Chicago to New York City Bicycle Route Map Giveaway
May 19, 2017
Adventure Cycling is excited to announce the release of the Chicago to New York City Bicycle Route maps!
Maps are now available for the Chicago to New York City Bicycle Route (CNYC), Adventure Cycling’s newest long-distance route. The 1,161-mile route from the Windy City to the Big Apple is covered in a four-map set, plus two for the Philadelphia Alternate, allowing cyclists to tour the whole thing or ride a few preferred sections. From Chicago to New York City, the new route passes through Indianapolis, Indiana, Columbus, Ohio, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. If you take advantage of the Philadelphia Alternate, you’ll add only 13 miles overall and enjoy peaceful riding on the Great Allegheny Passage and the C&O Canal.
The maps feature turn-by-turn directions, detailed navigational instructions, elevation profiles, and services cyclists will need along the route. Combined with Bicycle Route 66, the CNYC gives cyclists a fourth option to cross the United States, this time from New York City’s Battery Park all the way to Santa Monica, taking in the three largest cities in the nation along its length.
“This new route, similar to Bicycle Route 66, is a departure from our traditional philosophy of mapping rural routes and avoiding large cities,” said Carla Majernik, Adventure Cycling’s Routes & Mapping Director. “It links a number of cities and uses many more miles of separate paths and rail trails than ever before on our routes. You’ll still traverse rural America; the bonus is enjoying the attractions only big cities have to offer.”
We know you’re as excited as we are to get out and ride CNYC. To help with your planning, here are a few things to consider when preparing for your tour:
Give yourself a minimum of one month to cycle CNYC
You’re riding nearly halfway across the United States — if you rush, you’ll miss some incredible sites! There are many museums, great places to eat, and historically significant spots, not to mention the endless side journeys you can take to see things just a short distance off the route. Any day spent on the CNYC can be incredibly rich.
Best time to ride
The route hovers due north of the Mason-Dixon Line and the 45th parallel, so November through March will likely be cold and snowy in parts. Any other time of the year is fair game, but expect heat and humidity in eastern mid-Atlantic states in summer.
Pace yourself
You will be challenged by the steep grades of the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, as well as a short section in the Hudson River Valley. As with most long tours, we recommend starting with shorter days and building up to longer ones as your body adjusts to riding multiple days in a row.
Be sure to talk to locals
Take the time to stop and visit with the locals. The people along CNYC are as diverse as the route itself, and their stories will fuel your experience while touring and lead you to discover funky out-of-the-way places.
Bring extra food, water, and rain gear
Don’t forget, CNYC crosses nearly half of America, and the weather can vary depending on where you are. Be sure to bring rain gear, and if you’re going in the height of summer, carry extra water and protect yourself from the sun. It will ease your mind to bring an extra half-day’s worth of water and snacks when riding the steep Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania.
Plan to visit a few of these iconic locations
The International Circus Hall of Fame
Statue of Liberty National Monument
Gettysburg National Military Park
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater
To celebrate the release of our newest route, we’ll be giving away four complete CNYC map sets. For a chance to win a map set, simply comment on this blog post and tell us why you are excited about the new Chicago to New York City Bicycle Route — or share with us any adventures you’ve had on the route. Feel free to include your favorite restaurants, scenic spots, or historic sites on the route as well! We’ll draw four winners at random on May 31. The winners will be contacted via email. Thank you!
Comments
Why do it....? Because it's there!! And when the Canada-to-NYC cycling route is done, I can backtrack home to Ontario via Montreal.
Hope to ride from my folk's home outside of Chicago to Washington D.C. to celebrate completing graduate school next year!
Great to see all of these historic cities connected with a new trail!
AC maps are awesome! The got me across the U.S. solo, got my now wife and I from San Franto Manitou Springs CO in time for our bicycle themed wedding and provided sweet alternative routes through the OBX as I rode my fat bike from upstate NY to Savannah GA. Thanks for all you do!
Hope to make the ride in September!
GAPis awesome! And lots of good biking in New Jersey ... take some extra time to explore.
This routes gives another alternative to the 2nd half of the Northern Tier. Love it!!
With the right timing, a soccer fan like me could take in quite a few MLS and lower division matches along the way. That would make for an epic adventure!
This route checks a lot of boxes for me. Great cities and a chance to visit some family.
The route through Ohio follows USBR 50, which I hope to ride this summer. A free map would certainly be nice!
Very excited for this new route-opens up a lot of possibilities! As always, great work by Adventure Cycling Association
The Frank Sinatra circuit! There's nothing like springtime in Chicago or the colored Appalachian leaves along the GAP in the fall. This is bound to be an awesome route.
I've done D.C. to Pittsburgh, and would love to pick up there and do the rest of the route to Chicago.
Chicago resident & NJ native. I'm happy to see a trail connecting my current home with where most of my family still resides. Can't wait to ride it.
Would definitely do the Alt route down the GAP/C&O!
We get 5 weeks of holiday in Finland. That's not enought for the TransAmerica but would be perfect for NYC to CHI. Especially with direct flights to both cities from Finland.
an epic poetic journey to make
Probably a stupid question, but the maps are entitled Chicago to New York. How easy are they to use going the other way, NYC to CHI?
Hello Jack, Each map panel has both an east bound (EB) narrative and a west bound (WB) narrative. Good question. Thank you.
I am in Northern Virginia and hope to ride the C&O and GAP to Pittsburgh this summer. This CNYC route now offers me a way north to New York and beyond, something which has been lacking up to now.
The first tour I ever took was the Northern Tier from west to east. My wife and I rode our tandem pulling a BOB trailer. That was 1998 and just the beginning of many tours every year since. Now I am looking forward to riding the Chicago to New York City route with friends I met while touring. Thank You Adventure Cycling.
feels like every new route is another piece in a exciting network...the possibilities are inspiring
Looks like a great ride!
Great new route, looking forward to biking all or some of it!
I've been perusing my Sierra Cascades mapset in preparation for my Eclipse Tour this summer. Simple plan: ride Amtrak from Central California to Portland, then pedal home, pausing briefly to watch the sun disappear behind the moon.
Looking forward to using these maps on my trip East in 2018. Already interested in taking on the GAP.
I have dreams of one day biking across the US. How wonderful to have another option for part of the trip!
I rode the GAP/C&O in 2015 and absolutely loved it. It passes some spectacular forest and rivers, and I camped every night. I would definitely recommend that option for the route. Ohiopyle state park in PA is particularly gorgeous. Douglas
Having lived in both Chicago and NYC, it's really cool to see a cycling route designed to bridge these two cities. I highly recommend Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry!
Great to see new routes come into the network. I have one I hope to see in the future.
In Philly, don't miss the Schuykill River trail.
Looks like a great eastern route! Lots of potential to visit relatives and friends on a bike!
So excited to connect my home in NYC with my parents' in Chicago. Maybe we can meet up halfway, Mom and Dad!
I am a 2 yr. cancer survivor who has a daughter living and working in Manhatten. As a long time member of Adventure Cycling I have been looking forward to this route for some time now. I plan on using the route both to go see my daughter and raise money for Lymphoma research. Thanks ACA!
Awesome, can't wait to ride the route!
Can't wait to see these maps!
This is great! I've been wanting to take a trip to Chicago to visit some friends.
fantastic new route .... lets pave the USA with bicycle routes
Retiring in 3 days, will add this to my list of bike rides to take!
I'm quite excited about the eastern part of the route. My wife and I live close to NYC and have family near Pittsburgh, so doing a loop with a few days' break of family sounds would fit perfectly. As for going further west to Chicago, well, that depends on how the time constraints work out, but it would be nice, too.
I have toured most of the western US and would love to see this part of the country on Bertha, my touring rig :-D Thanks for all the great stuff y'all do!
The routes from Columbus to Indianapolis to Chicago? are major for Indiana riders!
And now that Amtrak has roll on [reserved] bike service it's a piece of cake getting to the start
Another route for my "To Ride" list!
Any bicycle route is good, so many to do and so little time.
As I approach middle age I may just have time to start living the adventures I have dreamed of. Up until now it has only been sub 24's. ]I forsee grander things in the near future. Chicago to NYC sounds like a great start on my next chapter.
I was lucky to pass through part of the route back in '04 when I rode cross country. Loved the GAP trail along with the C&O canal; glad I made the detour to see Fallingwater.
Can't wait! I can visit almost my entire family on this route, & hit up all of my childhood haunts.
Looks like a great set of maps!
I'm retired and this looks like it would be a wonderful adventure. Route 66 would be a dream and I've been through Hocking Hills and it's gorgeous.
Hi Larry. I am Also retired and I live in Switzerland. I am looking for companion to ride the NYC-Chicago bike trail and route 66 bike trail in August 2018. If you are interested contact me. :)
My wife and I are already making plans to ride this in August.
I like a good rural route as much as the next girl, but city to city is so exciting. I've done pgh to dc and coming out of the boonies into a city feels like such an arrival.
How exciting! This is special, I've driven most of this route and it hits a lot of great areas, Delaware water gap is on my cycling bucket list, but why stop there when I could keep going to the mid west! Having just cycled the NYC 5 boro tour and the NJ DOTs jersey shore route, I'm excited to see the greater NYC area get some cycling map love. Great job guys!
Any new route is exciting.. New York is so wide!
Living in Chicago and dreaming of taking a long distance bike tour somewhere, this map set is ideal to make a dream a reality. Really happy you all are making these.
We're doing Seattle-Boston-Quebec on our tandem (5/26 to 8/11), hopefully we overlap a lot of this route!
(looks like a very handy mapset!)
I can't wait until my brother retires so we can do this!
Beautiful route - especially the leg through the DE water gap!
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