May 11, 2021
Day 6: Naples, ME to North Conway, NH
New Hampshire
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Climbing Today; 2,372 ft Climbing To Date; 15,968 ft
Last night I woke and was thinking about the ride today when I realized that we really needed to stay in North Conway tonight. My chain has been skipping when I'm in the lower cogs, and I really need to get that fixed before we venture much further. The bike has a new chain, cogset, and derailleur, so you would think that everything would run just peachy, but not so. North Conway has several bike shops, and even though it's 5 miles off of our route it's the closest place we will have for bike service in a while. So once we got up, before we left this morning we reserved a room at the Residence Inn in North Conway and cancelled the other reservation we had in Conway. It was about 8:45 am when we finally got rolling.
Breakfast was at the Dunkin' Donuts in Naples just a block from our hotel. I really like their bacon-covered avocado toast, and a chocolate milk felt good for my sore throat. The ride out of Naples was quite pleasant, and it just got better all day. I think things are improving as we get away from the hectic coastal area. Much of today's ride was rural with very little traffic, and when we were on highways we usually had a good shoulder to ride on.
We managed to get lost in Bridgton, the 2nd time we have gotten lost so far. It happens. We weren't confused for long though, and got back on route no worse for wear. We made a lot of stops today for photos and quick bits of rest. Today was one of those days when we will just get there when we get there.
The ACA map indicated that there was a restaurant and a store in Lovell, and we hoped to eat there. But when we arrived, "Rosie's" was closed and the sign indicated she was retiring. The restaurant and the store were one and the same, so there was nothing for us in Lovell. I pulled out the jetboil and we had hot chocolate from packets I had gotten from a recent hotel breakfast bar and a granola bar that Doc had - the local library had a picnic table out front, so at least we had a little break and got a wee bit of energy to continue the day.
We were rained on several times today, but it was just a light sprinkling and done - I never felt the need to put on rain gear. In Fryeburg we encountered road construction and had to ride over some rough cobbly pavement for a bit, then we followed the ACA map off of the main road and eventually onto a bike path as a diversion from the downtown area.
We reached New Hampshire after 270 miles of riding in Maine. Somehow it seemed a bit anticlimactic; Maine was challenging, but we know that New Hampshire and especially Vermont will be much harder.
We checked in at the Residence Inn and called a local bike shop, and I hurried down to drop off my bike so they can work on it tomorrow. Honestly, I'm a bit apprehensive; the proprietor just didn't seem that knowledgeable to me - hopefully he has a good mechanic in the back somewhere. It will be late tomorrow before they have it ready, so there won't be time to take it elsewhere if they don't get it fixed properly. So then, here's hoping; my fingers are crossed. Walking back from the bike shop I found a penney in a parking lot, so the "Found Money" fund is now up to 57 cents!
We had a good dinner at Applebee's and by the time we got back to the hotel it was getting cold outside. The mountains are nearby and we are in ski country. We have been riding for 6 days now; even God rested on the 7th day, so we will take a rest day tomorrow. Thursday morning is the first big test of this journey as we ride up Kancamagus Pass. I'm very tired now, so I'll just leave you with some video snippets from today's journey. Good night all...
Today's ride: 46 miles (74 km)
Total: 278 miles (447 km)
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3 years ago
Bud (and I'm sure Doc would agree, but he's off eating now)
3 years ago