Bike Tour options

[shootingstar]

Air Canada has a web seat sale...right now. Weather in Vancouver, British Columbia is still great. Not rainy yet. Not until October. It is 100 km. south of...Whistler where you could still get good hiking..now. Before snow flies/wet rain in October, etc. Vancouver Island also has a few wineries.

I will add that Vancouver International Airport is directly hooked into the light rapid transit train and takes you directly into downtown with your bikes in half an hr. from the suburbs where the airport is.

And VAncouver is only 40 km. north the U.S. border. There is an Amtrak train also that will take you between downtown Vancouver and Seattle/Portalnd with 2 trains per day that have a bike train car where you can roll on your bikes. Check out the Cascadia train.

Think of Canada, that "foreign" country.

Or try Quebec, Route Verte bike routes..since fall colour is bright, beautiful.in Ontario, Vermont and New England states area.

[hulagirl]

Air Canada has a web seat sale...right now. Weather in Vancouver, British Columbia is still great. Not rainy yet. Not until October. It is 100 km. south of...Whistler where you could still get good hiking..now. Before snow flies/wet rain in October, etc. Vancouver Island also has a few wineries.

I will add that Vancouver International Airport is directly hooked into the light rapid transit train and takes you directly into downtown with your bikes in half an hr. from the suburbs where the airport is.

And VAncouver is only 40 km. north the U.S. border. There is an Amtrak train also that will take you between downtown Vancouver and Seattle/Portalnd with 2 trains per day that have a bike train car where you can roll on your bikes. Check out the Cascadia train.

Think of Canada, that "foreign" country.

Or try Quebec, Route Verte bike routes..since fall colour is bright, beautiful.in Ontario, Vermont and New England states area.

Holy cow YES! I could plan a ride from Anchorage down the coast of Canada to Bellingham and then take the Alaska Marine Hwy (ferry) back up. Or just do a one way. Or vice-versa. That could be a VERY cool ride. Cooler, mountains - all the stuff we are looking for. Thanks for bringing up Canada!

Anyone ever ride Ragbrai? I'm from Illinois and not really into heading back that way...especially to ride across Iowa. But hey, it might be awesome????

[shootingstar]

Better check a detailed road map of British Columbia. There are hardly roads that run straight from the most northern tip of B.C. along the coast to Vancouver......it's a ragged coastline and heavily forested with temperate rainforests (it is the area of the rare Spirit Bear, or white bear).

I believe it's around Bella Coola there's a road...etc. A huge part of B.C. is wilderness, mountains, forest, a semi-arid area Okanagan Valley where there are wineries.

Seriously consider a British Columbia Ferry ride from Prince Rupert midway along the Pacific Coast --it's a fjord-like area ..with bald eagles, salmon, whales (at different times), etc.No need to take an expensive cruiseliner journey!

[hulagirl]

Yeah...I know there isn't a coastal road. ;-) I do know that folks drive up the Anchorage so there must be a way...just might not be a way that is good for bikes. Would have to check.

And the Alaska Ferry is crazy cheap. You can even set up a tent on the back deck to sleep in! For no charge! Just two passenger fare. Pretty darn cool. I'll also check the BC ferry. But the Alaska one runs from WA up to SE Alaska and covers all that good stuff too. Winner is the cheaper one!

Thanks!
Denise

[hulagirl]

Oh...Google is my friend! Found some references to something similar to what we are both talking about:

"Not too sure about the Anchorage-Tok bit (have been told it is good), but Joanne and I can highly recommend riding Tok (AK) up to the Top of the World Highway, down to Dawson City, onto Whitehorse and then down to Skagway. Take the inside passage to Prince Rupert (great cheap trip on the ferry) and then take the Yellowhead Hwy to Prince George, then onto Jasper and Banff. The whole trip was absolutely fabulous and we think you would absolutely love it. You can find details, distances and photo's in the journal section of our website - www.where2pedalto.com"

I'm going to check that out!

[shootingstar]

If you plan to go this fall, then I would suggest within this month.

[Sky King]

this is a great thread, am making notes! was going to suggest tour de wyoming but I think it involves to much camping. Don't blame you for not wanting to deal with that.
this is probably to far to travel for you, but years ago we did a week in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. All the little lakes had cottages so was perfect. I think the loop was around 130 miles and beautiful.

[roguedog]

Looks like california's been covered so here are the one's I have on my wishlist:

Kettle Valley rail trail in BC
The Willamette Valley Oregon Bikeway with perhaps a diversion to the coast thru Smiith river Falls
Utah Canyonlands (Skinny Tire Festival)
Old Kentucky Home Tour (http://www.okht.org/)
Bike Virginia (http://bikevirginia.org/)
GAP
Katy Trail
Erie Canal
Cycle Oregon (http://www.cycleoregon.com/) or the Farm to Farm Century (http://rideoregonride.com/farm-to-farm-century/)

[Wasp]

The hubby and I rode part of the kettle valley railway, it's quite scenic and easy pedaling for the most of it. We took our hybrids and took our time. Parts of the trail can get quite busy on weekends and holidays etc.

As far as cycling parts of Alaska to Jasper this late in the year......
You might want to reconsider, I don't think it would be all that pleasant of a route to be cycling. Your going to run into all kinds of not so nice weather. Plus it's getting dark around 730pm now, and the temp is dropping once the sun goes down. Our rainy season will start soon enough, that would be something else to consider. If you happen to go, pack warm waterproof clothes.