Biking in Vermont

[trener1]

You can also look up the route of Ian Boswell's gran fondo, it's out of Peacham https://www.peachamfallfondo.com

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by type2sam

Hill Farmstead and Kingdom Trails are tentatively on the docket, but as we'll be driving up from Boston, Harpoon in Windsor is probably going to be a stop.

Looking for biking ideas in the Northeast Kingdom, mixed terrain preferred.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that Kingdom Trails are amazing. Be sure to ride the flow trails at the new Moose Haven area. Cafe Lotti makes the most delicious bacon breakfast sandwiches.

The Hanover/Norwich area would be an excellent stop for gravel riding on your way up from Boston...just a slightly longer route that will have civilized eating and excellent gravel riding at hand.

Also, Burke/Willoughby/Craftsbury area has plenty of its own gravel. Forum member JBay knows it well.

For some real dirt route nerding, check the VTrans maps by town to see what roads are dirt, unmaintained etc.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by sparky33

My thoughts are that Kingdom Trails are amazing. Be sure to ride the flow trails at the new Moose Haven area. Cafe Lotti makes the most delicious bacon breakfast sandwiches.

i want to get out that way myself this summer.

is there a good amount of stuff suitable for gravel road bikes, or is the riding more favorable for real mtb's?

[tv_vt]

Kingdom Trails is MTB stuff, not for gravel bikes.

Very nice paved roads up there too, including 114 north out of Burke and 102 along the CT river. Check out the Moose Loop century route.

[sparky33]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

Kingdom Trails is MTB stuff, not for gravel bikes.

exactly.
East Burke Sports rents appropriate trail bikes if you need one, mostly a Santa Cruz fleet.

[572cv]

Regarding type of bike, there are a number of areas rich in MTB trails. Groups like the Fellowship of the Wheel https://www.fotwheel.org/trails/ have worked hard to develop networks, and if you are into single track and serious trail riding, MTB is the way to go. These guys are local, but there are others all over the state. The MTB community is super strong around here.

For me, though, as a long time roadie, the gravel road bike approach really works. As a higher level perspective, Vermont has about 7.5 K of paved roads and about 8.6 K of dirt roads. Often enough, one ends up on a combined surface ride, where you ride paved for a while and then pick up the dirt stretches. Many dirt roads are really good, but benefit greatly from being ridden on reasonably fat tires, which also ride well on pavement. If you bring a gravel road bike, you get to do anything. The NEK (northeast kingdom) is going to have more dirt roads. The mountains have steeper climbs, generally. Lincoln Gap is mostly dirt, but Appalachian Gap is paved, as part of a popular local loop. Up in the NEK, there are wonderful dirt rides in Peacham and Danville, on roads. I love the rides in Addison County, rolling country with lots of dirt roads. Vermont really has some remarkable rides of all kinds.


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[trener1]

Have a look here for some route ideas
http://www.nvda.net/Transp/documents/cycling_new.pdf

I have ridden up there a number of times, and I would say that it's a fantastic place to ride (if you like hills), really great quiet roads with next to no cars.
Really all you need to do is jump on Ridewithgps and create a ride and no matter where you go it will be a nice ride.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by type2sam

Folks,

Planning to head to the Green Mountain State late summer (Sept/Oct) for the annual guy's weekend. Theme is going to be a mix of IPA's and biking (we tend to focus on mixed terrain - less traveled roads, dirt roads, maybe even some singletrack - think D2R2)

Hill Farmstead and Kingdom Trails are tentatively on the docket, but as we'll be driving up from Boston, Harpoon in Windsor is probably going to be a stop.

Looking for biking ideas in the Northeast Kingdom, mixed terrain preferred.

Thoughts?

The road riding is great on the other side of Champlain in Essex County, NY, and the Ausable Brewery by Ausable Chasm is a great. http://ausablebrewing.tumblr.com/

I’ve not been, but the Chasm has built a network of MTB trails. https://chasmriders.wordpress.com/. I’m looking forward to getting up there once it’s dry.

[marciero]

Originally Posted by tv_vt

Kingdom Trails is MTB stuff, not for gravel bikes.

Very nice paved roads up there too, including 114 north out of Burke and 102 along the CT river. Check out the Moose Loop century route.

While "Kingdom Trails" is a network of MTB trails, there are miles and miles of beautiful dirt/gravel roads in NE Kingdom, not to mention the rest of VT, that beg to be ridden on a gravel bike. The composition of these roads is very nice too. I'm sure you know this already but to more fully respond to Angry's question.

[type2sam]

thanks all for the considerable treasure trove of ideas here.

[BikeNY]

Originally Posted by sparky33

My thoughts are that Kingdom Trails are amazing. Be sure to ride the flow trails at the new Moose Haven area. Cafe Lotti makes the most delicious bacon breakfast sandwiches.

The Hanover/Norwich area would be an excellent stop for gravel riding on your way up from Boston...just a slightly longer route that will have civilized eating and excellent gravel riding at hand.

Also, Burke/Willoughby/Craftsbury area has plenty of its own gravel. Forum member JBay knows it well.

For some real dirt route nerding, check the VTrans maps by town to see what roads are dirt, unmaintained etc.

That website is an awesome reference, thanks for posting that!

[bocarider]

Here is a link to a really fun ride my wife and I did a number of years ago out of Sharon:

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/10464419

We parked in a municipal parking lot right next to the town park and rode out from there. After the ride we went to Worth Burger (which we passed in the Town of Royalton at mile 23 - great burgers!).

This was a really scenic route - the climbing was not too bad for a flat lands Florida guy like me.

[kingpin75s]

Originally Posted by saab2000

I have no riding experience but I can say confidently that Burlington, VT remains my all-time favorite layover in the US. It is just beautiful terrain and scenery and the size of the town suits me perfectly.

I'd love to go and spend a week exploring by bike.

I also had the impression that gravel rules the terrain if you want to get off the major roads so I'd plan tires and gears for that surface. I could be wrong though. But flying in and out let me believe lots of minor roads are unpaved.

Burlington, VT is close by and that region offers a lot of nice dirt road riding.

I last toured that area in 2010. The region just south and to the east of Burlington has a lot of nice riding as well as some cute little towns, B&Bs etc.

Burlington to Vergennes to Middlebury and over to Ticonderoga. Then headed east and looped back north towards Waterbury and back to Burlington.

Nice area. Enjoy the riding!

[benb]

There is a LOT more to do and see around Burlington or Stowe/Waterbury when you're off the bike then if you home base your trip in the NE Kingdom.

There's great riding all over the state.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, the Lake Champlain Islands are great riding, as is the previously mentioned NY side of the lake.

Here's a strava link to a solo ride I did on the islands + NY side, this was a lot of fun to give an idea of where we're talking about and there is an easy route to extend this by riding north beyond Plattsburgh to get to the bridge up by the Canadian border instead of taking the Cumberland head ferry. This route also shows taking the dirt path + bike ferry from South Hero/Grand Isle to Colchester. That path is the longest dirt bike path with water on both sides in the world (supposedly). The view there is incredible.

https://www.strava.com/activities/685162145

I don't have a track but I've also done a century ride from Burlington up to the Canadian border through all the islands. That was a great ride too. The islands are beautiful.

Traditionally the islands have had a lot of dirt roads but they have been going away. Winter 2017-2018 IIRC there was a lot of water/storm damage and a lot of dirt roads got paved in the cleanup process.

All the areas down around Appalachian Gap are great, I love climbing out of Stowe over Smuggler's notch northbound too and then make a loop back to Stowe by heading SE. The northbound descent from Smuggler's notch is a favorite of mine.

Lots of VT rides can be expected to be windy.. there's so much farmland, you're more exposed than say New Hampshire.

I'm originally from VT and travel there numerous times every year.. I have always enjoyed road and gravel more than MTB in VT. I'm not a big fan of paying to get onto trails, etc..

One of the more fun MTB rides I did in VT was to go to Bolton Valley ski area on a day the lifts weren't running and summit the mountain via a green ski trail on my MTB and then take their MTB trails back down. VERY tough climb. That was free since the lifts were closed. No interest in riding lifts for me.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by trener1

Have a look here for some route ideas
http://www.nvda.net/Transp/documents/cycling_new.pdf

I have ridden up there a number of times, and I would say that it's a fantastic place to ride (if you like hills), really great quiet roads with next to no cars.
Really all you need to do is jump on Ridewithgps and create a ride and no matter where you go it will be a nice ride.

Really cool resource! Thx! I've always had a hankering to do some VT rides. Stayed in a BnB on Lincoln Gap several years ago. Steep and scenic.