Cycling the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail (XNHAT)

We cycled the XNH Adventure Trail over two days on a gravel bike, cross bike, and mountain bike, camping one night at the Israel River Campground in Jefferson, NH. The trail goes from Wells River, VT, to Bethel, ME. We cycled the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail, the Presidential Rail Trail, as well as some beautiful paved and gravel roads through fields of lupine and views of the NH White Mountains.
XNHAT: www.crossnewhampshire.org, or www.xnhat.org
Instagram: OldManofNewEngland

[@MyBrothersKeeper101]

I snowmachine on that exact rail trail from woodsville to Littleton. AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF RESPECT FOR SHOUTING OUT THE REGISTRATION FEES THAT HELP KEEP THE TRAIL 🤘

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Thanks mate! It’s the cross disciplines that make all of this work!!

[@FortheLoveofCycling]

Wonderful adventures.

[@nsick]

Thanks for sharing... now it's on my list!

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@CrustyRusty38]

What a nice adventure.

[@bostonblueguy]

Amazing, thank you for sharing your experience. My buddies and I plan to do this next summer!

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Enjoy, Elvis! It’s a wonderful ride. Thanks for watching!

[@steveretiredandcycling]

Just discovered your channel this morning and subscribed. Thanks for the video of the XNH Trail. My wife and I put the trail on our bucket list for next spring, Thanks again and all the best, Steve

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Thanks, Steve! It’s a great ride. Thanks for watching.

[@michaelryan3779]

That looks like a beautiful ride!!👍🏻

[@OldManofNewEngland]

It was amazing. The weather, the mountains, the flowers! I highly recommend any section of it!

[@RideAlongAdventures]

Nice video. Thanks for sharing.

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Thanks for watching!

[@nageur520]

You guys are great.

[@OldManofNewEngland]

This was a fun ride!

[@LaughingSaint66]

dude you were so close to best ice cream in littleton and you didn't stop !!! what is wrong with you !!!!🤣 brings back memories of my life in white Mtns of course I was a climber then and I never cycled all those familiar places small regret but hey I live in Hawaii can't be that unhappy about it 😜

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Oh man! How could we have missed the best ice cream?!? We’ll have to go back again.

[@LaughingSaint66]

@@OldManofNewEngland Its called Bishops pretty well known🤙🏽

[@dimitriosfotopoulos3689]

I know I'm a bit late to the party, but thanks. This looks almost ideal as a stop for my next Northern road trip.

[@OldManofNewEngland]

You’ll love it! Thanks for watching.

[@Flackfizer]

I was on this trail last summer.I had less luck than you did. The first section out of woodsville quickly became mostly unridable. There was a constant flow of packs of ATVs kicking up dust and chewing up the surface. Whole stretches were little more than gravel and dust soup with huge ruts. You need luck and timing to this one right.

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Yeah that first section was rough. Very dusty when the ATVs went by.

[@markfeldman6509]

Just found you today. Thrilled to go along with the ride. I,live/ride on Cape Cod but I intend to venture up and do that ride this summer. Glad to find you and subscribe. Best wishes.

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Hi Mark - I'm glad you were able to find my channel and pleased that you enjoyed the ride. It's worth the planning to do this route. At the very least, the ride from Pondicherry to Gorham is wonderful!

[@markfeldman6509]

@@OldManofNewEngland you’re not the only “old man of New England”. I turn u0 next month. Already forwarded the video to one of my riding buddies and we are going to,do,that loop plus the one across lake Champlain in Burlington Vermont.if you get down to the Cape contact me and we can ride the Cape Cod Rail Trail , the shining sea path and the CC Canal.

[@thenotsogreatbiker4093]

Looks like a lot of fun. Think I will see if I can get some people together and try this next year.

[@OldManofNewEngland]

I highly recommend it!

[@Dinoxt12]

Good time.

[@TapioBlue]

Nice planning to travel light!

[@OldManofNewEngland]

It was a great ride!

[@jcgoldfield1]

Just got a nice gravel, bike, I'm always game....

[@OldManofNewEngland]

You gotta do it, Jonathan! It’s a great ride!!

[@peterplanz2310]

Pretty sure that I saw you all riding just outside of Littleton!!

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Hi Peter, that’s awesome! Were you cycling or just driving through?

[@peterplanz2310]

I was driving, headed south towards Littleton.

[@LarryHopper]

How do you keep your tires inflated on a multiple-day trip like this? Do you carry a Presta adapter and a pressure gauge for stopping at convenience stores to top up?

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Hi Larry - I haven't had leakage issues on shorter trips like this. Even during a 10wk cross country trip, I rarely had to top off the tires. However, I always carry either a small hand pump attached to the seat tube or a CO2 cartridge inflater in my seat bag. The CO2 cartridge is for inflating a patched flat tire. There are a lot of hand pumps on the market capable of pressures upwards of 100psi. As a rule, I never use a gas station pump. Thanks for watching!

[@arthurcabral1594]

Great video! I plan on doing this trail soon. I noticed you brought along three different type bikes. Cross, mountain and gravel, was there one type of bike that would be better suited to this ride? Any recommendations for tire size? Thinking of 700x42.

[@OldManofNewEngland]

I rode on a 30mm tire with no issues. I think the mountain bike was overkill and Beth certainly worked harder than Rob and I did. Thanks for watching, Arthur. The trail this fall should be awesome if you can do it.

[@arthurcabral1594]

@@OldManofNewEngland thank you for the reply

[@archietuttle2682]

Hey-- did you end up riding the cross NH trail? I'd like to do it, but from reviews I've read, it sounds like the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail portion can get really rutted and beat up from ATVs. If you did it, I'm curious what your experience was....

[@konanoobiemaster]

does the 1st day/ leg of the trip feel like a "climb" or is it gradual enough to not matter?

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Hi KonaRider, the first day of 43 miles totaled 1,700 feet of climbing. The only real climb, though, was on the road section between Littleton and Whitefield. The second day, at 42 miles, was about the same at 1,400 of climbing. Stretched across that many miles, the climbing felt minimal.

[@konanoobiemaster]

@@OldManofNewEngland thank you so much!!

[@frankieperez8290]

Have U ever ride on Nashua rail trail from Ayer MA to Nashua New Hampshire

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Hi Frankie - I know of it but haven’t ridden the entire thing. Have you?

[@frankieperez8290]

@@OldManofNewEngland Yes I went on this Nashua trail

[@ChrisDemers23]

You know, Tim, just cuz the GPS tells you to go one way, you can always override the decision to head to a brewery. #Priorities Great video!

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Ha! That is soooo true!!

[@tombiggi1024]

Do you happen to have a Ride With GPS route or a GPX file of your ride=route you can share?

[@OldManofNewEngland]

I don’t. But I think you can get it on the XNHAT website.

[@tombiggi1024]

I have the RWGPS route but was thinking more along the lines of alternate sections or trails you chose as inbthe description.

[@wolfmooch]

Will try this but cheat a bit with ebikes

[@OldManofNewEngland]

There’s no cheating when you’re getting out there and riding! Enjoy it!

[@richardwhitehead4684]

Looks like you had a good time and all, but fwiw, New Hampshire actually has a shit ton of real gravel roads. Just sayin…

[@OldManofNewEngland]

Ha! It sure does! And I ride many of them. Sometimes it’s fun to have someone else do the route planning. And the views this route goes by, wow!!