New Orleans to Vermont (Seeking Advice)

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01-21-19 | 12:06 AM

P.a.lank

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New Orleans to Vermont (Seeking Advice)

Hey y'all. I am juggling around the idea of biking from New Orleans (where I currently live) to Burlington,VT (my home town) in August. I've never done a bike tour before but I am an avid city biker and have done a fair ammount of travel nationally and internationally. I guess I'm mainly wondering if anyone has done a similar trip and has any advice. Which route did you take? How long did it take? I'm thinking I'm going to shoot for about a month (one way) and I would love to stop through Birmingham Alabama (to visit the HP40 bouldering site.) I also have a lot of friends along the east coast but biking up that way seems kind of miserable because of the density of cities (especially once you hit the tri-state area.) Anyway, any sort advice is appreciated. Thanks y'all.

01-21-19 | 05:37 AM

indyfabz

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Last year in under two weeks:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27849657?beta=false

Spent an extra day in Burlington to have dinner with a friend and two nights at my high school reunion in Deerfield, MA.

BWT...There is a Touring subforum. Might want to ask the mods to move this thread there.

01-21-19 | 09:12 AM

pdlamb

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From: northern Deep South

Bikes: Fuji Touring, Novara Randonee

Generally speaking, you could follow U.S. 11 most of the way; I-59/75/81 will take most of the traffic, leaving (mostly) tolerable roads. Google says that's 1,600 miles, so if you can average 50 miles/day, plan on 5-6 weeks (plus time to stop and smell the roses/see the sights). That assumes you can figure out how to get past Lake Ponchartrain.

Since this is your first tour, you'd be well advised to spend some time reading https://www.adventurecycling.org/res...to-department/ and the links therein.

Planning a route can be a lot of fun.

01-21-19 | 10:31 AM

Steve B.

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From: South shore, L.I., NY

Bikes: Trek Emonda SL7, Cannondale Topstone, Miyata City Liner, Specialized Chisel, Specialized Epic Evo

Also maybe re-post in the regional forums to get the locals to chime in, as well as the touring forum. Better chance of getting a response from someone who has done some or part of this route.

Note that you are asking for advice on a reasonably specific route and that narrows down the numbers of people who have done that exact tour, which is likely to be none responding. Maybe do some research, even a Google bike route, to get a general idea on where you think you want to go. As I ran a Google Maps, it put me on the Natchez Trace, which is a good option.

01-21-19 | 12:04 PM

JanMM

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From: Metro Indy, IN

Bikes: Bacchetta Giro A20, RANS V-Rex, RANS Screamer

My wife and I rode from Atlanta to Cornish, New Hampshire long ago (1981). A big chunk of our route included most of the Blue Ridge Parkway and Skyline Drive, which we enjoyed very much. We must have gone near Burlington, because we took a ferry across Lake Champlain on the continuation of our trip to Milwaukee by way of Ontario and Michigan. After leaving Skyline Drive, we used routes suggested by the East Coast Bicycle Trail to get to New England - don't know if that has any connection to the East Coast Greenway.

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