2019 -- Your Short Tours
 

Short tours are great for those of us who can only spare a few days from our busy schedules to spend on a cycling tour ... or for those of us who want to do a quick exploration of the area where we live or an area we want to learn more about ... and for those who want to test equipment, bicycle setup, etc.

When you go on a short hub-and-spoke tour, overnight tour, weekend tour, long weekend tour, maybe even a week-long tour, or something similar ... tell us about it here throughout 2019. :)

Where did you go? What did you see along the way? Would you recommend the area? What sort of accommodation did you use? What kind of bicycle did you ride? Did you learn anything new?

What short tours do you have planned for 2019?



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Past tours ...

2018 short tours:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...ort-tours.html

2017 short tours:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...ort-tours.html

2016 short tours:
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/10...ort-tours.html

2015 short tours:
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/98...ort-tours.html

2014 short tours:
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/92...ort-tours.html

2013 short tours:
2013 - Your Short Tours

2012 short tours:
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/79...ort-tours.html

2011 short tours:
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/72...ort-tours.html

2007 short tours:
http://www.bikeforums.net/touring/25...ort-tours.html



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Some attempt at definitions ...

Short tours can include quite a variety of different sorts of touring including, but not limited to ...

-- day tours (usually taking up most of the day and including scenic or tourist destinations)
-- hub-and-spoke tours (cycling or driving out to a destination which becomes the "headquarters" or "hub", and then doing day tours off in various directions from the "hub")
-- overnight tours (cycling out to a neighbouring town, campground, national park, etc, staying overnight in a campground, hotel, B&B, or whatever other choice of accommodation is available)
-- weekend or long weekend tours or several days or week long tours (similar to the overnight tour, but longer)

These tours can be credit card tours where no camping gear is carried and the cyclist stays in accommodations such as hotels, B&Bs hostels, etc., and eats in restaurants, cafes, etc., or they can be camping tours, or some combination of the two.

They can have a variety of purposes ... travel and exploration, a desire to get away from it all for a weekend, visiting family and friends, or in combination with work, school, or other events.

Lots of options!



Longer tours/all tours of 2019: https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...you-going.html

.

I plan to ride a 1980 Trek 414 across the state of Ohio, NE to SE. More of a delivery than a tour, but it all comes out in the wash.

My wife and I will be doing a biking intensive vacation in Michigan's Lower (Middle?) Peninsula in the Leland to Charlevoix area.

The past 3 years we've had a group rent a house in Confluence PA on the Great Allegheny Passage trail for a 3 day weekend and do day rides. We will likely do that again.

I'm adding some backpacking type bags to my road bike and will try out a three day credit card style tour from home in Maryland, probably a one way ride up through Pennsylvania and then my wife will pick me up on her way back from visiting relatives.

We have friends who bought a "snow bird" home in Venice FL, who want us to come down and do some multi-day rides on the trail system there but I have a rule to never set foot (or pedal) in FL between March and November...

Colorado expanded a bus program called Bustang last year. I used it for a 4 day mountain bike bikepacking trip summer 2018. I plan on using it for 2 to 3 mountain bike adventures next year. One is to ride from Gunnison to Telluride over Cinnamon and Black Bear Passes. I'm looking forward to freaking out the 4x4 crowd. Another is to ride over Scofield Pass from Gunnison to Glenwood Springs.

There are now a number of different rides that I can do that solve the "how do I get back home" problem.

Did a Sacrificial Tour with my sister in law. 60 mile scenic tour took of woodlands and farmlands 7 hours to complete. Sacrificed my sanity and the day.

Planning on a 1 week trip around the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton N.S. in late July. My wife and I have toured the Trail in the past and we're excited to re-visit.

David in Maine (my first post!)

Six weeks from today my wife and I were scheduled to be departing from Banff Ab. on our mountain tandem with the goal of hitting Whitefish Mt. in 6 days on a modified GDMBR route.
She is sitting at home right now with a splint on her foot from where she broke her ankle 9 days ago. :(
I'm trying to put together another trip later in the year. I have friends in Whitefish and Kalispell along with the Whitefish Bike Retreat who can help me put together some 3 day routes out to Eureka and back.

Hopefully off road. U.S. 93 between Whitefish and Fortine can suck with traffic.

I've ridden 93 a couple of times. It has some hairy spots for sure. A friend from bikepacking.net has some routes west of 93 that are pretty decent. We might do that and then come back over Whitefish and down through Polebridge.

A friend and I rub shoulders with some mountains pass by bike for the first time this past weekend. We decided to go to the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Parc (dead center of France) and do the Aurillac - Clermont-Ferrand veloroute via the Puy Mary which is one of the highest summit in the area at 1783m; the pass is the highest in Auvergne at 1589m.

We knew there were chances of rain on Saturday. What actually happened was masses and masses of cold rain during 3/4 of the day, especially during the climb. I found the climb really long and gruelling, every inch was a victory, lots of pauses; definitely didn't eat enough before and then the bars weren't quick to act... but I made it. It was incredibly cold (2°C... snow everywhere, rain turned to sleet) and I basically had two big icebergs in-lieu of feet. Next purchase: waterproof socks and gloves and some gore tex trail shoes that dry quick. I just learned that the pass had only opened a week before. It's usually closed from November to May.

It was nice that the restaurant was open for some comfort (and fire by the chimney). There is a nice quick hike from the pass to reach the summit and have an amazing view unfortunately we couldn't see past 3m so we didn't bother. I was there two years ago in summer (it was really cold even in July - basically Auvergne is cold as f*ck year round) and when the skies are clear it's really gorgeous.

The nice thing after a long climb is the endless downhill. There were however two more long climbs before we really got back to lower altitudes. Last downhill felt infinite and soooo good. First day ended up at 90km and 1600m of positive elevation. We tried to find some place to camp but finally ended up in a camping site which had just opened that very day. Nice scalding shower.

The Sunday was supposed to be sunny but we woke up to rain and strong winds. The sky did clear up but the wind didn't stop at all for the whole day. It's not a good sign when long streches of flat remind you of the previous day's climb just because the wind is so fierce. We really though that day would be much more mellow than it actually was, even without the wind. Wind tends to grind morale a bit sometimes, but we went through some really nice valleys that made up for it. We arrived just in time for our train back to Paris after 90km and close to 1000m of positive elevation.

Would he/she happen to have any info on Sunday Creek Rd. (NF-315) and Old Fort Steele Trail Rd. between Stryker and Olney? They parallel U.S. 93 just a bit west of the highway. I am going to be heading south from Eureka to Whitefish again this June and I am looking to avoid U.S. 93 as much as possible. Rode it last in 2017. It was pretty darn busy. I'll be riding my LHT with 37c tires. I know the roads are unpaved. That's not a problem. Just don't want to encounter really rocky surfaces.

Thanks in advance for any info you can pass along.

BTW...If you had been to Olney in the past, it appears that Briggs Merchantile was sold. Looks like they tried to fancy up the place by, among other things, getting rid of the cool old pop/soda bottle collection I saw when I was there in 2009.

This sign now adorns the front:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b26ba4177b.jpg

In the same general region you might want to consider the Selkirk Loop biking - International Selkirk Loop. Various options if you want to shorten it up or explore a particular area in more detail.

I will check and see if they will post on this thread.

You can always peel off and take Whitefish Divide and come down through Polebridge. Whitefish Divide is still one of my most memorable rides ever.

Thanks, but not enough time for that.

More long weekend short tours?

Heading out tomorrow for a long weekend to a state forest campground in NJ. Saturday I will likely do a day ride to a cool zoo and to get dinner fixings. Sunday I will ride to and up the coast to catch a train back to town, stopping to say hi to Lucy along the way.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b8dca8a9e8.jpg

About 140 miles in S. Jersey this weekend. Hot and humid Friday. Warm and humid Saturday. Sunday was much better, though somewhat cloudy. Ride through S. Jersey blueberry country, did a day trip to a local county zoo then rode to the coast and up to catch a train back to town.



https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7387b5e17a.jpg

Berries on the bush.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cf5fc836a5.jpg

First dinner.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6b84d0a8cc.jpg

Go big or go home.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5ee4515b59.jpg

Spoonbill.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...19fa7a2cfe.jpg

Sunrise.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7b6e5810bb.jpg

Ocean City boardwalk
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a9f7fcac44.jpg

Calm seas.

Is that Ocean City, N. J. or Maryland? I wasn't aware of the N.J. one, if that's the case. 🤔

NJ. It's been around forever. Has a strong religious history, hence it has been a dry town since 1909. You cannot even bring alcohol into a restaurant. It must be consumed on private property. According to Wiki, despite its dry status 8.3% of adults in Ocean City metropolitan statistical area (which includes all of Cape May County) drink alcohol heavily or binge drink, the highest percentage of any metro area in the state; USA Today listed Ocean City as the state's most drunken city on its 2017 list of "The drunkest city in every state." Explains why there two huge liquor stores on the mainland side of the two bridges to head into town from the west.

I used to do a large MS ride that overnighted there. When the route used the 34th St. Bridge you would always see several bikes sitting outside. Some people would to the ride with empty knapsacks and buy beer or booze before finishing the ride on the island.

Aha, so that's why they invented panniers, for bootlegging. 😁😉 Just make sure you pad things well.
I imagine there are probably other states with an Ocean City, too, trying to pass themselves off as the "real"one, in Maryland. 🤔😉

Rehoboth Beach MD also started as a Methodist religious retreat. Now they sell alcohol but still known as a family-friendly spot vs the more party-type atmosphere of OC MD. Anyway the whole DelMarVa peninsula is great for short tours (apart from bridge crossing). The big roads have wide shoulders & the back roads are pretty quiet.

I was there several years ago. Rode to Belleplain State Forest (where I was last weekend). The next day I rode to Cape May, NJ and took the ferry to Lewes for two nights of camping at Cape Henlopen State Park. Did a day ride to Rhehobeth for lunch. You can get there from the park almost entirely using trails and low-traffic roads with good bike lanes. I like how the town has established shuttle bus service to the main drag from remote parking lots to ease traffic congestion.

Henlopen is a really nice place. Lots of trails and bike-friendly roads. You see lots of young kids riding with their families. It was originally a military base established to guard the mouth of the Delaware River against Nazi infiltration. When it was no longer needed, the feds gave the land to the state. It's almost impossible to get a camp site there on the weekends unless you book WAY in advance. My trip was over Easter weekend and even then the campground was probably 80% full, if not more.

Yes, Henlopen is pretty neat with the lookout towers & abandoned base roads. I was a bit surprised to see Amish families fishing at the pier, only time I've seen Amish on vacation.

So I just impulsively made plans for a 6-day tour starting in a few weeks. I probably bit off more than I can chew as far as mileage goes, but whatever. It'll work out, maybe, hopefully.

I'm getting hyped for some coulees.

Alright, so that happened.

https://i.imgur.com/psagW6p.jpg

Tour started on Friday afternoon last week. I was more or less retracing my steps from a 2016 tour. I headed northeast to the Skagit River valley, and then east up the valley into the Cascade mountains, along the North Cascades Highway.

https://i.imgur.com/eRdK3WF.jpg

Eventually, the Skagit valley becomes a series of dams and lakes managed by Seattle City Light - Gorge Lake, Diablo Lake, and Ross Lake - supplying about 20% of the power used by Seattle. But below Gorge Lake, the Skagit River and the North Cascades wind their way up a steep, grim gorge.

https://i.imgur.com/sDF19y2.jpg

I spent the night at Gorge Lake Campground.

Day 2

Saturday morning, at Gorge Lake, I got back on North Cascades Highway.

https://i.imgur.com/JPdTz0X.jpg

This was going to be a monster day. Washington Pass was 37 miles and 6000 feet of climbing away. On the opposite side was the Methow River valley, and my aim was to continue for 73 miles after Washington Pass until stopping at Alta Lake, near where the Methow River pours out into the mighty Columbia River.

Overlooking Diablo Lake:

https://i.imgur.com/yO9sUMW.jpg

More climbing...

https://i.imgur.com/ahYusZB.jpg

Before reaching Washington Pass, you cross a few marked lower passes. One of these is Rainy Pass. Contrary to its name, and unlike on my 2016 tour, Rainy Pass was quite sunny six days ago.

https://i.imgur.com/wePAWjj.jpg

...more climbing...

https://i.imgur.com/kZIUWR7.jpg

After quite a lot of climbing, I finally reached Washington Pass. The overlook is stunning! The North Cascades Highway takes a bend, right before plunging down into Eastern Washington.

https://i.imgur.com/sDlC23c.jpg

I took no more photos for the rest of the day, but jumping into Alta Lake definitely felt good.