I guess some folk have never experienced places in their life that will always be reflected upon as being extraordinary in any context......and even going so far as to describe them to others in non ambiguous terms like 'favorite' and 'best'

And you would perhaps give them the third degree?

"how many times have you visited that place?
Did you have the same experience each time?
How many other places have you visited? Or is that it"

I'd consider that bad manners at the very least

lenA ... methinks you got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

Take a nice deep breath, and go for a ride on your bicycle in your favourite place.

I get it now

forum know-it-all

over and out

I would hesitate to call any tour the best because the experience can vary so much depending on the weather, time, distance, scenery, etc.

The bike tour that I have enjoyed the most is the New River Trail in SW Virginia. It is extremely scenic, lightly traveled with no car traffic, mostly flat and has nice campgrounds. However, the trail is only about 60 miles long, so it's a 1-2 day tour at best. The C&O Canal - GAP trail offers a similar experience and could be ridden in 3-7 days, depending on how far you want to ride each day. Both of these trails are more suitable for cross bikes, mountain bikes or touring bikes with fatter tires. They are ideal during favorable weather conditions but could be miserable during cold, extremely hot or rainy weather, and storms could block passage if winds are strong enough to topple trees and limbs -- which happens on occasion.

Another tour that I enjoyed tremendously was riding in the "driftless zone" of SW Wisconsin. We were based out of Sparta, WI, for the entire week, with loop rides starting and ending in town each day. I really enjoyed that tour because the scenery was quite different each day, depending on the direction we went. We also rode one day on the Sparta-Elroy trail, which is supposedly the original "rails to trails" project.

No, I don't think you get it. Not any of it.

But the OP didn't ask for favorites. It's not our place to substitute our words for his based on an assumption as to what he meant to write. (Notice that he made the effort to emphasize "best" in the title of the thread.) There are reasons our lanuage has a lot of words. Communicating accuratrely is one of those reasons.

I find it intersting that the OP has not made the suggested substitution himself. It makes me wonder whether his real intent was to get people bickering.

I'm guessing the OP underestimated how deep some people could push their sticks into the mud...

I didn't read the previous couple pages of threads, but to answer the OP, two of my favorites are Colorado's Hwy 550 (if you're up to the risk of getting rear-ended due to blind curves) and the Talimena Scenic Drive in Oklahoma. Maybe a 3rd that's awesome on two wheels is the road to the McDonald Observatory in Texas' Big Bend region. The ride down is amazing...

I really started this thread to hear some people's stories about some of the places they had been.

My best/favorite route is to the doughnut shop and back.

If you mention your favorite route, you get a lot more credit that saying it depends on your frame of mind or everyone's best is different.

Thanks for all the touring stories and feel free to share more.

-j

No one is doing this for credit, but a suggestion ... edit your original post and add what you've said here into your original post.


There's a difference between proclaiming THE BEST route in a country, and chatting about your favourite route.

If you have no opinion, then please ignore this thread.

Thanks.

It's a free forum, and I can express my opinion if I want ... and I have. In two separate posts I've offered suggestions to you of places you might enjoy ... and then I've informed you that there is no best ... and there isn't.


Now all I'm suggesting is that if you want people to talk about their favourite routes, say so in your original post. Posts are easy to edit and if you clarify that what you're after are people's favourite routes in your original post, you'll have a better chance of getting the type of response you're demanding.

Believe it or not, I am trying to offer you a helpful suggestion.

Really? If that's the best you can do, best you lose the attitude.

Go to crazyguyonabike to gauge what people's favourite routes are in the US.

What you don't seem to understand is that we have absolutely no idea of what might appeal to you. So if you pick one that a poster eulogises and go ride it, the chances are you might find it awful. And what you choose might well be something I wouldn't want to do. It all relates to timing, circumstance and personal interests/outlook.

Or are you prospecting for information for some other reason?

geez... Never mind.

Reread my original post. I'm not looking for suggestions. Just what you feel in the best route out there.

Just forget it.

Jbone78-
Apparently you've underestimated how existential some of the posters are here in the touring forum. It's a shame that such a potentially fun topic has devolved into a discussion of semantics and whether you meant an objective universal "best" or subjective best (read: favorite). The guy just wanted to hear some stories, cut him some slack folks!

As for me, I haven't had the chance to go on a tour yet, but I'm hoping to do a few local overnighters within the next few months. I eventually want to work up to doing the GDMBR. I grew up in Idaho, and have seen pictures of several routes in the state, so those are on my bucket list as well.

Cheers!

The BEST route is the one I just took thru the Chattahoochee National Forest

Edit: It was also the BEST time of the year to go. The summer heat is gone. But the crowds of fall-leaf viewers are not in the mountains yet.

Walter - Looks like it was a beautiful tour! Excellent documentation as well. Thanks for sharing.

You do realise he posted this well over a year ago and hasn't posted again since??

Well, apparently I didn't realize that. It came up near the top of a search I did. Zombie thread! Braaains...

Sorry folks!

I too like the route out and back from my front Door, and somewhat better after I Own the House.

its my 'Age in Place' Locale. river view 6 blocks from down (small) town .

Interesting that you posted that, because you repeatedly revive dead threads that you started yourself. You just did that today with your "Travelling Through the US" thread (a thread which wasn't really even about bike touring). The last post in that thread prior to today was one of your own from nearly a year ago. You have repeatedly revived your own "2014 - Short Tours" and your "2014 - Touring Plans" thread. Why do you like to keep reviving your own threads, especially the dead "Travelling Through the US" thread?

I am with you, Commuter76, I am working toward the GDMBR in '15. And 'Existential' rocks! I haven't done any touring unless you count hiking part of the AT, so I am reading about all these routes to bike and I just wanna go! Natchez Trace, Red Rocks Canyon, Acadian Coast, Pacific Coast, Mississippi River Bike Trail! Let's get to pedaling! Thanks for the threads, Machka.

And one more thing, Jbone78 posted the existential comment on 9-26-14 a little after 2pm, according to my computer, not well over a year ago. But that's small potatoes.

Unfortunately what you experienced here is what goes on every single thread about anything on this Bike Forum. Attitude. This is also the worst of the bike forums on the internet for that problem, find another forum and try reposting it. Also Adventure Cycling has it's own forum with great people and a lot less attitude, I highly recommend you go there and repost your question.

See: Adventure Cycling Association Forum - Index

My favorite ride especially this time of year........................
Where We Ride: Ashtabula County Covered Bridge Loop - Century Cycles - Cleveland & Akron OH

Jbone78 is not here anymore. He hasn't been here for over a year.

But who knows ... maybe he lurks.