Multiple dates, multiple distances.

That's what Venture Outdoors and Wilderness Voyageurs are offering to anyone who wants to ride part or all the way from Washington toward Pittsburgh this season on the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal Towpath. Each ride is fully supported.

Venture Outdoors of Pittsburgh offers a four-day ride on the passage, a five-day ride on the towpath and an eight-day ride that includes both trails. It also will prepare custom itineraries for bicyclists who want to ride the passage on their own. The cost ranges from $5-10 a day, depending on how much information they want.

Wilderness Voyageurs of Ohiopyle offers a three-day Highlight Tour that includes 50-mile segments of both trails, a six-day ride from Pittsburgh to the nation's capital and custom tours for groups of six or more.

Seth Gernot, bike-tour coordinator for Venture Outdoors, and Kathryn Bevan, reservation director for Wilderness Voyageurs, said space is available for each of their respective rides.

Gernot said the four-day ride from Cumberland, Md., to Pittsburgh will depart from the renovated Western Maryland Railway station June 17 and Sept. 9, climb a less than 2 percent grade to Frostburg, Md., continue through the 3,300-foot long Big Savage Tunnel to the crossroads community of Deal and then make a gradual descent to Boston near McKeesport.

Participants will have the opportunity to visit Ohiopyle State Park and Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. The cost is $535 for members, $550 for non-members.

The five-day ride from Georgetown to Cumberland will depart June 13 and Sept. 5. Riders will average 45 miles a day and have an opportunity to visit the Great Falls of the Potomac River and Harpers Ferry and tour the Antietam battlefield. The cost is $635 for members, $650 for non-members.

Gernot said the eight-day rides, known as the GAPCANDO, will leave Georgetown June 13 and finish June 20 or leave Sept. 5 and finish Sept. 12. Participants can camp or rent a room each night. The cost, $930 for members and $950 for non-members, includes transportation and catered meals.

For more information, go to www.ventureoutdoors.com or call 412-255-0564.

Out-of-town riders can rent bikes from Golden Triangle Bike n Blade on First Avenue, Downtown. For more information, go to www.goldentrianglebikenblade.com, e-mail tom@goldentrianglebikenblade.com or call 412-600-0675.

Wilderness Voyageurs has trips to Washington scheduled May 31, July 12, Sept. 20, Oct. 4 and Oct. 11.

The tours are limited to 12 riders and include most meals, daily snacks and the services of two guides.

The guides operate the sag (support and gear) wagon, prepare meal stops, ride portions of the trail to provide on-trail assistance and tune the bikes on a daily basis. The mobile repair shop includes spare bicycles.

Because the passage between McKeesport and Pittsburgh is a work in progress, the tours begin in Boston. Participants pedal 56 miles to Ohiopyle and spend the night at the Trillium Lodge. On day two, they ride another 56 miles to Frostburg, Md., and stay at the Castle in Mt. Savage.

Day three is the longest ride -- 72 miles to Hancock, Md., and overnight at the Inn at Berkeley Springs.

Then, it's 51 miles to Shepherdstown (The Bavarian Inn), 50 miles to Violettes Lock (Inn at Buckeystown) and 22 miles to Washington and the ride home.

The cost is $1,250 based on double occupancy. Cannondale bike rentals are available for $75.

For more information, go to www.wilderness-voyageurs.com or call 1-800-272-4141.

The Allegheny Trail Alliance Web site www.atatrail.org has a link to a new video of the Great Allegheny Passage by award-winning videographer John Urman. He calls it the "Ride of My Life" and it's easy to see why. Turn up the sound and enjoy.