Riding Route Recommendations, Vermont Edition (Mount Holly / Okemo / Rutland)

[sparky33]

You might as well tackle the Six Gaps route if you are spending time in VT. The route is findable on the internet. It’s easy to bail at 4 gaps or bump to 8 gaps if the 6 is somehow not enough.

[NHAero]

Please try again, I hope I made it Public

Originally Posted by .RJ

Its not public....

[skijoring]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Please try again, I hope I made it Public

That's impressive; a 100 miles with only 5K feet of climbing in VT. So many dirt and gravel roads near your loop that could turn it into a ride with a scary number of vertical feet.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by NHAero

Please try again, I hope I made it Public

Got it now, thanks

I'm going to borrow some stuff from other bikes and hopefully snag a rear derailleur and I'll have a 40/11-42 gearing setup. Hope that winches me up some of the long climbs....

[kohagen]

If you’re looking for flattish routes in the reasonably close area, there are roads along Otter Creek in Rutland, Clarendon, and Weathersfield that are about as flat as they get in Vermont. Happy to ride with you both there.

[.RJ]

Cool, I like the flat option for some easy spin days, but I think I'll enjoy the variety of climbing & dirt, my knees are still intact and i'd like to keep it that way

Looks like I can squeeze in a nice training block in between now and then, too, I've just been doing lots of steady rides since March.

[benb]

I don't know if it's named.. but there is a huge climb in the last 15 miles of the B2VT course as you approach Okemo that is about 5 miles up and then 5 miles down... it has a great descent if you're going towards Okemo.

I found it quite hard with 135 miles in my legs and a 39x28 low gear but didn't have to walk.

I have not heard of people using the Okemo summit road as Mt. Washington training... if you were right there it might be worth trying if you are actually allowed to climb it. But Ascutney is far more common. The first time I did B2VT I remember being disappointed the finish wasn't at the summit of Okemo. I've just never heard of it being open and never seen a grade profile of it.

Mt. Equinox is in that area and is hard to get onto the road IIRC but it has really staggering views at the top, other than Mt. Washington or Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP it might be the most scenic summit road climb in New England. I am not sure there is any way to get on the road other than if there is a race though, I only went up it for the race. I actually proposed to my wife at the top... carried the ring in my jersey pocket. Equinox has the road travel along a spur at the top that is above the treeline... there are very very few summit roads that do that.

[NHAero]

And flattish can be done not too far away, up and down the CT River.

Originally Posted by kohagen

If you’re looking for flattish routes in the reasonably close area, there are roads along Otter Creek in Rutland, Clarendon, and Weathersfield that are about as flat as they get in Vermont. Happy to ride with you both there.