Back at work after my trip. I was gone from the 10th through the 15th and it was amazing.
Day 1 was very rainy coming through North Adams on Rt2. Once I got past there it dried out for the most part. Met up with my friends in Fitchburg (SV650, GS500E, ZX11) then headed North to Lincoln where we would stay for 2 nights. We came though some VERY heavy rain just as the day was ending, I got a little wet despite my rain gear but my sidi adventures at least kept my feet bone dry.
Heres a pic of my bike in touring mode…
Day2 we rode the Kancamugus Highway (fast road, epic views, a little traffic) and Bear Notch Rd (twisty) on our way up to Mt. Washington where we rode to the summit. Excellent weather on the mountain and not too much traffic. We took 302 west through Crawford Notch and then 93 south through the Franconia Notch back to the hotel. It just started to rain when we got back, so the weather ended up being perfect for us. Very fun day.
friends on top of MtWashington
Day3 we left Lincoln and headed west on Rt112 and 302 making our way over to Rt17 in VT. amazing scenery, and Rt17 (Appalachian Gap) was nuts. Once we got West of the gap, my friends split off and headed home, and I headed North on VT7 through burlington, then RT2 up through the Grand Isle chain through Lake Champlain and into Canada. I took back roads through farmlands to Montreal where I spent the night.
RT112
RT302
RT17 App Gap
Quebecois Corn
Canadian Rainbow ALL THE WAY
Day4 I got up early and rode through downtown Montreal before heading south again for the border. I gotta say, I’ve been to Montreal a bunch of times for the races, and I still get lost on their messed up highways and construction detours. Either way, I was crossing the border near Mooers, NY at 9am, which is the beginning of NY22. One goal of this trip was to ride the length of 22, which runs from the Canadian border to the intersection with US1 in Bronx, NY. What an amazing road. Minimal police, no traffic, and long fast sweepers means you can easily maintain 80mph comfortably. I rode about 340 miles from Montreal to my sisters house near Poughkeepsie where I spent the night. This was probably my favorite day on the trip.
6:30am bridge traffic in Montreal
cool church/intersection
Day5 I left my sisters and headed south on 22 again to its terminus in the Bronx. some really fun roads along the way, twisting around some of the reservoirs that are downstate. Once I got to the end, I headed across the tri-boro/kennedy bridge to Manhattan and rode down FDR drive, under the brooklyn bridge and battery park underpass coming out on the west side right next to the Freedom Tower. I ended up not going to the WTC memorial because parking the bike down there was a pain with all my gear. I did end up meeting a friend of mine at Grand Central Terminal for lunch (she works across the street). Parking was kind of a pain, no garages take bikes down there so I ended up parking on the street next to GCT. There was a few bikes parked in the same spot, so i grabbed my cameras out of my bags and left it. No issues there.
After lunch I headed back across town and took the west side highway north and across the GWB. I had planned on using the lincoln tunnel, but by that time I was so sick of the city traffic I just wanted to get out. I took the Palisades parkway north to its end at bear mountain, then 9W north to Kingston where I would spend the night at a friends house. Another epic road, 9W over West Point was friggen amazing.
FDR Drive in the rain. Looking at Brooklyn Bridge
Freedom Tower
Eastbound on W42nd St.
George Washington Bridge
Rainstorm in Marlborough, NY just north of Newburgh
Day6 was just a short hop north on 9W to Albany. nice road, not a bad alternative to 87.
ended up around 1,350 miles total. No issues with the bike, my new seat was great. I had an amazing time, and definitely looking forward to more trips like this in the future.