The Back Roads "Myth"

[ninjadad66]

Brat and Brochen $5.00
Tank of gas $10.00
Night in a cheap hotel $45.00
2005 ZX-12R  $10,000.00
Back roads from Kaiserslatuern Germany to Altodorf, Switzerland...Priceless

[Bigfoot]

I'm in PA and we also have some amazing back roads with little traffic.  The thing is that if my destination is VA or NC or something, the back roads take FOREVER to get there.  The BACK back roads are nice, but it's hard to piece together a route on them that will get you to your destination in a reasonable time frame.

Like I said, I just hate roads like RT15 in VA, or 202 in PA, etc...

I'm not familiar with 202 but RT. 15 in VA. is not a back road.

[Corbeau]

Two NE backroads from hell stories...

Returning from the National in 05, I was under the impression it would be possible to do a Bethesda, MD (just outside the Beltway) to Upstate NY (think Canadian border) using only backroads, save for the first bit, obviously. Excerpt from my ride report:

I was gasing up at 8 a.m., at the corner of Maryland highways 32 and 91, I made a wrong turn at the northern edge of Maryland (and discovered wonderful highway 82 by mistake), then tracked my way to Pennsylvania thanks to my GPS, and then the nightmare began.

It was just after 10 a.m. when I crossed into Pennsylvania, where I lost my mind. There was a lot of church traffic, but the problem was one of geographical settlement, not circulation or religion. In that corner of Pennsylvania, between York and Lancaster, up to the small towns of Manheim, Cornwall, Lebanon, there's an even smaller town, often not on the map, that pops up, one or two miles after you've left the previous town. The longest stretch of 55 mph I saw was about three miles long. Then it quickly reduces, for no reason, to 45, then to 30 and, right when you see a curve that could be fun at 50, the sign says "25 mph" -- as in speed limit, not recommended corner entry speed.

By the time I reached Pine Grove, PA, after the only tight turns that were worth it (on Pennsylvania Hwy 645) I had made 217 miles in four hours and 39 minutes, with a moving average of 46 mph and dropping. At that rate, it would have been past dusk that I would have been in the Bambi reserve that is the Adirondacks Park .

The second horror story relates what happen after hundreds of wonderful backroad miles in NY, coming north to south through the 'dacks, down NY30   I make my way over to Hancock, NY, then down NY97 to Port Jervis (and I found Eagle's Nest overrated, but that's just me). I'm in Port Jarvis and my goal is to meet the rest of my family, vacationing in VA Beach. It was noon on Sunday. I took US 209 and some other roads that were just as full of tourists from Philly on their way to check out the Poconos. Four hours later, I had covered 100 miles or so and was, finally, on the NE extention of the PA turnpike...  

[DredheadV2.0]

Guys - take it to Off Topic or Politics or PM, huh.  

If anyone's curious about the OT and political fight brewing in this thread, those posts have been moved to OT in their own thread.

Enjoy!  

[livetoride]

One thing that comes up over and over on motorcycle travel boards is "take the back roads, they're so much better". I have to disagree.....

(EDIT)

.....What do you guys usually do?  I usually slab for hours at a time to get where I'm going and THEN I hit the back roads b/c I know they will be fun to ride (down in NC, TN, VA, WV for example).  But to get there I take the slab.

I must confess, I missed this bit on my first pass through.. Of course I slab to get to the killer back roads, I live in California. Due to the shear size of my state the slab is often the only choice.

The problem I think you're having is that you've assumed that "take the back roads" is an all encompassing statement. It should read "take the backroads, whenever possible ". Or to put it another way what they are really saying is "take the road less traveled when you can"

-Peter

[Global Rider]

Finally, I guess it's in the blood.

Thank God for that!

I'm Italian so going slow behind a chain of cars going 35mph grates against every fiber of my being (plus I just moved back from living in Italy and old habits die hard).  It's really hard for me to re-adjust to the "american" style of driving.  In Italy, people in cars pass slower traffic on back roads that are WAAAAAYYYY hairier than most over here, an no one thinks anything of it.  You pass someone on a motorcycle here and everyone is like "ooohhhhh" "aaaahhhhhhh"  "You are such a risk taker!!".  Oh well, like many of you said - to each his/her own!

I know exactly what you are talking about. What is it with the need for a 1/4 mile of straight road for anyone to make a pass...anything less and "ohhh, you're such an irresponsible driver".   What a sterile world we live in here.

And I don't know what the big deal is with passing cars on back roads with most of the mega-powered motorcycles owned by forums members. I have gobs less horsepower than most on here and all I have to do is give it a gentle twist.

[919Maniac]

I'll give ya'll an example:

One year I decided to ride from SE PA to upstate NY for Americade.  I pulled out my maps determined to do the old "back roads are best" routine.  I knew nothing about these roads at the time, but knowing what I know now I would never go the same way.  I think I took 202N or something up to 209N (it was a few years ago, hard to remember).  209, which looked on the map to be very scenic (and it is), was also AMAZINGLY frustrating!  Everyone was crawling along at a snail's pace.  It does run through the Delaware Water Gap park, so you have that to contend with.  There was no where to pass, etc... Eventually I just got on the northway (I87) rather than continue b/c it was so boring.  I actually found that I enjoyed that.  I moved along at a healthy pace, never had to sit behind someone for long, etc...

Anyway, that is just one instance that I recall distinctly.  I know that there are prob 1 million different better ways I could have gone, but that's what I chose that time and it didn't work out.  Would I try something different in the future?  Sure, and if it was anything like the long stretches of awesome roads down in NC, VA, TN, then I would have a blast!  If not, I would soon be hunting the the nearest Interstate....

I never said taking the back roads sucks everywhere and all the time, it just hasn't been the best option for me when travelling here in the MidATL/NE.

[FJRmgm]

Move somewhere else - there are lots of backroads in the USA with no traffic.

[ctfz1]

Need map reading lessons.

[wonderings]

I bought my Garmin Zumo to specificly avoid major highways/interstates. I love the avoidance option in my Zumo. I will be using it from Buffalo to Gettysburg PA for our May long weekend. I only like the major highways to get out quick, like many have posted already. The small country back-roads are the cows meow for me.

[BHW]

I'd rather take a well planned route through backroads and enjoy the ride. Booming down the interstate at 75mph or more is ok in a car, but on a bike it's boring, and extremely tiring. I do not buy motorcycles to fly down the highway for hours on end in a zombie state.

[foosnut]

Wow, you couldn't find a good Route to Lake George using back roads!!  

You do need map reading lessons!!  

Seriously, I live in NEPA, there are empty back roads all over up here, but I am more of a traveler, even in the cage I take backorads to see new things.

I don't know much about southern PA but from what I can tell from a few rides there it is much more congested than northeast pa..

[Canuck]

I don't know much about NE US, but I live for backroads. When travelling I stay off the interstates (and their Canadian equivalents as much as possible) unless doing an IBA run, when time is everything. Backroads usually have way fewer cops too. Even if it is straight, a big, lonely, empty prairie backroad can be a lot of fun for testing out your bike's higher speed capabilities.

[STI-51]

I am in CT (ride VT,MA,RI and NY regular) there are amazing back roads up here this time of year its hit or miss for sand or shade (read ICE) but IMO 35-45 on curvy hilly roads like up here is way better then the slab at 100

+1

I try to avoid the highway unless absolutely necessary or when I just want to get to my destination expeditiously.  For me, traffic on the backroads is still preferable to open slab.  Besides, there's a simple solution to traffic that involves your right hand (no, not that solution  ).  Of course, this often requires passing on double yellows which is another topic altogether.