Author Topic: Long Island to New Hampshire route  (Read 9263 times)

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Offline taptap

Long Island to New Hampshire route
« on: January 25, 2009, 05:36:22 pm »
I am planning a ride from Floral Park, N.Y. to Nashua, N.H. and need help in mapping out a route. Any ideas or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ed

Offline wanderingwheel

Re: Long Island to New Hampshire route
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2009, 01:06:47 pm »
You've got a number of different options.  How long do you want to take, and is there anything you wold like to see on the way?  Of course, the first shoice is how do you want to leave Long Island?  I've done a number of tours from Long Island to various parts of New England, and I can't really say I one way was better than the other. 

One option is to go into Manhattan (I usually cheated and used the LIRR), cross the Geoge Washington Bridge, and ride up the Hudson River Valley.  From Poughkeepsie you can hop onto Adventure Cycling's Atlantic Coast route and follow that to Nashua.  Alternatively, you can stay in the Hudson River Valley past Albany and then cut through southern Vermont.

The other options all involve ferries.  The Port Jefferson - Bridgeport ferry is my least favorite route due to poor cycling conditions around Bridgeport and New Haven, but I've used it a number of times.  More often I've used the Orient Point - New London ferry since I enjoy the ride along the North Fork of Long Island, and love the New London / Groton / Mystic area.  Another choice is to go from Montauk (I usually ride the North Fork and then cross at Shelter Island) to Block Island, and then from there to New London, Point Judith, or Newport.  If you haven't yet been, Block Island is probably worth a trip.  Make sure the ferries are operating during your tour dates, since some of them are seasonal.  Once of the ferry, decide how close you want to go to Boston.  In general I would try to avoid it, but for the easiest (flatest ride) stay close to Narangansett Bay (I prefer cycling on the east side of the Bay rather than the west side), and then thread your way between Worchester and Boston.

Sean

Offline loamranger

Re: Long Island to New Hampshire route
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2009, 11:01:59 pm »
Is US1 around Bridgeport-New Haven worse than US1 further east (eg. New London, Mystic)?  Any way to negotiate that part of coastal CT without using it?

If you did happen to go through New Haven, would US-5 be a viable North route to NH (if wanting to stay inland), or is that also bad for cycling?

Offline wanderingwheel

Re: Long Island to New Hampshire route
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2009, 02:01:18 pm »
It's been a few years since I was riding in that area, but my memory is that the Bridgeport - New Haven corridor is far worse than the area further east.  Specifically, getting into or out of Bridgeport was a bit of a task.  New Haven actually was pretty nice riding, and the signal that I was finally free of New York.  Usually, I rode on the various smaller roads hugging the coast (I love the shore) rather than US1. 

I have ridden between Springfield and New Haven, not quite sure of the exact roads, but remember it mostly as a dreary ride.  Perhaps there are some nice roads in the area and I just missed them, or maybe I should have stayed little further from the I-91 corridor.  The ride north out of New London was much more to my liking, as was the western part of Connecticut near the Atlantic Coast route.

Offline loamranger

Re: Long Island to New Hampshire route
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2009, 03:38:35 pm »
Not sure if you've check out the CT state-wide bike map, I just found it myself.

http://www.ct.gov/dot/cwp/view.asp?a=1390&q=292876&pp=12&n=1

Depending on what looks like a good approach through MA, you could link to it using that.

Offline bktourer1

Re: Long Island to New Hampshire route
« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2009, 07:41:46 am »
Parts of the CT bike map are out of date.  You could try, getting into NYC and the H. Hudson into the Bronx, connecting to the South County & North County trails towards Brewster.  West along RT 6 to Farmington Ct to the Farmington River Greenway.  Back roads to Springfield MA and North on RT 5 towards Vermont and then head east.
If you want my cue sheets from Springfield to NYC, contact me off list.  Also get the Rubels bike maps for MA and check out Traillink.com.
You can take the subway to Pelham Parkway and ride the Bronx River path to e233rd and connect to the biek path that will get you to teh Kensico dam.  then take Rt 22 North to Rt 121 to Rt 6 EAST to Danbury to Farmington.