Boston to Washington, DC By Ross Bassett Introduction: Me and My Trip

I am a 66 year old professor of history at North Carolina State University. I have a passion for biking and bike touring. You can read more about how I feel about biking here.

After doing a solo Trans-America tour last year, I have been looking for another adventure this year. (One that is a little less stressful for my wife and daughter.). Right now, I think two week trips are the sweet spot for me. I had thought about something in Europe (France and Germany), but the timing wasn't quite right. While I loved biking in the West, I also enjoy biking in and through cities, especially where there is good bike infrastructure. I finally narrowed this summer's trip down to two options: one would be a ride through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, ending in eastern Iowa. The other was originally planned as a trip down the Northeastern coast from Boston back home to Raleigh. I decided to do this latter tour, but to end in Washington, because the bike infrastructure didn't look so good for the section from DC to Raleigh. I am excited about this trip for a number of reasons. I teach a course on why urban Americans don't bike to the extent that urban Europeans do, and I am looking forward to examining the biking scene in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and some of the smaller cities along the way. These are cities that I love, but I am also looking forward to seeing all the towns in between. The route that I have chosen has a good mix of on road cycling and cycling on off road bike trails. Also I am planning on meeting my wife in New York for a four day break.

From Boston, I'll head west riding to Lexington on the Minuteman Commuter Bikeway. Further out, I will do some miles on the Central Massachusetts Rail Trail, a Trail that is still in progress. I'll stay the second night in Amherst, MA, before heading south. Most of my trip the next day will be on the Farmington Heritage Canal Trail. I'll head down to New Haven and have pizza with my nephew. The standard "East Coast Greenway" route would be to follow the north coast of Long Island Sound to New York City, but I really love the more northern entry to NYC. So I'll be going over to Brewster and taking the greenways through Westchester County and the reservoirs into the Bronx and then the Hudson River Greenway. After time with Debbie, I'll take the ferry to Highlands and bike to Princeton. From there Philadelphia, Strasburg, Westminster, MD and Washington DC. From DC, I'll put my bike on an Amtrak train and head back to Raleigh. The route is planned so there will be a motel at the end of every day.

I have my faithful Surly Bridge Club bike that took me across the United States, as well as my oatmeal/pasta cooker! My one piece of new equipment is a GoPro camera. I feel a little like a hypocrite buying it, because some of the things I like about biking are its simplicity and how it provides a way to separate from screens. (One more piece of technology to occupy me). But it will be a way to share my adventure with more people. One of my few regrets from my cross country trip last year was that I didn't have a GoPro.