Wednesday, October 19, 2011

FridayBike!

Friday, October 21st, 2011

North Road to Evans Notch

OK, I have had enough of this rain on Thursdays!!

Since this Thursday is again plagued by rain, I am going to get around this by setting up the ride for Friday this week....

Riding in the fall foliage is just so nice that I want to be out there a few more times before the colors disappear!

For anyone who can ride on Friday, let's do the North Road-Evans Notch Ride. We have not done this ride for more than a year. It is a pleasant easy ride! It is now improved since the short section on Route 2 is now a newly paved very wide shoulder. Riding up towards Evans Notch alongside the Wild River is very interesting after the damage caused by Tropical Storm Irene.

The ride starts out of the dirt parking area at the North Road-Hogan Road intersection. Ride North Road to the iron bridge (Bridge Street, about 9 miles), take a right to cross the bridge and ride up to Route 2. Take a right, then after about 0.3 mile, take a left onto Route 113 which goes up Evans Notch. The Wild River is very visible now after the flooding, and the suspension bridge that we used to walk across was destroyed by the raging river. We can stop to see what remains. The ride up towards the notch is a beautiful, flat to very gradual climb for about 8 miles. At this point, at a small bridge, the climb steepens for about a mile to the top of the notch.

Round trip to the beginning of the steeper climb at the small bridge and back is 32 miles.

Longer ride: Round trip to the top of the notch, if you want to do it, is about 36 miles.

Shorten the ride to about 18 miles if you start at the iron bridge on Bridge Street, parking in the canoe/kayak parking area on the south west side of the bridge.

We can pick a spot along the river in the sun for lunch or snacks.

How to get there:

Take Route 16 through Pinkham Notch to Gorham. Take a right onto Route 2 and drive about 3 miles. Just after a beautiful stone house and barn on the left, take a left onto North Road. Cross the dam, notice the damage from Irene, then continue 0.2 mile to the intersection with Hogan Road to park at the corner.

Ready to ride FRIDAY at 10:00am

Carpool? Meet in the parking lot across the street from the J-Town Deli in Jackson at 9:15.

Check the blog again on Friday morning if the rain decides to plague FridayBike.....

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