Our flagship network started 50 years ago with the TransAmerica Trail, the route that launched bicycle touring in America, and it’s carried that legacy forward ever since. Every route is designed to maximize adventure, backed by months of meticulous research and on-the-ground testing, with every mile chosen to make the ride as memorable as possible. The result is a collection of routes so detailed you’ll feel ready to ride the moment you open one, covering essential services, points of interest, history, and terrain information you won’t find anywhere else.

You could piece together the U.S. Bicycle Route System state by state, hunting down individual transportation department websites for every leg of your journey. Or you could find the whole thing here with an interactive map that lets you navigate the entire system. Since 2003, Adventure Cycling has served as the technical expert behind this national interstate network, now spanning more than 24,000 miles across 35 states and Washington, D.C. No other organization maps the whole system in one place, and every mile is free to explore.

As much as we love spending months in the saddle, we know a weekend is sometimes all you’ve got. And as much as we’d like to think we’ve seen it all, we know there are trails out there we haven’t found yet. That’s where Short Routes comes in. These submissions are proposed by cyclists in the communities where they live — riders who know their own backyard best — then reviewed by our team for quality and safety before they join the collection. Each route runs one to five nights and is completely free, built for riders who want a taste of adventure on a smaller scale.