Author Topic: HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY  (Read 12610 times)

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Offline BarbaraBrower

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« on: September 05, 2008, 04:27:25 pm »
Hi...25 riders from all over the country are meeting in Chicago, September, 2009, to ride our bicycles to New York City within a 2 week period to raise awareness of child abuse and domestic violence.  Does anybody have a good route that we can take?  We will be doing interviews across the country, so we're not especially interested in sight-seeing.  It's more of an awareness ride.  If anybody has a good route that we can take that will get us to NYC from Chicago in 2 weeks, please let me know.  Thanks so much!!!


Offline Turk

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #1 on: September 05, 2008, 10:44:18 pm »
It looks to me like you can use the Northern Tier route to go from near Chicago to Buffalo. There are Chicagoland bicycle maps that you can use to connect to the Norhtern Tier. I think there are cycling paths that go along the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Albany (see http://www.nycanal.com/recreation/hikebikemain.html and http://www.ptny.org/canaltour/). For Albany to New York see http://www.roberts-1.com/bikehudson/r/nyc_albany/index.htm.

This would probably be the most level way to get there.


Offline BarbaraBrower

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2008, 03:19:38 am »
Hi, Turk,
    Thanks so much for the information.  Forgive my ignorance....I've only done rides as long as 30 miles before on a TREK hybrid bike.  I'm going to have to train for a year ang get a road bike to make this trip, so you can see I'm really inexperienced with rides of this magnitude.  Do these maps show mileage and are they just paths that don't go near cities?  I'm trying to plan a route that would get us to New York City, starting in Chicago September 12, 2009, and arrive in NYC on Friday, September 25th, in the morning so we can appear on THE TODAY SHOW.  We also want to do interviews in major cities (if possible) as we go across the country.  We're going to be staying in contact with radio stations here in Chicago, but the purpose of the ride is to get as much media attention as possible to raise awareness of child abuse and domestic violence.  Have you ever mapped a ride before?  I'm open to advice....I want to take good care of all the riders and spread the message.  Thanks so much...I appreciate it.


Offline Turk

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2008, 09:34:26 pm »
I haven't done the route before but I would guess that the paths go through cities. The trails might be converted railroad beds. For the New York portion I would suggest hitting the links I listed in my post to learn more. For the western portion buy the maps from Adventure Cycling. I haven't tried them myself but I think they'll be just what you need.

I've mapped trips before but not since 1980 and it's changed a lot since then. I used to use county traffic count maps. Many of the trips I planned (for my company's bicycle club) were shorter and local and I just explored on my bike. The area I live in is pretty bicycle-friendly, except for the winters.

The Erie Canal route is one I'd really like to do someday since I'm a history buff but I generally don't travel very much.


Offline Jackie

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2008, 07:24:16 pm »
New York State Dept. of transportation will send you a bike map for free.  I think State Route #5 will get you from Buffalo to the Erie Canal towpath which will get you to Albany.  Another state route will head south to NYC.  

New York City DOT will also send you a free bike map.   NYC riding is not for the faint hearted but there is a greenway along the west side. Find a hotel or parking garage that has bike storage. Crime in NYC has gone down substantially but bike theft seems to be the exception.



Offline BarbaraBrower

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2008, 07:43:35 pm »
Hey, Jackie,
    Thanks so much for the tip.  If you have anymore tips, please let me know.  We haven't even started plotting the route yet because I've been busy filming and putting the ride together, but I certainly could use help with this!  I appreciate your response.
Barbara


Offline Paulo

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2008, 12:34:50 pm »
Research the Lincoln Highway, it was the first coast to coast Highway
built and is still being used.. It starts in New York city and will travel thru.
Pennsylvania, ohio, Ind. Ill..   Lots of history along the way.. Just a thought  
:8|:


Offline BarbaraBrower

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2008, 02:43:53 pm »
Paulo....thanks so much. I will check into this right away.  Appreciate the help!


Offline LaraEbee

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #8 on: November 17, 2008, 07:41:27 pm »
Hi,

My sister and I just rode NYC to Chicago (actually all the way to Seattle, WA) this summer. Our blog with our route is:
http://usatobicycle.blogspot.com

It wasn't the most fantastic route in the world to take, but we had a really awesome time and met lots of wonderful people. It was a spectacular adventure because we were largely not on AC maps (if at all) during that time period.

Actually, I am looking at our route map now and I can't say it is as complete as I thought it would be. However, I have saved all the maps that we used over the course of the trip and I could be happy to make copies of them and send them to you if you are interested in using them as a reference.

Let me know.
Please get in touch with me if you need more details/have questions. Sounds like an awesome ride!!

Lara

This message was edited by LaraEbee on 11-17-08 @ 4:44 PM

Offline BarbaraBrower

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #9 on: November 17, 2008, 08:13:13 pm »
Lara,
   Thanks so much!!!  Please....any help you can offer would be so much appreciated.  I am over the top busy trying to get sponsorship, getting my final 2 male riders, making press kits, filming the documentary, editing sound, writing scripts and trying to think of anything we might need for the trip that I'm really concerned about the actual route.  We're going for major media attention on this, because nobody has ever done a ride for child abuse and domestic violence before.  It HAS to be done well, so I would love your input.  How many miles was it from New York to Chicago?  I was thiking it might be around 900....is that right?  We have to make the trip from September 12 to arrive in New York City on September 25th to appear on a television show.  Plus, we will want to be doing interviews across the country to raise awareness of CA/DV.  Thank you very much for any help you can give.  :-)
Barbara


Offline razor

HELP! CHICAGO TO NEW YORK CITY
« Reply #10 on: December 11, 2008, 10:15:59 pm »
Barbara ,I highly recomend the free maps from NY state they are very good and the person you order them from was very helpful .I have used them in the past and they were great and kept you on good cycling roads .

Razor
Razor