Need advice for Vermont loop tour
 

Hello, I'm planning a semi short tour all around Vermont later in the month. Need some advice though. I'm not too familiar with the state, all I know so far is I want to see some great places that aren't too touristy. Looking to find the best back roads, rail trails, bridges, country stores etc. in the state. Anyone have suggestions for sight seeing around the area? Looking to make it a 5-7 day tour and i'll probably be riding about 40-50 miles a day. Any help is appreciated :)

Later this month starts Foliage season when hords of folks from Mass. invade Vermont :-)

are you after the foliage change, then late Sept you need to head to the Northeast Kingdom. Lots of back roads there, little traffic, lots of moose, nice small towns. Are you camping or hoteling? Lodging fills fast at this time of year.

other ideas, stay off route 100, all the touist use it and drive crazy looking at trees. Ride the forest service roads, nice dirt, and little used. Great way to get around. Find any road with " Hill" or "Mountain" in it. Its sure to be a good ride.

riding for 7 days @50 miles is not going to get you around all of Vermont. i'd say pick an area (north or south) and do a little googling.

I did a ride from my home in Western Mass up through the southwestern corner of VT along the NY/VT state line up to Burlington and the Hero Islands. It was a very pleasant ride. There is a rail trail in the Poultney vicinity that was worth exploring, ending up in Castleton. Burlington is a very cool place to visit with a good bike trail that leads to the Heros but the causeway was closed when I got there due to recent flooding. If it has reopened and its little ferry is still running when you go I'd recommend it as a destination. The route also went through Middlebury, home of Middlebury College, which is another bike friendly town.

+1 on avoiding Rt. 100, the shoulders are pretty narrow in many places.

On the eastern side I've also ridden Rt. 5 along the Connecticut River from Mass to Canada. That is a better road for cycling than 100 and has many interesting places to visit such as: Brattleboro, Putney, Windsor (birthplace of VT), St. Johnsbury and Lyndonville. If you don't mind crossing the river on occasion into New Hampshire, Hanover, home of Dartmouth College, is another good bike-friendly town to visit.

On one of the above rides I returned from Canada via Rt. 108 and rode through Smuggler's Notch from north to south. Can't say how crazy that would be with foliage season traffic but it was a spectacular ride with a loooooong climb and a crazy fast descent down into Stowe which is the ski capital of VT.

The causway is rebuilt and open. The ferry across the causway cut is running, I believe daily thru Columbus Day. Check localmotion.org for more information on the local routes around Burlington.

also check champlainbikeways.org for more routes around Lake Champlain

also for routes in the Northeast Kingdon
http://www.nvda.net/files/cyclingthekingdom070413.pdf

And be prepared for some cold temperatures.

"They've" been calling for Sept. into Oct. to be unseasonably cold this year, we're probably about 2-3 weeks ahead of the cold temperatures we usually see and that's just the NYC area. Temp's for Rutland this week are high's around 60, low's in the high 30's and low 40's.

Consider the "Kingdom Games" fall foliage tour starting on sept 24 - a great tour of Vermont's northeast kingdom.

in fall we call that chilly, come spring those temps call for shorts & T-shirts :-)

Go to the Adirondacks instead. The roads are wider, better marked, people are friendlier, and campgrounds abound. Plenty indoor places to stay as well. I found Vermont to be a touring nightmare regardless of the self-promoting propaganda the state pays for. Yes, Upstate NY has Fall colors too.

I went on a supported tour long ago to Shoreham, Vermont. The mountain hills were great, fabulous foliage, there were cows at the fences when we rode by, (and some were friendly enough to let you touch them) cool for us city slickers! We went to Fort Ticonderoga, there was a cable drawn ferry to cross the river, great apple pie with Vermont Chedder Cheese melted on it. If you haven't tried it, you must. And you'll wonder how you were ever able to eat apple pie without it! Hmmm, might have to see if I can pull out the pictures to see what more I can remember. We stayed at the Shoreham Inn, B&B.

Here are some of my Strava links from the Vermont area that may inspire you:

Bike Ride Profile | Epic Extra near Vergennes | Times and Records | Strava
Bike Ride Profile | 22 miles near Vergennes | Times and Records | Strava
Bike Ride Profile | 22 miles near Vergennes | Times and Records | Strava

These were done as part of a tour we took in the area, although we stayed at the same place the entire time, so all the rides started from there (the Basin Harbor Club in Vergennes).

Here is one option:

Green Mountains Loop | Adventure Cycling Route Network | Adventure Cycling Association

I did much of it on their supported trip when they had it.

Re: The Adirondacks, many campgrounds start shutting down after Labor Day, and snow isn't out of the question in October.

I just finished the green mountains loop a week ago the maps from Adventure cycling maps are the way to go in my opinion. They are right the campgrounds are already starting to shut down when I was there a week ago so call ahead.

You might like to work your schedule to include this event down in Addison county if you are a foodie-

Tour de Farms offers beautiful bicycling, fantastic food | Shelburne News

Re route 100, it makes sense about the warnings for fall time, but if you ever ride in the summer, I rode down it last summer and in July anyway it was fine traffic wise and I found the local drivers exceedingly courteous on the whole.
Re temps up here around Montreal it really has been chillier than usual, so especially for riding in rain be prepared.