grahamfitter
Expedition Leader
Its been fourteen months and many miles since my last confession. I have generally been well behaved and report no droppage. Except for when I really deserved it on one particular ride back in the spring:
I confess that deep mud and Trailwings were more than a match for my ability.
I confess that steep and rocky single track was more than a match for my ability.
Although on both counts I blame my the liberal amounts of peer pressure applied by my ATV riding buddy who didn't need to balance when stationary.
Anyway, to the ride...
Rodent Trip: Thumpah Visits New Hampstah
But most importantly, I confess to mixing taxonomies for the title of today's trip: Apparently, rabbits are lagomorphs.
Anyway, to the ride...
Which almost didn't happen at all. The buddy I was going to go hiking with didn't call me back. The same buddy who's peer pressure caused repeated droppage earlier in the year. Plan B, which is usually plan A, was kayaking. But I think I've become a whitewater kayak snob and didn't feel like driving 90 minutes for a low flow on the Contoocook River in NH. Or five minutes for a lower than ideal but perfectly fun level on the Concord River right here in Lowell.
The thumpah in question is a Suzuki DR200 which is my first and only motorcycle. Before starting out this morning it had just under 9000 miles and all of them have been on the original Trailwing tires. Both tires are almost worn out and definitely show that most of those miles have been in a straight line.
Anyway, to the ride...
I planned to go out for a couple of hours in the morning and be back for lunch. So I headed North on the slab, riding slightly over the 55 MPH speed limit in the hope that I didn't get pulled over for riding a motorcycle that, legally speaking, doesn't have a big enough engine to ride on Massachusetts freeways.
After crossing the New Hampshire line, past the state police who frequently patrol the border, I peeled off the freeway, found my way to Milford, NH and rode North along Rt 13 in search of small green dots which, according to the AAA map, are painted on the road.
I didn't find any dots but the area is very pretty. :elkgrin: Unfortunately I left my camera at home so I can't show y'all how pretty it is. Actually it gets prettier further North. To boot, the sun is out and its warmed up to at least the low 50s. To cut a long story short, all of a sudden, I've followed lots of green dots, been up hill and down dale, passed some cars, seen exactly one other motorcyclist filled up at Canaan and rode finally through Kinsman Notch on Rt 118 to emerge in North Woodstock.
At 1pm. No worries: Its 2 hours slab home from here at 70 MPH and the DR can hold 65 even if my nuts can't. So I can have lunch at Pegs and head straight home and be back at a responsible hour to help clean house before the inlaws arrive on Monday night for Thanksgiving. Fortunately I got a big head start yesterday (Saturday) by raking 20+ lawn bags of leaves so there's nothing left to do outside the house. And its not a very big house. And its reasonably clean anyway.
Anyway, back to the ride...
North Woodstock is pretty much at one end of the Kancamangus Highway which is a really pretty road with some climbs and some bends and some mischievously placed frost heaves. I spend a lot of time in this neck of the woods but never on my motorcycle so it really would be rude to leave without riding this road. I wave to the second and third motorcyclists I've seen today and despite being on Harleys they wave back. The weather is great so where is everybody? There are only a couple of cars on the road, too. There must be a Patriots game tonight or something.
Plus, since we haven't had any snow, those "not maintained for winter travel" roads aren't gated yet. Like Bear Notch, which leads to Rt 302 and Crawford Notch. Does the dirt road over Jefferson Notch -- the highest public road in NH -- make it a real dual sport ride?
Hmm, at least 3 hours home at this point if I take the slab when I eventually reach it. Back to Twin Mountain, and down through Franconia Notch.
Tripoli Road is still open to Waterville Valley. So is Sandwich Notch road to Moultonboro. Although in the case of the latter "road not maintained for winter" may just as well read "road not maintained." Which was way more fun anyway, especially when all of a sudden it got dark which it tends to do early this time of year. At least a sliver of moon was out to boost the DR front headcandle.
Here's a theory: If I'd brought a camera to capture Thumpah and New Hampstah at their best, darkness would have fallen somewhere before Franconia Notch and I probably would have chosen to suffer the interstate the whole way home.
But since I forgot the camera and deprived y'all of photographs it got dark -- and cold -- with me standing on the pegs and relishing every moment of it. But when I finally reached terra firma, I said a big "Thank you, Rt 109, for being immaculately finished with smooth blacktop and well painted lines that reflect even the dimmest of fireflies."
Dark and cold. The rest of the way home was probably quite pretty, too, but it was too dark and cold to tell. Gas in Wolfboro. Dark and cold. Dark and cold. Dark and cold. After consuming a Dunkin Hot Chocolate and Donuts near Manchester a neon sign reads "45 degrees F." Much better: Now its just dark!
The DR and I finally arrive home about 11 hours after leaving this morning. I don't know the exact distance but its definitely over 400 miles which makes it my longest -- and also most enjoyable -- ride to date.
And, having ridden all day, I get home to find the house spotless and a bowl of hot chili waiting for me. Debbie is beaming when she hears that I had a great day. I really am a lucky guy.
Cheers,
Graham
I confess that deep mud and Trailwings were more than a match for my ability.
I confess that steep and rocky single track was more than a match for my ability.
Although on both counts I blame my the liberal amounts of peer pressure applied by my ATV riding buddy who didn't need to balance when stationary.
Anyway, to the ride...
Rodent Trip: Thumpah Visits New Hampstah
But most importantly, I confess to mixing taxonomies for the title of today's trip: Apparently, rabbits are lagomorphs.
Anyway, to the ride...
Which almost didn't happen at all. The buddy I was going to go hiking with didn't call me back. The same buddy who's peer pressure caused repeated droppage earlier in the year. Plan B, which is usually plan A, was kayaking. But I think I've become a whitewater kayak snob and didn't feel like driving 90 minutes for a low flow on the Contoocook River in NH. Or five minutes for a lower than ideal but perfectly fun level on the Concord River right here in Lowell.
The thumpah in question is a Suzuki DR200 which is my first and only motorcycle. Before starting out this morning it had just under 9000 miles and all of them have been on the original Trailwing tires. Both tires are almost worn out and definitely show that most of those miles have been in a straight line.
Anyway, to the ride...
I planned to go out for a couple of hours in the morning and be back for lunch. So I headed North on the slab, riding slightly over the 55 MPH speed limit in the hope that I didn't get pulled over for riding a motorcycle that, legally speaking, doesn't have a big enough engine to ride on Massachusetts freeways.
After crossing the New Hampshire line, past the state police who frequently patrol the border, I peeled off the freeway, found my way to Milford, NH and rode North along Rt 13 in search of small green dots which, according to the AAA map, are painted on the road.
I didn't find any dots but the area is very pretty. :elkgrin: Unfortunately I left my camera at home so I can't show y'all how pretty it is. Actually it gets prettier further North. To boot, the sun is out and its warmed up to at least the low 50s. To cut a long story short, all of a sudden, I've followed lots of green dots, been up hill and down dale, passed some cars, seen exactly one other motorcyclist filled up at Canaan and rode finally through Kinsman Notch on Rt 118 to emerge in North Woodstock.
At 1pm. No worries: Its 2 hours slab home from here at 70 MPH and the DR can hold 65 even if my nuts can't. So I can have lunch at Pegs and head straight home and be back at a responsible hour to help clean house before the inlaws arrive on Monday night for Thanksgiving. Fortunately I got a big head start yesterday (Saturday) by raking 20+ lawn bags of leaves so there's nothing left to do outside the house. And its not a very big house. And its reasonably clean anyway.
Anyway, back to the ride...
North Woodstock is pretty much at one end of the Kancamangus Highway which is a really pretty road with some climbs and some bends and some mischievously placed frost heaves. I spend a lot of time in this neck of the woods but never on my motorcycle so it really would be rude to leave without riding this road. I wave to the second and third motorcyclists I've seen today and despite being on Harleys they wave back. The weather is great so where is everybody? There are only a couple of cars on the road, too. There must be a Patriots game tonight or something.
Plus, since we haven't had any snow, those "not maintained for winter travel" roads aren't gated yet. Like Bear Notch, which leads to Rt 302 and Crawford Notch. Does the dirt road over Jefferson Notch -- the highest public road in NH -- make it a real dual sport ride?
Hmm, at least 3 hours home at this point if I take the slab when I eventually reach it. Back to Twin Mountain, and down through Franconia Notch.Tripoli Road is still open to Waterville Valley. So is Sandwich Notch road to Moultonboro. Although in the case of the latter "road not maintained for winter" may just as well read "road not maintained." Which was way more fun anyway, especially when all of a sudden it got dark which it tends to do early this time of year. At least a sliver of moon was out to boost the DR front headcandle.
Here's a theory: If I'd brought a camera to capture Thumpah and New Hampstah at their best, darkness would have fallen somewhere before Franconia Notch and I probably would have chosen to suffer the interstate the whole way home.
But since I forgot the camera and deprived y'all of photographs it got dark -- and cold -- with me standing on the pegs and relishing every moment of it. But when I finally reached terra firma, I said a big "Thank you, Rt 109, for being immaculately finished with smooth blacktop and well painted lines that reflect even the dimmest of fireflies."
Dark and cold. The rest of the way home was probably quite pretty, too, but it was too dark and cold to tell. Gas in Wolfboro. Dark and cold. Dark and cold. Dark and cold. After consuming a Dunkin Hot Chocolate and Donuts near Manchester a neon sign reads "45 degrees F." Much better: Now its just dark!
The DR and I finally arrive home about 11 hours after leaving this morning. I don't know the exact distance but its definitely over 400 miles which makes it my longest -- and also most enjoyable -- ride to date.
And, having ridden all day, I get home to find the house spotless and a bowl of hot chili waiting for me. Debbie is beaming when she hears that I had a great day. I really am a lucky guy.
Cheers,
Graham