baiskeli

Kancamagus Highway Loop (a quick review)

Rode the Kancamagus Highway loop (in New Hampshire) on Sunday (80 miles, about 5200 ft of climbing) on Sunday

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/749022...
https://app.strava.com/rides/12243697

Very scenic. I took advice online and decided to start the ride in Lincoln and hit the Kancamagus pass first, and it's climbs (the hardest of the day) first.

Glad I did, the first climb is 2000 ft (the climb is about 12 miles long, lower sections are 2-3% and higher get to 8%) and I would have hated to hit it towards the end of the ride as opposed to the beginning while I was still fresh. I watched my heart rate like a hawk (cause I have a tendency to go too hard in the beginning and then suffer the rest of the ride).

The reward for climbing the Kancamagus pass is a 40-45 mph descent for 5-6 miles on wide well paved roads.

The next climb of note comes on Route 3 (Crawford Notch), it's shorter, but it has a section of 9-10%.

Overall, the scenery was amazing and the roads are wide and well paved, with wide shoulders. It was hot as poo (it hit 98F) and I did get caught in a freak rainstorm at about mile 55-60(though considering how hot it was the rain was a blessing).

Towards the end of the ride, you go for 5-6 miles on the twistiest paved bike path I've ever seen (lots of fun), reminded me of mountain biking but with a road bike. After the bike path, it was another high speed descent into Lincoln (where I'd parked my car).

Ended up with average speed of 14.7 mph and a max of 45.8 mph (coming down the backside of Kancamagus Pass) and an average HR of 138 (my max is about 192, so about 70-71%). Overall, a great ride. If you do it, definitely hit the Kancamagus pass first (if starting in Lincoln, ride the loop counter-clockwise), you don't want to be hitting it as the last climb of the day.

hobkirk

Sounds great. But your links are bad - they need all the digits of the ride.

And if I do it, I will consider your advice to hit the Kanc first. But it looks like a trade-off - clockwise has a shorter (5 mile?) ascent with a longer coast (14 miles) plus a steeper ascent up Bear Notch. I could start at Crawford Notch Road so I hit the tough climbs first. It would mean an extra 30 miles of driving, but I've always enjoyed driving the Kanc (I used to drive it fast - I was evil). But I must admit it would be very nice to save a total of 60 miles of driving...

Is Bear Notch now paved all the way? Were the road shoulders comfortably wide?

baiskeli

Doh! Thanks, fixed the links. Yeah, regarding the driving, the killer for me was it was a 2.5 hour drive from Boston, and a 2.5 hour drive back. The next time I do this, I'm staying in Lincoln the night before and starting out real early (i.e. 7:00 am)

Bear Notch is paved all the way. All the roads are really high quality

kayakdiver

Rode over that pass in 2008 on my ride from the West Coast to the East Coast.... was really pretty in early October for sure! Brought back some cool memories. Thanks

madfx

Awesome! Looking forward to cranking the kanc with in the next few months, undecided wether to ride just the kanc, Lincoln to Conway then back to Lincoln or to do the kanc/Crawford loop

Whats your gearing?

Mikevt1

Thanks for the post. A friend and I have scouted the ride out via the i-net and have added it to our "to ride" list. We'll take your advice and may even use your route from Ridewithgps.com loaded into my Garmin, although I usually prefer to have 10 or more miles on my legs before a climb.... I am stronger after 10 or 15 miles than I am starting fresh. (I do my warmups on the route.)

patentcad

Nearly 20 years ago I did a ride that included Kancamagus and a bunch of the big notch climbs around there (Franconia, Crawford, one or two others), a very hilly 100 mile ride out of Littleton. The Kanc is like 9 miles long with an average 3% grade. Me and this Cat 3 racer dude tempo'd up together and dropped the rest of our group halfway up. Near the top he popped me, it had something to do with the fact that he knew the climb and I did not, it kicks up in the last half mile or so, and just when you think it's over, it keeps going. Gradual climb, but quite long.

baiskeli

The lower slopes of the climb are 2-3% so you get plenty of warmup before the grade kicks up. I'm not a climber by any means but I took it relatively easy and didn't find the climb that hard (apart from the fact that I had 68 miles to go after completing it).

baiskeli

Yes, I was rocking on with a low heart rate until that final last half mile or so, which caught me by surprise.

patentcad

Yeah that last half mile has a bit of a sting to it that you don't see coming. Helps if you know the top of that climb.

baiskeli

Hi madfx, I have a compact crank (50,34) and an 11-28 cassette. It was more than enough (I know people ride this comfortably with a double too)

BoSoxYacht

I rode that in 1982, at age 14.

I can barely remember the ride, but I'll always remember that as my first "long ride".

BoSoxYacht

More photos?

Take me down memory lane please

baiskeli

Sadly, I only took one other photo. I'll post it when I get home.