sirkoondog

So the wife and I are avid road bikers that are itching to get the season started. but the NYC weather had not cooperated at all. Its really depressing at times. So we have 4 days off from april 16-19 and decided it would be good to find a nice place to spend 3 days riding. Figure we pack the car with the 2 bikes and drive somewhere. The obvious options that come to mind are hudson valley and vermont. Does anyone else have any other specific towns they would recommend as a home base?

We are looking to keep the driving to under 5 hours.

leob1

It's still kinda early(cold) but the Finger lakes is a nice area to ride. My wife and I spent a week at Keuka Lake a few summers ago. Nice roads, nice drivers, and a winery on every corner. Just one thing to remember; if you ride parallel to the lakes it will be flatter than if you ride perpendicular to the lakes.
Cape May NJ is also a nice place to visit. There are nice roads to ride on the Cape, or take the Ferry to Delaware.

1nterceptor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9Aq...&nohtml5=False

Was looking for a small quiet town. Hotel had a deal on room, breakfast, park & cave entrance(US$100?).
Can't remember if it took us 5 or 6 hours driving. It's a nice small town with rolling hills, 2 lanes, very little traffic.

Steve B.

Ditto the Shenandoh Valley area.

Anyplace south will be warmer then here. Hudson Valley not so bad maybe, too early for Vermont though.

Another option is New Paltz. If you own mt. bikes, ride the carriage trails at Lake Minnewaska State Park, then maybe day 2 at Mohonk. Then maybe day 3 on road bikes on the Walkill rail-trail systems, maybe over the Hudson bridge to the Duchess trail to Wappingers and back.

____

+1 for the Virginia, Shenandoah, Blue Ridge Parkway area. Another small and picturesque town to consider as a base would be Monterey VA.

FBinNY 

Given that it's still early, and the weather is what you're looking to dodge, I don't see how going inland or north can do you any good. The areas mentioned are all great cycling, but they'll tend to be colder than the NYC burbs. If you do opt to go north or inland, plan on temps 10° colder than NYC.

You might look to the south, staying near the coast. Depending on what you're looking for and how far you're willing to drive, consider the Delmarva peninsula, or go south of DC to Virginia, between Richmond and the coast. There's also nice cycling in Maryland and Virginia west of DC, but watch the altitude, since that drops temps.

kaos joe

Eastern Shore of Maryland and the adjacent portion of Delaware. Very rural (if that's what you like) and flat to very gently rolling (if that's what you like). It might not be far enough south to be really warm but likely will be warmer than here. All depends on the short term forecast. I've spent several Memorial Day weekends down there and experienced temps from 40's to upper 80's.

sirkoondog

Yeah, i meant for reco's for somewhere south. We only been north of NYC during the summer and its still too early for us to head north. I'll look into spots mentioned above. thanks!

berner

If you do head north, either at some future date when weather warms or your given dates if we have a warm spell I would scout the area around New Paltz, about 80 miles north of NYC and along the Thruway. I grew up in that area when it was largely agricultural. There are not that many farms left but there are many lightly traveled county roads. I get back to my hometown, where I have family, at least once a year. I planning to take the bike next time and looking at the roads from Stone Ridge, where noglider, who posts here, has a summer place, to further south along the foot of the Shawangunk Mountain. One fine ride would be over the mountain on Rt. 199, beautiful scenery, and loop around toward Stone Ridge and back to New Paltz, about 60 miles I'm guessing. If you send noglider a PM he might have a cold beer for you as you ride by his place. I may join that outing if timing is right. From New Paltz, another ride could be to the Hudson River bike crossing. Awesome views on the Hudson from the bridge and a nice park on the Poughkeepsie waterside for a lunch spot. I'm a big fan of the Hudson Valley for the same reason the hudson river school of painters were fans, It's beautiful.

indyfabz

The 10-day forecast for S. Jersey is showing highs in the mid to upper 50s with sun, but AM showers on Monday. But it's dead pan flat. Don't know if you are looking for hills.

Wow! I just looked at the 10-day for Delaware Water Gap, PA. Sunny and in the 60s. Guess that's because you don't have the ocean to cool things down. The riding up there is spectacular this time of year--before things get crowded. I-80 will take you right there. here is a Days Inn at the junction of U.S. 209 and PA 447. For more quaint (and expensive) lodging, there is the Deer Head in, which is right in town. They have live jazz some weekends. You can ride directly from both places. I think I still have some cue sheets from the Black Bear Century which starts in town. I also know some of the roads up there by heart as I have toured down from Port Jervis, NY to Philly several times.

Old Mine Rd. in the DWG Recreation Area last Columbus Day weekend:







Another nice ride from there is down the river on the PA side and then crossing over into Belvedere, NJ. Cute little town with many restored Victorian houses. The view from the pedestrian bridge between Portland, PA and Columbia, NJ as the fog is lifting:

Jim from Boston

Before I give my suggestion, I’m a year-round commuter in Boston, and Spring begins for me in 40s ⁰F. Nonetheless, April in Boston can be variable. and on occasion in mid-April can get very warm if you are flexible enough to travel as determined by the weather report.

That particular weekend includes Monday, April 18, Patriot's Day, celebrating the Battles of Lexington and Concord which is a state-wide holiday. and is the day of the Boston Marathon. It's very festive, but could limit hotel reservations, especially downtown. Usually there is an organized midnight or early morning ride along the Marathon route.

Back in January I responded to a similar thread by a New York cyclist with specific vacation requirements, ”Northeast cycling vacation tips? Minimal-to-no traffic, paved or rail trail, 3-4 days”

Jim from Boston

So, @sirkoondog, FYA if you get to read this post, the current five-day forecast for Boston is (High/Low ⁰F):

• Friday: 56/35, sunny
• Saturday: 54/35, partly sunny
• Sunday 62/39, sunny
• Monday 74/43, partly sunny

In any case, often those who request advice about travel destinations and receive persuasive replies never tell the thread about their choice and experience. I hope you’ll let us know about this weekend.

sirkoondog

Hi all,

thought i follow up with our trip results. We ended up booking an airbnb up at poughkeepsie and rode for a solid three days. did the ashokan reservoir loop starting from new paltz, did the 60+ mile of the discover hudson ride. and the loop up to rhinebeck on the east ride of the river and back down on the west side. We had a blast. But since these were new rides for us, we had to stop alot to check out the maps on my phone. I used cyclemeter elite, but it doesn't have turn by turn so it was a times annoying to keep looking at the map. the ridewithgps app wanted 5 bucks for 7 days. not paying for that each time i want to ride a new location.

Loved being up in the "boonies" lol. We are thinking of signing up for century up at discover hudson if the weather is good. Wife wants to do the blue ridge hway, but thats for another time.

Its too bad the weather for memorial w/e isn't looking that good. was planning on heading up to montreal with the bikes this w/e. was gonna try our first gran fondo at mt tremblant.

Papa Tom

sirkoondog:

Glad you had a good trip. My wife will be attending a retreat up in Rhinebeck this summer and I was thinking of building a solo ride around it. The thing is, I'm not a real road biker. I do take a few overnight rides each year, but I ride a converted 90's mountain bike and I'm not as excited about hills as I was ten years ago.

What was the general terrain of the rides you took?

Steve B.

Roughly a mile east of Rt 9G and you are into major N/S ridges and hills. Just a thought the terrain near the river is somewhat flatter.

If you have use of the car while your wife is retreating, the Harlem River Rail Trail is 1/2 HR east in Millerton. Walkill Rail Trail Runs south from Kingston across the river. Or just meander country roads around Rhinebeck, which is a really nice town.

Papa Tom

Yeah, but you know me by now. I need a "destination" at the end of a good ride. That's why I keep repeating trips to Mystic, Narragansett, Greenport, etc. year after year. Once I got the lowdown on the hill situation, my plan was to see if there was a place to point my front wheel, perhaps a place with some kind of summer festival and a hotel to stay at.

Also, I rode the Harlem Valley on its "Grand Opening Day" many years ago, and I just did the Wallkill last Fall. They are both very nice, but day trips, at the most.

Anyway, this is sirkoondog's thread, so I don't want to take up too much space.

FBinNY 

You might cross the river at Rhinebeck and head to Woodstock, Phoenicia and the surrounding area. Or depending on where you start and your range, ride north from Rhinebeck, headed towards Chatham or close to there. I've toured the area pretty extensively between Westchester county and Ticonderoga, NY and there's plenty of great, not overly hilly riding to b done as long as you're going mainly north and south. IMO, even if moving east, the ridges aren't bad unto you get close to the NY Mass line, where there's a sizable ridge with Mt. Graylock anchoring the northern end.

BTW - if you like climbing and the weather is right, Mt. Graylock is worth the effort. You can start up under an overcast, ride through rain, fog, clouds, and come out above the clouds under a clear blue sky and look at the weather from the other side. Make sure to get a weather forecast because you want a low cloud ceiling to get the best show.

sirkoondog

The ride up to Rhinebeck was along the river so it wasn't that hilly of a ride at all, that said its not really flat at all, lots of rolling hills. It was our first time staying in the area, so I don't have much to say about any destinations for end of ride hangouts. We did eat at some really great restaurants in the area. found them on yelp/ta/google

These are the rides I used for the 3 days

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12494775
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/13774401
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12481599

FBinNY 

here's a link to topographical map of the area. You can enlarge or move it along as needed. It'll give you a good sense of what the area will be like, and which roads best snake through narrow breaks if you want to ride east/west across the grain.

You'll not thay there are two main valleys, the Hudson (obviously) and the "Central Valley" just wast of the Mass border. If you want to avoid hills either one of those slots which will get you to route 22, ride that north, then find an escape back west, and work your way south on that wide sloping plain. Or don't go east to the Central Valley, and you have a large expanse of flattish or gently rolling terrain bounded by the ridge to your east, an the river to your west.

Years ago we used to ride this area navigating by our shadow knowing the east and west boundries. We'd ride the area as a small group of 2-5 riders without maps or guides following the rule that whoever was in front an an intersection was in charge and could take us in any direction. After a while, we'd check our watches, figure out sort of where we were, and be more organized about getting back to the start.

Obviously, I'm biased because it's sort of my back yard, but this is one of my favorite day and weekend riding areas anywhere.


either up from NYC for a double century weekend, or using the train to do the entire ride in the area.