Date: 01.05.2018
Altitude:
4229 ft (1289 m)
Distance:
69.56 mi (111.95 km)
Total
Altitude: 6184.4 ft (1885 m)
Total
Distance: 132.87 mi (213.84 km)
After
a rainy day, today didn't really start out any better. But at noon,
it finally started to clear, the sun came out and the temperatures
rose. So the ride was a lot more pleasant. Today I arrived in Vermont
after just one day in New Hampshire already, the third state on my
journey.
After
a more than underwhelming breakfast at the motel, I started again
quite late on my trip. I really need to tweak the packing to get
started earlier it takes me forever to get everything ready in the
morning. But at least today I remembered to load the track on he GPS
beforehand :). The first few miles led me through Manchester, before
I reached a smaller country road with little traffic. I stayed on
smaller roads with limited traffic for about the first half of
today's trip. There where even some shorter sections on forest roads
through a state park. Unfortunately the forest road was missing a
bridge just after I went down a steep decent. Because I didn't wanted
to go back up the hill and the river seemed to be shallow enough to
cross, I decided to push the bike across the river. For
crossing the river, I first carried the front panniers to the other
side. They hang quite low on the front wheel and would have been at least
partially under water, if I would have left them on the bike.
Afterwards I went back, took the bike and pushed it across. In
hindsight it probably would have been better to just turn around a go
a different way. The whole operation took forever and I was freezing,
because of the ice cold water. A bit later on the same forest road, I
had to go through water again. At least this time I could just drive
through.
The
second half of the trip I stayed on larger highways, first on NH 114,
in Bradford I switched on to NH 103 and stayed on it all the way to
Claremont. From Claremont there were only a few miles left to today's
destination Ascutney. Although there was a lot more traffic it was
quite a comfortable ride, because there was a wide shoulder to ride
on and the road conditions were generally really good. The whole trip
today went through a beautiful countryside, through forests and along
some beautiful lakes. It would have been way more enjoyable, without
the constant up an down. After a while this really took a toll on me.
The weight on the bike makes it really exhausting to go uphill,
especially on steep climbs. I somehow didn't expect it to be that
hilly.
For
the night I organized a accommodation through Warmshowers. Sue,
my host for the night, was very hospitable and even made dinner for
us and we had some nice talks. Sue herself is an avid cyclist and will be doing a two week mountain
bike trip in Alaska at the end of May.
Conclusion
for the day:
It
is sometimes best, to just turn around and find an alternative way.
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