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Tailwinds for North Country Cycling

Lots going on with North Country Cycling these days. The region just received several Northern Borders Regional Commission (NBRC) grants totaling over $400,000 to enable them to expand trails, expand their loaner bike program and storage facilities across the Tri-Town area of Bethlehem, Franconia and Littleton, as well as expanding the infrastructure with additional bike racks, repair stands and map kiosks. In addition, funding was also provided to add road signage on over 100 miles of road including signs such as “yield to bikes” and “share the road,” and to give adequate space to bikes.

The North Country has been working hard to turn their 100+ miles of mountain biking and winter fat tire trails and the great road and gravel riding they have into a cycling destination. The trail systems at Bethlehem Trails Assoc., Parker Mountain Trails and Franconia Area NEMBA in the three towns have collaborated through TriCycleNH with mountain biking and fat tire events across the three networks. Their summer program is culminating on September 24 with Trike-Fest, a biking celebration at Rek-Lis Brewery in Bethlehem with riding (of course), guest breweries from across the region, and great music – all are welcome!

The North Country has also embarked on education and safety campaigns and ensured bike-ped training was given at all the local schools in the spring and including light give-aways by the Police Departments, thanks to some great grants. They also put together and have displayed in almost 100 local businesses a bike etiquette poster educating riders and drivers alike.

And be sure to try out some of the new trails! Last year Bethlehem Trails Assoc opened two new down hill trails – Ripple and Belly Roll and a climbing trail, Gruntless. This year they opened a climbing trail, Truckin, to take you up to Shoulder Roll at the top of Agassiz. And in Littleton, Parker Mountain Trails opened a new climbing trail to take beginner and intermediate riders to the top. See links to the trail networks above to get trail maps. And more to come!

Lots going on in the North Country! Follow upcoming events at https://www.tricyclenh.com/, and at each of the trail associations websites. In the next newsletter we’ll have a comprehensive website for you to track all the events, trails, and riding in the North Country.