Ride report, continued...
I post a lot of pictures. In case you haven't sorted it out by now - I like a lot of pictures!
I rode down to New Hampshire from Maine; I have to get home again, of course! I was going to head out
early morning on Wednesday, but the weather forecast was better (30% chance of showers and thunderstorms) for Tuesday, so I left at around 11am that day, August 27th.
This time I took the more scenic route which I avoided last week. I left coastal NH and headed northwest to Concord, to hook up with highway 93 (the superslab which runs north from Boston up to Canada) just above the toll section. I spent an hour running north from there at 60 to 65 mph, to make up some time for slower riding later in the day. The bike did just fine, and why not? I've regularly ridden that speed on many two-lane roads near me.
Maybe New Englanders drive somewhat more sedately, but a majority of the vehicles I encountered stuck pretty close to the speed limit; most passed me in a lazy way, and I even passed a couple myself. What surprised me was how little traffic I encountered - there were stretches where I couldn't see a car or truck a mile before or behind me. It was mid-week, but it
is summer, before a holiday weekend, after all! Dark clouds threatened, but I only received a brief sprinkle along this stretch, just a few drops on my visor. It was the only rain I was to see that day.
I jumped off 93 at the western end of the Kancamagus highway, the apparently hugely popular tourist road. Again, not much traffic for most of the way! Fair warning:
The initial climb (about a third of the total highway length) was nice, lots of curves and smooth blacktop. I hardly saw a single vehicle! So much for all my worries about summer traffic! Looking back down the hill:
Another turnout (I've attached a panoramic view at the bottom of this post - open it in a new tab or window if you want to see it bigger):
Still climbing:
And... at the top, looking west again:
On the way back down the eastern side:
Clouds still threatened, but I never saw any rain:
When I left home we were in a stretch of warm, dry weather - nevertheless I was
mostly prepared for rain - my jacket is more-or-less rainproof(ish), I had rain pants and rubber overshoes for my boots. The only think lacking was glove covers. I made a couple of stops, at a drug store and hardware store, to see if I could find some sort of light-weight rubber gloves that would fit over my armored riding gloves, but no joy. Turns out I didn't need them this time, but I'm still looking...
The longer ride back down out of the mountains provided more traffic; I spent many miles following a BMW SUV from Massachusetts which slowed down dramatically through all the curves, but then sped up just as dramatically in the straight passing areas. Probably thought he was doing me a favor - I just couldn't safely get by. I even tried to slow down some in the straights to let him get ahead, but it didn't help much since there was a long parade of cars behind me as well. I always caught right up with him again. Still, it was a nice ride. The pavement was not nearly as smooth on this part, anyway.
I came down into the Conway area, but bypassed rt. 16, which I took through the National Forest on the way down, heading instead for the less-traveled rt. 113 mentioned in my earlier post. While heading in that direction, my bike began to sputter, so I found a sleepy side road and pulled over. It didn't take too long to find the problem - my robust negative battery cable connector, which I installed after my OEM crap one broke, was broken! At least I recognized the symptoms:
Back on the road soon enough, and onto the rural but populated section of 113. It's amazing how quickly the White Mountains end, and the flat farm land begins:
The road carries on and becomes less populated and more fun as you head north...
...until you come to another White Mountains Forest section which is closed in winter. I'm afraid I don't have any pictures of this section. You see, I was lagging behind a slow driver, but I found a chance to pass just as I entered this section of road - it was freshly paved, absolutely smooth, without even the lines painted on yet. It might have been treacherous in the wet, due to oils leaching from the recent hot-top, but as it was, it felt secure, and I still don't ride all that aggressively. The road was narrow, barely wide enough for two cars to pass; steep, curvy, tree-covered and so much fun I couldn't be bothered to stop and take pictures! 20 minutes of sheer riding bliss, with only one car coming the other way the whole time! If I wasn't running so late getting home, I would have simply turned around and gone back to do it all again.
As I came out the other side, the road opened up again into a normal, but pretty two-lane byway:
Here's the entrance at the north end, looking south from whence I had just come:
From there it was two-lane state roads all the way home. Two hours from home, I stopped in Bethel again, on the village green, to take a pee-stretch-drink break (ok, I didn't take the pee break on the green). It's a strange place in the summer - it seems like it should be busy, but it's kind of a ghost town:
(Spot the bike - it isn't hard!) Maybe it's busier in the winter during ski season? A quick stop in Augusta for fuel, and I was home before 8pm, tired, hungry and covered with bugs!
Finally, I thought I'd show you my crazy 8:
it comes around every 90 miles.
I reset my GPS maximums before I left for home. One-way stats:
distance: 300.9 mi
moving average speed: 47.1 mph
maximum speed: 66.5 mph
moving time: 6:23
average fuel economy: 64.3 mpg
I'm a bit disappointed by my fuel economy - not sure why so many others are consistently getting high 70's. But, I really enjoyed the trip, and I can definitely see myself wanting to take longer journeys - my wife isn't gonna like this at all! As long as I have my tools, I feel like I wouldn't worry too much about something going too horribly wrong, even though I still have a lot to learn about the care and maintenance of my bike.
One thing I did discover is that I feel torn about taking a fun scenic route while working my way to a destination with a time schedule to keep. Sure, why not take the scenic route if you have to go anyway, but I was always second guessing whether I should stop here for this photo, or stop there for that view, or turn around to run a fun section again just because I could. I missed some good shots, and some good opportunities to just stop and smell the roses along the way - kind of like taking a whirlwind bus tour of five European countries in seven days. I guess I would do it again if I could, but for such a scenic area, I'd rather head there as a destination and spend some quality time. But a quick drive-through is better than no drive-through, I guess...
-fin-