Looking For Route Recommendations

[e46rick]

I looking for recommendations for safer and/or lower traffic routes for touring. 

I live in southern California and I'm no stranger to dealing with cars on the road - I ride our busy roads with cars virtually every day.  But I'm interested any route suggestions that would take me away from this and offer nice wide shoulders and/or very little traffic to contend with.  (Eventually I'd like to make my way to the Netherlands to give their network of bike paths a shot.) 

I've spent most of my life competing for space on the road with cars.  I'm interested in alternatives where I can relax and just ride my bike without being strafed by cars every few moments.  I have experienced a few places like this myself but I'm curious of what others have found.

Have you found an area, region or country that was relatively free of car-conflicts for bicycle travel?  Gravel and dirt roads are not out of the question either.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions. 

[John Nelson]

Almost everywhere in the country except for southern California fits your requirements. Note that you can typically get wide shoulders or very little traffic, but usually not both at the same time.

Try Montana, or Wyoming, or Kansas, or North Dakota, or northern Wisconsin, or the Erie Canal, or west Texas, or rural Kentucky, or Idaho, or any of zillions of other places.

[e46rick]

Almost everywhere in the country except for southern California fits your requirements. Note that you can typically get wide shoulders or very little traffic, but usually not both at the same time.

Try Montana, or Wyoming, or Kansas, or North Dakota, or northern Wisconsin, or the Erie Canal, or west Texas, or rural Kentucky, or Idaho, or any of zillions of other places.

Thanks for the reply.
Given the choice, I would prefer nice wide shoulders.  I don't mind cars as much when I have my own space.  We actually have quite a few roads that meet that description here in SoCal, it's just that we often have to traverse narrow-busy sections to get to them.

[John Nelson]

Given the choice, I would prefer nice wide shoulders.

I would always make the other choice. The widest shoulders come on interstate highways, but noisy interstate highways are very far from the peaceful and beautiful experience I am looking for. If only one car comes by every hour or two, I don't need a shoulder. There are lots of roads where cars are that infrequent, and such roads are often very scenic.

[e46rick]

Well I'm sure it varies by locale.
I have ridden very rural roads in northern CA and Oregon where the occasional vehicles were logging trucks that showed little interest in sharing the road with cyclists.  2 or 3 feet of shoulder is nice under those circumstances.

[DanE]

You could ride the C&O Canal Towpath and GAP Trail combination. It is about 325 miles without any automobile shared usage.

[e46rick]

You could ride the C&O Canal Towpath and GAP Trail combination. It is about 325 miles without any automobile shared usage.

I'll look that up.
Thanks Dan

[Patco]

My spouse and I recently moved from the Bay Area to Central Oregon for the biking, hiking, and kayaking, and we have not been disappointed. Much less traffic; generally good roads with shoulders; bike friendly and bike aware (very important to us); great topography.

[Pat Lamb]

Adventure Cycling had an interesting tale some years back about a group in Kansas that decided that, since they hadn't seen a car or truck in 45 minutes, they'd do the next mile naked.

Naturally, a truck came by with a young kid in it. 

From memory, there are also places like that in Colorado, Montana, Washington, Illinois, Kentucky, Virginia, and Alabama.  As John mentioned, get away from the big cities, and traffic goes way down.  When traffic nears zero, most of the truckers and other traffic has little problem driving around you. 

It helps a bit if you're not riding the white line or the shoulder -- if it looks to you like there's room for both of you within the lane, why should they worry about it?

[johnsondasw]

All over the rural west, just look for areas with secondary (or smaller) roads and small towns.  That's the way I've been finding them in
Washington and eastern Oregon for over 30 years now. You don't heed anything more specific than that.

[CMajernik]

In Alberta, Canada the Icefields Parkway from Lake Louise north to Jasper has wide shoulders and tremendous scenery

[e46rick]

In Alberta, Canada the Icefields Parkway from Lake Louise north to Jasper has wide shoulders and tremendous scenery

I traveled by car and camped in that area 10 or so years ago.  Beautiful country!  Great suggestion.  Thanks.

And thanks to others for their input as well.