I am thinking about moving to the Nashua NH area for work but I want to know what the terrain is like(hilly,flat,rolling) and what is the club ride/racing like. Are there regular training rides and races, and do any of the LBS's have teams. Thanks for any info.

I am thinking about moving to the Nashua NH area for work but I want to know what the terrain is like(hilly,flat,rolling) and what is the club ride/racing like. Are there regular training rides and races, and do any of the LBS's have teams. Thanks for any info.

I'm from there, not living there, but will be back permanently in 2 months. The riding is (obviously) hit or miss in the Winter, but otherwise good/great. I've lived in GA and AZ and ridden a lot, but I still prefer my home town to all of these. There are numerous routes out of town heading towards Hollis, Brookline, Mason, Amherst, Milfor, Temple, Mont Vernon, etc. No, long, long climbs, but good hills with plenty of flats mixed in. The local race scene is good, go to nhcyclingclub.com for more info on the crit series run at Loudon, or leadcycles.com (or something like that) for the track series run out of Derry. There are a lot of MTB trails (get a full-suspension rig) around, many are really undiscovered and unmarked but more known to the local snow-mobilers. Go to EFTA.com or NEMBA.com for info on the local MTB scene. In Nashua, go to Naults or Goodales for good service from our LBS, they both have group rides scheduled weekly.

If you do move, give me a shout and we can hook up.

BT

There's road racing Spring-Fall, MTB Summer-Fall, and Cross from Fall-Winter.

Thanks for the info. That helps make me with my decision easier.

There are plenty of races in that area and the riding to the west of Nashua is awesome, you start to work your way up into the mountains through the towns that eyebob mentioned. I lived in Nashua for 3 years and I had some fantastic 50-75 mile routes worked out. About the furthest out I ever went was Peterborough, but from longer motorcycle rides I know the terrain is great in a much larger area, you could easily put together a 100+ mile ride that went further north & west and anywhere you go the riding will be excellent.

There are plenty of USCF races accessible to you but I don't think there is an active club/team based in Nashua. When I was living there I was a member in granite state wheelmen, which is a recreational club. However there were no group rides in my immediate area, most of the GSW rides I went on were actually based out of Massachusetts. So at the time I wasn't doing road racing, in part because there wasn't a club/team in town to help motivate me along. I rode alone a lot.

Now that I live closer to Boston where there are many active race-oriented teams, I have been racing for the last 3 years. There are NH teams which are represented at the big races in NH, but my understanding is the team members tend to be scattered around the state and as such they have more limited options to ride & train together as a team. I expect to see the NH teams have good fitness and they are likely to have good climbers who can take off in a race, but they would be weaker in crits & circuit races as their tactics can suffer compared to the boston teams. If you are looking for a big team environment that has multiple team training rides during a given week and can dominate crits with fantastic leadouts you are more likely to find that closer to Boston.

However just in terms of terrain and traffic living in Nashua kicks the snot out of living in the Boston area. I really miss my rides out of Nashua and I still drive up there 2-3 times a year in the car to do my old routes, they tend to be better training.

I live in Lowell, MA, which is the next major city south of Nashua.

Goodales, in Nashua is a great shop and hosts a weekly Monday night ride (in season only). They host a less formal Saturday morning ride, that is still going depending on weather.

I ride with those groups and there are some strong riders.

There are some great routes out of Nashua. Especially toward the Amherst, Mt. Vernon, Wilton areas. As was mentioned no major climbs, but this area is not flat! Loops in the 50 mile range have plenty of extended rolling terrain. Many 1-2 miles climbs at 6% or more, many more shorter steeper climbs. There are a couple of big climbs: Pack Monadnock, and Mt. Wachusett. PM is short but very steep. Wachusett is longer, but gradual. For both, it is the access roads that are part of the real climb. Route 101 into Miller State Park (Pack Monadnock) is several miles at 6-9% (depending on if you approach from the east or west); and Mile Hill Road (at Wachusett) again is a mile or two at 6+% (also depends or whether you are comming from the north or south). This information is pure guess work on mypart, I have ridden both many times, but have no topographical info on either.

You can do both climbs in the same day in about a 110 mile loop, with tons of inbetween climbing too.

Additionally there is great riding in Eastern and Central Massachusetts. Lots of great roads and an active riding community, at all skill levels.

As for racing near Nashua, your best bet is NEBC. Try USAcycling.org and bikereg.com

No longer familiar with the racing scene as I have been out of it for many years.

I ride with a group that meets several times a week and rides throughout the year. As long as the roads are safe to ride, we ride. There are many organized clubs and informal groups (such as ours) that are still riding through the cold winter months. I ride to stay in shape for the ski racing season, as do others I ride with. I still do solo rides. Invest in a light, unless you can get away during the day, because you will be riding in the dark if you ride in NE in the fall, winter, spring.

peace
zac

I would desribe the terrain as rolling, but you do not have to go far to get into some hills.

NEBC and NHCC are the two large clubs with open enrollment in the area. Both these clubs lean heavily to cat 4s in their memberships. NEBC has several weekly training rides and tends to race at the "Wells avenue" series on Sundays. NHCC has no training rides but does have a great series of Thursday night races at various levels of ability, this at the road racing track at Loudon, NH. You do not have to be a member of NHCC to participate.

There are several smaller race teams in the area, most of which are really focused on racing and you can join them by invitation only.

There also is a mini speedway in Londonderry at which there are Wednesday evening track events.

I am thinking about moving to the Nashua NH area for work but I want to know what the terrain is like(hilly,flat,rolling) and what is the club ride/racing like. Are there regular training rides and races, and do any of the LBS's have teams. Thanks for any info.

I didn't realize NEBC was active all the way up into NH.

They were a force this year. They'd actually register 16-20 guys in Cat 4 races and if they got to the front in a race with a yellow line rule it was all over.... they'd just launch 5 guys and then the other 15 guys could just stop the peloton and it'd be almost impossible to get around them and get the pack to chase.

I didn't realize NEBC was active all the way up into NH.

They were a force this year. They'd actually register 16-20 guys in Cat 4 races and if they got to the front in a race with a yellow line rule it was all over.... they'd just launch 5 guys and then the other 15 guys could just stop the peloton and it'd be almost impossible to get around them and get the pack to chase.

and NH Wheelmen and BoB Cycling Team are the 3 bigger ones in NH. The crit series at Louden on on Thurs evenings.

BT