Northeast - cross-Mass bike route?

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA

View Full Version : cross-Mass bike route?

mtalinm
12-05-10, 05:11 PM
hi, I've made it from Boston to most of the states that border Mass, but New York is the toughie.

anyone know a safe, forgiving (read: not tons of hills) route to the NY border?

I've seen a couple of record-holder accounts ( http://www.ultracycling.com/records/massachusetts_record2007.html) but these seem to follow a 145-mile path designed to inflict pain.

I am planning to get the Rubel maps and sketch one out road by road, but I thought i would ask for any other advice first.

thanks!

(Note: the "Pan" Mass rides start in the middle of the state, so they're not that useful)

Harutz
12-05-10, 09:17 PM
I don't think such a route exists. You might be able to get as far as the Quabbin without too many extreme hills, but getting past the reservoir and then climbing out of the CT River valley is one tough ride.
I've done a NY-CT ride swinging south of the Quabbin, and also a loop between Worcester and the CT River on the north side, and it's pretty gruelling either way.
The whole Valley seems to have some kind of hex on it for me, too- anything that can go wrong with a bike WILL happen to me in that valley. On the plus side, the locals were consistently very nice, and on two occasions gave me 15-20 mile lifts to the nearest town with a bike shop.

As far as an easy route goes, I've yet to find a good one, but it's definitely worth the struggle once you get into the mountains.