Westchester County, NY to Boston - Routes?

[missfit]

Hi.  My friend and I want to ride from NY state (Westchester County) to Boston.  Does anyone have any suggested routes?  Thanks!

[JayH]

Pick up a section of the Atlantic Coastal route which if you want, you can pick up in Poughkeepsie and take to Waterton, MA and then from that approximate location, you can get to Boston via a railtrail of whose name escapes me.   But the Atlantic Coastal ACA route crosses the hudson on the Mid-Atlantic bridge which you don't have to being in Westchester so you can ride north to Poughkeepie and pick up the ACA route on Rt 9north past hyde park to Rhinebeck.   There are also a lot of NYC folks who ride out of the city and surely they have suggested routes north through westchester.  

If you want a shorter way, you can probably make do with a county map and chose some county roads to snake your way to Millerton.  I've biked 44/55 for the most part between Poughkeepsie and Amenia and there is a nice rail trail (harlem valley) you can take to get to Millerton. (the ACA trail also goes through Millerton). it cuts the corner as you can leave from Poughkeepsie without riding up to Rhinebeck if you want a shorter ride...  The option is up to you.

Jay

[bktourer1]

I rode from Springfield MA to Yonkers via back roads and rail trails.  Get the North & South County maps and the CT bike maps.  Look into the Farminton River Greenway also. Also get the Rubels bike maps for all of MA.  I can get to to my area and put you on the road to Boston.   If you decide to shorten the trip, once in Worcester you can take the commuter train (off peak ) to Boston.

Contact me via my e-mail address and I'll find my cues.  The area around Danbury is hill to flat and the same can be said to Springfield

Ed

[JayH]

Rubels: Yup, forgot about them.  I think I have a CT bike suitability map which you should be able to get from the CT DOT...

Another option to checkout is the East Coast Greenway which runs from NYC up to Maine and via major cities, unlike the ACA maps which will bring you around most major cities.  

Jay

[bktourer1]

CT dot doesn't have anymore maps and doesn't know if they will get same.  I might have an extra for misfit.
They are not 100% corect.  I found rt 190 east should be a cross state route but the sign on the bridge states no bicycles, even though 3/4 was accross the is a bridge with a ped walkway.  I crossed over today and figured if I get stopped I would show the cops the maps and see what happened.

ed

[missfit]

We're revising our trip.  Now we're going to drive to different locations in CT and/or MA and do 50-70 mile rides each day, eventually getting to Boston.  I'll then drive back to NY and my friend (who has more time and less fear than do I) will ride back with another rider who's actually done it before.
 
So thanks for the advice all.
This will be something I will eventually want to do.  

Now please pass on your favorite bike routes (loops!) in Western CT, the Berkshires and other parts of MA (on the way to Boston).

[JayH]

I've found some minor, one major bug with Rubel's western massachusetts maps, and they are a private company. However, they responded to my email and they looked like they were fairly proactive in fixing them, although this was a few years ago and I haven't checked or have gotten their newer maps.  Maybe they put a list of errata on their website, like the ACA does.  

As far as loops around the Berkshires, I think you're almost safe to use county maps, stay off the interstates, try to stay off Rt 7 in some places in MA. Same with NW CT, they are very nice places to ride, I don't think you can go wrong with picking a nice interesting destination and going with it.

When my friend and I camped at Beartown State Forest, we did a loop by riding all the way to Pittsfield and visited the Shaker Village in Hancock and then back. We also visited the Norman Rockwell museum in Stockbridge.

A nice short hike is Laura's Lookout or longer hikes like Monument Mt. The AT goes through Beartown State Forest and there's usually stuff going on at Butternut Ski Basin even in the summer...

Take a map, look at the free visitor's guides and just plot a route, you're probably not going to go wrong by just plotting a route and half the adventure is getting there!  

Jay

[mucknort]

Here's the route that this years Tour des Trees fundraising tour will be taking. Looks like an interesting route, and covers the areas that the original poster made a while back.
(scroll down to page 2)
http://www.tourdestrees.org/PDFs/2009RouteMap-final.pdf

[GaryRides]

a few comments that might be helpful:  Route 25 turns into a full fledged highway that is not bike friendly and 25A has several hundred feet rises/hills and then  precipitously drops (roads can often look a lot different in reality than they do on a map).

[bigK12603]

hi I had lived in Mt Kisco for a while then moved up into SE Dutchess county in the charming village of Pawling NY - if you live in the EASTERN MTA MNCRR HARLEM LINE side
of Westchester AND you have a bike permit you could "cheat" a bit and take the train up to Pawling then begin your ride from there - when I had lived in Pawling (in the early 90's) I had actualy met some cyclists from NYC who had ridden up to MA from there or Dover Plains - I don't have my maps with me as I write this reply to see how you would ride up to Pawling from eastern Westchester but I have a number of routes in the Harlem Valley - improvements on SR 22 have been made since I had lived there and now I think tech. is a NY state bike route - but I would sugest CR 6 that goes along SR 22 to Dover Plains from WINGDALE - about 5 or so mile north of Pawling - to get to wingdale instead of SR 22 could ride CR 20 then CR 21 EAST (west is a VERY serious up Pleasant Ridge 1200') CR 20 is VERY nice for cycling - actualy the entire Harlem Valley in Dutchess County VERY VERY nice and...

once you make it up to Wassaaic (you could also "cheat" a LOT and take the train ALL the way up to here) then you could ride the Harlem Valley rail trail to Milerton then the Atlantic Coast route into CT and into MA OR... continue NORTH from Milerton and then into MA via the BERKSHIRE MOUNTAINS (take note of latter)

I have a number of day ride routes in the Harlem Valley I don't know if I have provided a link to the klong distance routes described here - my cycling website is still kind of in an embryonic state - the URL:  http://bicycle.bigk12603.com