You ride a paved path from downtown Burlington, Vt to a gravel trail that takes you out the Colchester Causeway into the middle of Lake Champlain.

If you look at the map of your ride on the Burlington Bikeway and Colchester Causeway on Strava, it appears as if you rode for several miles on the water itself .

https://www.strava.com/activities/3875021239

At least until you zoom in a bit on the image.

This is one of the coolest rides you can do, and we were not able to make it even better by riding something called the bike ferry, which was closed. Perhaps on a future trip.

Burlington is already cool. This just makes it cooler.

Let me back up just a bit.

We have a family cabin in Vermont on Lake Champlain and over the past few summers, my wife Mary and I have invited our cycling friends to vacation with us.

In summers past, we have ridden our bikes to Burlington, stayed overnight and, then ferried to the other side of the lake for the ride home. All told it’s about 90 miles.

Although this was great fun, it forced us to overlook a gem that was right under our noses.

We were so anxious to travel by bikes and attack the local hills that we turned our noses up on the local bike path, because of its relatively unchallenging terrain, rollerbladers and baby strollers.

Our loss.

This year we brought our gravel bikes and for various reasons drove to the city famous for embracing its inner Jerry Garcia, where we would spend the night and ride the bikeway and causeway.

Riding the Burlington Bikeway.

From our posh overnight digs in the Hotel Vermont, it was a short two-block downhill ride to Waterfront Park.

According to the map from Local Motion, we were starting more or less at mile 2 on the route, but due to construction, it was pretty much the only place to begin.

The activity there was infectious. A shack sold ice cream and the parking lot was full of cars coming and going with bikes on racks.

Mix in people already on their bikes, dog walkers, and people on blankets taking in the sun, and you have a nice vibe for a ride.

Starting with Breakfast

We took it all in from the outdoor seating at The Skinny Pancake restaurant. We had to wait a bit due to COVID seating restrictions, but it was worth it.

The Bikeway is paved and has a nice yellow centerline. This path gets a lot of use, and it’s important for everyone to follow the rules.

The coming and going are nearly constant, so it’s hard to let your guard down. There is hard-packed gravel on either side of the paved path — making a perfect place for walkers and runners to go, freeing up space for those who need the hardtop.

Shortly after the start, however, you may find your need for safety offset by the need to look off the left, over the harbor to the towering Adirondack Mountains on the New York State side.

One would be hard-pressed to find a better view anywhere.

Somewhere around four miles, a sign on the sidewalk announced that a slight left would lead to cold beer and margaritas.

We made a mental note for the ride back.

The riding is pretty over the next few miles, as the scenery alternates between natural beauty, and the back yards of homes that are nice without being over-the-top as some waterfront communities can be.

The Colchester Causeway

After a few miles, the Bikeway took us through a small neighborhood and eventually turned to gravel. Now we were on our way out to the Colchester Causeway.

This made me smile.

We were, after all riding gravel bikes.

You know – full cycling regalia. Lycra shorts, jersey and helmet to match.

If anything, however, we may have been trying too hard. We saw about every kind of bicycle you can imagine and almost none of them would have qualified as today’s “gravel” bikes.

So many of them were resurrected bikes from the back of the garage, kids’ bikes, or old mountain bikes, that I felt like I had worn a tux to a barbeque.

Not really. It was fine. But the point is that this is a nice flat route perfect for locals and tourists and training wheels and there was no need for my group’s full-on gravel effort.

But I digress.

This was a blast.

The thing about the Colchester Causeway

It didn’t take long before we were on the causeway proper. It’s an old rail line that extends into the middle of Lake Champlain, then suddenly stops.

There is a big gap in the trail to allow boats to go back and forth. It’s necessary because Champlain, the largest lake in the U.S. that is not a Great Lake also connects any number of waterways. From the St. Lawrence Seaway in the north to the Barge Canal to the south you could conceivably take your boat to London from here if you wanted.

Even I can’t see limiting world travel for a bike path.

Not to worry. Most of the time — there is a bike ferry that, for a small fee will gladly take you across the cut and deposit you on the other side, where you can continue your ride on the Causeway and beyond.

Once across the cut you can explore Grand Isle in the middle of the lake.

The good news is that a 1.6-million dollar repair of the causeway was finished two months ahead of the planned date in September. The bad news is that the bike ferry wasn’t ready to resume service. We were just a couple of days too early.

Yes. Lake Champlain has a beach

As a result, we turned back with thoughts of that sign and the promised cold drinks.

The Beach House was open — but barely. In fact on what should have been a booming day for business, they were closing early because of COVID and a lack of customers.

Still, we had a sandwich, some french fries, and a cold one, before getting back on our bikes and riding the few miles back to the car.

I think our years of riding the killer loop from the cabin to Burlington and back are over.

It’s too much fun to just ride right there in town. Plus next year — we get to take the bike ferry.

One additional thought.

The COVID-19 crisis and subsequent shortage of bicycles and gear made this year’s visit a bit of a letdown. Burlington has some amazing bike shops so it’s usually a big part of our shopping plan. But, as a result of COVID, it was slim pickings.

Here’s hoping there will be inventory aplenty in years to come.

Come along on my rides by following me on Strava.