BMW Motorcycle Owners of Vermont: Rides

Vermont Rides

Puppy Dog

Our annual Puppy Dog Ride is an all dirt road ride from the Quebec border to the Massachusetts border (or vice versa).

In 2009, the central point was changed from Allis State Park to Silver Lake State Park. The last-minute change added some unecessary time on paved roads. The 2010 route incorporates more dirt roads around Silver Lake and omits a section that turned out to be a little too rough for some riders in 2009.

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2010 GPS Files

All Routes (single GPX file)

2009 GPS Files

2008 GPS Files

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2010 Route Sheets

2009 Route Sheets

2008 Route Sheets

Magical Mystery Tour

Here is the Magical Mystery Tour route without the BMW signs leading your way on the dirt roads and no BBQ feast at the end.

Just a fun ride around central Vermont. If you follow your trip meters, you will do just fine. But we have also given you Town names and Route numbers to follow. There is no getting lost now. The only mystery is where you will stop to get some grub along the way.

VP Suggestions:
Eaton's in Royalton for the best breakfast (Rte 107) awesome breakfasts
Messiers in East Randolph for lunch (Rte 14) huge sandwiches and homemade pizza

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Mile 0 Zero your trip meter. Make 2 Left Turns to exit Randolph Center Park-N-Ride and access main paved road. Go Left and Continue Uphill. Route 66
Mile 0.8 At the Point of Knowledge, Turn Right - to East Bethel Road south
Mile 3.0 Pavement Ends Continue forward - on East Bethel Road
Mile 5.0 At Y go Left ..dirt - Randolph Center Road - dirt will end
Mile 6.2 Make a Left on Factory Road
Mile 6.3 At T make a Right and get back onto the tarmac Route 14 south
Mile 10.2 At the best place for Eaton turn Right Route 107 west, Bethel
Mile 14.0 Turn Left over the New Bridge where the Flags Fly Route 12 north, Bethel
Mile 21.6 After passing through the Town of Hanging Flower Baskets Make a Left. At this intersection to take the A Ride Route12-A north, Randolph
Mile 41.5 Make a Right onto Lovers Lane - youll find a bit of dirt on this portion of the ride.. Both are over quick. Northfield
Mile 42.1 At the 4-Way intersection continue forward and head uphill. Cross over Route 12 and ride Route 64 east
Mile 48.8 After the closed bridge by-pass and at the T, make a Right turn. Route 14 South
Mile 63.0 Take a Left at the corner where the Blue Tractors are sold in the East Side of Town Just after Messiers General Store in East Randolph, Take the Chelsea Mountain Road east to Tunbridge
Mile 69.7 At the Y make a Right Route 110 south, Chelsea
Mile 80.7 At the 4-way intersection, turn Right Route 14 north, South Royalton Ending Option Two: Back to the Park-N-Ride, with estimated mileage: Instead of at the host's home & BBQ
Mile 92 Just beyond Messiers General Store in East Randolph Village, make a Left onto Route 66 towards Randolph Center.
Mile 96 At stop sign, make a Right Turn, continue on Route 66. Interstate and Park-N-Ride will be about 1 mile ahead.

Ride total, about 97 miles.

Riding on the Edge

Paul Bachorz has put together yet another of his annual Rally masterpieces. In this edition he shares some thoughts on getting to the MOA Rally from the east after you run into Lake Michigan. Some great tips for a ride around the edge of the big lake. You can find the pdf here.

Road Anomolies Tours (RAT)

Ted Hall has graciously spent many hours putting together some challenging rides for us to tackle. These rides take after the Road Anomolies Tour (RAT) rides of some fame and found at www.ratrun.com. These are the Vermont version of the RAT tour and are designed to get you out of the house and more familiar with our great state. Get Done (Finisher) pins are available for those who complete these rides. For each RAT you will find below a brief description or instructions and a link to a PDF you can print out to take with you in your tank bag. Most are self explanatory - so get out and discover.

Climb Every Mountain - Mountain tops you can ride to in New England and New York.

The Covered Bridge Tour - A fairly complete list of Vermont covered bridges. Find them all, get a pin.

Vermont Diners - Ride to Eat - Eat to Ride. Find them all and get a pin (and a larger waistline).

Vermont Place Names - Think you know Vermont? Visit all these locations and get a pin.

Vermont Trees - Find these trees and become an amateur arborist with a pin.

Vermont Hikes - Do all these hikes and get a pin and lose a pound or two in the process!

September Rides - by Muriel Farrington

September seems to offer the best riding days of the year. It started off for me with the return trip from the Finger Lakes Rally. (The ride over was pretty darned nice as well.) Pete and Dotty DeCota and I left in the sunshine and returned in the sunshine, with Pete leading us through the twisties in New York. Then came the Purity Springs Rally—couldn’t have asked for a nicer weekend. There was even a display of northern lights that some fortunate people got to see.

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I rode a 330-mile loop over the Kanc, Bear Notch Rd, over to Rt 16 up through Errol to Rangely. The ride down from Rangely on Rt 17 was spectacular. I ended up in Mexico, ME, riding Rt 2 to Gilead, then down 113 to Fryeburg and back to Madison and the rally. Our own Green Mountain Rally was warm and mostly sunny—especially during prime riding time Saturday. I’d been wanting to ride over into New York, so I headed south on Rt 7 to Brandon, wiggled my way over to the Ft Ticonderoga ferry, and followed some roads Mike Cousino had mentioned.

I rode up into the hills and over the other side north of Ticonderoga, ended up in Ironville (home of electricity, according to one sign), and through the woods to Crown Point. I rode Lake Drive for a while, then back on Rt 22. I crossed at Crown Point to Chimney Point to watch some archeological demonstrations and chat with old archeology buddies, then on back over the bridge to New York. The ride up 22 to Essex is really nice. Crossed the lake at Essex to Charlotte. There were four Beemers on the boat—another rally attendee, Jim Tolley of the ROV, and a young man from Kansas riding an R65 with his buddy on the back. He was excited to see the Beemers and said he was in the process of moving to the area. I told him about the MOV.

I meandered over to 116, and rode on down to 125 in East Middlebury, stopping at the store for a cold lemonade (I have a hard time stopping for lunch—and I’d depleted my water supply). A guy from Chicago on a R100 came out of the store and saw a bunch of Beemers pull into the parking lot—his eyes lit up. He had just come over the Middlebury Gap, had done the Appalachian Gap earlier, and thought he was in heaven. I told him there were well over 200 of us up in the hills at our Rally. He said he had to be in Buffalo that night—he was really sad he couldn’t stay longer. Says he has to go 100 miles to get anywhere interesting to ride in his part of the world. We’ve got to know how lucky we are.

Vermont Attractions

MOV member Paul Bachorz has been busy. While most of us dream of riding and perhaps do a little planning, Paul has authored a tome. Forty-eight pages long, this isn't for sissies (or really slow connections) but take a look at what Paul has authored. It's well worth a look. I even found a few things I hadn't stumbled across before. For an Adobe Acrobat version of his novella click here. Also, check out Paul's list of Vermont attractions in ascending (s)mileage order, here. The destinations are keyed to the Vermont attractions list by number. Thanks again Paul.

Before and After Vermont

Here we go again. Paul has now created the beginnings of a new encyclopedia of local riding information. Not here in Vermont but as he calls it, Before and After Vermont (and I would add, during as well). There are lots of things to see in Vermont but we shouldn't ignore all the wonderful sites offered by our neighbors north, south, east and west. Help Paul complete the work by adding your own ideas and sending them along to him for inclusion in this latest work. Check it out here.