I am thinking about cycling in USA

[GmanUK65]

I am hoping to get a bit of money in the near future, not a lot but enough to go on a decent cycling holiday. I am thinking of going to the USA. Has anyone cycled in America? Where are the best places to go road cycling? The type of area I am thinking about not too mountainous and not totally flat but a bit in between. Trails are no good either.

 

[Gravity Aided]

You could try Northwest Illinois, or Southern Illinois. Central is a bit flat, but has the better cycling infrastructure outside of the Chicagoland area. A word of warning-take plenty of food and water, because distances are greater between towns, as you'll see by maps. Many small towns have few services. I also have found New England and the Eastern Seaboard very nice. New England may be quite hilly, in spots. I've always found very nice people when riding, and local cyclists are often helpful. @vernon could tell you about his experiences, he rode in the Western U.S.

 

[midliferider]

When do you plan to go?
Camping?
For how long?

 

[Sittingduck]

I hired a bike when I was in New Hampshire (Littleton). Got a Specialized Venge from a friendly LBS and the guy even lent me shoes for free! NIce riding around there. Quite lumpy but good roads and the level of traffic was almost none existant compared to what I am used to here, anyway. It was nice to see how it was to ride in a different continent.

 

[vernon]

I am hoping to get a bit of money in the near future, not a lot but enough to go on a decent cycling holiday. I am thinking of going to the USA. Has anyone cycled in America? Where are the best places to go road cycling? The type of area I am thinking about not too mountainous and not totally flat but a bit in between. Trails are no good either.

Have a good look at the range of maps on offer from the Adventure Cycling Association

Washington State Idaho and Oregon are very bike friendly and I was taken aback by the hospitality shown to me. There are lots of camp sites, many of them basic with latrines rather than flush toilets but every pitch has a table and benches plus a fire pit. If you are taking a tent make sure that it is capable of being self supporting as you will come across some pitches where the ground is too hard to accept standard pegs. The maps are good as they indicate where you can stock up on provisions - remember that the USA is car centric and you can't count on towns/settlements having a shop/store there are places where it's sixty or seventy miles between stores.

Have a look at the Washington Park map and the Pacific Coast map. With the former you can incorporate a visit to the San Juan Islands and Vancouver Island using very reasonably priced ferries - $17 for unlimited travel between the San Juan Islands. You can then take a ferry to Vancouver Island and visit a bit of British Columbia. There's some decent cycling there - some on trails but they are good. You can then rejoin the USA by catching a ferry to Port Angeles and choose east or west for the next bit of your ride.

 

[MichaelW2]

Bikeforums is a good source for local US information.

 

[Drago]

I did some work years back around Amish country in Pennsylvania centred around Lockhaven. Very pretty, with well maintained roads across a gently rolling landscape.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I did some work years back around Amish country in Pennsylvania centred around Lockhaven. Very pretty, with well maintained roads across a gently rolling landscape.

Very pretty area that, and people are well used to bicycles on the roads there, and round about Lancaster and the other Amish communities as well. Some Amish communities allow members to ride on bicycles, although horses and buggies seem more prevalent. There are also some Amish communities in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa that I know of.
More:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish
Since the Wiki author seems to ignore that there are Amish in Illinois and Iowa, here's a site about Illinois Amish Country.
http://www.amishcountryofillinois.com/
And Iowa.
http://amishamerica.com/iowa-amish/
Their horses don't seem to mind bicycles as much as other horses do.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I cycled around New Joisey years ago, nice countryside but in July it was quite warm.

 

[Gravity Aided]

If you are taking a tent make sure that it is capable of being self supporting as you will come across some pitches where the ground is too hard to accept standard pegs.

Dome tents are a good idea. Self supporting is a must, lots of soil not conducive to tent pegs, I often carry a mallet and some heavy duty ones in case of (nearly ubiquitous in the Midwest) wind.

 

[Subotai72]

I have a sister who lives in New Hampshire and have done a bit of cycling in the White Mountains, ironically not too far from where @Sittingduck mentioned. Some great roads there, long climbs (for me) but not excessively steep and really quiet. One thing I did notice was the amount of space I was given by motorists, much appreciated.

 

[Debade]

I have bicycled in many parts of the USA and parts of Canada which I also liked very much. There are lots of choices. Your time frame, distance desired and time of year (very important in N. America) would be very helpful to provide advice.

The suggestion you received to investigate Adventure Cycling (USA helpful only and know it is a NGO not a for-profit company) is very good. If you choose one of their routes, their maps are great and worth the price. Their maps provide routes, food stores, camping, bike stores, etc. The other place to look is crazyguyonabike. Here is the link to our journals https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/directory/?o=tS&user=martifine&v=G They might provide some suggestions. Look around for other journals which provide advice simply by their summary. Many people are willing to answer questions as well.

 

[Sbudge]

Pay a lot of attention to the weather for the time of year you're planning to go. Areas (like New England) that in Summer can be very 'UK' like can be -10 degrees and 2 feet of snow in the Winter. There are parts with very even climates (e.g. Central California) but generally their extremes are far more so than ours.

 

[GmanUK65]

Before starting this thread I checked out the Internet for ideas and came across a place which really interested me, Frankenberg in Texas as it claimed to have many maps for road cycling. The nearest airport was 70 miles away in Austin. There was no public transport that would get me there from Austin and even though cycling there would be an option, getting lost would be a nightmare, so that put me off going there (as it happens it would probably be a big hassle taking my bike, renting one would be better). That made me stuck on where to go, so I started this thread. I then checked out on the Internet for the best cities to cycle, as I realized going into the sticks could be a problem, after reading about Frankenburg and as it happens it seems Austin is one of the best cities for cycling. Has anyone cycled in Austin? What is the weather like, as I would prefer to go at a time when the weather was a bit like UK summer time?

 

[Gravity Aided]

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/?n=climategraphs
What little I know of Britain, I'd guess December and January., but this gives you a range of choices. Tornadoes?
Here's Austins' Weather Service(Met Office) page.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/ewx/
In America, if you want the shipping forecast, you need a special but inexpensive radio to get that, but it runs 24-7-365, although it has no catchy tune before the forecast. You may want one of these, as Texas has some somewhat vindictive weather. Spanish may also help some, although Mexican Spanish is somewhat removed from its European counterpart.