MILEPOSTERS HISTORY
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The Mileposters are tandem cyclists, based at St. Thomas Lutheran Church. City kids enjoy a taste of the country and the wonders of God's creation as they learn cycling skills and care for each other in Christian love. Since 1997, over 70 of them have ridden the network of trails around Pittsburgh, PA, on trips from 12 miles to over 300, four times to Washington, DC, raising over $40,000 for St. Matthew, St. Thomas, Deaf Mission in Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Lutheran Center for the Blind, LCMS Campus Ministry in Pittsburgh, Sonshine Community Ministries, and others, led by Lutheran educator Mark Shields, who has trained fourteen tandem captains; two of those have also qualified on a triplet.

The group leader, at that time a teacher (later principal) at St. Matthew Lutheran School in Pittsburgh, PA, made his first ride from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC in 1997 (and again in 2000). From the beginning, the Youghiogheny River Trail (now a part of the Great Allegheny Passage, along with the Allegheny Highlands Trail), which follows its namesake river in Southwestern Pennsylvania, has been the venue of choice, although the large number of trails available within driving distance of Pittsburgh has provided plenty of variety: other trips have been made on the Monongahela River Trail, the Decker's Creek Trail, and the Panhandle Trail in West Virginia; the C&O Canal Towpath and the Northwest Connection (see below) in Maryland; the Conotton Creek Trail and the Kokosing Gap Trail in Ohio; and the Montour Trail (including the Arrowhead Trail), the Butler-Freeport Community Trail, the Eliza Furnace Trail, the Panther Hollow Trail, the Riverfront Trail, and the Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Pennsylvania. The current recordholding riders are the leader's two homeschool students (2007-present). (SCROLL DOWN for more history, and PICTURES.)

The Mileposters got their name from the triangular concrete mileposts which the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad placed beside the track between Pittsburgh and Connellsville. This is the right-of-way used by the Youghiogheny River Trail (now part of the Great Allegheny Passage) between Dead Man's Hollow and Connellsville. In the beginning, riders had to regroup at each milepost; now, thanks to tandems and better-trained riders, they typically travel four or more miles before resting. Milepost 7, pictured below, is not actually on the trail, since the railroad track beside it (now owned by CSX) is still very busy; the trail at this point runs on the other side of the Waterfront, an extensive commercial area built on the site of the former Homestead Works of U. S. Steel, the largest steel mill in the world. In the background: the former Pennsylvania Railroad station for Homestead, PA.



First camping trip, Milepost 50

By June 1999 the best riders were able to complete a 56-mile camping trip, carrying tents and other camping gear aboard their bikes, and in August of that year two of them set the first student record, which stood for three years, of 38 miles in one day. That record was broken on July 6, 2002 when two students did 40 miles in one day, one on a tandem with the group leader (who has twice done 100 miles in one day). On September 13, 2003, the record was increased to 42 miles in a day, and on August 10, 2004, to 45 miles in a day, from Berwyn Heights, MD, around Lake Artemesia, and to the Washington Canoe Club and return, using the Northwest Connection, which is composed of the Indian Creek Trail, the Northeast Branch Trail, the Northwest Branch Trail, The Sligo Creek Trail, the Georgetown Branch Trail, and the Capital Crescent Trail. The group leader made his second trip from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC in 2002.

In the spring of 2002 the first tandem rides were made, using a Trail-Gator bicycle tow bar to join two bikes together. That quickly led to the purchase of a mountain tandem, and construction of a custom tandem with a short rear seat tube was begun. A tandem allows inexperienced riders to keep up with those who can travel faster (stopping every mile has become a thing of the past), and teaches cooperation and caring for others. Only the captain needs to know how to ride a bike. The stokers (one, two, three, or four riders behind the captain) learn cycling skills while they work together and watch out for each other.

More tandems, triplets, and an articulated quad and quint followed the first two tandems. A triplet is for three riders, a quad for four, and a quint for five. (A double tandem combination was used for a while, as well as a triplet/tandem, but these have been replaced by the articulated quad and quint.) The original tandem and the Trail-Gator are pictured below.


On June 23 and 24, 2004, a camping trip was made in preparation for longer rides. The two-day trip covered 60 miles for our organist/captain/cook and her daughter, who managed food acquisition, and 54 miles for the balance of the campers, including the group leader and four other riders. The travelers started at Industry, PA, on the Yough Trail, and went to Adelaide and Connellsville, PA and back again. While they were at the campground they were inspired by meeting Bob Phillips of Bowie, Maryland, who was on Day 53 of a transcontinental bicycle ride from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic. He finished his trip in eight more days, one day before his 68th birthday, for a total of 3,541 miles.


Double tandem and other bikes on camping trip, River's Edge Family Campground

On July 21, 22, and 23, 2004, five riders made a three-day, 70-mile round trip on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath from Cumberland, MD to Milepost 153, just past Sorrel Ridge. They spent the first night at the Red Rooster Hostel (gone, alas) in Paw Paw, West Virginia and the next day rode through Paw Paw Tunnel to Sorrel Ridge and back to Oldtown, returning to Lock 68 (Potomac Forks), because of rain, for primitive camping the second night. The third day they had to remove all loads and carry luggage and bare bikes over a cluster of four trees that had fallen across the trail during the night's storm. Wildlife encountered along the trail included 273 turtles, a dozen deer, several rabbits and squirrels, some beavers, many fish, a snake, and hundreds of dragonflies. Multiple beaver dams and lodges were sighted between Mileposts 170 and 180.

Especially during these two 2004 camping trips, Dorothy Frisch, a true original, who had meant to come to St. Matthew just to be organist, defined the meaning of "trail mom" for Mileposters. Unfortunately, since her husband took a new job in Connecticut, she had to leave right before we began our rides to Washington, DC.


Three-day ride, Paw Paw Tunnel, Maryland, with original trail mom


Beaver lodge

On June 14, 2005 a party of six, including four student riders and our newest captain/trail mom, set out for Washington, DC, arriving on June 22 after nine days, six flat tires, many raindrops, and much poison ivy. In the process the student record for miles in a day was broken twice, ending at 47 miles in a day, on loaded bicycles, after riding for eight days in a row previous, and one new recordholder accomplished the distance on a solo bike, which had not been done since 2002. It is noteworthy that the youngest rider on this trip to Washington, DC was only six years old; she also shared the loaded record of 47 miles in one day until it was broken in 2010. Bicycles which were used for the 2005 DC ride included the Biopace-equipped triplet, a tandem graciously donated by Terry Zmrhal and Microsoft, and a solo bike.
2005 DC TRIP PICTURES

The 2006 DC ride, with eight riders total, used the same tandem and solo bike; the triplet was used for seven days, and for three days in the middle of the trip, it was converted to an articulated quad. The youngest rider in 2006, who rode one day of the trip, was eight years old. A nine-year-old went the whole distance, along with the group leader and three other riders. Two others rode multiple days. Following this trip, a record-breaking ride was made on the Yough Trail, at 82 miles per day, still standing in 2011, as the most for student riders.
2006 DC TRIP PICTURES

The long ride for 2007 was to Cumberland, Maryland. Riders from our new home at St. Thomas Lutheran Church joined us on shorter rides, and a program began for new student captains and junior captains. Work started on a new intermediate-frame tandem so that promising younger riders will be able to begin training as captains; as well, a small-frame tandem was acquired. Uniform acquisition was begun.
2007 CUMBERLAND TRIP PICTURES

The 2008 DC ride, with eight riders total, used the triplet throughout, a tandem for four days, and a solo bike for three days. The youngest rider was eight years old, who rode only one day before he got sick. Three other riders participated for four days, completing the segment from Pittsburgh to Cumberland, including the 2005 trail mom and her daughter, who also completed the ride that year, when she was six, as well as the one who went the whole way in 2006, when she was nine. A second set of three riders joined the trip on the sixth, seventh, and eighth days, including two who made the whole trip in 2005. The group leader rode all ten days. Uniform acquisition continued, and uniforms were used for the first time on a major ride.
2008 DC TRIP PICTURES

In 2009, trip planning was difficult, and we almost didn't do a long ride, but the G-20 summit saved the day, enabling us to get four days off from school at the end of September. Our tail gunner, however, turned up with a 102-degree fever the night before the ride, so we had only two people on the triplet for the first day, and the next three the group leader was alone, finding the ascent to the Divide to be surprisingly easy. When we went to Cumberland to pick up the triplet from storage a week later, the tail gunner came along for a 20-mile extension on the Canal towpath, giving us a total of 150 miles for our campaign to raise funds for the Pittsburgh Campus Ministry of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Following the Cumberland trip, Mileposters roller skating began, as a winter activity.
2009 CUMBERLAND TRIP PICTURES

The 2010 DC ride, with five riders total, used the articulated quad throughout, with two single bikes for one day. The ride was completed in nine days for the first time since 2005. The youngest rider was ten years old, who with his thirteen-year-old sister, completed the entire trip of 333 miles, from the Boston trailhead near Pittsburgh through Washington, DC, at Fletcher's Boathouse, and on nineteen miles farther to Berwyn Heights, Maryland. It was the second time for the sister, who made the whole trip in 2006 when she was nine, the first for her brother, and the sixth for the group leader, who did the trip twice by himself. The pastor of the supported mission, the campus ministry at First Trinity Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, and his wife rode the 42 miles of the first day and returned to the starting point on their own the next day. The fourth day of the trip, the former long-ride, loaded distance record of 47 miles in one day was broken, with 60 miles from Meyersdale, Pennsylvania to Paw Paw, West Virginia. Roller skating continued for the winters of 2010-11 and 2011-12.
2010 DC TRIP PICTURES

The 2011 Cumberland ride, with four riders total, used the triplet, with a single bike for one day. The ride was completed in four days. The six-year-old who rode all the way to DC in 2005, now 12, joined us, as well as one of our DC riders from last year, now 11, completing the 40 miles of the first day. The pastor of the supported mission, the campus ministry at First Trinity Lutheran Church in Pittsburgh, rode with us as far as Cedar Creek. The group leader finished the trip in three more days, making overnight stops in Connellsville, Confluence, and Rockwood.
2011 CUMBERLAND TRIP PICTURES


Jim and Lula Shields, the group leader's parents, Asheville, NC


Son with parents and triplet, Asheville, summer 2008
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The Allegheny Trail Alliance Web site has maps and many links to information on trails in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and West Virginia.
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