What state is your favorite to ride in?

[PeanutButterShammyCream]

Personally, my favorite state to ride in so far has been Montana. I loved all of the rivers, the open land, and the beautiful Rocky Mountains. How about you guys?

[staehpj1]

I'd find it hard to pick one favorite.  Oregon is one of my favorites and I guess if I have to pick one right now it might be it.  That said Montana, Wyoming, Missouri, New Mexico, and Virginia were all nice.  Kansas had some of the nicest people and there were even beautiful green hills in the Flint Hills area.  There is some great riding in California as well.  The coast and also the Sierras offer great scenery and good riding.  The ride along the Lochsa River in Idaho was amazing too.

I am sure that there are a lot of other gems that I either didn't mention or have not yet discovered.

[John Nelson]

I'm not sure this is even a meaningful question. Every state has good and bad areas for cycling. Of course there are policy differences between state governments that influence how much they invest in cycling, and states that invest more are more likely to have safe places to ride. But "safe" is not necessarily the same as "good".

I have favorite areas and favorite roads, but not favorite states.

[jamawani]

The state of bliss.

[PeanutButterShammyCream]

I'm not sure this is even a meaningful question. Every state has good and bad areas for cycling. Of course there are policy differences between state governments that influence how much they invest in cycling, and states that invest more are more likely to have safe places to ride. But "safe" is not necessarily the same as "good".

I have favorite areas and favorite roads, but not favorite states.

LOL OK Mr. Serious

[oldgroundhog]

Alaska and the Canadian Yukon,

Enjoy the glaciers and the grizzlies.  Only negative is the mosquitoes.  Camp anywhere.  Drink from clear streams and lakes.  Summer temps in the mid 50's.  Just about perfect.  Long distances between resupply points, so take along a couple extra jars of peanut butter.  What a special place to tour.

[Bclayden]

They're all good...in one way or another.  I've toured in 30 states so far and sure, the spectacular scenery of the West, New England and its history, the vast countyside of the Plains, is all good, but one of my favorites is, perhaps surprisingly, Nebraska. During a Coast-to-Coast ride I had low expectations for NE.  After 5 days crossing the entire width of the state I didn't want it to end. Plenty of Friendly folks and quality country roads. Nebraska not likely to be on the bucket list for many but I will be back.

I have noticed road maintenance and quality varies quite dramatically from state to state. In my experience NJ and CA (where I live) are about the worst. KY is pretty good,  Hawaii about the best I've seen outside of Europe.  A discussion about states (or counties, as they vary also) and the quality of the road might be good for another topic.

[LouMelini]

We have traveled in Washington, Wisconsin, Utah (where we are from), Idaho, & parts of western Montana.  Wisconsin has the most bike friendly population with rural roads sparsely driven by cars. Washington is good, with Utah, Idaho and Montana good choices depending on the road one travels on.

[bikeriderscott]

If you like bike paths then I can recommend several places to ride. Maryland comes to mind with the C&O Canal. It starts in Georgetown, near Washington, DC.  It has camping spots every 5 miles or so, some with firewood. That connects to the Great Alleghany Passage (GAP) which ends up in Pittsburg, PA.
Wisconsin has so many bike paths criss-crossing the state. Many of these will be near lakes for some stealth camping.
Ohio is another state with many bike paths. The Little Miami is a wonderful place to ride with many small towns to resupply in. Washington state has a great bike path that goes from Spokane to Coeur d'Alene, ID.

[BikeFreak]

I give you a different answer with the states I did not prefer. Remember: This is ONLY based on biking the Adventure Cycling maps:

Soutern tier:
1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Mississippi
4. Louisiana

Pacific Coast:
1. California between San Fransisco and San Diego

Contrary, the most amazing state so far has been southern Utah (Western Express).

[John Nelson]

California between San Fransisco and San Diego

You didn't like Big Sur?? How can that be?!?

[staehpj1]

California between San Fransisco and San Diego

You didn't like Big Sur?? How can that be?!?

Well, I guess everyone has different preferences, but yeah the Big Sur section was a beautiful ride.  Since the recent big slide it may be tough to do and the major detour may ruin it.  I stopped my PC ride at San Luis Obispo, but the only parts of the PC that I didn't like much were the Seattle to Astoria part and maybe the Seven Devils part which was supposed to be scenic, but wasn't.

It just goes to show that everyone has different preferences.

[maxton]

Idaho

[alessandra]

Utah SB are great, people are friendly and scenaries are wow.
I loved Montana too and Wyoming, but in Wyoming I somehow felt I wasn't really welcome as a cyclist, I mean I felt like I was a UFO, as I didn't carry a gun and drive a truck. I didn't know Wyoming before, so I don't think I went there with some bias against cowboys, and I didn't have the same feeling in Montana neither. Well, I don't want to hurt anyone, I really loved Wyoming and I had no bad experience there, but it was just a feeling I didn't have anywhere else on my way thru the National Parks, down to Arizona and Nevada.

Maybe someone have an explanation to this thing? Or maybe it was just my imagination?

[BikeFreak]

Wyoming: Did they throw bottles/cans after you? Did they rev their diesel truck engines while passing you such that their exhaust sidepipe would make everything soot black in front of you? Did they yell at you of their car windows? Did they throw cigarette butts after you while passing you? If not, there are worse states than Wyoming :-).