North Woodstock to Conway, NH
This morning I loaded the Prius with all the riders’ gear again. The deal was that I would ferry the gear to The White Deer Motel that Sylvia had booked in Conway, NH, and there my gear sagging duties would end.
Kevin assigned Bill to ride to the motel with me, ostensibly to help me unload. He knew that even though he had insisted that Bill ditch a lot of the load he was carrying, Bill would struggle on the climb up the pass. Bill seemed okay with this so I guess he was not EFI (every effing mile). The remaining four (Tim, Kamla, Kevin,Sylvia) would climb Kancamagus Pass and cycle on to Concord, NH--36 unencumbered miles--while I was on my way back to Jericho, VT, and my brother Peter’s birthday.
Bill and I enjoyed each other’s company for the short ride. This also provided a chance for me to quiz Bill about my fall. He was next behind me on the trail when I fell. All I learned was that my hand had suddenly dangled from the handlebars, that I went down into a ditch, and that I repeatedly tried to sit up. They had searched the trail for a root or stone or sandy spot that might have caused the fall, but found nothing. So, I've still no clue as to what caused the fall. I’m a fainter, so maybe I fainted. Maybe. I'll never know.
After dropping off Bill and the gear at The White Deer Motel, I started back over Kancamagus Pass. I met the four climbers when they were nearly at the summit. The rain had turned to mist at this point, so they assured me that they were all right and continued on to the summit. I continued on to Peter & Sonja's house in Jericho VT.
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| Tim's photo of the four at the summit |
Tim’s blog: This morning we loaded our gear in the Prius. Susan was taking our gear and Bill to the White Deer Hotel in Conway where we’ll stay the night. Bill had to go to help unload and also to go to a bike shop and get a broken spoke replaced. Kevin, Kamla, Sylvia and I enjoyed the nice 12 mile climb up Kancamagus Pass. Overcast conditions kept us from getting a clear view of the mountains, but we stopped at several scenic overlooks to rest and read about the impact glaciers had had on the mountains during the last ice age. About 10 miles from Conway we stopped to dip our feet in the river and take some pictures. That’s when we heard the first clap of thunder. We managed to ride another 5 miles before being overtaken by a rain shower. As we waited for the rain to let up under a tree in the woods a pack of cyclists went by. We mounted up and a couple miles down the road we found the pack of Canadian cyclists finishing changing a flat. We made it to the hotel in Conway just in time. Not two minutes passed before all hell broke lose; a deluge of hard rain with lightning striking all around the hotel. That’s the second time this trip that we outran a massive rain storm by seconds (Buffalo, NY, was the other time). We had a blast all evening hanging out with fishermen, Harley riders, a couple from NJ, and others sitting on the patio in front of the rooms sharing stories.
