Bennington Triumph Bash

I hosted the Adirondack Triple Classics a couple of weekends ago, and as part of the prep, I scouted out some roads which might interest some of you Vermont folks. We actually did a gaps ride on Saturday, taking the ferry to Charlotte and riding the App. Gap east, down 100 and back by the Mid. gap. The gravel coming west was a surprise, and it was interesting to see how much more poorly maintained the Vermont roads are as compared to the NY ones. Obviously, you know these roads already, but there are two which are really fantastic that were new to me and which are an easy shot from the ferry. The first one, county Rt. 7, is already part of the Adirondacks Ride, but you cut off at T*** Road and head west (which is also fantastic), and miss the best part, which is the northern end of Rt. 7 going into Elizabethtown. Really great twisties and sweepers, and the road is in great condition. The second road has summer traffic now, but would be great in the spring or fall, and is even more twisty than T*** Road, with lots of altitude changes as well. It is called Hurricane Rd., and it runs from Keene to the Elizabethtown road. Use caution the first time, as it is very twisty with limited sight lines, and really no shoulders to speak of. Happy riding!

sevy wrote:The first one, county Rt. 7, is already part of the Adirondacks Ride, but you cut off at T*** Road and head west (which is also fantastic), and miss the best part, which is the northern end of Rt. 7 going into Elizabethtown. Really great twisties and sweepers, and the road is in great condition.

Yeah, that one's good, but T*** Rd is better. (By the way, I've edited the name out because we don't post the name of that road online -- the less it's publicized, the better, as the state police is already aware of how popular it is with motorcyclists, and the last thing we need is for them to start cracking down due to lots of complaints from nearby townspeople and squids wrapping themselves around trees.)

The second road has summer traffic now, but would be great in the spring or fall, and is even more twisty than T*** Road, with lots of altitude changes as well. It is called Hurricane Rd., and it runs from Keene to the Elizabethtown road. Use caution the first time, as it is very twisty with limited sight lines, and really no shoulders to speak of. Happy riding!

Yeah, that's a fun road too. T*** Rd is great for scraping pegs and (if you're a sport rider) dragging knee; Hurricane Rd is much more technical and lower speed, with not much peg-scraping to be had unless you know it REALLY well. It can't really be ridden till July or so though, as it's so heavily sanded during the winter that it's still covered with sand well into the summer.

E* P* Rd, the next one south of T*** Rd, is really fun too. So is Blue Ridge Rd, which was part of the Adirondacks Ride this year. Also, Rt 86 past Whiteface Mountain down to Lake Placid is a lot of fun, and County Highway 21 splitting off 86 down to Rt 73 is really fun if you don't get stuck behind slow-moving traffic.

Lots of great roads in the Adirondacks.

--mark