The Puppy Dog Ride is a mostly dirt route, traversing Vermont from northern border to southern border. The entire route is on maintained, public roads and should be navigable on any street bike, depending on the weather and the season.
Over the first weekend in June, the club holds a two-day group ride, with riders gathering at the Canadian and Massachusetts borders on Saturday morning and meeting for a members-only dinner at Silver Lake State Park that night.
The routes are split into two legs, each intended to be ridden over one day. Inbound legs converge at Silver Lake State Park in Barnard. Outbound legs start from the site of the club’s Sunday morning breakfast, Tozier’s Restaurant in Bethel.
Current Route
The current version of the Puppy Dog was first released in 2018. It is a completely new route, sharing very little with the original.
The GPS routes were updated in 2021 to address road closures reported during the previous year. Note that turn-by-turn PDFs do not reflect the most recent version and may require detours.
A couple of mistakes were fixed in the southern route after they were first posted. Make sure you have the latest versions (v4 as of 05-31-2021).
Northbound (Greenfield, MA to Derby Line, VT)
Southbound (Derby Line, VT to Greenfield, MA)
Classic Route
The original route was laid out in 2002 and is still absolutely fantastic. It includes an optional long (220mi) version for the northern leg.
The GPS routes were created in 2009 and last updated in 2013, so they may involve some detours.