Biking

Known for its award-winning Rieslings, the Finger Lakes deserve its reputation as one of the best spots in America to go wine tasting. Yet, its resplendent beauty also lends itself well to adventure. At the southern end of Seneca Lake, we hiked alongside a handful of waterfalls in the famous gorge of Watkins Glen. The next morning, my wife and I kayaked through a cattail-laden marsh and saw countless herons, turtles, and a beaver. Talk about adventure—a 40-pound carp jumped out of the marsh and slammed against my arm as I shrieked. But my favorite part of the weeklong trip was a quiet bike ride along a peninsula that juts into Keuka Lake. Start your ride from Keuka College and follow East and West Bluff Roads as they pass the small waterfront cottages with cute names like Hide N’ Seek. There’s one killer hill on the 20-mile ride that takes you atop a bluff, before cruising downhill back to the college. Afterwards, we rewarded ourselves with a lobster roll and glass of semi-dry Riesling at Heron Hill’s outdoor café. We were fortunate to book the next two nights at the Black Sheep Inn in Hammondsport, on the northern tip of Keuka Lake. Owners Debbie Meritsky and Marc Rotman spent over 6 years refurbishing the rare octagonal-shaped house, which turns 157 this year.

South of New Bedford lies countryside so fertile, you’ll feel like you’re in Vermont.  Stretching from Dartmouth, Massachusetts, to Little Compton, Rhode Island, the area is known as the Heritage Farm Coast. It has the sunniest and most temperate climate in New England and thus the longest growing season. Vast dairy farms, cornfields, even vineyards, border the Westport River as it washes into the Atlantic. Add the dunes of Horseneck Beach and you have the perfect country and coast ride, especially in the spring before the beach traffic starts to arrive. 

Many riders have biked the 6-mile loop around Central Park, but to really appreciate Manhattan, you have to bike with the skyscrapers at your side around the perimeter of the island on the 32-mile Greenway. Thankfully, most of the loop is on bike trails, with the only detours on city streets from 35th to 59th Street around the United Nations and 130th to 155 Streets, both on the East Side. The West Side is a straight shot down on bike trails from Inwood Hill Park, under the GW Bridge, into Riverside Park, past the the USS Intrepid, and then around the World Financial Center, with the Statue of Liberty in view. Grab a Bike NYC map from any bike rental shop or Visitors Center and do this memorable day trip. 

The 9 km ride around the Seawall of Stanley Park can be done in less than an hour. Yet, by the time you stop at the world-class aquarium, see the selection of totem poles, and dine on sablefish (a tender and rich Northwestern whitefish) at the classic Teahouse for lunch, the day is over. Riding under towering Douglas firs and along the rocky shoreline, you’ll also stop numerous times to take pictures of the bay. On our last ride around Stanley Park, my family spent a good chunk of time being entertained by the sea otters at the Vancouver Aquarium. Less than 15 minutes later, we were watching river otters in the wild dining on crabs along the Seawall. Another unexpected find in a city of unexpected finds, the reason why I return to Vancouver as often as I can. 

Not surprising, my two favorite seasons for biking are spring and fall. I’m gearing up for a charity ride this Sunday by taking a ride past the farms and estates of Dover and Sherborn this morning, the first sunny day we’ve had in Boston in more than a week. So it’s a good opportunity to reminisce about my favorite spring rides over the years. First up, biking to Giverny.

The rugged and raw beauty of Maine has been a lure to many of America’s foremost landscape artists. Man versus the chaotic forces of nature, particularly fishermen struggling against powerful nor’easters, kept Winslow Homer busy on the boulder-strewn shores of Prouts Neck for more than two decades. Robert Henri, Edward Hopper, George Bellows, and Rockwell Kent all painted Monhegan Island’s 160-foot cliffs, meadows, and quaint fishing communities in their own distinctive styles like the bold black and white woodcuts by Kent. Monhegan is also a favorite subject of Jamie Wyeth, whose father Andrew Wyeth and grandfather N.C. Wyeth all summered on the Maine coast. Indeed, Andrew met his wife and her best friend Christina Olson in Maine. Olson is the woman lying down in the tall grass of Wyeth’s iconic painting, Christina’s World. 

Wayne Curtis is best known as author of “And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails” (Crown, 2006) and as cocktail columnist for Atlantic Monthly. But my friendship with Wayne goes back at least a decade prior when we were both moaning about the egregious book contracts Frommer’s publisher forced upon us. Thankfully, the travel guidebook days are far behind us. I caught up with Wayne in 2008, when he had just moved to New Orleans. He brought my brother Jim and me to his favorite bars and bartenders and it resulted in this story for The Boston Globe. But I know that Wayne has a passion beyond cocktails, including architecture, urban renewal, jazz, and biking. All figured prominently in a 5-hour tour he designed for my family on our trip to Nola earlier this month.

After months of preparation, the Chatham Bars Inn has just announced that it will be holding a 3-day weekend of biking and fine dining over Memorial Day Weekend. Partnering with Lexus, the three-day event includes the Lexus Gran Fondo, a 100-mile race along with professional cyclists George Hincapie and Christian Vande Velde from Boston to Chatham, and 25-mile and 50-mile routes around Cape Cod for us mere mortals. Your biking efforts will be rewarded with a slew of culinary events like a barbecue hosted by one of my favorite chefs in Texas, Dean Fearing, paired with the latest releases of saison from the Blackberry Farm Brewery. A celebratory dinner Saturday night will feature the talents of Chatham Bars chefs Anthony Cole and Justin Urso, chef Carlo Mirarchi (Roberta’s and Blanca, NYC) and sommelier Carlton McCoy (The Little Nell, Aspen, CO). The event will end Sunday with a clambake on the shore at the Chatham Bars Beach House. Expect to dine on freshly shucked oysters, littlenecks, a whole Chatham lobster, shrimp, mussels and more. On Monday, Lexus will provide courtesy transportation for all cyclists and up to two guests back to Boston. Several packages are available for guests looking to stay at Chatham Bars Inn and participate in the festivities. 

Other biking outfitters can try to emulate Butterfield & Robinson, but none can approach George Butterfield’s innate sense of style. Trips can cost upwards of $1,000 a day but are worth every penny when you consider some of the amenities—nights at 14th century estates, seven-course feasts at private French vineyards, a van always by your side when you tire of biking. He’ll customize any Bordeaux trip you want or simply sign up for his 6-day jaunt from Bordeaux to Dordogne that runs from mid-May through early October. You’ll bike on relatively flat terrain through these two famous wine regions, but it won’t be easy when your lunch consists of a private wine tasting at such famous vineyards as Mouton-Rothschild. At night, you’ll be staying at a former 16th century monastery, now a Relais and Chateaux property, and a 17th century chartreuse perched atop a hill surrounded by vineyards, orchards, streams, and ponds. Dinner is a gluttonous feast, accompanied by, what else, more excellent wine.  

Based in San Francisco since the company started in 1979, Backroads has reaped the benefits of being so close to Napa and Sonoma Valley. Their bike tours to the region are still the industry standard. Ride through the vineyards and soaring redwood forests in the company of new friends, have numerous opportunities for wine tastings at the dozens of wineries that line the cycling routes, get those tired legs worked on at award-winning spas, and then indulge in gourmet meals inspired by local vintages and fresh California ingredients. I call that a recipe for success, the reason why Backroads has become an active travel industry leader. They now offer trips all over the globe, but it’s hard to top the ones in their backyard to California Wine Country.