Bikepedition 2010 'The Long Road to Americade'Having never been on an extended day road trip, my buddy and I set out to change that this year by taking the 'Long Road to Americade' in Lake George, NY. The following is a day by day run through with a commentary on the roads...Day 1; (approx. 300mi)Starting in Manchester, NH, we headed out on 101 West to route 202 South and West through NH, MA and CT and finally onto route 6 West into NY. 202 is was a nice road, well paved with decent speeds, not too much traffic and plenty to catch your eye. The first segment of route 6 right off of 202 was a bit slow with heaving stop and go at intersections and weaving on and off of Interstate 84. It was tempting just to stay on I84 to bypass the city traffic, but it was good that we didn't. There's a fantastic winding road near Peekskill that winds up Bear Mtn and finishes with a scenic bridge ride over the Hudson. We spent night 1 at a Super 8 in Middletown, NY.Day 2; (approx. 345mi)The second day started our trek along route 6 West across the long state of PA. For the most part, this is an excellent and very enjoyable road. Speed limits of 55 along thru-ways, with slower speeds of 35 through the rural towns. There was a good mix of straight-aways and cornering banks through the mountains. It's a very scenic way to cross the state in pretty good time. Certainly more enjoyable than the interstate. The main attraction of day 2 was the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania near Wellsboro, PA. Also known as the Little Grand Canyon, this was a short detour on route 660 right off of 6 that I felt was worth our time. We spent night 2 camping at Whispering Winds Campground in Sheffield, PA.Day 3; (approx. 345mi)On day 3 we came to the end of our 6 West journey by getting on route 8 North to 89 North heading up to route 5 East on the 'Seaway Trail'. The remainder of route 6 was just as nice as the rest. Route 8 and 89 were fine. Well paved and enjoyable. Route 5 along Lake Erie was a good road. Lots of great views of the Lake and the miles and miles of vineyards! The only thing 5 lacked was turns. It was a very straight and flat road. We followed the Seaway trail for the most part, and when it lead off of 5, we followed. If we had it to do again, we would have just stayed on 5... it meets back up with the trail further North and what we saw off 5 wasn't worth the extra time it took or the construction tar on our pipes. Thank goodness for GOO GONE! So anyways, route 5 took us into Buffalo where we jumped on 190 to 90 to 290 to route 62 (Niagra Falls Blvd) to go around the city and avoid what we thought would be heavy traffic in Buffalo and tolls on bridges. In hind sight, we should have payed the tolls. There was no traffic on 190, but there was plenty on 62. From here we stopped and had a peek at the Falls and then jumped on the Robert Moses Pkwy to head out of the city. From the parkway, we took 18 East along the coast of Lake Ontario. This was comparable to 5 along Lake Erie... fast, straight, flat and scenic. A nice road.We must have missed the turn off for the Lake Ontario State Pkwy, because we stayed on 18 right into Rochester, NY. Avoid making this same mistake to stay along the coast and avoid a number of podunk towns and turns. We picked up route 104 East in Rochester and spent night 3 at Cherry Grove Campground in Wolcott, NY.Day 4; (approx. 300mi)On day 4, we headed out East on 104 and jumped to 3 E, to 49 E, to 365 E. 104 was a bit more of a thru-way road, but still plenty nice. Each route after that gained more nice curves and got better and better. 365 E took us to 8 North. This was a nice route, but the road was a bit rough. Still enjoyable. 8 took us to 28 South and finally to 9 South into Lake George for Americade. If you've never been to Americade, take an extra day and spend a night here... it's a neat place to sit and people watch, and the vendors at the Expo are some of the best that attend rallys and are geared towards the touring fanatics! We'd been there before, so we popped in for lunch, a quick spin through the TourExpo and then we were back on the road. We took 9N North to 185 which crosses the lower end of Champlain and picks up 17 E in Vermont on the other side. The bridge was out, but they had a free fairy in place that was quick and painless. Route 9N along Lake George is a great road, whether you're headed out or just on for a nice ride.Once in Vermont, we picked up route 7 N which picks up route 2 E and leads into Burlington, VT where we grabbed a hotel for night 4. 7 North was a great ride... just be forewarned that it has the consistent smell of manure!Day 5; (approx. 210mi)On day 5 we took 2 East through the Lake Champlain Islands North towards Canada. This was a nice enough ride, but whereas the islands were so large, often times it just felt like you were just in the Vermont countryside. Still worth the excursion however. From 2, we picked up 78 East (great road) and connected with 105 East through the majority of Vermont. 105, while being a great route and heading over some nice mountains, was in great disrepair for the most part. Very bumping and poorly paved. We came across a 3 mile section where they were re-grading and paving however, so it might be nicer in the future. From 105, we landed back in our home state of NH and took 3 North to 145 North into Pittsburg where we stayed at a friends cabin for the night. 145 North is a must if you're in this area of Colebrook/Pittsburg, NH. Great turns and some dips and drop offs that get the butterflies flapping and the lips grinning!Day 6; (approx. 200mi)Day 6 was the home stretch, we took 145 South to 3 South (for about 100 feet) to 26 East (great road) to 16 South (great route through the White Mountains and passed Mt. Washington) to 28 South through the Lakes Region and back into Manchester.All together this was a great trip. We made no reservations and left enough flexibility to stop at various points along the way since it was unclear just how far we'd get each day not knowing the condition of the routes, traffic or weather. We had intended to camp all but the last night, but weather played a role in that outcome. If you have any questions about the gear we used to camp off our bikes, please feel free to ask.If you were willing to spend more time on this trip, I think you could add an extra couple days to limit the riding time of each day. There was plenty more to see along these routes, but time had us on the throttle! For an idea of times... we were on the road for an average of 10 hours everyday with quick map or gas stops at hour to hour and a half intervals.
This is a motorcycle ride in the states New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont. This motorcycle route has 10 scenery characteristics and other road conditions to help you plan your road trip. This motorcycle map was created by Frankwood in June. Click here to see other Motorcycle Roads by Frankwood