Bbmclean1st

I'll be headed on a trip from NYC to Key West in a couple months and am looking for some pointers. I'm 6'7" 225lbs and use a Jumbo size Cannondale Quick (hybrid bike) currently with 700c 35 tires. I'm going to travel via paved roads and a significant amount of packed dirt trails. I aim to complete this trip within 30 days of start and will be averaging 60 mi/day.

- I've decided on Scwalbe Marathon tires and am wondering if I should get 28 or 32 mm.

- if anybody's completed this route I'm wondering approximately how much is unpaved.

- I plan to simply use google maps to lead me the way and am curious as to any particularly difficult/stressful stretches as well as which segments are the best.

- I'm aware of the East Coast greenway but the route seems excessively long compared to Google Maps biking directions. Any thoughts?

- Any random pointers that I may not be considering would be appreciated.

Cheers.

10 Wheels

I toured on 700 x 28's

gerryl

The bigger the tire the better.
https://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_i...ing_resistance

indyfabz

Good luck with that. Google bike directions can lead you to some unpleasant situations such as roads that no longer exist. In fact, I would love you see your route.

I would much rather take more time and ride a more pleasant route than ride a more direct, unpleasant one.

Have you ever seen this?:

https://www.adventurecycling.org/rou...tlantic-coast/

Squeezebox

Adventure bicycles has an East Coast route, I believe so. Might be worth looking at.

texbiker

Google maps is not my first choice. As another poster said their accuracy is open to question. One resource you could look at is crazyguyonabike.com: Bicycle Touring: A place for bicycle tourists and their journals. There are many journals of people doing what you are looking at.

rm -rf

In the past, Google Maps would usually route bicycles on the most direct route that's not a restricted highway. Now, I see that it tries to include bike routes or paths if possible. But it's still going to send you on a lot of busy roads.

The routes will be simple to navigate, with few turns. But there's usually better alternative roads to ride with way less traffic.

I still use google maps to get a quick idea of distances. It shows the total elevation gain, but the tiny elevation map isn't useful, having no details about the climbs along the way.


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I just checked out New York to Key West google map link -- click the bicycle icon.

If you want to see bike trails, you need to pull down the menu icon and click Bicycling -- then, as you zoom in to the "10 mile" or closer zoom level, the paths show up in green. Zoom way in, and the trail name is repeated down the green line. You will only find occasional sections of trails heading in your direction.

It routes close to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, and Richmond VA. I would expect lots of busy roads. At least it seems to be staying off the main highways. If you aren't planning to visit the attractions in those cities, you'd probably want to route a lot farther away. (But the ACC Atlantic Coast route does go through Washington -- click the Detail links to see maps of each section.)

I'm familiar with part of google's North Carolina route, and it's kind of reasonable, staying off the busiest main roads. Not the most interesting route, though.

Perhaps they are starting to use all the traffic data from their mobile maps app to improve the routing. But my local tests of google maps still show a lot of busy routes.

Tourist in MSN

When I toured on 700c, I used 37mm wide tires. I leave for Florida in a week, am using 40mm wide Marathons, they are on 26 inch wheels.

indyfabz

The portion of the route in the Philly area is not as bad as you might think. I should know. I gave it to them. All the way from New Hope to Conshohocken is part of a tried and true route that local clubs are other use on a regular basis. There are going to be busy parts during weekday rush hour, but overall, its not bad considering it takes you a few miles from the border of the 5th largest city in the U.S. South from Conshy you are on a trail all the way to Phoenixvile.

mev

I traveled the other direction: (1) Key West to Savannah, (2) Savannah to Atlantic City, (3) Atlantic City to Boston (by way of NYC), (4) Boston to Yarmouth, (5) Yarmouth to Halifax.

I list them as multiple cities since I did this all in one year but on multiple rides on different times, e.g. #1/#2/#4 were each a week and #3/#5 were long weekends.

I didn't travel on any significant gravel roads. This was pre-Google Maps so I used state highway maps. I ended up on some of the more direct (and sometimes major) US highways at times.

Given your weight and gear, I'd say 700x35 is a reasonable tire size. Also size I used.

There have been previous discussions some have linked about Google Maps bicycle directions. Personally for a trip like this, my preference is "Google Maps + no highways option" instead as being more predictable.

As far as difficult parts, my guess is the weather might be at least as much a factor depending on when you go - this will mean different segments. For example, too cold in Atlantic states or hurricane season and warmer temperatures further south?

While I had some days with head winds, overall I had more tail winds than head winds - so going the other direction I might expect the opposite. However, other than my ride through the Outer Banks of NC - wind was not a huge factor.

rm -rf

I was referring to the google maps route, not the ACA maps. I know those ACA routes have been tested and refined over the years.

Yeah, local clubs have nice routes through areas that a driver would think is terrible for cycling. They've avoided the obvious but busy or annoying roads. It's knowledge accumulated over many years. That's why I like Strava Route Builder, which tries to follow the most popular cycling roads, using a year's worth of uploaded GPS ride recordings. A lot of cycle club routes get included.

The google route (blue) compared to the ACA route (red). And the ACC routes have tons of info on camping, food, etc.

indyfabz

Sorry. Misunderstood.

I did my first tour with ACA. Their unsupported group Northern Tier tour and then rode home to Philly on my own on the Atlantic Coast route.

And while I can't see the detail, that Google Maps route looks like it could be awful immediately south of Philly. Seems to roughly follow the East Coast Greenway through Chester, Marcus Hook and Wilmington. Nothing green about it. In fact, PA 291 south of Philly is called Industrial Highway. That's why I wrote earlier that I would like to see the OP's planned route.

spinnaker

+1

Google maps showed the road open south of Klamath (Coastal Drive). After the long climb to the top, we discovered the road to be over grown and closed for what looked like a very long time. We tried Alder Camp Road but was stopped and told not to use that road since it passed through a prison. We had to turn around and go back down to 101.

indyfabz

Same thing happened to me while planning a trip home from New England in September. Bike directions routed me over a hilly crossing a mountain ridge. I looked at satellite view and could see that the road appeared to degrade as it entered a forested area. Picked another route, but when I got to the town where the road started I rode over to it. There was a large, "Road Closed Ahead" sign. It is likely an old logging road that is longer used and has been allowed to fall into disrepair.

And it's not the first time something like that has happened to me while planning routes.

Bbmclean1st

Thanks for the replies. I suppose I'll either stick with 35's or possibly 32's. I'll definitely check the routes.

I've previously read that there is at least one uncrossable bridge over the Susquehanna river while approaching Baltimore from the Northeast. Anybody familiar with this and how to cross? I suppose I could get an Uber XL worst case.

tom cotter

Just to throw this out there as a suggestion - Getting from NYC to south of DC into the Virginia's - Hop the ferry to The Atlantic Highlands and ride down the coast of NJ. There are numerous routes/bike trails etc to get you thru the highest traffic areas. You could ride straight down the coast or move inland once south of Tom's River. Then trek thru the low traffic and very flat Pine Barrens of NJ. Lotsa camping options. The ride ends in Cape May where a ferry ride gets you to the Delmarva. From there you can ride SW towards DC or South towards Va.

The major obstacle with this route is a little body of water known as the Chesapeake Bay. There are two bridge options , and ferry a option from Crisfield. The ferry is seasonal and only takes you part way across the bay. It coordinates with another ferry from the there Va side. This gives you options of an overnight stay on Tangiers island. As for the bridges, years ago the bridge personnel would drive you across for a fee. That may have changed to a private service - so make some calls before you commit.

Regardless, I've spent a lot of time riding/driving in this region, For that reason this option to me, always looked more palatable than any of the ACA routes.

tom cotter

I've seen touring cyclist ride across the the river on the Rt 1 bridge. Which is actually a hydro electric dam. Don't know if it's allowed, but, with no shoulder and heavy traffic, it's definitely dangerous. RT 1 does have decent shoulders both north and south of the dam, but it is roller coaster of short steep climbs. I've never ridden this, and wouldn't want to.

Further west there is a bridge across that is at least safe to ride, but again, with killer climbs.

indyfabz

+1. I rode across it in back in the mid-90s early on a cold, rainy Sunday morning in October or November. I would never consider riding it these days unless it was at some really odd hour on a really odd day.

Leebo

OP,packed dirt trails? Like single track or dirt roads? For me and mixed terrain, wider is better. 40-45mm?

nycbusi

ive had a lot of luck using plotaroute.com you can DL the GPX and then upload it in to strava as a route.

Turkey222

I did Virginia to Key West. It was rather flat from Charleston all the way to Key West. I did get a puncture twice on the 7-mile bridge during a few store runs. The storms on the coast of Florida can come fast and riding in the pouring rain was unavoidable.

Google Maps did me just fine for my section of the ride. It wasn't perfect for navigation from Durham, Nc to Ft Bragg area, but you should already be on the coast and able to avoid that. You may want the adventure cycling maps for the northern section to Charleston, but from there its pretty much follow 17, 1, and Fl 1A1.