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

[XXtwindad]

My idea of a dream trip is to operate out of a city and take day trips. There are some well known ones (La Chambre, Girona, and Campan for example) but I'd like to hear about some lesser known gems from Forum members.

Here's some of mine:

Fort William Scotland (I've done that)
Triora, Italy (at the top of the list)
Middlebury, Vermont
Winthrop, Washington
Asheville, NC

Others?

[Ken Robb]

Lots of great riding in The Finger Lakes area of NY. We had two great stay in Canandaigua. Besides the riding it is home to the NY State Culinary Institute where we had some excellent meals at modest prices.

[Climb01742]

Asolo in Treviso, Italy. Heaven.

[donevwil]

Alleghe, Italy. Spent a few days there exploring the Dolomites on a Cinghiale tour. My wife and I fell in love with the town and route options.

[Look585]

Bolgheri / Castagneto Carducci (Tuscany) is the place I would choose if I had to commit to one cycling destination for the rest of my life.

[joosttx]

I have several but I’m not telling.

[Matthew]

Northern Michigan. Petoskey, Traverse City, Boyne, Charlevoix, Lelenau Peninsula. Many beautiful areas up there. Plenty of hills, country roads. Lots of lakes and streams too. M22 is a popular road, not just for cycling. Great views of Lake Michigan. Check out the one way loop near Sleeping Bear Dunes too. It's beautiful all over northern Michigan.

[m_sasso]

Originally Posted by Matthew

Northern Michigan. Petoskey, Traverse City, Boyne, Charlevoix, Lelenau Peninsula. Many beautiful areas up there. Plenty of hills, country roads. Lots of lakes and streams too. M22 is a popular road, not just for cycling. Great views of Lake Michigan. Check out the one way loop near Sleeping Bear Dunes too. It's beautiful all over northern Michigan.

I will second the Northern Michigan area, some really wonderful roads to ride and beautiful natural scenery to enjoy!

[cua90]

Originally Posted by m_sasso

I will second the Northern Michigan area, some really wonderful roads to ride and beautiful natural scenery to enjoy!

Third vote for the Traverse City region

[EB]

For mountain biking - the Mendocino coast area in NorCal - Jackson State Demonstration Forest and the Woodlands. Trailforks has some of the details but the best guide is Roo Harris's book which you can order from Roo via email or pick up locally at Catch a Canoe.

Padraig from RKP has some of the details in this post.

The area is gorgeous and worth spending several days to soak it all in, aside from the riding. There's also some good road riding if you can brave the traffic - this is one example..

[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.