an afternoon cruise through the neighborhood(s)

the day: oct 21st. sunny, cool~ish, and no wind--same as last weekend only not quite as warm~ish. the foliage is getting yellow and golden brown, in the right light a deep orange. and more and more of the leaves are on the ground.

the adventure: another gravel ride with skip, this time with tom in north canaan, a slice of hanover on the east side of moose mountain, and dropping into enfield 'the back way'. i don't have strava or a garmin, but i bet skip could tell us how far we actually road. i will guess 'about 26.5' miles (a classic joke...i'll tell you someday).

the memories: the back roads are getting leafier and leafier. 

tom took this picture with a phone (the one above i took with a camera). it looks like it has some sort of retro filter on. just after this picture, a huge 'carroll concrete' truck met us coming the other way. skip's comment of "he must be lost!" struck me--cement trucks probably don't use strava, but with all the route finding phone aps these days, lost? i don't know how...

notes:

• our 'shortcut' through the woods needs a lot of clearing before i do that again!
• travel apps don't work on a noPhone!
• met dick on the rail trail and he reported another woods road--the one we avoided after the first 'shortcut'--had been much improved. the bridge has even been replaced!
• still true: even post peak, new england in the fall is beautiful!

go outside and play!      

'il gruppo', mostly gravel, slightly post peak

 the day: oct 16th. sunny, warm~ish, and no wind. i don't really believe in perfect, but given the foliage was not that far past peak, this was darn close.

the adventure: a gravel ride with the pendletons, richard, skip, and simon: that's brother, father, and son. richard mapped out a route starting at the dunkin donuts in bradford nh. i don't know this for certain--i was just 'along for the ride'--but i am guessing we rode a tad in newbury, a lot through sutton, maybe a bit in warner, and back into bradford. i do know we were on gravel and woods roads a good deal. all of it was downright beautiful.

the memories: obviously, riding back roads with friends is grand, especially class 6, old paths through the woods, and 'not maintained in winter' ones.

the 'il gruppo' selfie also reminded me how powerful genetics are...the pendleton brothers have a serious straight-lipped smile.

much to skip's dismay we saw a few more roadside historical markers than we actually stopped for, but i got everyone to take a break and enjoy the leaves at this one. i also like graveyards.

i took another picture with skip posing here as well, but i didn't want to put it in because linda would see that he forgot his helmet. obviously, that didn't bother me.

notes:

• it warms the heart to be part of a pendleton 'il gruppo'!
• thank you simon for not breaking completely away!
• helmets are overrated!
• even post peak, new england in the fall is beautiful!

go outside and play!      

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!