Unofficial Royal Enfield Community Forum
General Discussion => Trips/Ride reports => Topic started by: mattsz on October 18, 2013, 10:10:49 pm
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I've spent some time riding in New Hampshire's White Mountains this summer - my father has been ill, and I've taken the scenic route on my way to see him. The weather was so nice on October 3rd, and since I've never been to the top, I decided to visit Mt. Washington and ride to the summit. Here's some pics (as I've done before, I'll upload a few panorama shots at the end, so you can click on them to see them bigger if you want).
I headed west toward NH; the colors in Maine were just coming (panorama of the river at end of post):
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JRhBcfscrKg/Ul-_IePfK4I/AAAAAAAABag/zDXxPp4e_4g/w600-h450-no/DSC03019.JPG)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SpBhsCUbScs/Ul-_Jt8vXQI/AAAAAAAABa8/0vESG4704h0/w600-h450-no/DSC03026.JPG)
I came across an ice cream stand (closed for the winter), which was not of any great notice, except for the disturbing sign - creepy!
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P9fDeAqqn6M/Ul-_JPmLc1I/AAAAAAAABas/aE7CnbBDAoM/w379-h470-no/DSC03024.JPG)
I arrived mid-day:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rGol88I9x2s/UmEVWqvpNII/AAAAAAAABds/sLjbmAOY50M/w600-h449-no/DSC03078.jpg)
The colors are a bit more vivid and further along here in the mountains:
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-8safUk9eb-M/Ul-_Lwk6DNI/AAAAAAAABbw/Pwn0U4yTSE4/w600-h450-no/DSC03077.JPG)
The entry gatehouse has a sign posting conditions. Wikipedia says,
For 76 years, until 2010, a weather observatory on the summit held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface, 231 mph (372 km/h or 103 m/s), on the afternoon of April 12, 1934.
On my day, the sign said the wind speed was a gentle 45mph, but I would say that was about the maximum wind gust; the steady speed was probably half that - it really was a perfect day!
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-vTvXDQ2AgJM/Ul8TzccvM5I/AAAAAAAABWI/-cbzBQNjUmI/w500-h386-no/DSC03030.JPG)
More colors on the way up:
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jk5oPSiTSbY/Ul-_Lbaf9zI/AAAAAAAABbs/AgFtLSHnpVs/w600-h450-no/DSC03076.JPG)
It's a long, narrow, steep climb, with water for cars overheating on the way up, and signed turnouts for cars to cool their brakes on the way down!
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bC1KzERBDFE/Ul8Ukv1reCI/AAAAAAAABWg/m5Ne6z0y4vI/w334-h469-no/DSC03075.jpg)
As for the ride: the posted speed is 20mph. This is just the speed where my bike wants to be shifted from 1st gear to 2nd, so if I found myself right behind a car doing this speed, I ended up constantly shifting between the two gears. I did best at about 25mph in 2nd gear - the bike could have climbed all day. Descending, I hardly needed to touch my brakes at all; that big single piston provided all the engine braking I needed. I can see why these bikes are so successful in the mountains of India!
About half-way up:
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--gs4NJGe4K8/UmEVV4E06yI/AAAAAAAABdU/BGp-YEA8R3k/w600-h411-no/DSC03072.jpg)
The road turns from pavement to packed dirt - my K70s didn't even notice:
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HiwQLhiOlFg/Ul8Uskm25EI/AAAAAAAABWo/Oznug1LEm_E/w600-h450-no/DSC03032.JPG)
The views were great, but this next pic is by far my favorite! I pulled over for a look, and I spotted this guy with his girlfriend parked nearby. He heard me come in, but didn't see my bike until it was mostly blocked by his car. He asked me if I was riding a KTM, and when I replied no, it's a Royal Enfield, he about jumped out of his boots to go and look - he was from India and had ridden an older one into the mountains there years ago. He was very excited to see one again, and of course he had to have his girlfriend take a photo. A really nice couple, and I'm glad to make his day just by showing up!
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-NX2UrA8-6bo/Ul-_KE9IgzI/AAAAAAAABbI/2lM8h096WG4/w600-h450-no/DSC03039.JPG)
The summit is at 6,288 - almost there! Looking down:
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-KPQTDEOKXnA/Ul-_KPOiJvI/AAAAAAAABbQ/WyrJgAUDZfM/w613-h470-no/DSC03044.JPG)
and, looking up at the summit compound (my bike parked in the center):
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-VcTZqJBmTJE/UmEVVaqtF5I/AAAAAAAABdA/Q32s4w1jIeA/w600-h385-no/DSC03046.jpg)
At the top - shown here is the cog railway which runs from about half-way up to the summit. The Mt. Washington cog railway is purported to be the world's first mountain climbing cog, or rack-and-pinion, railway (its first paying passengers rode it on August 14, 1868), and has an average grade of over 25% and a maximum grade of over 37% (panorama at end of post):
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U66CiR0ovIs/Ul-_Ko44g5I/AAAAAAAABbc/lrMJgg6FUKo/w600-h415-no/DSC03056.JPG)
And of course, in this environment you've gotta chain your buildings down! :o
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B5VjDvGAGnw/Ul-_LA_MmeI/AAAAAAAABbk/4hdJNo7NLLM/w600-h450-no/DSC03059.JPG)
In the parking lot, at the top of the world - well, the top of the Northeast of the US, anyway (panorama at end of post)!
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-ok_EhaZsaug/Ul-_KRY0RdI/AAAAAAAABbU/PqfPJH9LItM/w600-h383-no/DSC03050.JPG)
And, my panorama shots attached below - open them in a new browser window or tab to see them "full-size":
- Androscoggin River
- Cog railway
- At the summit (my bike is on the right!)
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Boy! It truly is a Small World!
I saw photos of a trip to a high pass in India and they looked just like these photos of the good old USA! :o
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Yeah, yeah...
But that post was a bust!
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Both places look like you had a great time going.
PS I still want to know what bags you've got there. They look great!
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Thread detour...
D the D - those bags are $70 "Waterproof Classic Biker Motorcycle Saddlebags" by Xelement, purchased from LeatherUp.com:
https://www.leatherup.com/p/Motorcycle-Saddlebags/Waterproof-Classic-Biker-Motorcycle-Saddlebags/49964.html
(https://www.leatherup.com/imagesproc/49964_H_SH355_MW400.jpg)
They're nothing special - leatherish plastic, basically sort of mostly water resistant, and no easy way to secure them. LeatherUp has a whole pile of bags like this in the 70-90 dollar range, and I imagine that they're all the same quality. I wasn't prepared to plunk down a chunk of change on high-quality bags without having a clear idea of what size or shape or attachment style I would want. So I got these because they were fairly cheap and the right size. And they almost weren't that, since, as I said in my product review, the given dimensions were clearly external, and not quite right at that.
You may or may not recall how I damaged my paint with them - I ended up cutting up the mounting yoke and mounting each bag individually. I don't have any pics on me, but it's worked mostly well and I'll make another post about what I did. One of the zipper mounts is ripping, and I'm not sure if it's just because they're cheap, or if my mounting scheme is stressing the bags...
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Thanks for the info! They do look good on your bike. I'll check it out. I don't want to spend a bundle either.
Dennis
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Beautiful pics Mattz. Love the colors of the leaves.
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Thanks mattsz,
Looking forward to riding in Maine next summer.