vtjim

Snow riding is fun. Knobby tires work best. Studs if you're on ice at all. Unfortunately Burlington doesn't plow the MUPs (yet) so once the trails get socked in, you're done until it thaws. Pedestrians post-hole the snow and it's impossible to ride on. You could ride on streets, of course. I don't really have a direct way to work by bicycle except on the MUP.

You don't need nearly as much clothing as you might think. A windbreaking outer layer is best, and something lightly insulating underneath. I've layered up a bit more and ridden comfortably at -10F. Ski goggles and balaclava are necessary when it gets that cold. Don't want to get frostbite.

FormerBMX'er

Riding in VT sounds excellent! down here everyone is a heaving rush to get to the next red-light.

bandregg

My wife and I are moving to Burlington in a few months so that I can attend the New England Culinary Institute over in Essex Junction. I can't wait. It doesn't look there is a really good route from Burlington proper to Essex Junction though. Does anyone have a good route?

vtjim

The only direct way by bike would be out route 2 (a.k.a. Williston Road) and north on route 15. Route 2 is bicycle unfriendly. Major road out of town. Heavy traffic & uptight cagers. Though a former co-worker of mine rode it a lot. He's more aggressive than me.

maximusvt

I've ridden williston a couple times, but yeah it is only good if you're ready to pedal hard and agressive. and even then, it's not that good.
I had a friend in essex jct who took the bus in to Burlington and put her bike on the rack in front of the bus. Did anyone mention that our busses have bike racks on 'em?

vtjim

*slaps own forehead*

Oh yeah! Our busses have bike racks on 'em! I used one once (North Ave) when the MUP was a ribbon of frozen post-holed cement snow. The rack held my heavy old MTB just fine.

bandregg

Thanks for the reminder about the CCTA. I'd been meaning to look their routes and schedules up. It looks like they may be just the trick for getting to school and back with a bike for to and from the bus stops.

bmike

williston can be a pain, esp heading out of the UVM area by the freeway. last time i had my bike in town i rode some sort of loop and ended up coming back on williston to my GF sister's place. somehwere around al's french fries and the mall. not too bad - but i can see it being a pain.

whats a good way to montpelier, aside from 2 all the way. i've got friends there and plan many a bike ride to visit them....


and, any good way to 100 so i can head south to the mad river valley?

maximusvt

Mike, for a route to montpelier, check out crossvermont.org/ ! I was seriously psyched when I found that site. Unfortunately, they haven't posted the burlington map yet. I e-mailed them encouraging to put it up already- he replied that it was almost ready, but that was like a week or two ago... Maybe they need more encouragement? (hint, hint...)

hardcor21

Hey everybody. I just found this site and am pretty excited.
I'm a rider in Burlington and just wanted to say hi and join in the talk and perhaps some rides. Right now I only have a bit clunker mountain bike but am looking at getting a road bike. I saw a nice Burley today and I like the new Rivendells too.

Well, again, Hiya and hope all is well.

cb

bmike

Found that, and emailed them.
Still waiting...

Been riding in the MR Valley, also out 15, and of course when I want to poke around I use the lakefront bike path, dodging strollers, dogs, and group wanderers.

Found the hill (closed to traffic) that is behind the condos on the lake, near the skate park - great for hill repeats!

vtjim

My thighs are hurting just from reading that.

maximusvt

Depot street? Yeah that is a great hill for punishing yourself. You are gonna like it here man.

Merriwether

Burlington, a pretty town, and a nice area. I lived there several years ago. I thought it was a great place to ride.

I used to ride out of town to Williston every day. I would usually just take route 2 out of town. I didn't think it bad at all, actually. Even at the freeway intersection I thought it was very rideable. It just took proper awareness of traffic, and, at night, *good* lighting. It's not a ride I would recommend for a first-timer in traffic, though.

To get to Essex, there would be two more direct routes. One is to get out of town over 89 on Route 2, and then onto 2A. Another route is take Route 2 the other way toward Winooski, on the other side of the Winooski River, and then ride north on 15. You have to be confident in traffic to do either one, but either one is not so bad as the commutes of many riders in large cities.

There were two indirect routes I liked to ride, too. If I had the time, I preferred them. One option was to take 2 over the freeway, and then turn onto White Ave. You can then turn left on Airport Parkway and ride around the airport. You end up on National Guard Avenue on the north side of the airport. National Guard Avenue becomes a small road-- River Cove Road -- that climbs up the hill to 2A. Essex Junction is then just over the Winooski River to the left on 2A.

*Another* route around the airport requires taking 2 the other way, toward Winooski. You take 2 down the hill toward the river. Turn right at either of the first two of the last three streets on the Burlington side of the river, Chase, or Barrett. Then you turn right again onto Grove. Grove gets you past the freeway, and then becomes Patchen Road. Follow that to Kirby, then turn left on Airport Parkway. Then it's as the paragraph above. Follow the road around the airport to 2A, just outside of Essex.

The around-airport routes are more circuitous, but they are peaceful rides, especially in the wintertime. The Air Force F-16 flights were a welcome distraction, too. Not all of River Cove Road was paved when I lived there, but my non-suspended bike handled things fine. In the winter, a mountain bike with knobbies was good enough.

These airport routes were all done pre-9-11, I should add. I don't know whether it's still possible to ride all the way around the airport. Those who still live there will have to say. I suspect it is, though.

Winter riding in this area was pretty good, too, I thought, because the roads were well-plowed, even in heavy snows. It's not that way where I live now.

I liked it there a lot. Enjoy the rides.

maximusvt

I've done the chase-grove-patchen route a few times, my house is right on that route, then took white street (I think?) up towards the airport, parralel with williston and a much nicer ride. I've never ridden all the way around the airport but I'll try sometime. The F-16 noise is pretty damn annoying if you live right under the airport... At least it ain't JFK.

Last week a friend told me about some trails behind the national guard base in colchester- Take route 2 through winooski to hercules drive on your right, and turn onto hercules. (This is only about 1.5 mi from the winooski bridge). At the first corner on herc. there is a gate, and behind the gate a couple dirt paths.

The paths to the right and straight ahead go more towards the guard base and you can see some tanks, barracks and other army stuff there.

The path to the left breaks off into other dirt tracks, and every one of those paths goes into the forest and turns into two or three more! There is some awesome singletrack and nice rugged hilly trails back there and you can go and go and go. I got totally lost back there on saturday...

bmike

I'll be finally moved in this coming weekend. Got the truck scheduled and will be loading up in Putney Saturday or Sunday. Me and the fiancee are anxious to get everything (not that we have alot of stuff) in one place.

Last night went out for a bit of recovery (after attempting, and nearly completing Lincoln Gap on Sunday) and rode along the lakefront. I don't normally like riding on the MUP, but I think its great for just getting out and poking around. Rode back and forth to town and out over the iron bridge (Winooski) 2 times. Stopped and watched a kite surfer getting dragged along Lake Champlain. Too fun to pedal along, people watch, and check out the sun going down over the mountains.


Stopped in at Earl's and Old Spokes home. Both nice shops, but I admit I'm spoiled from living so close to West Hill in Putney. (its also tough to beat befriending the owners and mech's!)

Anyone do the group rides out of Earl's?
Anyone do the GMBC group rides? I've been thinking their weekend "tours" would be nice.



Are there any other shops aside from North Star, Ski Rack, Earl's, Old Spokes Home?

bmike

Did that 4 times last night... good fun. Last night I experimented with spinning high RPM's or mashing. Wonder what my face looks like when I hit that last little pitch and I blow up!

maximusvt

mike, have you followed the lakeside path all the way to the colchester causeway? There's a ferry that will takes you over to south hero, and you can get to all the islands from there... That's a really cool ride. The ferry only runs on weekends in august though... and it's a $5 donation to Local Motion

bmike

Done that before the ferry was running as I thought it went through. Actually flatted out there about a month ago - it was in really bad shape for my skinny tires. I heard they were re-grading. My fiancee ran all the way out there last weekend. Said there were lots of bikes and the ferry was running.

I road over to South Hero via Rt. 2 a few weeks ago. Good fun, but a bit windy.


Any chance the causeway will get paved? Will there will be a bridge over the "cut" like at the Winooski? That would be great - no worries then about the limited ferry service, and no riding on 2! Very close access from my place to get to the islands!

maximusvt

I doubt they'll pave it, they don't even have enough loot to run the ferry full time, and probably no bridge because the sailboats still have to pass through.
I have heard that some people will bribe a fisherman to take them across, though, and there's usually plenty out there.

vtjim

Nah, they'll never pave it. I'd love for there to be some sort of permanent crossing but at this point it's all wishful thinking I guess. I've been asked by cyclists to pick them up and ferry them across, but I really don't want to get close enough to those marble blocks, or get greasy bike drivetrains near my boat. One guy offered me $20!

The bridge over the Winooski used to be the site of another ferry. Boy was I happy when they announced the bridge would get built. That's how I commute now, between Colchester and downtown Burlington. I live about 1.5 miles from the bridge.

BMike, you weren't out around 4:20 yesterday were you? I saw a pretty fast roadie going through waterfront park and then he turned off and went exploring on the paths near the dog park. I thought it was weird that someone on a bike like that would go onto dirt singletracks. I decided he was too scared to try to stay in front of me. (Sometimes I'm a legend in my own mind.)

bandregg

Man, you guys are killing me. The wife and I will be moving in Sept. 24th and I'm already looking forward to the hill repeat (I think I'll spin it) on Depot, riding out to South Hero, and the trails around the Nat. Guard. Thanks for the directions through to Essex as well. I have a couple of months before NECI starts for me to try it all out and see what works best. Six more weeks!

bmike

Wasn't me... but I'll try that when I get my new IF Club Racer built - I plan on putting 28's or 32's on it so I can ride some dirt and gravel roads.

I was out about 5:30 til 7:30.

(and I'm not that fast!)

You'd see me out on the LeMond, and I'd probably be wearing a blue jersey.
If I'm on the redline I'd be in street clothes. Mustache bars, leather bar tape and Brooks leather saddle.

bandregg

bmike, man you're kind of freakin' me out.

I ride an IF Club Racer with 28's, though I have some 32 'cross tires I'm dying to try out. And my around town bike is an older IF crown jewel with mustache bars, leather bar tape, and a Brooks leather saddle.

We've got to get together and ride when I get up there.

vtjim

Hey, this probably isn't the most appropriate place to post this, but I figured the handful of Burlington-area people would read it...

Local Motion is doing a bicycle ride to the drive-in movies in Colchester. I'll be there with my wife, since it's about three quarters of a mile from our house. Details are here: https://www.localmotion.org/advocacy/...#biketodrivein

The movie schedule is here: https://www.sunsetdrivein.com/