Salem, N.H. to Westborough, MA. Total miles: 62.26, Riding Time: 6 hours 7 min., Average Speed: 10.15 mph, No Flats! (kind of).
Today went well, it was not as long as yesterday, but no mechanical problems. We did not have flats on the road, but our tires got low a couple of times near the end of the day and we just kept pumping them up. Once we got to the hotel, Joe changed one on my bike and one on his.
We left Salem at 7 am, and rode in heavy commuter traffic out of town. We made our way to Nashua, NH, which we are familiar with because we have ridden over that area several times, taking the Nashua Rail Trail from there to Ayer, Ma. The Adventure Cycling Maps do not take you that way, but it was close enough we decided to ride in familiar territory for a while longer. But once we got to the end of the trail in Ayer, we picked up the map route. We stopped in Ayer at the library to post yesterdays info. The route took us on some great roads, through lots of farms and the start of some "good" hills. We met a guy in Harvard, Massachusetts, who was out for a bike ride, he took a look at our maps and told us what to expect. He pointed out a road, Sawyer Hill Road which he said is a huge hill. We kind of dreaded it, but when we got there it really was not as bad as we expected. Right before the hill there was a place that sold apples and ice cream, of course we stopped to get our energy food before headding up the hill - ice cream.
The rest of the ride was scenic and rolling. We arrived in Westborough and asked at a CVS where the closest hotel was, they gave us directions which were only a mile down the road. We were really tired by the time we rolled in there and since the only other hotels in town were 2 miles in the other direction, we stayed where we were - even though it was alot more than we wanted to spend on a hotel and they didn't have internet access - unless you paid - and no pool. But the room was very nice - it had a full kitchen and was plenty big enough to bring our bikes right in. When we asked the guy at the desk if they had a pool, he said "no", but they had an exercise room. He knew we had just arrived on bikes and right after he said that, he realized that that was probably not what we were looking for. We had a good laugh though. He did give us a 5% discount on the room, once we told him where we are going.
Overall things are great. The weather could not be better, unless it was in the 90's!
Wells Maine - Salem, NH, Total miles 67.5, Trip Time: 6 hours 25 min., Average Speed: 10.51 mph
Today was a very lonnnnggg day! We left the campground in Wells at 6:22am after a very cold night. We decided to forgo cooking breakfast at the site and went to Congdons Donut Restaurant instead. We visited our first bike repair shop because my front tire needed to be trued, which means it had a bad wobble to it. We got to York, found the bike shop but had to wait until 9:30 for the bike repair guy to come in. He fixed the tire and then adjusted my gears. Then we were off....until about 1 1/2 miles down the road when Joe got his first flat. We changed that and then continued on our way. We crossed in to New Hampshire in Portsmouth, but got very lost trying to hook up with the Adventure Cycling Route out of town. We ended up on a very busy section of Route 1. We stopped and asked a guy for directions and he got us back in the general direction. We were doing pretty good, until Joe got his second flat. We got that taken care of and pedaled into Kingston New Hampshire, got a snack,asked for more directions and we were shooting for Windham, New Hampshire, but found out that there wasn't much there for motels. (did I mention that we have decided that until we hit warmer weather, we will be moteling it?) So we decided on Salem. We rolled into Salem at 6:10, after being on the road for almost 12 hours! We got a nice hotel with a kitchen, went to supper and that was it.
Although it was a long day, it went pretty well. The weather has been perfect for riding. Until I get the palm pilot to work right, there won't be any pictures posted. But we will have quite the slideshow when we get home.
Day 1: 56.25 miles, Average Speed: 10.71 Total Riding Time: 5 hours, 32 minutes.
Well we have made it to Wells, as planned. We are at Sea-Vu Campground on Route 1. We left this morning at 6:19 to a nippy 43 degrees. But it soon warmed up. We met Sue in Gorham and she rode as far as Hollis Center where we stopped to eat. We did not eat a good breakfast this morning, so we were really ready by the time we got there. Thank you, Sue, for breakfast. We did not have any "mishaps" enroute and everything has gone as planned. We rolled into the campground about 1:30
The campground is mostly an RV Park but they have 5 tent sites right on the water. However, it is a bit brisk sitting here at the picnic table. The campground has wireless internet so we are able just sit at our site and use the Palm Pilot. Jake: I didn't even have any trouble connecting! They even had an access code I had to use.
We are going to go do a little caching and when we come back I will post some pictures.
I left this afternoon to meet up with Joe as he rode home from work. For some unknown reason, when I got to the end of our driveway, I decided to take a right and go a round-about way to meet up with him. I was about 3 miles down the road and up ahead I could see a little brown dob in the road. As I approached it I thought it was a mouse, however, upon further inspection is was a tiny little baby chipmunk. He was just sitting in the road about a foot and a half from the edge. I pulled off the road and looked down at him, thinking, if he does not move out of the way he is going to fall victim to the tread of a rolling of a tire. I was not going to let that happen. In this instance, I was glad to see a pile of trash nearby, which included a 16 ounce plastic red party cup, I picked it up and guided the little chipmunk to the edge of the road, as I did not want to touch him. I am not sure if he was sick, lost or confused, but I then scooped him up into the cup and set him and his red plastic hiding spot off into the woods in hopes that his mother, father or guardian would find him. After meeting up with Joe we rode back the same way I had come and we stopped to check on him. I was glad to see that he was gone and there were not any round brown flat spots in the road. I felt I had done my good deed for the day - saving the life of a baby chipmunk.
Yesterday we biked from Yarmouth out to Scarborough for lunch at Bailey's Seafood. Before we got to Portland we decided to stop at Cyclemania on India Street to see if they still had the b.o.b. Trailer Joe had seen there last spring. The frame to our trailer was bent during Joe's mishap last week so we had to replace the whole trailer. Anyhow, they still had the trailer, so we got it and Joe pulled it the rest of our ride. Sue went with us and after having our lunch at Bailey's we headed back. Since it was almost time for Jake to arrive at work and we had not seen him for a few days, we went and hung out in the parking lot of channel 6 until he arrived. He was surprised to see us as he pulled into his parking space. I am sure we were the last people he expected to see. After a stop for ice cream in Yarmouth we ended our ride. Out and back was 54 miles.
Today after work, we started the task of packing our panniers and the new trailer. The picture shows some of what we have managed to pack away. In the next two weeks we will probably pack and repack again. Tomorrow's ride we will be going fully loaded.
In the photos to the right are our new B.O.B. Trailer outside of Cyclemania in Portland and a shot of me on the bridge that goes over Scarborough Marsh. Below are some of the things we have packed into our panniers and trailer.
