Riding in and around Falmouth MA?

[rsl]

I'm going to be staying with some friends in Falmouth this friday through monday. I'm definitely going to take my bike along. Can anyone recommend any good routes? I'm probably looking at late nights, and my wife and I have breakfast duty for the group so I probably won't be getting up too early and will need to be back kind of early. Something around 25 miles might be perfect.

Thanks!!

[JStonebarger]

There's plenty of good riding around there, including some rail-to-trails (better for night riding?). Stop by the LBS (better yet ask your friends to) and pick up Rubel's bike map of Cape Cod (http://www.bikemaps.com/ complete with listings of bike and ice cream shops).

Also, see http://www.massbike.org/bikeways/bikecape.htm and http://www.cctrails.org/bike.htm.

[benb]

Ride down to Woods Hole, hop on the Ferry, and tour Martha's Vineyard.

Lots of fun, not a terribly hard ride but should be fun.

You could ride up to Hyannis if you want to avoid going on the Ferry. However expect it to be pretty crowded and busy on the mainland.

On the Island there will be a few areas that are crowded and busy, but lots of it will be quieter. (Vineyard Haven where you get off the Ferry is always packed.)

There is a grass airfield (Katama) down on the Southeast side of the Island that is worth seeing. It was years ago but I took a ride in a biplane off of the grass airstrip there. Definitely worth riding by and seeing if the biplane is flying.

edit: Well this would take too long I guess.. I'd guess you're talking closer to 50 miles to do what I mentioned.

[znfdl]

[QUOTE=benb]Ride down to Woods Hole, hop on the Ferry, and tour Martha's Vineyard.QUOTE]

If you ride every major roads on the Vineyard, it is almost a century.

[b.domansky@att.]

+ 1 with benb.

The ride to Woods Hole is relatively short. But hop on the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. Hve ridden this a number of times. Weekends will be crowded. Lots of roads. Southeast corner of island little more challenging.

Ride to Hyannis is definitely crowded but doable. Great to ride along the shore.

[BURCH]

This may not help you since Eastham is an hour drive from Falmouth, but....

My in-laws live on the cape in Eastham, MA. From their house, I take the bike trail to Welfleet (~7 miles) where it ends and then jump on rte 6 to Provincetown. 25 miles each way. It is one of my favorite rides on the cape. The ride from Truro into P-town is nice because you get a good view of the ocean and harbor once you start into P-town. Plus P-town is a great place to refuel with all of its eateries and shops. The ride is pretty flat until you hit Welfleet/Truro which has some good hills. Also, that part of rte 6 has a good shoulder and I always feel safe on it. Rte 6 before Eastham should not be ridden as it doesn't have a great shoulder is basically a highway.

NOTE: Stay away from that bike trail anytime during midday and on. It will be packed with families and little kids on bikes. It becomes a little hectic and a roadie trying to keep a 20mph average is dangerous to everyone out there.

The MS150 goes thru the cape as well, so you could look up their route if you don't want to leave your immediate area to drive to Eastham.

If you take rte 6 to P-town, stop in at Farrells market on rte 6 in welfleet (also a citgo gas station) and ask for Ryan the owner. Tell him that Burch sent you for some killer clam chowda.

Enjoy. PM for my number if you need more info. about the lower cape.

[rdparadise]

I used to go up to Falmouth a lot. My ex wife's parents own a place just off the heights. Traffic can be brutal and the bike path does get congested so BEWARE!

Sorry for the double post, I hit enter before I was complete with my thougths.

[rdparadise]

I used to go up to Falmouth a lot. My ex wife's parents own a place just off the heights. Traffic can be brutal and the bike path does get congested so BEWARE!

I forget the roads actual names but you can pretty much ride along the coast from the heights, down around Falmouth harbor and out towards Woods Hole. This is a very scenic route and one used by the nationally famous Falmouth road race held each year in August.

In Woods Hole, you can go around the harbor there and west towards the golf course. That's a pretty good road if memory serves me right.

The overall challenge with the area is finding roads away from the masses. A holiday weekend can be brutal so good luck.

I agree with MV as an alternative, again beware the roads are narrow and there are a lot of blind spots for motorists.

Good luck,

Bob

[tylercheung]

howabout Rt 6a instead of 6?

[happycampyer]

I used to get routes from Sam at Corner Cycle in Falmouth, but he has moved out west. They might have routes for local rides. Somewhere I have a cue sheet for a 50 mi ride that goes in a loop up to the Sagamore Bridge and back, but I think it's at the cape. A road that is fun to ride on and isn't heavily trafficked is Quisset Ave/Sippewissett Road in Woods Hole. If you stay on the back roads in that area you can have a good ride. You can also ride along Surf Drive from Woods Hole to Falmouth which is flat but scenic. If you are starting in Falmouth, ride along the water (Surf Dr) to WH, ride up Quisset/Sippewissett to Palmer Ave. You could make your way back inland, but I'd just reverse course and go back the way you came.