The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail, which connects Lanesborough, MA to downtown Adams, MA, is the watershed’s premier biking resource. Eleven miles long, the trail follows the route of a Boston and Maine Railroad line abandoned in 1990. The ten foot-wide paved trail is universally accessible.
Elsewhere, most roads along the Hoosic also offer excellent and effortless biking. In general, these roads are also paved and are suitable for road bikes. The exceptions include the short Fisherman’s Lane in Schaghticoke, which provides access to an impoundment behind the Great Falls dam, and Knickerbocker Rd., which winds through farm and forestland just east of the Hudson River.
In recent years, a “metric century” route sponsored by HooRWA has become popular with experienced bikers. The route begins in Williamstown, MA, climbs up and over Petersburg Pass on MA/NY Rt. 2, follows County Routes 103, 109, and Longmeadow Rd. through the towns of Hoosick and Pittstown, crosses two historic bridges over the Hoosic in the hamlets of Johnsonville (on Rt. 112) and Buskirk (on Rt. 103), passes through the historic villages of Hoosick Falls (on County Rt. 103) and North Pownal, VT (on VT Rt. 346), and ends in Williamstown, on MA Rt. 7, again.
Other popular paved road rides include those between North Bennington, VT and Cambridge, NY; a covered bridge tour in Bennington, VT; and for a short challenge – the climb up Woodford Mountain on VT Rt. 9 to the watershed divide.
Unpaved country roads and unmaintained higher elevation town roads such as Old Military Road between Pownal, VT and Williamstown, MA provide exciting mountain bike opportunities for riders of all skill levels.