Northeast - What's Worcester Mass like for riding?

My wife is interviewing for a job there soon and we're wondering what the area is like for cycling. We're into road, off-road, commuting, riding with our kid, touring, etc. Thanks!

Ken, I grew up there, but did most of my serious riding after I left. My favorite ride when I'm visiting family is from downtown Worcester, up to Mt. Wachusett & back.

http://www.sevenhillswheelmen.org/ is a local club with lots of rides & cue sheets listed.

Worcester is not exactly a cultural epicenter. You'll find fewer great restaurants, bookstores, etc. The area is dominated by malls & big chains.

There are riders around, but less so than in a metropolitan area like NJ/NY or Boston. There is definitely decent riding to be found, especially outside the city.

I don't know about the riding, but the Major Taylor memorial is there.
http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/statue.htm

And there is a hill climb ride done there yearly that's named for Major.
http://www.majortaylorassociation.org/events/georgestreet09.shtml

The best riding is probably anywhere north of the city. When you get up into Rutland, Princeton and around Mt Wachusett (like Lucky mentioned) you'll get away from the bulk of the traffic. Welcome to the area!

What Suzie said; head north or west (past Auburn). I like the loop around Wachusett Res. if I'm looking to stay close to the in-laws (Shrewsbury). You'll meet quite a few riders around there as well.

The Wachusett Res. is a nice route I try to do it twice a month, see lots of other riders. I do know that there is a weekly club ride around it, not sure which club. Also nice ride out to Mt. Wachusett and surrounding area. In July they hold a hill Time Trial on George Street, it attracted 147 riders last year.

Cool - thanks for the info. We'll see what happens....

I have lived in Worcester for most of my adult life. Don't have much to compare it with, but I think it's just fine for cycling. I'm comfortable riding anywhere in the city. It's small and hilly, and the street layout is mostly the same as it was 120 years ago, which is bad for cars but good for bikes. Getting out of the city, you can pick any point of the compass, head out that way and find country roads and small towns.

In addition to the Seven Hills Wheelmen club already mentioned, the Appalachian Mountain Club has organized rides, and a couple of the local bike shops also do stuff. There are plenty of places not far from town where you can ride jeep roads and single-track, including Leominster State Forest and the Ware River watershed area. Actually, if you know where to go you can leave the road inside the city limits and ride for miles on trails, climbing several hundred vertical feet.

The local hills are mostly drumlins, so you can go around them if you're not in the mood to ride over them. But there are some good climbs in town. (E. g. a block from my house we have 1000 feet @ 15% in a straight line.)

Don't know what you'd consider suitable for riding with kids but if it's rail-trails we have the scenic, mostly stone-dust Mass Central rail-trail north of the city in West Boylston, Holden, and Rutland, and connecting Worcester and Millbury the paved Blackstone Bikeway. Otherwise essentially nothing in the way of 'facilities', and only one strictly-for-laughs bike lane in the entire city. (But then we don't really need that sort of thing.)

Worcester's biggest minus is winter. I don't ride much December through February (some do). Nov. and March are about 50% decent days, and the rest of the year is fine.

Thanks Walter and everyone else - that's all good information and encouraging too.

Keep us posted how your wife's interview goes. and if your coming to the area we can join up for a ride.

I would be skeptical about doing much downtown riding, as there is a lot of traffic and no bike lanes. The suburban areas however provide good riding. There are some main roads that would be suicide to ride on, but that's typical for anywhere. The area is full of rolling hills, there is very little flat terrain. Very cold in the winter.