Overview of Boston to NYC

Well, as I head off from Cape Cod back to NYC, the first step is to figure out a route -- and ideally one that varies from the trips I have done in the past. This time around, I've built the trip around a small detour to Block Island, where my college roommate (Tom Kalb) spends part of his Summers. 

There are a lot of ferries involved. First, it's kind of boring to ride down the length of Cape Cod. I've done it dozens of times, and 30 miles of it is a bike path. So this time around, I'll start by riding the wrong way -- from Truro to Provincetown -- where I'll catch a fast ferry (still almost 2 hours) to Boston. 

From Boston, after getting off of the Ferry hopefully around 12:15, I'll head off to Providence -- which is a bit of a tall challenge, as it's about 60 miles -- which in a full day is certainly doable -- but starting in the afternoon means I've thrown some bike lights into my kit, just in case. 

From Providence, it's a more reasonable 45 miles (with a full day available for riding) to Point Judith in Rhode Island, where I get to catch an afternoon ferry to Block Island. After a quick disembarkment, it's about a 4 mile ride to Tom's house. 

The next day, I'll bid a fond farewell to Tom (for now) and catch a different Block Island ferry that drops me in New London, CT. Cheating, you say? Well, it does cut out a lot of mileage, but I need to be home in time for Rosh Hashanah dinner! It will be a little bit of a revival of Day 1, as I'll have about 60 miles to go to get to my next stop -- New Haven -- and not be able to start until around Noon (when the ferry gets into New London). 

After that, I get to slow down a bit. Day 4 gets me to Stamford (about 55 miles) and then back to NYC is "only" another 40 miles. That's assuming I don't hop Metro North in New Haven! Here's a link to my routes, as planned on www.ridewithgps.com.

And, if you don't want to click through, here is picture of the whole planned route. It's a bit confusing because I've planned out alternate, slightly shorter but less interesting (in terms of nice back roads to ride on), routes for Days 1 and 3 in case I find myself having bitten off more than I can chew!






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