Riding the Outer Banks, NC

[Jeffrey Ritter]

I have family working out on the Outer Banks for a couple of weeks and was thinking, off season, that could be an awfully nice, long, flat road to get some long miles in. Any sense of the traffic at this time of year? Google Maps visuals suggest most of it is 2 lane with nice marked berms. Thanks in advance.

 

[tiltmaniac]

In the middle of summer a couple years ago, there was very little traffic, but sand was covering some of the road. There isn't much traffic in general in places that you must ride ferries to get to.

It was very pleasant, and fun. It should be pre-mosquito season still, which means staying in a campground wouldn't be utterly crazy...

 

[augiedog]

I have done two benefit rides in May.worked on the Outer Banks in the spring and me personally I would never ride there again. Roads are narrow and traffic is very heavy. If you ride do it early morning or late afternoon. Worst time to be there is Memorial Day to Labor Day.

 

[Doug Kline]

I'd recommend avoiding the weekends.

I know it's a different situation, but I rode the Cycle North Carolina Mountains to Coast ride a couple years ago which ended at Cape Hatteras in October. It sounded cool to go down the outer banks, but was miserable. We went down the outer banks on a Saturday on that narrow road with constant two way traffic. By the time cars/trucks were passing us they had aready passed well over a thousand bikes. They weren't giving us an inch. I won't do that again. However, drivers might tolerate a single bike much more.