National Bike Travel Weekend was this past weekend, June 3-5, and the founders of Bikabout celebrated by organizing a self-guided weekend getaway to Cape Cod and invited all who wanted to join. Bike Travel Weekend is the brainchild of Adventure Cycling, who is celebrating their 40th anniversary of the bikecentennial, an event that kicked off the now largest American bike travel organization with 48,000 members.
Trip types, as seen on social media with #biketravelweekend, ranged from family bikepacking to long distance tours to credit card, Bikabout-style riding.
Cape Cod Bike Map & Itinerary
Click map image for itinerary and bike map.
Follow in our footsteps with our map and itinerary full of ferry, train, lodging, eating, drinking and route recommendations.
Photo Album
Friday
7:45 am
Enjoying a gluten free brioche and coffee at Flour Bakery in Boston's Fort Point Channel before catching the ferry.
8:00 am
Biking from Flour through Boston's "innovation district" ever changing construction zone.
Arriving at the World Trade Center's terminal for Bay State Cruises, our ferry to Provincetown.
8:15 am
Loading our bikes on the front of the ferry, which has plenty of parking!
8:30 am
And we're off! One of the best parts of the ferry ride is watching Boston's skyline get smaller on the horizon.
10:00 am
Coming into Provincetown.
Riding through Provincetown, which has tons of biking locals and tourists, but we wish it was a pedestrian mall closed to cars.
It's a short 2 mile bike ride from downtown to the Province Lands bike trails through the dunes.
Entrance to the Province Lands bike trails. We definitely recommend biking it in a clockwise direction for less steep uphills.
These signs are no joke! Steep downhills + sand + other riders can equal disaster so take care and you'll have an excellent time!
Twisty trails through the dunes with views of the ocean.
12:00 pm
Refueling at Wired Puppy in downtown Ptown.
No ride in Cape Cod would be complete without a misinformed attempt to ride "trails" that end in soul-sucking sand and earnest bushwhacking to get back to pavement. We hope Provincetown has plans to lay gravel or pavement on this path in the future!
Once back on pavement (yay!), we ride from Provincetown through Truro. This riding is on a quiet 2-lane street along the bay with views like this.
2:00 pm
Late lunch and wine / beer purveying. Salty Market in Truro has made-to-order sandwiches (GF bread & Iggy's rolls) and lots of basic groceries and snacks.
Truro Vineyards and South Hollow Spirits was an unexpected surprise. We stopped, played lawn games and had a rum cocktail.
The vineyards common lawn has ample seating and huge, old oak trees to gaze up at.
Back in the saddle. Route 6 is unavoidable in 2 spots on the route and this is one of them. Luckily there is a wide shoulder and it's only a 1/4 mile stint before turning off onto a quiet, rural street to Wellfleet.
Old County Road to Wellfleet has nice pavement quality, is quiet with little and courteous car traffic, the downhills are fun and the uphills take some standing up on the pedals. We had our bluetooth speaker tuned into Ride with GPS voice navigation and KEXP radio, which made the ride convenient and inspiring.
Stopped at PB Boulangerie to make dinner reservations, grab a chocolate bomb for dessert and their freshly made lemonade icee.
Smooth sailing on the Cape Cod Rail Trail (trailhead at PB Boulangerie)
5:30 pm
Checking into Even'Tide, a conveniently located trailside motel less than a mile from PB Boulangerie on the Cape Cod Rail Trail.
Back to PB Boulangerie where we met up with our friends for pre-dinner, bonfire side cocktails.
9:00 pm
Having post-dinner fun with the star-machine on PB's patio.
Saturday
10:00 am
Back on the Cape Cod rail trail in the morning, headed for the beach!
Bike trail down to the Cape Cod National Seashore
Beach time at Cape Cod's National Seashore
3:00 pm
Post beach ice cream cone (they have gluten free sugar and cake cones!)
4:00 pm
Checking into Ocean Edge & Resort in Dennis
Low tides are perfect for beach riding. This is Ocean Edge's private beach.
Tucked away in the back of the resort is the Fletcher indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs. So lovely after a day of riding and the beach.
8:00 pm
Taco time at El Guapo's, less than a mile down the trail from Ocean Edge.
Sunday
10:00 am
1st breakfast at Eat Cake 4 Breakfast, also trailside
2nd breakfast at trailside Pleasant Lake General Store, also known for their Shepherd's pie.
Idgy's is a 100% gluten free restaurant that's slightly off the beaten path, but worth the crappy sidewalk riding along a busy street to get to it.
This is the last few miles of sprinkled trail before biking the 2 miles along the most dreaded way to end the ride, Yarmouth Road. Hyannis, please, please fix this!
3:00 pm
Arrived at our final destination of Hynannis so time for celebratory oysters at The Naked Oyster.
The arcade in Hyannis is pretty decent!
6:40 pm
Easiest of boarding logistics for bikes. Ride up the ramp to the bike car and roll straight on, no lifting required.
Grade level roll-on service with a wide door into the bike car.
Ground level hitches for your bikes and plenty of hooks and shelves for bags, if needed.
Time to grab a seat, drink and take in the scenery of Buzzard's Bay and the south shore on the 3 hour trip back to Boston's South Station.
