WomanTour cyclists enjoy their stop in McKeesport
By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
Sixteen women who come from various corners of the United States passed through McKeesport on bicycles Friday by way of the Great Allegheny Passage Trail.
“We’re a bicycle tour company owned by women, operated by women and we do bicycle tours exclusively for women,” said tour specialist Karen Miltner of WomanTours, which guided the group.
The company is based out of Rochester, N.Y., and has been creating bicycle tours for women since 1995.
The group marked the first day of its journey Friday, starting in Pittsburgh and stopping at Gergely Riverfront Park, near the McKees Point Marina, to have a picnic lunch and catch their breath before venturing on through Versailles, the Boston trailhead and other parts of Elizabeth Township, West Newton, Rostraver Township and other Mon Valley towns along the GAP.
The women aim to bike the length of the GAP Trail to Cumberland, Md., where they’ll jump on the C&O Canal Towpath and finish their tour in Arlington, Va.
Miltner said the women will be biking for 10 days and planned to ride 45 miles Friday. She said there will be days when the group cycles about 65 miles.
The women are staying at inns and hotels in trail towns and are met at each resting point by a van carrying their luggage and another vehicle that tows a trailer, where Miltner cooks meals.
She joked that the picnic stop in McKeesport was a bit of a pit stop tailgating party.
Miltner said the women on the tour come from places such as Southern California, Texas, Seattle, Colorado and the Finger Lakes Region of New York, but added that WomanTours is occasionally joined by people from other countries.
“We do tours all over the United States and all over the world actually,” Miltner said. “We do everything from a four-day weekend tour to a two-month cross country trek.”
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