Kentucky roads to hit or miss

So my nephew will be graduating from HS around Memorial Day weekend. My plan is to leave SEO sometime Wednesday afternoon and just get to my sister's house in Lexington, where I'll be basing my weekend routes from. His graduation is Thursday so my riding days will be Friday and Saturday. Looking for any suggestions on ones that are either a "must ride" or the view is worth the trip. Also, if anyone is in that area and want to join me on a ride, let me know! Thanks guys and gals!

thompsonian said:

So my nephew will be graduating from HS around Memorial Day weekend. My plan is to leave SEO sometime Wednesday afternoon and just get to my sister's house in Lexington, where I'll be basing my weekend routes from. His graduation is Thursday so my riding days will be Friday and Saturday. Looking for any suggestions on ones that are either a "must ride" or the view is worth the trip. Also, if anyone is in that area and want to join me on a ride, let me know! Thanks guys and gals!

Click to expand...

Do the Bourbon trail...

https://kybourbontrail.com/

You can thank me later

Every year I ride down to Mount Vernon (South down I-75 from Lexington about an hour). Any of the back roads to the East in the Danielle Boone National Forest provide nice views with creeks and elevation changes. Pavement is almost always very good. I've always went Northeast with great luck. I try to avoid the larger cities as they can get busy.

KY has many really good roads! I lived in B.G for 30 years and have ridden all over the state. We stayed in Stanton each year and did a 3 day weekend ride from there, almost anything around that area is really good! How far from Lexington do you want to go each day? I can look at some from all directions once I know that. You'll love the area!

El Toro Joe said:

thompsonian said:

So my nephew will be graduating from HS around Memorial Day weekend. My plan is to leave SEO sometime Wednesday afternoon and just get to my sister's house in Lexington, where I'll be basing my weekend routes from. His graduation is Thursday so my riding days will be Friday and Saturday. Looking for any suggestions on ones that are either a "must ride" or the view is worth the trip. Also, if anyone is in that area and want to join me on a ride, let me know! Thanks guys and gals!

Click to expand...

Do the Bourbon trail...

https://kybourbontrail.com/

You can thank me later

Click to expand...

I'd like to make it back to Lexington in one piece...maybe in the cage some time

deagle said:

Every year I ride down to Mount Vernon (South down I-75 from Lexington about an hour). Any of the back roads to the East in the Danielle Boone National Forest provide nice views with creeks and elevation changes. Pavement is almost always very good. I've always went Northeast with great luck. I try to avoid the larger cities as they can get busy.

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I was looking into the Daniel Boone area earlier. I just don't want to totally end up in banjo heaven...if you get my drift

moto2wheelin said:

KY has many really good roads! I lived in B.G for 30 years and have ridden all over the state. We stayed in Stanton each year and did a 3 day weekend ride from there, almost anything around that area is really good! How far from Lexington do you want to go each day? I can look at some from all directions once I know that. You'll love the area!

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I'd like to stay within a 200 mile radius of Lexington. That will give me roughly a 400 mile day round trip

Cool, so it's roughly 90 miles round trip from the center of Lexington to Stanton. I would go that direction one day for sure. Ride 213, 89 which will go into London, 1955, 77, 715, 52. All are in that general area. East and South of Stanton will be great with many good roads and no banjo's playing until late in the evening! LOL

Banjo heaven.....I was actually surprised by the lack of "bad" places. Mostly decent to nice homes scattered with some acreage everywhere I went.

Agree with Moto2 - south and east (and southeast) of Lexington is the better riding. The Hal Rogers Parkway is a very scenic ride, if not too technical.

Further east from London, 421, 15, 7, 699 are all excellent roads with good pavement.

The Cumberland gap is gorgeous but I don't know if you can get that far and back to lexington in one day.

West of I-75, 1259, 192, 90, 1193 - these are all good riding roads. Lots of thoroughbred farms in that area, with some Kentucky blue grass fields.

Cumberland falls State park is nice - big water fall there. The restaurant in the lodge is pretty good. Not great, but OK.

Edit - agree with deagle too, the south central part of the State is NOT impoverished. The one-horse towns closer to the Cumberland gap have suffered more from the down fall of the coal industry, though.

The roads from Lexington to Bardstown are excellent. You are in Bluegrass country so along with the requisite horse farms there are miles and miles of lightly traveled roads. Lots of historic things to stop and check out, the Perryville Civil War Battlefield, the Old Kentucky Home state park and it is possible to visit the distilleries without drinking.