Take to the trail: bikes offer the perfect pace

The recently opened Lamoille Valley Rail Trail offers leaf peepers a whole new way to take in fall foliage.

First, there’s the pace. If you’re walking or bicycling, it’s easy to slow down or stop when you reach an amazing vista, and you have plenty of time to take it all in.

Second, the trail takes you right into the woods, then out again. You can smell fall in the air. You can reach out and touch a flaming-orange leaf and take a close look at it.

Third, it’s flat. It’s an easy outing because the trail was once a railroad line, and steep grades are a no-no for trains.

Conversion of the former rail line into a trail began in 2014 and wrapped up last year. It follows the route of the old Lamoille Valley Rail Road, which shut down in 1994. The 17.42-mile section of trail in Lamoille County runs from Tenney Bridge in Morrisville through Hyde Park and Johnson to Cambridge Junction. To the east, a 15-mile section is open between Danville and St. Johnsbury. Eventually, the trail will stretch 93 miles across the top of Vermont, from St. Johnsbury to Swanton.

Walking or biking the Lamoille County section of the trail takes travelers through forests, open fields, farmland hills and wetlands. The trip has stunning views of the Lamoille Valley, and opens up snapshots of the Lamoille River, Elmore Mountain and the Green Mountains that weren’t available before.

A new experience

Bicycling is popular on the rail trail, but a 17-mile ride might be a bit much for some peepers.

So, there’s another option: They can ride an electric bike.

Lamoille Valley Bike Tours, operated by Jim and Yva Rose of Johnson, rents electric bikes that make the ride a whole lot easier.

“We want to help people get off the beaten path,” Yva Rose said.

The couple opened their mobile business, which features seven regular E-bikes and two cargo bikes, in June. From Thursday to Sunday, they travel to towns along the trail and set up shop for the day.

So far, their E-bikes have been a big hit.

“I’d say we’ve had 100 percent satisfaction,” Jim Rose said. “Everyone comes back with an ‘E-bike smile.’ That’s just awesome to see.”

Each bike has a detachable battery and electric motor, but E-bikes don’t just push you along. Bikers still have to pedal and do some of the work; the electric motors augment that pedaling and do the rest of the work for you. Depending on what gear’s being used, a biker could be pedaling fairly slowly and still be cruising along at 15 mph.

An E-bike is the great equalizer, Jim Rose says. Almost anyone can take one of the bikes out for a spin, and lots of older people have taken advantage of the E-motion.

Jim himself has used the E-bike. He’s an avid biker, but is still nursing an injured shoulder from a spill earlier this year. The E-bike is his solution.

The Roses also get quite a number of couples as customers. A biking enthusiast might bring his or her significant other for a rail trail ride, and if the other is not as much an enthusiast, then the E-bike evens things up.

Along with simply renting the bikes, the Roses offer scenic, brewery and foliage tours. They are open on Thursdays in Morrisville’s Oxbow Park, on Friday and Sunday in their hometown of Johnson at Old Mill Park, and on Saturday in Jeffersonville. They are also open for private bookings and tours on other days. More information is available at lamoillevalleybiketours.com.