ben the july 8th weekend ride to toronto is still a plan of mine!  it's been modified though.  i think i'll take an amtrak train that permits bicycles to Buffalo, thus making the trip a mere 115 miles.  my plan is to do the (loooooooooooooong) train ride, hotel it, then ride those miles the next day, check into hotel in ontario.

however, the way back is trickier.  i won't want to do a 115-mile day 1 day after a wedding 2 days after doing 115 miles.  but the 115 miles is the only way to get back to  'merikkuh in one day, which is where i'd pick the train up from.

anyone have good pointers for finding bikepacking-friendly campsites in or around the ontario/upstate NY/buffalo/rochester area?  i think i'd like to do a ~50 mile day the first day, which would put me around the area of hamilton, ontario.

BenFinoRadin said:

Going to do this ride July 22nd-25th if anyone wants to join: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/21682414

Route is very much a work in progress - trying to get as much dirt and gravel in as possible.

Come visit. 100's of miles of gravel up here. In fact, have your pick of 100 mile gravel races.

this seems awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kjhuYrLDpg

@Brendan Rigby

When I was in college (so there were still dinosaurs walking the earth) I stayed at a provincial park campground called Bronte Creek which is between Hamilton and Toronto, it wasn't too bad.

I bet if you googled it, you could still find it. if you want to be closer to Buffalo you probably have to go with private campgrounds which can be nice, or can just be an RV parking lot (hard to know frequently). I don't know if Canadian campgrounds also have primitive sites or walk-up sites, which also usually work for bikepackers, that are cheaper than the drive up sites, and are usually tucked away in more private/quiet parts of the campground so you don't have to hear the RV generators humming into the night. 

The C&O Towpath and Great Allegheny Passage are in this cyclists opinion, one of the east coast's crown jewels of dirt & gravel riding – 320ish miles of continuous and isolated tree-tunnel hotness that connects Washington D.C. to Pittsburgh. I rode 110 miles of the C&O towpath this past weekend.






As you can see, the ride wasn't exactly self-supported. My bags for this ride contained a 3L water bladder, food, and tubes/tools.

@BenFinoRadin toasted peaches? living it up!

How was the weather?

It poured for about 3 hours - which just added to the fun

amazing!!!

ben, you'll need to teach me how to take pictures one of these days!  that looks awesome.  

i wanted to get some pictures (especially in kit and sponsor kit!) up here before i return to work and forget to.

rode from Buffalo to Toronto via a town about halfway called Grimsby.  credit-card touring, as they call it, staying in hotels.  first day was a bit rough, i think it was 83 miles?  the bike weighed 50 pounds at least with all the crap on it.  was going to a friend's wedding so i had clothes for brunch as well as laptop and other heavy items you'd probably not bring on a normal touring expedition.

some of the rides were really beautiful, and some moments were not.  if you're thinking of riding up that way let me know!  the real shame of it is they have a trail that goes basically hundreds of kilometers along the shores of lakes ontario and erie (?) and we can't even build a bike path that goes 13 whole miles down the east side of Manhattan.  cmaaaaaaaaaaaaan

arriving in redbeard kit...



getting ready to depart


important signage. also, large gap in fence. make a run for it!





more lake ontario



the Niagara scow


scenic missassauga!

Awesome Brendan!

Folks a friend is looking for a fun century ride to train for in late August / early September ... he's doing it with his financée, so nothing too crazy hilly or competitive like Tour of the Catskills ... any recs?

Hi @niallsmart – this strikes me as more appropriate for the "Fondos, Fundos, Charity and Donut and other organized rides" thread.

That being said, the Twin Lights Century is probably just what they're looking for.

(coughs...)

http://www.heckofthenorth.com/heck-of-the-north/

Sooo, about that 105 mile gravel race.

Should I?

Jules said:

Sooo, about that 105 mile gravel race.

Should I?

You have won Battenkill so why not??

Jules said:

Sooo, about that 105 mile gravel race.

Should I?

Does a bear shit in the woods?

105 miles is a LONG ass way to ride. Top 10 finished last year in 6:30, next 10 spread out close to 7 hours...

7:30 on the bike hotness. take pictures. good luck.

follow up: i posted more pictures from the ride to toronto on my new blog, http://bikes.brendanrigby.com 

Jules said:

105 miles is a LONG ass way to ride. Top 10 finished last year in 6:30, next 10 spread out close to 7 hours...

It's still shorter than a day of work.  

Brendan Rigby said:

follow up: i posted more pictures from the ride to toronto on my new blog, http://bikes.brendanrigby.com 

Great Blog Brendan!

I'm headed to Washington D.C. for business for a few days, and on Saturday am setting out on another go at the Great Allegheny Passage.

I'm getting to D.C. on the Amtrak Vermonter line (they allow bikes), doing the 320 mile ride in two days, and when I get to Pittsburgh I will be packing up my bike in a bag that I've had shipped to a local bike shop, and taking a bus home to NYC.

Doing it self-supported, hopefully without leaving the trail at all.

Here's what I'm packing:


No super sexy shots of the bike setup yet, but here's how I'm packing and what I'm riding:



Will post ride report next Monday!

320 miles in 2 days?! that is aggressive! godspeed sir

hotness

what are those "squeeze tubes"

eloy said:

hotness

what are those "squeeze tubes"

Those are reusable tubes for paste-like food. I use them for my home-made sweet potato "gels". 

Seven C02's? At some point the pump weighs less...

Have fun, Ben. I'm eager to read your report, as I've daydreamed about bikepacking this route (but probably over more like five days). 

@BenFinoRadin did you manage to reserve the bike space on Amtrak? I've never had any luck with that, as the reserved spots have always been sold out. 

ChristinaWoolston said:

@BenFinoRadin did you manage to reserve the bike space on Amtrak? I've never had any luck with that, as the reserved spots have always been sold out. 

I did – and as far as I could tell I was the only one on the Vermonter with a bike.