Hanover, NH area

[bcm119]

Hey you Northeasterners, hows the riding around the Hanover NH area (Dartmouth)? Is there much of a riding community in this area? Trying to weigh some relocation options (there are few in my field of work).

Thanks-

[Tom]

There's a 50 mile MTB race in Hartland Vt. (about 20 miles down the road) where the entries close in about 10 minutes. There's also a couple of good 50 and 100 mile footraces, too. If you want to have some fun, warm up on the Mt. Ascutney hill climb before you head over to Mt. Washington's race.

The Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland is a surprising hotbed of roadies.

There are a few members of my family in the area, most notably the infamous Team Locust of the Colorado to Vermont ride. Who are you looking at with the relocation? I can give you the inside scoop on Dartmouth, Mary Hitchcock Hospital and Simon Pearce Glassblowers.

[Bruce K]

The back roads near Woodstock, VT are scenic and OK.

Not a lot of shoulder, especially on Route 4.

There is a good cycling group around Mad River, VT area and down around Manchester, VT / Magic Mountain area.

I don't know for sure, but I would think there would be a decent cycling community associated with Dartmouth College.

I would check on line for websites. You might try contacting POMG Bike Tours. They are a Vermont bike tour operator and might be able to point you in the right direction.

BK

[djg]

but I raced for Dartmouth in the early '80s and the training around there was great. Really pretty. Good terrain on both sides of the river. Good folks to train with.

Something of a longish winter.

Didn't get a chance to ride on my last visit. The terrain looked pretty familiar. I imagine that there is more traffic these days.

Dartmouth College has an active cycling team--in fact, they've won the NCAA Div. II national title the past couple of years in a row. I'm sure that if you send them an e-mail you'll get a reply about riding in the area. I don't have the address handy, but I know they have a web site and it's easy enough to search it out.

[Climb01742]

as someone who is suffering thru a new england winter, and as someone who thinks that santa barbara is close to heaven on earth, stay there (if you can.) for a rider, you're in a special place.

[djg]

because I'm not there. DC office. Virginia abode.

I agree that Santa Barbara is mighty nice. But NH has its charms. Maybe not in mud season, but still ...

Hmmm, that's funny ... when I started typing I thought the Cali remark was addressed to me. Maybe it's time to turn off the monitor.

[gdw]

The riding around Hanover was pretty good 10 years ago. The roads had good shoulders, the traffic was light, the drivers courtious. The roads along the Connecticutt River are really scenic and there are plenty of hills (they call them the White and Green Mts for some stange reason) to climb if you are so inclined. There were good trails for mountain biking around the old and new ski areas.

The non-Dartmouth riding community was small when I was there. I usually rode in the evenings after work and didn't see other riders very often.

Hanover was a strange community. If you are married and work for the college or hospital it probably is a nice place to live. If you were single, older than the coeds, and not part of the Dartmouth-Mary Hitchcock world, it really, really sucked. The adults kept to themselves and there were very few single women who didn't outweigh me in the area. I was very glad to leave.