Why Go: The parkway winds along the airy peaks of the Blue Ridge from from Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, offering riders 469 miles of nearly uninterrupted scenic two-lane road through God’s country. Wildlife, waterfalls and panoramic vistas of rolling mountains are de rigueur.
Road Notes: The BRP has very few services located along its winding route, so we’ve routed you over 25 scenic miles between two of our favorite towns in western North Carolina, Asheville (great breweries) and Brevard (epic mountain biking).

Why Go: The Oregon Coast is one of the most democratic (not to mention gorgeous) shorelines in America. Its tide pools, old-growth forests, waterfalls, cliffside trails and sandy beaches are free and open for the public to explore. But the best of these can only be discovered at a slow, steady cycling pace. Plan on good coffee and clam chowder lunches in between long, dramatic views to lighthouses and wave-crashed sea stacks.

Why Go: This ride through rural Washington County follows the route of the Tour of the Battenkill, America’s largest one-day pro/am cycling race, and its own shorter, hillier version of Paris-Roubaix. It rumbles through upstate dairy farm country and over covered bridges, railroad crossings and no fewer than eight stretches of rugged dirt road totaling 15 of the ride’s 68 miles.

Why Go: The highest paved road in the US runs out on top of 14,271-foot Mt. Evans, where it overlooks wave after wave of Rockies in one direction and the seemingly endless Eastern Plains in the other. It’s a rare chance to climb for three straight hours, and what’s not to love about that?

Why Go: Whether you call it gravel-grinding, all-terrain riding or, our preference, adventure by bike, rattling over the rolling dirt roads of Kansas’ Flint Hills is no picnic. It is gorgeous, though, with sweeping views over the iconic grassy farmlands of our nation’s heartland. This is America.