Weekend Ride Guide (New Hampshire Edition) – Leaf Peeper Ride

It’s that time of year in New England when the air is crisp and cool, pumpkins decorate the doorstep, and fall foliage is at its peak. The hillsides are burning with the full spectrum of reds, oranges and yellows, and the fallen leaves rustle on the ground.

Fall is the perfect time for the most beautiful and leisurely riding. Find the right climbs — ones that lead to ridge-top views, stunning panoramas and the most picturesque rural roads — and you’re sure to have a great ride.

The Strafford/Tunbridge loop in Vermont climbs to a grand view of the valley and hits some classic roads. Head to Vermont, and take Route 132 to the Justin Morrill Memorial Highway. Strafford is a beautiful, tiny Vermont town and the Strafford climb ascends to a farm-topped ridge and a great view of Vermont and New Hampshire. This Category 3 climb has a nice steady pace as you climb the ridge, a total of 620 feet to this view:

View from the top of the Strafford Climb

Strafford/Tunbridge Climb

For other great local climbs and views, check out these segments, and make sure you plan them into your next ride:

Academy — http://www.strava.com/segments/1321

Ruddsboro Climb — http://www.strava.com/segments/275

Centerville Hill — http://www.strava.com/segments/608900

King Hill — http://www.strava.com/segments/2483

Strafford to Sharon — http://www.strava.com/segments/114

Enjoy!

About the Weekend Ride Guide. Every week we post our suggestions for rides you might want to try — on both road and dirt. Initially, we’re focusing on the San Francisco Bay Area, because that’s where we ride the most. But if you have any recommendations for great rides in the Bay Area, or elsewhere around the country (or world), we’d love to hear them. Make sure you give us your feedback in the comments section below, and subscribe to our RSS feed to catch future reports.

Team Strava’s First Cyclo-Cross Win of the Season

Women's 3/4 Field

Cross season is here! It was a beautiful Saturday up in the Green Mountains of Vermont for the first round of the 2010 Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series, the Green Mountain Cyclo-Cross Weekend. The crowds of avid cross racers came out in full for a great atmosphere to race on a fun course and cheer from the sidelines.

I was up early to arrive for an 11 am race, the Women’s 3/4 category. I hadn’t raced a cross race in two years, so the excitement and anticipation was running high. The course looked great when I hopped on my cross bike still in my jeans to preview the course. There was a fair bit of climbing with a good technical section with steep dirt rollers, some tight zigzags, and of course barriers.

Women's 3/4 Podium

The race was a ton of fun, and I soon caught the girl in the lead to sit on her tail for much of the race. We had a significant gap on the rest of the field for the last two laps of three. For the sprint finish, I had to dig deep to get to the line in first. I later found out that the girl in second was a mere 13 years old, and a pretty fast 13-year-old at that!

Go here for my Strava ride: http://www.strava.com/rides/187057

Stay tuned for more Strava Cyclo-Cross race reports!

Women's 3/4 finish

Women's 3/4

Drummond Custom Cycles hosts a TT with Strava

Timing @ Lake Mascoma TT

Around the Hanover, New Hampshire Strava Headquarters, we have a vibrant cycling community that came out in full strength this past Saturday, August 21^st. The scene at Drummond Custom Cycles in Enfield, New Hampshire saw beautiful new bikes lined up on the lawn to demo, purchase or ogle at, raffle prizes ready at the door, food, and the Time Trial course marked and marshaled.

This Customer Appreciation Day was a celebration of cycling and the community in good style.

After running around the shop in the morning, feeling a great energy in the air while people arrived, I was relegated to sit by the junction of Route 4A and Caleb Dyer Lane, the start of the TT. Here I am stationed in the golf cart in charge of the starting and timing for the Lake Mascoma Time Trial.

It was great to see how Strava could fit into this picture. With a Strava Event created for the 10.5 mile Time Trial and the local Strava riders invited, there was a great, yet diverse, turnout. There were a handful of Garmin devices to test and a computer for Strava sign-ups and instant downloading after the Time Trial. The reactions were positive for those who used Strava for the first time, and even though current Strava users made up only part of the crowd, bringing Strava into this local shop event was a great addition to the community of cyclists.

Despite the riders who came out in full aero gear, skin suits, tri-suits, shoe covers, etc. the Time Trial event was a fit for all the participants, fun, encouraging and competitive at the same time. The range of ages was impressive, and included a handful of kids, as was the diversity of the participants, including a tandem bicycle team.

The core of events like Drummond’s Customer Appreciation Day is bringing together a community of cyclists and friends to celebrate the sport and the outdoors.

There were a total of 25 riders in the Time Trial, some of whom recorded via Strava and some of whom hand-timed.

Here are the Strava Results