gregmacc

Beginning of June is it really ... other commitments either side of that six week period ... we were just looking at airfares now and they are actually quite a bit cheaper than Europe so that's encouraging ... not so fussed about bugs, just need to know how to live with your local varieties ... we've experienced widgies in New Zealand ... just spent a lot of time itching and scratching

gregmacc

Yep ... going by some of the photos/videos we've seen, totally agree about that part of the country ... maybe next year in the cooler weather.

gregmacc

Yep ... found them too ... I can see I'm never going to get any of the projects around the house done

gregmacc

I just want to say how overwhelmed we are with all the wonderful responses ... full of great ideas and suggestions ... please keep them coming.
We are going away on a 3 day camping/cycling trip where there is no mobile cell coverage/internet but I will be sure to respond to any new posts to this thread ASAP.

gregmacc

... this sounds great Lanesplitter ...
Regarding Planes, Trains and Automobiles (it was an '80s movie ... sorry ), I know we initially stated that big cities are not our thing, however having a look at Chicago is appealing. Alan suggested starting in Washington D.C. ... another place we would obviously have a good look around when there ... ride 335 miles off-road to Pittsburgh on the C&O/GAP trails, and then catch the train to Chicago and restart the cycling from there. Is Milwaukee another city worth a look?
I presume leaving from Sydney there would be a west coast stop-over (LA, Houston, SF?). We would use public transport to get around cities, not the bikes. The prospect of ferry rides is exciting too.
Plains, Trains, Automobiles and Ferries?

Lanesplitter

Milwaukee, though interesting and cool in it's own right, I only suggested because I think it's a great place to begin a bike tour. The reason is, between Chicago and Milwaukee there's a fair amount of congestion. While there is a significant rail trail which helps a ton, there are also large segments without. Once you get out of Milwaukee going north, however, there's a long rail trail, then, before you know, you're firmly in northern Wisconsin, which has no traffic at all. Wisconsin is very quiet once you get up north. There is also a very extensive network of rail trails. I went out there for a second time last summer and really loved how serene it was. It seemed like every park we had to ourselves. It's not like that everywhere. Plus people drive very calm. No horns or close passes. Ever. It is a lot different, even across the lake, in Michigan, to say nothing of the northeast.

One could even head west at Green Bay to Minneapolis, Minnesota, then back to Chicago by train as another very quiet option. Minnesota has tons of rail trails, including the Paul Bunyan trail, which is the longest paved one in the country. Deep forests and lakes, plus pancake flat. Maybe the flattest area in the country one can tour while still enjoying epic scenery.

Anyway, I hope you have a great tour! There are tons of great suggestions here. Cheers!

Trevtassie

Hah, just to throw a spanner in the works, have you considered touring Japan? Hokkaido is starting to warm up nicely then. It's out favourite place to tour, we're on number 4 there this year, doing the last bit so we can say we've ridden the length of Japan. Flights on Japan Airlines are usually pretty cheap,except maybe June will clash with the Olympics and you get 2 bags at 23kg each no extra charge, provided you can get your box under 203cm total dimensions. Have a look on Facebook at Japan Cycling Navigator. heaps of good tips there.
BTW we didn't really have any issues with bugs on Vancouver Island or the west coast in July and August. Didn't have any bear issues either, though we saw quite a few Black Bears on Vancouver Island. We carried bear spray, did bear hangs for our food in remote areas and most importantly used Air Zounds air horns to give them a heads up when we were riding on logging roads. We had some pop out of bushes on the side of the road ahead of us to see what the noise was. Also good going fast downhill around corners so you don't surprise them.

jwatt

There is a 4600 km bicycle route system in Quebec, most of it on non-busy roads. It includes a 120 mile rail trail in the laurentians. You can ride 175 mi from Montreal to Quebec City and back. You can go beyond Quebec City out to the Gaspe. You can ride around Lac St Jean. You can ride 150 mi from Montreal South across the border to Middlebury Vermont and back. Or you can cross lake Champlain near Middlebury to New York State and ride back up to Montreal in the New York side of the lake. Canada and Quebec in particular is more bicycle friendly than the US. It's a great place to ride.

KDR

Arizona and Utah would be brutally hot except at high elevations. California away from the coast would be too hot for me as well. I love New England and riding or driving there is always fun with many nice small towns in every direction. I think Wisconsin should be on your short list. It has varied terrain but doesn't require long difficult climbs and it seems like there is a well maintained farm road almost every mile in the southern part of the state because it was settled by farmers before automobiles were invented and they had to get their goods to market. Besides the coast of Lake Michigan there are thousands of smaller lakes all over the state.
I live in Southern California and it's hard for me to think of places here that I would want to ride/tour in the Summer due to heavy motor vehicle traffic.

PedalingWalrus

Basically, the way I see it, for June there is a fine line between desert heat and bug warfare when it comes to multi week tour in the USA. Luckily my preconceived idea of an Aussie is the last thing they want to see is a desert wilderness when going to visit another continent. I think they may prefer lush green towns with culture and nature and sights. ... kind of like Melbourne but on steroids ;-) ha ha. That's coming from someone who has never been to Australia. It's pitiful I know. This work thing is a hindrance ;-)

If You decide to do Lake Champlain or Magog or anything near us we may consider crossing paths with You over the weekend if You're interested. Weekend warriors we are for sure.

alan s 

While we are on the subject, I was thinking of doing a partial loop from Chicago Amtrak to Manitowoc ferry to Ludington, then down to South Bend to catch the Amtrak train home. I’ve found decent stops spaced at around 50 miles, but have no idea if there are any areas to be avoided? Already plan to skip the area south of the lake, but am unfamiliar with the larger cities such as Milwaukee. Also, what would be the best time of the summer to avoid black flies and hot weather? Was thinking late June.

stephr1

Third vote for Pacific Coast: HiWay 1 from abt Half Moon Bay down thru Santa Cruz and along the wondrous Big Sur coast on the way south. After Monterey, small towns along the way, camp grounds, amazing scenery and vista points to catch your breath (after you lose it on the views) and re-energize. Might even see Humpbacks headed back north around that time. A bit hilly and narrow along the way but a great experience.

North (above San Francisco) up highway 101 up to, and into, OR. If you stay on the coast, elevation gains/losses aren't too bad (tho, can't say I've ever done it as a cyclist). More serious ups and downs if you head inland. Lots of great small towns along the way and Redwood forests. Places to split off onto HiWay 1 and stay by the water until 1 meets 101 again farther north. Can take it up into OR and then make it to WA across the mouth of the Columbia River.

Detour ride could be on Hiway 30 from Astoria (where they filmed "Kindergarten Cop" towards Portland, OR along the Columbia. Again nice towns along the way. Or, do 101 thru wine country in Calif. You can make it out to the coast from there, but it's a fairly good set of coastal hills (but a beautiful Redwood corridor and creek along the route).

On the coast, weather is moderate (even if it's 90+ degrees (F) inland).

I could suggest the inland valleys of CA, but it's nothing but miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles and a lot of farm roads. Great if you just want to get lost

One other thought....if you're up for it, I understand there are some really nice wine country bike tours in Europe (i.e. France).

djb

Greg and co. A quick mention that its nice that you are considerate enough to respond to people taking the time to give suggestions. Makes a difference.
I hope to have similar responses when I ever ask over at the brit bike forum about routes etc in the UK.

Jim from Boston

USA touring suggestions wantedI refrained from posting in to this thread when I read the OP but reconsidered after the second post above, to suggest Metro Boston, with possible extensions into New England, Canada, and/or the mid-Atlantic states. An appeal of Boston is that it's less sprawling than many American cities.

Just this morning I posted: and parenthetically,

djb

when I did Montreal to Boston, there was a heatwave, high 30s most days, and the fellow I was travelling with and I ended up staying in cheap motels, split cost in 2 was ok and a/c was appreciated. So although I did the route, I dont have camping suggestions. But it was a nice ride, and Boston is a neat city to be a tourist in, was my first time there.
I'm pretty certain I have somewhere the gpx route that the guy I went with made, if you are interested in seeing the general route. Let me know.
Jim, how are bugs in the Boston area in early June?

as for Pacific coast, it certainly is a beautiful trip, I guess you'd just want to look into it more to see how you feel about it road wise and hill wise.....there is tons of info on it, a really popular route. Heck when I did it in 94 there were loads of other bike tourers , well not loads, but at nearly every campground there were some.

Tourist in MSN

No, do not go up as towards north, prevailing winds are to the south. When I did it, we had a lot of sympathy for those poor people we saw cycling towards the north. When I got home and suddenly had to deal with headwinds again, that was a huge bummer.

Much of the route along the coast is up on the bluffs, but every few miles some stream would have created a valley as it flowed towards the ocean, so you would drop a couple hundred feet at 8 percent grade to a tight turn to the bridge and then climb back up again. I think we averaged well over 2,000 feet of elevation gain per day because of that.

stephr1

I ride corrected I guess it wouldn't be much better going south (of Santa Cruz) either. Maybe that's why the SF-to-LA rides go SF-to-LA direction...

I suppose with all that beauty to take in, riding at the end of the continent, overlooking the beautiful Pacific (as your wonderful photo shows), the price of entry is some pain and inconvenience

Tourist in MSN

There are some parts of Milwaukee and Chicago that you likely want to avoid if you are riding a bike, unfortunately I can't advise on specific areas, all I can say is that there are some high crime areas. I live in Madison, WI, close enough to know that some places should be avoided but far enough away to not have details on where to avoid. This is only a guess on my part, but I am guessing if you rode the bike north from downtown Chicago along the lake shore, that would probably be safe through Chicago and suburbs but I would suggest you verify this with some that know more about it than I do. I do not know if the lake shore through Milwaukee and suburbs would all be safe or if there are areas to avoid, that would be something to investigate further.

Tourist in MSN

And you were right about the trees. But I have no idea why some of my photos show up on this website rotated 90 degrees.

stephr1

I was going to say that your photo of the ocean was fine...but then the redwood pic. BTW - Those are coastal Redwoods.

For the really big redwoods (Sequoia) one has to go into the Sierra, and that would be one hellatious climb up to ~5K ft. (or higher) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calave...ees_State_Park. That might be a ride where someone shuttles you up and you get to cycle down

alan s 

The Oregon Coast is hilly and you are riding next to highway traffic a good part of the way.




Same is true of the Northern California coast.

Tourist in MSN

One more photo and I am quitting.

DropBarFan

Colorado & Utah have dry heat that's a lot more tolerable than the humid east/mid-west but I suppose still hotter than some would like. Great Lakes or Quebec sound really fun & I guess not too many hills. Some states have good cycling info/maps on their websites.

Jim from Boston

Thanks for your remarks @djb; one of our first tours out of Boston was to Montreal in September via the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont.

I’m mostly an urban – exurban cyclist, and I’ve never considered bugs a problem. Notably though, from the Internet:

diphthong

would say pacific northwest (washington/oregon/nor cal) but it's likely to be mostly foggy during your riding window. same with coastal central california and coastal southern california.
inland central and southern california could be pleasant (likely) or uncomfortable. will probably be happiest with the northern rockies area (idaho/montana/wyoming). hit glacier/yellowstobe/grand tetons
and plenty of other places. fly into salt lake city or spokane or boise (prob slc). it'll be difficult to beat the scenery in the northern rockies. early/mid june is probably too early to hit the banff, canada area over the border
and the ridiculous multiplicity of national parks in that area. maybe late june...

possible to do an inland/mountain tour of central/southern california then. deserts will be too hot and coast will be overcast. san diego to san francisco (or vice versa) inland or just the southern california mountain range roads are a solid two weeks at that pace. since you have six weeks, i'd recommend doing the flagstaff/grand canyon area afterwards. you'd hafta fly as the surrounding deserts would be uncomfortably hot. then possibly the salt lake city mtns area or extreme northern nevada area before departing.