friday's are biking days!

 the day: sept 16th & 23rd. both of these fridays were nice and cool. the sun was out, but it was never hot or even too warm. the 23rd was wicked windy, at least out on the paved roads.

the adventures: since i haven't been posting goap! regularly--the last entry was in june--i am combining two friday bike rides, exploring the myriad back roads out in the boonies between rt 4 and 4A. i was especially interested in a path that would take me past the north wilmot church and then piper pond. 

on the 16th i went up and over fowler road and then turned toward the church, but the path got somewhat sketchy so i turned around and continued out fowler town road to 4A. i was tired anyway and figured i could stop, stretch, and sweep at the shop before it closed.

on the 23rd i took a somewhat more direct route to the church and made it with no problems, even on the 1200-1300' of climbing in the 7 miles from rt 4 rail trail. a mile past that, i found piper pond, but a flooded road beyond, stymied my connecting up a loop with fowler town / fowler road.

the memories: i love the challenge of riding past "this road unmaintained in winter" signs. fowler road is a classic example. at one point i got stopped by the significant steepness with plenty of rocks. i posed the bike for two pictures, one looking up, and one down.

the next shot was taken heading down fowler town road toward rt 4A. i am unsure which pond that actually is beyond the gate. maybe next time, i will walk over and check it out.

on the 23rd i forgot my camera, but pam and i went to nearby apple orchard on the 25th and snapped a couple of photos. first the beautiful old, north wilmot church which is having some work done: leveling the main floor, setting stone atop a new foundation--under a new sill, and presumably adding stairs up to the front doors.

the last photo is of the elusive, and also beautiful, piper pond, taken from a public access landing donated by the family pam's 'cross the street' neighbor growing up, married into.

notes:

• roads "not maintained for winter" are wicked exciting!
  
• rocky downhills can be every bit as tricky rocky uphills!
• more support for 'no matter which way you go, the wind is always against you!'

go outside and play!                                        

riding along with two pendletons

the day: june 4. we had glorious weather, sunny and in the 60s--nearly goldilocks. i thought there was a little too much head wind going east on rt 4, but in a group the tail end got some pull. at least we didn't get wet.

the adventures: adventures is plural as simon was on a big loop around mount cardigan, via groton-dorchester-canaan-orange-grafton-danbury-alexandria-hebron-groton. at least, those are the towns i know. on the smaller non-loop version, skip and i met him in canaan and rode through grafton and danbury into alexandria. we turned in 'downtown' alexandria--don't blink, you'll miss it--and rode back toward danbury. linda was kind enough to meet us and give us a ride home. that gave us more time to ride with simon, which i assume is what skip planned. simon hugged his mom and dad, then road off toward newfound lake and groton to finish his circumnavigation.

the memories: considering the past few days have been very cloudy and somewhat wet, today was glorious. of course it's the weekend so we had to share the road some. but all and all, the ride was super fine. i did ditch my wool shirt back at the hardware store and actually remembered to pick it up on the way home. we made a few stops but i elected to take only one picture of the pendletons considering the other two times they were peeing.

notes:

• the person who arranges the ride gets to make the decisions--at least most of them
  
• when the sun burned through the fog, it got warm--the shady parts of 104 along the smith river and cass mill rd in alexandria were really pleasant
• no matter which way you go, the wind is always against you
• riding with simon and skip is even faster than riding with just skip--especially when the young one is wearing his team kit!

go outside and play!                                        

closing the loop--to cold river camp and back

the days: may 5-9. it would not be a lie to say, those were five glorious weather days--in a row! goldilocks perfect, not too hot/not too cold, mostly blue sky, windy enough to keep bugs at bay/but not so windy as to blow me off my bike...

the adventures: thursday, biking up to cold river camp in evans notch, 'opening' camp, sunday, biking to kevin and mariels', and then home on monday. to the best of my googling, milage works out to be 90-25-85 ~ish.

the memories: day1: skip rode the first 15 hilly miles with me before turning back to his truck at our start in north haverhill. i kept going--uphill much of the time. besides occasional pictures opportunities, i took 2 major food stops and one water refill break. the north side of evan's notch following along the wild river, is super mellow, gaining about 800 feet in about 10 miles (again google is my source). it loses it all in less than 4 wild miles down! another bonus, i got to go around the biggest hills, the presidentials.

day2: the short ride over to kevin and mariels' was more downhill until the last mile. when i pulled in, i mentioned i stopped and chatted with their neighbor, sitting at the end of a driveway with a cigarette and a PBR. kevin mentioned he had also been down there, only with the fire crew putting out a brush fire. "i think a cigarette must have got away from him..."

day3: it was a day of big hills--2 out of 4 were pleasant. on my first, a truck beeped at me and i went off into the new sandy gravel and had to do a quick dismount--or fall. i chose the first. after a hearty lunch on bh number two, fire and emergency trucks kept zooming by with lights and sirens going. when i caught up to them, they were fighting a fire in the woods and wetting down a nearby house. on about the forth or fifth bh, i stopped counting after the fire, i stopped to talk with and old timer on his tractor who, confirmed i had just ridden by the unmarked road i wanted to turn up. he had a wonderful new hampshire accent to match his smile. then finally, i stopped to chat with a group on lawn chairs surrounding a cooler of beer--and lots of empty bud light cans. i declined their generous offer of a couple of cans to go, but i should have filled up my water bottles.

notes:

• riding long days always brings a few surprises
• drinking beer at the tail end of a long day might not be wise--but staying hydrated is good
• riding with skip is much faster than riding alone--even when you stop to photograph funny signs and snack

go outside and play!

halfway through #30daysofbiking and getting "harder, better, faster, stronger..."

the days: april 15-17, good friday, saturday, and easter sunday. temps varied, but somewhere between 35 and 45. on friday it did sneak up into the 50s. mostly cloudy, with the sun shining shining, only on friday--oh and sunday after we got home. it also snowed! dry~ish on the rides, at least in the sky. wind everyday, but it never blew me/us off the bike. strongest on friday.

the adventures: biking 3 of the '5 towns' with a side trip into lyme: solo, canaan and enfield; with skip lyme and canaan; with skip, simon, and sawyer, canaan and grafton.

friday, went to the school and then around mascoma lake to stop at the shop where brendon and dustin taught me how to bleed a hydraulic brake and replace the pads. saturday, skip took me on a loop past the skiway and back through north canaan. then on easter sunday with the big groupo, a quick out to grafton pond and back, to get everybody 'hhome' for various eating engagements.

the memories: 

• fixing the rear brake on the addict was fun to learn and fairly straight forward. brendon and dustin both said my shimano brakes were much easier--and less toxic--than sram. 
• baker hill in lyme still had a section closed from mud. there was plenty, but only one section was it a struggle. 
• to grafton pond and back was quick with simon setting the pace, spinning at high rpms.

notes:

• bike repair is good to know, and with the right tools & equipment, not crazy hard
• mud can still be deep~ish in the super shady, cold spots
• riding with other bikers is much faster than riding solo--especially if they are their thirties 
• happy easter
  

go outside and play! (just don't get caught...)

more #30daysofbiking, hiking, with trail & brush work as well

the days: april 3-14. a few days cold ~ish, a few days warm ~ish, a bunch of days in between. the few sunny days coincided with the warm ones. some days wet, some days dry, and some, moist. again, those few sunshiny days correspond to the dry ones. windy days were equally mixed as well. basically, april weather--all over the map and somewhat unpredictable.

the adventures: hiking, biking--it's #30daysofbiking, trail & brush work, here, there, but not everywhere... definitely all the usual spots, and a few exotics on a couple of longer bike rides.

the memories: 

• doing some rerouting down on the school cross country trail on the 4th, i  heard quackers--wood frogs--for the first time. 
• got rained on my ride into the dentist on the 8th--the hygienist was wondering why her chair was so wet and gritty. 
• there was a sudden burst of hail on the 10th. fortunately it was lunch o'clock at the pendletons--linda's squash soup was very tasty! 
• pam hiked and i biked over town hill on the 12th, and we heard the season's first peepers--tree frogs--down at the marsh.  we also 'ran into' two snakes--one of them was "very aggressive--it's sidewinding me!"
• i had been stopping and snapping pictures when i saw significant ice on hidden little ponds tucked into the shady parts of the woods. 
• today, the 14th, skip let out a holler, "there's still ice" when we went by tewksbury pond.

notes:

• april may be the cruelest month, especially if you don't like mud season
• climate change may be making april less cruel--maybe
• skip doesn't like hills--up or down--but he keeps going strong
• ticks are out! found a deer tick latched onto my upper arm in the middle of the night on the 13th
• ice is nice--it will make you smile

go outside and play!