I've taken the main roads (86 & 22n) between Lake Placid and the ferry landing, and they were OK. There's also a selection of unnumbered roads that swing north in an arc, then drop back to join 86 outside of Lake Placid.

I've ridden the full length of 22 (from NYC to the end) and find it fine most times, though I use it when I have miles to cover. South of Glens Falls is a fine mesh of local roads, so 22 would only make sense as a through road.

I've also ridden the full length of route 9 from NYC to Canada, and the only good thing I can say about it is that it gets you from here to there, and you can't get lost. There's an offshoot of 22 that splits off below Lake Champlain and heads up the VT side. It's a nice and gets you most of the way home without using route 7. 9n is also very rideable, 73 running southeast down through Keene Valley.

You'll have to pull out a map, and figure distances and destinations, but as a general rule, road choice is much more limited north of Glens Falls vs. below. However, be sure to move east above Glens Falls unless you want to loop Lake George in, because the traffic density increases materially between Glens Falls and Albany.

Actually a decent tout might be ferry to Lake Placid, down to the west side of Lake George, then east to clear the route 9 corridor, picking up smaller roads to points south, then back home via Whitehall, and 22a north through VT.

BTW search "NYS contour map" and after it loads you can bring up detail. It's give you a good sense of the lay of the land and what you can expect in terrain.