Day 2 – Boston,MA to Manchester,NH

Date: 30.04.2018

Altitude: 1955.4 ft (596 m)

Distance: 63.31 mi (101.89 km)

Total Altitude: 1955.4 ft (596 m)

Total Distance: 63.31 mi (101.89 km)

The first day on the bike and it was raining again for most of the day, just like the day before. Hopefully the weather will change in the next few days. Today's destination was Manchester,NH. My plan was to get an early start, so that I don't arrive too late in Manchester and perhaps have time to take a tour through the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Merrimack.

Before I got on my way to Manchester I took a small detour in the opposite direction to take the obligatory picture dipping the back wheel of my bike in the Atlantic. At the end of the tour I will do the same with the front wheel in the Pacific. After I was finished with the picture I wanted to start the track to Manchester on my GPS, when I realized that I forgot to put the track on the GPS. So how was I going to find the way out of Boston and to Manchester without a GPS and without a map. I have to admit I didn't think of bringing one because of the GPS. So after a while sitting there at the beach, getting cold from the rain, I found a way to build the track on my phone in Komoot and transmitting the track to the GPS. So the trip could get on it's way, with about an hour delay. So there goes the early start.

For the first 12-15miles (20-25km) I was cycling through Boston, which wasn't really enjoyable, lot's of traffic, bad road conditions and I didn't really get in the flow of cycling because of all the signal lights. I can defiantly say without the GPS I would have never found the way. After I left the Metropolitan area I went on the Minuteman Bikeway in Arlington, all the way to Bedford. The Bikeway was great to ride on and I can imagine it to be beautiful without the rain. After Bedford I mainly stayed on smaller roads until Nashua. In Nashua I realized I didn't see the state sign for New Hampshire, so this will is second state sign, after the one from Massachusetts, I'm missing on my tour. The plan was actually to take a picture in front of every state sign, when I enter a new state. After Nashua I stayed on the Highway US3 all the way to Manchester. There was a big shoulder to drive on, which was in a fairly good condition, so that was okay. Only annoying thing were all the stops at the signal lights, because I always needed to stop and couldn't get in a flow riding. I guess that's the drawback on riding in a residential area. On my way to Manchester, I passed through Merrimack. There I decided not to stop at the brewery, due to the time and the weather. In Manchester I checked in the Comfort Inn and had some dinner at Appelbee's and got some rest after a long cold and wet day.

Conclusion for the day:

Always check your GPS before the start of the day and I need to optimize my packing. A few times to day I went through all my bags, because I was looking for something. I really need to optimize that, because it costs a lot of time and frustration. I also need to buy new bike gloves, since I must have left mine somewhere on the way today.