Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Wonalancet Loop, Thursday, May 29

For the Thursday Ride, May 29th, the weather looks good for The Wonalancet Loop!
This ride is a ThursdayBike Group favorite! It is very scenic, dripping with New England quaintness.

Distance: 30 miles

Meeting place: Parking lot at McDonald's and Tram Store (old Mt. Whitter ski tram station) located on the east side of the junction of Route 16 and route 25 in West Ossipee.
From Conway, drive south on route 16 to the traffic light at the 16/25 junction. Go straight through the light, then turn left into the parking lot for the McDonald's and Tram Store. Park on the right side of the lot, where we will not interfere with the McDonald's customer parking.

Meeting time: Ready to ride out of the Tram parking lot at 10:00 am. From Glen Duncan Donuts, it is a 27 mile drive, from EMS, a 22 mile drive, from Conway Village it is a 16 mile drive.


Carpool: For the Glen/Jackson folks, carpool out of the Duncan Donuts parking lot. Be there at 8:40 in order to leave the lot promply at 8:55 am. Tom and I can take 3 more people and 3 more bikes.
For the North Conway folks, carpool out of the parking lot behind EMS/EasternSlope Inn. Leave the lot by 9:05 am.
Email me if you need a ride or you are willing to drive a carpool. I will try to help match everyone up: marianneborowski@yahoo.com

Terrain: Farms, fields, forests, mountain views, marshland, horses, churches, stone walls, riverside riding, etc, etc. Part of the ride will be on the road designated as The Chinook Trial (route 113A from Tamworth to Wonalancet). The Chinooks are famous sleddogs: www.theheartofnewengland.com/LifeInNewEngland-Chinook-Trail.html
Some flat riding at the start, a wonderful downhill at the end, which means, that in the middle there are a few short steep rolling hills (not as steep as Asparagus Hill from last week...) and moderate hills that will burn some calories so that you can enjoy your lunch with ice cream at the...

Food Stop: The Other Store in Tamworth Village (at ~mile 24). Bring your own or get a nice lunch and or ice cream here and eat at the picnic tables in the back of the store.

Easier options: Shorter options exist, and you can still enjoy being with everyone at The Other Store -- email me if you want info and a map for shorter easier options.

Here is the ride map:


View Interactive Map on MapMyRide.com

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Snowville Loop, Thursday, May 22, 10:00

The weather just isn't cooperating with planning adventures! It looks like tomorrow will be like today with the usual threat of showers, but cloudier.

Let's compromise again, so instead of doing a really nice ride away from home (The Wonalancet Loop) let's do a really nice ride that is close to home. This way if it does start to rain on us, it is not a waste of the drive down to Tamworth. We can do the Wonalancet Loop in the sunshine next week!

Let's do "The Snowville Loop". It is a really nice, relatively short ride (24 miles). There are no notches, but there are a few short moderate climbs and also that famous "Asparagus Hill" which is a short, steep challenge! The ride goes through Center Conway, South Conway, into part of Brownfield, ME, then to Snowville and Eaton, by Crystal Lake. A stop at the Eaton Store for lunch or snacks is a tradition!

The ride starts in Conway Village out of the public parking lot near the corner of routes 16 and 153, behind the Mountain Center Physical Therapy building and the Laconia Bank.

Be ready to ride at 10:00 am.

For a longer option, start at the EMS/Eastern Slope public parking lot for a to add 7 miles one way via West Side Road. Meet up with the rest of the riders at the parking area in Conway Village. Leave the parking lot no later than 9:15.

For a short ride, just do the West Side Road portion to Conway Village an back for a total of 14 miles.

For the map:

View Interactive Map on MapMyRide.com

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Additional info for today's ride Thursday May 15th

Looks like the weather may be OK for us!

Here are some shorter options for the ride up to the Willey House today.

Total round trip distance from Attitash to the Willey House is ~29 miles.
You can cut out about 13 miles if you start from the Fourth Iron parking lot for a round trip of 16 miles.

If you start out of Attitash, be ready to ride at 10:00.
If you start out of Fourth Iron, I would predict that the other riders would be stopping there at about 10:45.

From Attitash to:

Bear Notch Road: 2.6 miles
Fourth Iron parking lot: 6.4 miles
Notchland Inn: 8.6 miles
Willey House: 14.2 miles
Crawford Notch Train Depot: 17.1 miles

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Crank Some Crawford

The weather forecast just doesn't look certain enough to set up the North Road Ride, nor does it look certain enough to cancel the ride entirely.
So, I think the compromise is to do a more local ride, hoping we can get it in between possible showers. Hopefully, there will not be any!!

Meet at Attitash parking lot, ready to ride at 10:00.

Lunch at the Willey House. We can turn back earlier if the weather threatens.

The ride to the Willey House from Attitash is about 29 miles round trip. It is NOT HARD -- it is WAY easier than Bear Notch Road, a gradual climb with flatter sections. The ride back is marvelous.

Those that want to burn some extra calories can continue 2.5 miles up the notch to the Crawford RR station.

Check this blog again in the morning if the weather is really not looking good. I may put out a cancellation if there really is rain.

Here is the map!



View Interactive Map on MapMyRide.com

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Bear Notch Ride becomes John Pepper's Birthday Celebration!

What a day!

The weather and ride were just great, and the reason has to be that it was John Pepper's 83rd Birthday, which was celebrated in a song that radiated out for miles over the valley towards the Kanc!! The sun just had to shine for us today!!!

Accompanying John today were:

36 total riders (31 did the Notch, 5 did the River Road and Stilling's Grant Area)

4 new Thursday bikers
4 brand new bikes
At least 12 riders who summited Bear Notch for the first time ever

Some blood was shed by one, and one had a black and blue arm. No tears.

4 went all the way to the Kanc and then rode back up (snow is all gone on that side)

1, with his trailer, did the loop down the Kanc to Conway and back up West Side Road (~40 miles)

1 had a flat tire right out of the Attitash lot, drove to Red Jersey, rim tape replaced.... She started again and still made it up to the top in time to see the rest of us just starting our way down.

Everyone's brakes worked, so no one skidded into the closed highway gate at the bottom of the hill.

A very successful day!

See you next week!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Thursday May 8th Ride in the afternoon

For the Thursday, May 8th ride: Looks like the weather will clear during the morning, and it should be a good afternoon for a ride.

In order to let the clouds disperse and the roads to dry, let's meet at 12:00.

Meet at Attitash parking lot, ready to ride at 12:00.

Ride option #1: Crank Bear Notch Road. The gates are still closed so this is the PRIME TIME to ride it -- No Traffic!! Total miles from Attitash to summit: 8 miles.

I rode it yesterday - There is hardly any snow left on the Bartlett side, and what is there is very easily avoided. We can meet and snack at the fourth scenic overlook which is on the Kanc side of the summit. Some of you may want to go all the way to the Kanc and then ride back up -- caution- there is still some snow on the Kanc side of the notch! Total miles Attitash to Kanc: 13 miles.

You can do it!! It is not that hard!!!
It is a steady, moderate grade. If it is your first time - take your time and take advantage of the scenic overlooks to take a break and enjoy the view. It is early in the year -- if you stop a few times now, later in the season when you ride it you won't stop at all, and you will be really proud of your progress!!

Ride option #2: River Road - A really easy ride: At the blinking light in Bartlett Village, instead of taking the left up Bear Notch Road, take a right onto River Road and ride River Road and the Stillings Grant area.

Let's hope they are right about the weather!