Tuesday, August 28, 2012

North Fryeburg to Stow Store and Beyond, 9:00 am

Thursday, August 30, 2012

It should be a beautiful day for a quiet, traffic-free ride in the North Fryeburg-Chatham-Stow area!  

Start 9:00 am, ready to ride, next to the North Fryeburg Fire Station at the corner of Route 113 and South Chatham Road. The ride will check out the status of the corn, potatoes, soybeans and turf fields. The route starts south on Route 113 to Cornshop, then Route 5, Fish, McNeil, Harbor, Union Hill, Meadow, the Stow Store and the Chatham Loop or the Basin. Choose your favorite route!

Basic ride to Stow Store: 23 miles. Add the Chatham Loop: 30 miles total. Add the Basin: 39 miles total. For a longer ride, start at the Maine Visitor's Center on Route 302 just over the NH border at 8:20 am. Ride up Route 113 to meet everyone at the fire station or as they ride towards Cornshop Road. Starting at the Visitors Center will adds about 18 miles round trip. If you want to carpool to North Fryeburg, meet at Grant's parking lot at 8:15.


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Bethel to Andover, Rivers and Fields 9:30 am start

Thursday, September 4th, 2014

Looks like a beautiful day for a great ride along the rivers and fields of western Maine!
The route to Andover from Bethel is a beautiful ride on quiet roads. 

Start at the park (where we picnic on the North Road ride) on the Androscoggin River in Bethel and go north on Intervale Road to where it ends at Route 232 in Rumford Corner.  Take a left and cross the Androscoggin River on an old iron bridge, then another left onto Route 2 and shortly afterwards, a right onto Whippoorwill Road.
At the end of Whipporwill, go left onto Andover Road, then turn right onto East Andover Road, taking another right onto Covered Bridge Road and climb a short hill. (left, left, right, left, right, right!  Check the map!) All these manoevers keep you on the eastern side of the Ellis River. You will finally cross the Ellis a mile before arriving at the Andover Town Green, complete with a gazebo, and general store.    Great lunch stop!
Return via the western side of the Ellis river on Route 5, take a left to cross the Lovejoy covered bridge (Maine's shortest covered bridge) then retrace the route back to the cars via Covered Bridge Road, East Andover Road, Andover a Road, Whippoorwill and Intervale Road.    


Total distance: 49 miles

Shorter Option:  


Rumford Corner to Andover and back by Whipporwill Road and back via Route 5 is about 25 miles. Park at the intersection of route 2 and route 5 on the side of the Ellis river. There is a small parking area on the right side of route 2 at this intersection just before the bridge over the Ellis. Ride east on route 2 a short distance and take a left onto Whipporwill to join the ride.

Starting Time9:30 am Ready To Ride from the riverside park at the end of the bike path in Bethel on Route 26 (our usual lunch stop with picnic tables, porta-potties and playground).

Parking: There are not a lot of parking spaces at the riverside park! If the lot is full, you can park along Main Street in Bethel, also there is parking near the convenience store/DunkinDonuts on Route 2 right at where the bike path crosses the river.



Carpool: Meet at the parking lot across from the J-Town Deli at 8:20 am. 



To see a map of the ride click the link:


http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/9696224

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

9:30 am Crank Some Crawford and Greet the Coast to Coast riders


Thursday, August 16, 2012

.......Due to the wet weather forecasted for early Thursday morning, I have changed the start time to 9:30 am to get drier conditions, hopefully!!!.......


Meet in the Attitash parking lot, ready to ride at 9:30. Ride up Route 302 towards Crawford Notch as far as you want to go, with a regroup/lunch/ice cream stop at the Wiley House. About 30 miles round trip to the notch, or less as you please.

Why Crawford this Thursday? 

Every other year Cycle America runs their Coast-to-Coast bike tour right through this area - from Littleton to the Fryeburg Fairgrounds via Crawford Notch. Their picnic lunch stop is typically in the Attitash parking lot. 

Among a larger group, there are about 30 riders who have pedaled 4,000 miles from Seattle during the last 9 weeks. They will finish their ride in Gloucester on Saturday afternoon. 

Two riders that did the ride along with Tom and I ten years ago are celebrating their coast to coast anniversary by joining in on this year's ride for the last few weeks. We look forward to greeting them as they come down Crawford Notch!  

I have enjoyed having the Thursday Bike Group out on the road waving and welcoming the riders to the White Mountains. I hope the weather will be good!!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

West Side Road and Passaconaway

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Looks like we can get a ride in tomorrow morning before the weather changes to high humidity and afternoon thunderstorms.  How about the local favorite, West Side Road and Passaconaway to the Albany Covered Bridge and then, if you wish, up the Kanc a bit. With an early start we can get the ride in without traffic and without too much sweat. 

Start at 8:00 am, ready to ride, in the public parking lot behind the Eastern Slope Inn. 

Distance to the Albany Covered Bridge and back is about 23 miles.