| Date: | 5-24-2020 |
| Location: | Franconia Notch |
| Distance: | 10.1 mi |
| Total Elevation: | 357′ |
| Total Time: | 3h 15min |
| Parking: | Flume Visitors Center and Skookumchcuck trail head. |
| Difficultly Rating: | Easy/Moderate |
Whenever I’m in a new city or location I look to see if there are bitable paths and trails. I feel like touring a city is always best on a bicycle. This also goes for cities and places I’ve been to a number of times.
I recently finished the Manchester Bike Tour in Manchester, NH. This is a 30-40 mile ride around the city of Manchester and supports the Manchester Conservation Commission.
The tour is open to all levels of riders and takes about 4 hours to complete. Some of the faster riders opt to take the 40 mile route and go around Lake Massabesic. The tour usually meets at the Eversource Energy Park parking lot about 7am and bikes start rolling around 7:30ish.
The tour starts with a short but steep up hill climb to Elms Street and goes north to Amoskeag Bridge. Once across the river it continues along the Northwest side of Manchester and around Rock Rimmon down to the Rail Trail by West Side Arena.
The rail trail is scenic and offers views of the river and some painted mural tunnels. At the end it meets up with the Hands Across the Merrimack pedestrian bridge and continues south toward Nutts Pond and the first rest stop.
At the rest stop there is a bike pump and some simple tools if you need to make any adjustments. The tour offers water and snacks at the rest stops.
We start again down the Nutts Pond Rail Trail and head south toward the airport. The tour rides around the entire airport which has some gradual hills and some excellent views. Toward the end is the next rest stop at the Airplane Museum.
The Airplane Museum is open for free to all bike tour participants and has restrooms for people to use. This is stop is very cool and offers a lot of history about the Manchester Airport.
The tour continues and weaves its way past Crystal Lake and eventually toward Lake Massabesic where there is another rest area if you are looking to go around the lake.
We opted for the 30 mile version so we did not stop at that rest stop.
We kept peddling and passed the Derryfield Country club and soon after found our way to Derryfield Park where there is a steep climb up to Weston Observatory.
Perhaps one of the best perks of riding in this bike tour is that Weston Observatory is open to the riders. From the top you have a great view of the City of Manchester. From here on out the ride is mostly downhill as we weave through the tree streets of Manchester’s Eastside back to Energy Park.
It is a Great feeling costing into Energy Park. For one I’m usually tired but I also know there are Puritan Backroom Chicken Tenders waiting for all the riders.
This is a fun tour and a great way to see the sights of Manchester and learn a little history. I’ve done this tour almost every year since it started and still enjoy it. If you and your family enjoy a good bike ride you would enjoy this ride.
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