indyfabz

Anyone got any specific routing and/or roads/areas to avoid? I remember driving through Rutland on U.S. 7 and experiencing heavy traffic.


Context: My 35th high school reunion in Deerfield, Massachusetts is two weekends after Memorial Day weekend. I am considering taking the Vermonter up to St. Albans then riding home to Philly. Google bike routing shows a distance of roughly 170 miles from St. Albans to Brattleboro. Time shouldn't be an issue. Reunion activities don't start until a Thursday, and I could conceivably arrive in St. Albans as early as the previous weekend. Planning to camp and cook as much possible.


Would like to spend a night in Burlington. (I am familiar with the trail north of town as I rode part of it during ACA's Cycle Vermont tour and would probably take an out and back detour up to the trail ferry point.) I am shooting for Brattleboro so I can have a relatively short day to campus the following morning, and there is a cheap motel in Brattleboro and camping not far away.


I am good with my route south from Brattleboro as I rode home from there a few years ago, passing through Deerfield on the way.


Thanks in advance.

alan s 

No advice on the route, but I avoid high school reunions like the plague. Rather keep the image of the high school crushes as they were back then. I recently looked up a girl on FB that I dated a couple times, and she did not age well. A more active lifestyle would have helped her tremendously.

indyfabz

I have always been straight so I didn't have any crushes on any of my fellow "Deerfield boys." Ms. Lyons, a French teacher, on the other hand....

Steve B.

Rt 100 corridor is decent, but in reality, your route is going to be determined by the distance you are able to achieve in a day as well as the location of campgrounds.

I'd let that do the route generating with the comment that in my experience, every paved road in VT. is good for cycling, with the exceptions of Rt 7, Rt 4, Rt 5 and the Interstates.

indyfabz

Thanks. I recall being on at least one stretch of 100 during Cycle Vermont. It had just been repaved. Smooth as a baby's bottom. Made for a nice descent. Since I hope to be in Burlington I am leaning towards staying west of U.S. 7 and then cutting SE around Dorset and Manchester. Camping opportunities look decent. And I might be able to incorporate some of the D&H Trail, which I had forgotten about. Since I could have up to 4 days to go about 175 miles, there is some flexibility.

BobG

I think I'd connect state parks. Here's one suggestion. Mileages are 52, 65 and 75...

https://goo.gl/hJa6yX

indyfabz

Thanks. Remember when we stayed at Silver Lake back in '99? Lauren and her husband brought lasagna for us for dinner. Stayed there again in 2010 during Cycle Vermont. Came up VT 12 the same way. I remember reaching the general store in Barnard and having an "I remember this place!" moment.


How is riding on U.S. 5?

BobG

Yep! I love those general stores that you walk to from camp for an ice cream cone! Stayed there another time staffing an ACA Cycle VT.

US 5 is fine. All the traffic is out on 91. The zoomable map link shows the route crossing over to NH at Charlestown. I stayed on 5 on VT side the whole way. A killer hill into Putney then clear sailing to Brattleboro. A good KOA right on route south of Putney. Wilgus SP is another good one a little north near Windsor. Avoid Fort Dummer SP in Brattleboro...up a long one way on a big hill.

bikenh

Gotta remember Rt 5 is an old carriage road so the main pavement was placed on the carriage road...widthwise. The area over where you normally ride isn't as wide as a carriage road so there is typically a 'drop-off' between the two. It's not bad, especially if you are only riding it once every few years. I use to ride it quite often and I hated riding it, even after I heard why the road surface seemed so different then anywhere else around, aka it's not as smooth as a babies butt. Rt 5 generally has less traffic than you would experience on Rt 7, plus you won't have Rutland to deal with.

Something like catching Rt 100 down to Ludlow and then 103 SE to Rt 5 and on down to Brattleboro. Rt 100 south of Rt 4 isn't that bad, hilly wise and you have a nice downhill SE of the Rt 131/103 split east Ludlow. It does help keep you off od Rt 5 a little longer. Not sure about campgrounds even though I think there is one north of Ludlow, 5-10 miles or so if I remember right. Don't remember if it is right around Tyson(just north of Tyson-Reading Rd) or not. I live just east of the area across the CT River so I get over that way occasionally and have ridden the stretch of Rt 100 from Rt 4 to Ludlow is the past.

Steve B.

If staying west of the hills, stay west of 7 at least near Rutland and south. I've ridden Rt 7 from Burlington to Middlebury and it was fine, no worse then Rt 100. 7 south from Rutland is 2 lanes each direction (Interstate type road) of 60+ traffic. Lots of nice local roads just to the west. Rt 140 and 103 over to Ludlow is an easier climb by far, than Rt 30. Rt 155 over towards Weston is a grind as well.

Leebo

Last summer there was a rt 5 bridge detour in Guliford , I would assume its open now? Would also recommend camping at Hapgood pond , Peru( $2 for bikes) and the West Jamaica campground with river and lean to. FYI.

practical

Here are some roads I would suggest:
From St. Albans, go to St. Albans Bay and ride south on the Georgia Shore Road. I could give you a turn-by-turn directions, but from here you can figure out the best way using Google maps until you get to the Route 2-Route 7 Intersection. Take Route 2 to Route 2A to Essex Junction then get on Route 117 to Richmond. Get back on Route 2 until you get to Barre where you will pick up Route 14. Take Route 14 south all the way until it hits Route 5 in White River. In Windsor, I would recommend crossing the Cornish Bridge and getting on Route 12A in New Hampshire. Switch over to Route 12 in Walpole. Then I would cross back into Vermont at Westminster Station and head south on Route 5 again. You really don't have much choice at that point. Good luck.

BobG

South of Brattleboro Indy won't need to take Route 5 through Guilford. There are quiet back roads through Vernon Vt along the CT river to Turners Falls MA and on to Deerfield. They continue all the way to Hatfield to just north of Northampton.

GOOGLE MAPS ALERT!

indy, If you follow Google Bike Maps through Vernon VT do not turn right onto Pond Road as suggested. Keep straight on VT 142. Pond Road turns into a rough double track Jeep road and re-joins 142 further south. Yes, I found out too late to turn around and rode the whole way on the Jeep road!

Samcls04

Happy to meet up in White River Junction if you pass through!

indyfabz

Doh! That was my plan. That's o.k. There is a private campground not too far from town in Hindsdale, NH.


As for staying on VT 142, I think you mentioned that a few years ago when I was looking for advice for my trip from Brattleboro home. I stayed on VT 142 all the way to MA 10 and found it quite pleasant on a Saturday morning. Then mostly back roads through Gill to Turners Falls. Didn't hit U.S. 5 until the bridge over the Deerfield River.

BobG

The climb up to Fort Dummer may have seemed harder that it really was. At the end of a hilly day I bought groceries and headed in the wrong direction to the park, riding 3 miles and climbing several hundred feet toward Guilford before realizing that Fort Dummer was not accessed from route 5. Had to flag down other cyclists for directions and back track all the way to Brattleboro on a hot afternoon to get back on course! Had I not gotten lost and ridden straight to the park the climb up would have been taken in stride.