Great (under the radar) villages/towns for cycling expeditions?

[Ken Robb]

Should you find yourself in the Finger Lakes area a wonderful "break" from climbing the hills is a cruise along the Erie Canal Tow Path. Flat, crushed gravel, scenic and small towns every few miles with beer or pie/coffee: your call. If you have a companion who is not THAT into riding they will love the tow path.

[Kirk007]

Barcelonette, FR. Take your climbing gears. Don't tell too many people

[merlinmurph]

I'll pile onto the recommendations for northern Michigan. We didn't want to leave. The lakes are spectacular, the people are wonderful, Traverse City is a fantastic town/city, and the riding was good. I wouldn't call it spectacular, but very good.

We would love to go back there with our trailer sometime and hang out in the TC and Petoskey areas.

[Matthew]

Good to hear folks are liking the northern Michigan area. If anyone is around the 2nd. weekend in June check out the Michigan Mountain Mayhem road ride. A timed event but not a race. Longest route is 120 miles or so with 10k feet of climbing. I've done the 100 miler, which is actually around 105 miles. 7k feet of climbing in that route. Great route with good food and lots of riders. Usually sells out early. A few hills push 20 percent. Anyway, it starts in Boyne City and travels around northern Michigan finding every hill possible!! Most folks only think Detroit when they hear Michigan. Nothing wrong with that as Detroit is making a nice comeback. But there is much more to Michigan. Pretty much anywhere along the coast is nice, especially Lake Michigan. Give it a look. You'll likely love it. Matthew

[parris]

Mr.Pink covered things pretty well with the Albany to Syracuse and South then back to Albany region. As you head South I'd probably go somewhat west of 81 to include the Finger Lakes region as well.

I was born and raised in Utica and now live in the Binghamton area. The difficulty I tend to find being from this part of the state isn't a lack of generally good and quiet roads. The "problem" is deciding just WHAT kind of riding i want to do. It is a nice problem to have.