New northern New England perms

[Andrew LaMarche]

Hey all,

I've added a few new perms in the upper CT river valley that have an emphasis on gravel or adventure segments. These routes often have quite a bit of climb to maximize views or time away from cars. Figured I'd post here since it's not always easy to know about new routes when they pop up.

#05573 - Upper Valley Gravelfest (200k, 71% unpaved)

This route features some of my favorite dirt and gravel roads in the White River Junction area and incorporates several adventure (Class IV road) segments to string together the route. There is a ton of climbing - I plan to roll most of this route into an SR600 route in the coming months (WIP). Your hands and butt will probably appreciate a gravel bike with some handlebar/seatpost suspension or a hardtail MTB. You will get muddy/wet. You will (probably) hike a bike very occasionally. You may curse and shout my name while shaking your fist at the sky frequently.

I have completed an earlier revision of this route in July that had minimal differences - despite the spectacular elevation gain over the 200k, I felt better coming out of it than the times I've completed the VT 6 Gaps permanent. I will be doing a write-up of this route in the coming weeks (hopefully).

#05604 - Northern Rail Trail 300k (55% unpaved)

This route leverages the full length of the Northern Rail Trail (~60 miles from Lebanon, NH to Boscawen, NH) to make a 300K route in a figure 8 pattern. Out of the three, this one is probably the closest to a traditional brevet (though still features 55% gravel, most of it flat, fairly smooth rail trail miles). There are a couple of dirt segments I've folded in to keep it interesting - all have decent pavement alternatives at the expense of some extra miles except the gravel at mile 106. There is one short adventure segment at mile 190 that allows completion of the route without going through retail plaza hell in West Lebanon.

If you start the route in Lebanon, there is tons of free town parking right at the start. There are also tons of options for parking along the rail trail.

I have not ridden this route in full yet. I'm most familiar with the western lobe of the route and the rail trail miles. The eastern lobe was constructed with input from other local cyclists.

#05634 - DIRTY (200k, 58% unpaved)

You guessed it, another gravel route. Features some beautiful remote roads in VT and surrounding Mount Cardigan in NH. There is one segment that passes through a mild mountain biking area at mile 64 and a river crossing at mile 60, where there once was a bridge. Your feet will get wet, generally advise riding this route after June. Outside of that, most of the gravel is on official dirt roads.

If you want to ride any of these routes, I'm within 30 mins of the gravelfest and very close to the other two. If I'm available, I'd be happy to ride them with you or make my yard available for folks in southern NE.

Cheers,

Andrew