July 24, 2018
Day 61 Woodstock, NH
Planes, buses, automobiles and bikes, all in one day.
We had to delay our return by 12 hours due to a flight cancellation and crappy customer service from Southwest. We were finally able resume our ride at 1:30. and headed for New Hampshire. Today was a serious workout. We started right out of the gate with a 1000 ft climb over 4 miles, steep at first, then less so. Then down and up again. We had a nice 20 mile rolling, mostly down ride, but 10 of it was on gravel road, so no time or effort saved there. It was another ridiculously humid day; our sweat had nowhere to go and breathing was tough. We got rained on a couple of times, but it didn’t last long...just enough to make it more humid! We did get to see a really cool rainbow and could see just where it ended in the trees ahead. No pot of gold though. We crossed the Connecticut River, leaving Vermont and entering New Hampshire. The second half our day took us into the White Mountains. We had another thousand ft climb that was steeper than my lungs could handle at times, so a little walking was required. After a quick descent, we had one more climb on the Moosilauke mountain road. This mountain is one of the first along the AT as you enter the White Mountains and I remember climbing it 17 years ago. This was our last big climb of the day, 1800 ft over 8 miles, some steeper sections. Lot of breaks to rest; saw a bull moose at one point. We got passed by a group of about 20 motorcycles. Then we passed them where they’d stopped near the summit and they cheered us on. Then a 7 mile descent into North Woodstock, finally arriving at 8:15. We checked into the Woodstock Inn (and brewery!). And the bikers arrived right after we did. The brewery was packed and it was karaoke night! We had some fine brews and dinner and listened to the screeching coming from the stage. It was baaaaaad. One couple picked Paradise by the Dashboard Lights. You can only imagine. Crawled into a comfy bed to recover from the day.
Today's ride: 67 miles (108 km)
Total: 178 miles (286 km)
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