Moultonborough: What are these roads like?

[CrownRay]

We have a house on Black Cat. I was thinking of taking our bikes up this weekend (pedal bikes that is). I was looking at a map to find a nice circle route near our house. Is anyone familiar with the following roads:

Red Hill Road to Bean Road to Squam lake Road to Range Rd to Sheridan Rd back to Whittier HW. It looks to be about 12 miles around, good for part of the ride I guess.

What are these roads like? I can see that they circle around Red Hill, but are these roads all UPHILL? I realize that there has to be some rise to them, but are we talking Tour-de-France type hills, or just your basic Owe, that hurt hills?

Thanks!

PS: If anyone can recommend a better circle route (20-30 miles) that would be great!

[surfnsnow]

couple of hills but not too bad however red hill rd and sheridan rd are dirt roads for good stretches

[Sal]

Consider Moultonborough Neck Road. Town spent a small fortune making a paved bike-path (which gets covered with small stones and as a result, bicyclists would rather be on the road). Once you get to Jojo's, the hills level off and you can go over the bridge onto Long Island and feed the deer (and the deer-ticks).

[ITD]

Actually just ride out Bean road and go straight until you are half tired then turn around and come back. If you make it to Sandwich center, continue to go straight. There are hills, non too bad but it is hilly as compared to most areas in Mass. Drivers are generally courteous but there is no shoulder on the roads. I like to ride around Squam from Center Harbor which has some impressive hills and runs about 35 miles. Moultonboro neck has some good sized hills that will slow you down. Beyond the LI bridge is a long hill that peaks about half way from the bridge to the end of the road, then goes down. When you turn around the hill is shorter but steeper. I don't like the neck on weekends as the drivers seem decidedly less observant and some just aren't nice.

[Puck]

You may find www.mapmyride.com helpful. You can bring up ride profiles to get an idea of terrain and climbs/decents.

[Sunset View]

Originally Posted by Sal

Consider Moultonborough Neck Road. Town spent a small fortune making a paved bike-path (which gets covered with small stones and as a result, bicyclists would rather be on the road). Once you get to Jojo's, the hills level off and you can go over the bridge onto Long Island and feed the deer (and the deer-ticks).

Our tax dollars at work...........better still, take a ride around Kona, no one is there and you have a better chance of not gettinging hit by a car...or a deer!

[inquiring one]

Rt 25 from Sheridan to Redding lane will be death defying on a bike, blind corners, rough edge(if any) etc. I think the advice to stay on Bean rd would be good. Check out the "rails to trails" maps on line. There is one in Franklin that goes to VT. I think there is also one in ossippee & heard Conway too. 171 is a nice ride too.

[DickR]

Originally Posted by Sal

Consider Moultonborough Neck Road. Town spent a small fortune making a paved bike-path (which gets covered with small stones and as a result, bicyclists would rather be on the road).....

Most of the first completed section of the Moultonborough Pathway, from JoJo's store to the fork just before Trexler's Marina, goes off into the woods well removed from the roadway. When Phase II was done, from Highway Garage Road to Kona Road, there were property use constraints that resulted in the pathway being adjacent to the roadway. Most of that section has a narrow gravel strip separating the paved pathway from the roadway, although the section running up the hill to Kona Road is totally paved, with a paint stripe separating the pathway/bike lane.

The use of a gravel strip to separate the pathway from the roadway was recommended and seemed like a good idea and reasonable at the time. As neck road travelers and users of the pathway have noticed, there are parts of this section of the pathway where sand and stones from the gravel strip migrate over to the pathway pavement, due to heavy rain and also to car tires getting off the roadway pavement and onto the gravel. The worst places are on the hill above Greene's Basin Road and the S-curve south of Sticks and Stones Road.

The state recently has given approval to a plan to retrofit the worst parts of this outer section of the pathway, and work is expected to start within a couple of weeks. In those areas, the roadway and pathway will become contiguous pavement, with two paint stripes separating the uses.

[mishman]

This is good news that the bikeway path will finally be improved. I ride that section all the time and much of the time it is not suitable for road bikes due to the gravel and pieces of broken pavement lying on the path. There are also places where a mailbox sits on the path, another place where someone selling eggs has blocked the entire path with a sign and chest of eggs and a third area where a steep gravel road washes debris into the path forcing cyclists onto the roadway. For spending so much money on the path it was not well designed and is not well maintained. I often ride on the pavement due to the poor design and maintenance of the path and love it when cars honk at me. Can't wait for the gravel strip to disappear. Any word on the middle section and whether it will ever get completed? I know it is challenging with the hills but more people would walk or ride if there was a safer way over those hills.