Getting There.
So, where does the road take us on our way to Provincetown?
It takes us from Longwood (in Boston), through several very scenic Massachussetsey areas:
- On bike paths through and out of Metro Boston
- Through some pretty suburbs in Metro South, and across a golf course
- Past like 10 cute farms with roadside stands selling things such as ice cream and fresh radishes
- Through some (also pretty) towns with lackluster food options but great swimming spots
- Down to Snapping Turtle Park and then (please don't hate me) the one incredibly bike-unfriendly town on this ride
- Decent roads, terrible people. Unclear what's happening here!
- Sadly it's very hard to route away from this liminal space, but
- we have made it safely through this town before and will do it again.
- Through Onset (the first gorgeous beach town of the ride), where there's finally great food. Clamcakes!
- Along a shipping canal, on a quiet tow path
- Over a bridge and through a traffic circle so large that other traffic circles have started spawning off the sides of it. Truly a marvel of modern infrastructure, and containing one of three (3!) cyclist-only rotaries we will see on the trip.
- Along the other side of the shipping canal, on another quiet tow path
- To the campground for night one
- Through a bunch of totally sick marshes, brackish inlets, and cranberry bogs.
- Brunch in Yarmouth
- Down a bunch of verrrry narrow roads on the bay side of the penninsula
- Up to, and I shit you not 20-odd miles of continuous protected bike path
- Over some big hills to a beautiful, often frigid beach
- Optional challenge section 1: Old King's Highway
- Over some other big hills (what the hell are these doing at the end of a peninsula which is like 12 feet wide?) with increasingly tempting ocean views
- Optional challenge section 2: Scrimshaw Road Hill
- Last big hill, I promise. Look to your right or you'll miss the vineyard!
- Down, and I also shit you not, a country road with oyster shells for a shoulder
- Into Provincetown! You made it!
If you're wondering "how far is the ride?, or "are there hills?," peek at our GPS tracks for last year - day one and day 2.
That all sounds cool but you didn't answer my actual question.
Yeah, those were a lot of words, but none of them help you do the ride, huh. During the ride, we're going to navigate off cue sheets (you can also use a GPS but cue sheets don't require batteries). I can't say enough good things about Amy's map planning, nor will I downplay what hard work it is - the cue sheets are super clear, disambiguate weird intersections, note important landmarks such as "the good ice cream shop" and "check out this lake; it's cool", and are just extremely well-done. Thanks Amy!
Here are the cue sheets for day 1 and day 2.
If you're an ultralight packer and don't need cute lil diagrams for how to handle the more "historic" intersections along the way, here's the short version.
This cue sheet seems intimidating.
I get that! If you're not used to group rides, it's probably a bother. I'm used to group rides and it's still a bother for me tbqh. The good news is you're going to be riding with people who know how to use this, and usually groups form up around a de facto navigator.
If you want a backup/extra map, though:
- Your phone still works on the cape (though trust me, you want to set it to Do Not Disturb), and your phone GPS does too. If you're on a flip phone or something, that's super badass, and you can probably use that as an icebreaker when you ask for directions.
- I really super duper recommend Rubel BikeMaps and especially their Cape Cod map, which is now waterproof! Sure, your phone could probably show you where the nearest ice cream store or nearby trail (essential for safety reasons) is, but like, editorial content is so much better.
Seriously, it's fine. Take a deep breath and buy the Rubel map from basically any bike shop in MA that's worth going to.
Hope this helps - happy trails!