Waitsfield sits in the Mad River Valley, a long, narrow slot between two ranges of the Green Mountains, and everything about the place is shaped by the ridges. To the west the Lincoln Range rises with Mount Abraham among its peaks, to the east the Northfield range, and between them the Mad River runs north through a patchwork of farms, hayfields and white-steepled villages. Two ski areas, Sugarbush and Mad River Glen, share the valley, and the second is a cult favorite: it is a cooperative that still runs a single chairlift and insists, with its famous slogan, that you ski it if you can.
The village itself is pleasant rather than flashy, with a green, a few old buildings, and the Great Eddy Covered Bridge, a wooden span from the early nineteenth century across the river. Up the valley, the Warren Covered Bridge is another handsome relic. Irasville, the commercial strip next door, has the practical side: fuel, a supermarket, a handful of restaurants and a brewery or two. The valley has a reputation for craft food and farm stands, and the produce is excellent in season.
Riding is the reason to come. Route 100 runs the length of the valley, with easy curves and long views of farmland backed by mountains, and the surface is usually smooth. Route 17, the road over the Appalachian Gap, begins here, climbing west in a string of tight hairpins to a pass that gives a huge panorama across Lake Champlain toward the Adirondacks, and the descent to Bristol is quick and steep. It is one of the great Vermont rides, and it is best taken slowly and with respect for cyclists, who love it as much as you do.
October brings the color, and with it the busiest traffic, so a midweek ride is far more pleasant. Late spring is quieter, though mud season in April can leave the back roads soft and rutted. Summer mornings are cool and clear, with mist in the valley, and afternoon thunderstorms sometimes sweep over the ridges. North of here, Waterbury has the ice cream factory that made Vermont famous and a cider mill on the route, and it is worth the extra miles.