New York State cycling Maps

[sprocketman]

Hey all!

I have travelled with ACA maps in the past  (pretty good). I will be touring through western NY this summer. There are no ACA maps where I want to go. New York State DOT puts out bicycle maps that help me. Has anyone used them? Are they accurate? Problems? Do tell.

Sprocketman

[litespeed]

Western New York state? Brace yourself for lots of short, steep climbing and descending. The Finger Lakes region has good roads but they were laid down with no hill cutting at all. You will be doing a lot of shifting. I remember climbs that looked like a wall in front of me. Nothing that I couldn't climb though.

You can avoid this by cycling along the Erie Canal ("Cycling the Erie Canal", Parks & Trails New York). This is on my bucket list.

[Patco]

I recently received the maps for New York bike routes 5, 17, and 9 as I plan a cross country ride this summer. The maps appear to be worth obtaining - elevation along the route; information on lodging, bike shops, camping, etc. 

[jimbo]

Sprocketman; 

I live in and pedal Western NY....great rural roads...many with shoulders...scenery...yes  there are hills...great campgrounds..

Where are you trying to get to/go?

[mdxix]

Check out some of the tours on

http://cyclingnewengland.blogspot.com/

Here is a map of rides in NY:
http://cyclingnewengland.blogspot.com/2012/01/interactive-cycling-map-of-new-york.html

Here is a map of NY State Scenic Byways
http://cyclingnewengland.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-york-state-scenic-byways.html

[cdavey]

I've ridden Route 17 east to west from Corning to its end at Barcelona. The biggest hill going that way is Morton Summit west of Wellsville, about 3/4 mile of 6% (more or less) grade. There is a long upgrade from Salamanca to Little Valley of about 2%. If you're going west to east on that stretch then by far your worst climb will be out of the Lake Erie valley at Westfield. I'd guess 10%.

Biggest drawback is that the road is busy. You have full 8' pulloff lane for a bike route for most of it, but I found after three days of riding that the endless traffic noise really started to bother me. There is only one not-for-the-faint-of-heart stretch of about 2-3 miles in Celeron west of Jamestown -- 2 lanes each way, a concrete curb and nowhere to go with cars passing about 2' away.

For fun, try to get Chatauqua on Sunday when they are in season and you can get in free. Also consider detouring through Hornell to ride the Canisteo river valley. That's a sweet ride.

All in all, it's a well planned route.

[jimbeard]

I use the NYS bike maps & like them ,the roads are somewhat busy but usually have a great shoulder.
The Erie canal trail runs mostly parallel to NYS bike 5.
Over on Crazy Guy Dale Oswald just posted links to Erie canal trail interactive map.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=9422&v=58

Here is link to free NYS Bicycling Maps
https://www.dot.ny.gov/display/programs/bicycle/maps?tab=prints

[Iceman]

Bike route 9 from Poughkeepsie south, not so good. Lots of traffic and barely a clean shoulder in many areas.

[Absurdity]

For biking east to west, how does bike route 17 compare with bike route 5 and with the ACA northern tier through new york? I live in the hudson valley and I can take a train up as far up as poughkeepsie if need be. I'm not sure whether I should just go for the closest (route 17) or take route 9 north to either route 5 or the northern tier. Anyone have some thoughts? I don't mind traffic as long as there are big shoulders and I don't mind shoulderless lanes provided the traffic is very light.

[DaveB]

I've ridden Route 17 east to west from Corning to its end at Barcelona.

Does Rt 17 still exist?  Last time we drove what used to be Rt 17 from Lake Chatauqua to Horse's Head it had been renumbered as I-86 and I'm not sure it was legal for bicycle travel.

[Absurdity]

I-86 roughly parallels route 17, so that is something different

[jimbeard]

NYS Bike 17 map

https://www.dot.ny.gov/portal/pls/portal/MEXIS_APP.DYN_BIKE_TRAIL_DETAIL_MAIN.show?p_arg_names=p_trail_id&p_arg_values=148

[RobbieRoss]

This link is great, lots of info, but I can't -for the life of me-find any maps!  Am I crazy? The link to the map page gives a google style scalable map, but there is no route marked on it. 


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[jcostanz]

Nope you are not crazy, they were not working friday on a laptop.  Route 18 from Lakeside beach state park is a nice route along with rt 31, I took it from as far as albion NY, both were nice with wide sholders.  Please note in Lewiston/Niagara Falls, Military Rd between RT 31 and upper mountain rd is closed and the bicycle friendly ramp to the Lewiston Queenston bridge Canada bound is also closed.