New Castle, PA - Stavich Trail - Youngstown - Gerard - Niles OH Bike Ride

Riding from New Castle, PA through Youngstown, Ohio to Niles, OH and the McKinley Presidential Library

This is a report of a very nice 52-mile bicycle ride that starts off on the Stavich Trail in New Castle, PA. The ride reverses course in Niles, Ohio, at the McKinley presidential library. We rode this route while preparing for TOSRV and conditions (mostly flat, windy) along this route resemble TOSRV.

This is a great ride, starting off with a paved trail, and the rest consists of roads that were generally bike friendly. There's a bike shop near the start and also one pretty close to the halfway point.

Finding the Start. Coming from the south, we found the eastern trailhead by taking Route 60 North, and exiting at Route 224 West. From 224 West, you'll see the McD/Walmart shopping center on the left. At the next intersection, where's there's an Advance Auto, turn left onto Winter. Continue to the T-intersection, turn right, and you'll see the trailhead parking area in a few minutes. This map shows Route 60 to the trailhead, and also indicates the location of Bicycles and More, 1907 West State Street, New Castle PA 16101 in case you need a bike shop at the start.

This map (click on image to open full-size map in a new window) shows the route, which starts off with the Stavich Trail (10.5 paved miles) to Struthers, Ohio, and then follows local roads through Youngstown and Girard into Niles, Ohio, reversing course at the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial. Besides the shop located near the start in New Castle, there's one other bicycle shop we saw on the route, Frankford Bicycle, 964 N. State St. Girard, OH 44420 1.800.621.3593. It's a very nice shop with an impressive inventory of bikes and gear.

When you start off at the eastern end of the trip in New Castle, the first two miles of the paved Stavich Trail are suffering from some winter damage. There's a few spots where the trail is covered in dirt, there's one spot with running water flowing across the trail which has eroded the pavement-- it's an excellent trail in good condition, but it might be prudent to be cautious the first few minutes, especially on the water hazard.

The route is fairly straighforward; ride the trail till it ends, then continue in the same direction on the road. Ride toward the tall buildings in Youngstown; once in Youngstown, ride toward the tall building with the clock tower. Continue in the same direction out of Youngstown.

There's not a lot of convenience stores along the route, so start off with full water bottles. On our trip, we didn't see a natural stop for drinks until after we passed under I-80 at the twenty-mile point. This was the only convenience store we encountered.

On the way back there's a McDonald's with a self-serve cold water spigot and rest rooms about three miles after reversing course. Across the street from McD's there's a BP gas station with some supplies.

The New Castle through Youngstown segment is generally blighted, abandoned industrial barren, and poor; west of I-80 there seemed to be more life in the local economy.

The route is: Stavich Trail Route 289 to Youngstown Route 422 through Girard, to McKinley Heights (McD drink opportunity) Robbins Ave to Niles Route 169 South to the National McKinley Birthplace Memorial