Tour de New Hampshire Guided Rides: Trails of the Queen City - Manchester, NH

Join the Tour de New Hampshire Guided Rail Trail rides as we explore a sampling of the scenic rail trails that New Hampshire has to offer. This ride series is being offered to celebrate "Cycling Awareness Month" in May and is intended for all levels of riders. We will have five rides throughout May around New Hampshire. All rides have been carefully chosen to be easy to moderate rides and will be supported by expert riders and local expert guides to point out features along the trip and answer questions. There will be plenty of stops for pictures and maybe even ice cream!

THE RAIL TRAILS OF THE QUEEN CITY
New Hampshire’s largest city is also home to more rail trails than any other community in the State. The ride will explore parts of the Goffstown Rail Trail, the Piscataquog Rail Trail, the Riverwalk, the Heritage Trail, and the newly extended South Manchester Rail Trail. Riders will use amazing bike/ped bridges, including the longest in New Hampshire (The Hands Across the Merrimack Bridge) and a newly restored historic train trestle converted into a rail trail crossing. We will also stop to admire numerous street art and murals installed along the trails and learn about the role cycling plays in an urban environment. Riders will also learn about plans to add more trails to the existing network. The ride will start and end in Manchester’s Historic Millyard providing access to many bars and restaurants for post-ride activities!

Ride info: The ride is about 20 miles and is mostly on paved surfaces. Most of the rides will be on bike/ped paths; however, there will be some street riding to connect trails. Most street riding will be on low-traffic roadways. Road, gravel, class 1 e-bikes, or hybrid bikes are recommended.

The ride will be at a leisurely pace and open to riders of all experience levels.

Due to washouts, there may be sections that require walking bikes.

***SIGN-UP AND HELMETS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS RIDE***
***BIKE LIGHTS ARE SUGGESTED***

A note about children: These rides will be all-inclusive, family-friendly rides. While children riders are welcome, a few things to consider: Insurance requires that ALL riders must wear helmets, and an adult must accompany any rider under 18. We also ask parents to consider their children's riding abilities. These rides will be in groups of up to 25 riders. You should consider if your child can ride responsibly and predictably so as not to create a hazard for other cyclists on the trip. If a rider leader feels that your child may be causing risk to other riders (zig-zagging, stopping abruptly, etc) they may request that you and your child ride towards the back of the group. We will have "support cyclists" on each ride to ensure no riders are left behind. Some rides may also have segments of street riding. Don't hesitate to contact us through the Meet-up chat tool if you have any questions about bringing a child on the ride.

Child transport devices such as bike-mounted car seats, trailers, and “MacRide” or similar devices are generally accepted and not considered an issue. However, we advise you to consider the riding surfaces; depending on recent weather conditions, some trails may be muddy and/or rough, and there may be small but prolonged grades. Please note the Bethlehem ride includes some narrow trails.

These rides are a partnership with Bike-Walk Alliance of New Hampshire, Granite State Wheelers, and the New Hampshire Rail Trails Coalition