Northeast - Worcester to Niagara Falls

Hi Everybody,
I am planning on biking from Worcester MA to Niagara Falls sometime in July (if the rain ever stops) with a couple friends. Has anyone ever done this or biked across NY state? We haven't done a century yet and don't know how worn out it gets you. What is a good distance to go each day? I assume it declines per day.

Thanks for your help.

-Nate

For distance, what type of touring are you doing? Camping and hauling all your gear and food, Hoteling it, having someone carry all the gear in a car, or somewhere in between. The more gear you carry the less miles per day. Do you want to stop and take pictures and see the sights in every town? 50-75 mile average per day is usually what I have seen. Distance does not always decline per day.

For routing take a look at http://www.adventurecycling.org (http://www.adventurecycling.org/) Northern Tier maps, the Erie Canal Towpath in NY, and along Lake Ontario in NY. Also checkout Crazy guy on a bike's website (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/), there are many journals of biking trips, some with route details.

I use Delorme street atlas for my own routing, setting it for bicycle and then setting the distance option for 75 miles per day. I then can see where to look for overnight stops.

Last year I toured around lake Ontario, carring all my camping gear. 600 miles in 11 days. I had 2 days in a row of around 90 miles and had some days of 45 miles. the distance was set more by campground availability then anything else.

I live in Niagara Falls, NY and can help suggest directions closer to N.F., but I am leaving tomorrow for a 12 day 900+ mile tour around Lake Erie.

Good luck and happy touring.

Jeff

Thanks jcostanz,

I think we're going to hotel it and carry very minimal gear on our road bikes. We only have 4 or 5 days.

Since Worcester is 419 miles away from N.F. this is looking pretty daunting. We might want to drive west to Albany or something and start there. We plan on renting a car to get back....unless there are other suggestions.

I would not recommend 419 miles in 4 days. If you took the mileage off the web, I would add at least 15% for bicycling on back roads and finding hotels, food ect. Starting in Albany or somewhere along the Canal would be a good idea.

PS. If you plan on going to Canada bring either a Passport, Passcard, or an Enhanced Driver's License.

The Erie Canal path goes from Albany to Lockport (near Buffalo), with some roads mixed in. You would get off of the path in Lockport and take country roads to Niagara Falls.