riders without loaded bikes lifted their bikes over their heads while we all screamed at it and threw rocks / branches etc.

Then the bull ran off into the woods. We got on our bikes and sprinted past it, but it was angry enough to come out of the woods after us as we went past.

We warned everyone we came across down the trail and when we got to the next lock we found someone who could get a cell signal (I couldn't get one) to call the 911 dispatcher in the area just to let them know. I didn't want to hear about some little kid and a family, or some old people getting mauled by an angry bull when I could have at least made a call to have someone come out and get it off the trail.

I have no idea what happened after the fact as I just kept moving along. It did ruin my chances of making Harper's Ferry in 2 days though but oh well. It was still a fun weekend and that is one hell of a cool story.

When it came after me I was ready to jump into the stagnant canal water and ditch my bike to get away if necessary but I did have enough time to get a few pedal rotations and get up to speed when it decided to charge me. I can't say I wasn't scared out of my mind since I was alone and had no idea how long it would be before another cyclist would come along!

@adam People get bent out of shape so bad on this forum whenever I say anything that isn't 100% P.C. LMFAO...

More like, "When I spend paragraph after paragraph spewing anger, people here gently point out my foolishness." But whatever lists your luggage.