From: pamela@keps.kodak.com (Pamela Blalock)
Subject: DARN, we got in!
Keywords: Mt Mitchell, century
Organization: Kodak Electronic Printing Systems
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1992 18:32:47 GMT

Ah, Spring in New England ... it seems that mother nature is trying to
make up for our lack of snow this winter by torturing us this Spring.
After a beautiful, warm, sunny 60F Friday, we awoke to sleet and snow
on Saturday. Fortunatley (or not) I had planned a garage/moving sale
on Saturday, so the storm didn't ruin any planned ride. (BTW, any 
locals need any gardening tools, or kitchen stuff?)

Anyway, the mail arrived sometime in the afternoon bringing good news
and bad news. We have been taken off the waiting list for the Assault
on Mt. Mitchell. Our tandem will be expected on the start line,
Sunday, May 17 - and on top off the mountain at the finish line later
that day.  This letter was greeted with mixed feelings. We had really
wanted to do this ride, but when we received the first info, stating
that registration would be limited to 700 riders this year - and that
the ride was already full, we were disappointed. We mailed in a brief 
note asking to be put on the waiting list (if riders cancelled, we 
might be able to get in) and explained that we would be on a tandem.
Well I don't know if the tandem swayed them or not, but we got in. 
(BTW, I did this ride on a single in 1988)

We both sat staring at each other, thinking that now we would actually
have to do this ride, and despite all our training so far, we better
really start getting serious, if we don't want to have an incredibly
miserable trip. "So where should we go on our century tomorrow - rain
or shine?" We are both getting kind of bored with the same old routes
around here, so we decided (God-forbid) to drive somewhere. I pulled
out several guidebooks and found an interesting route in the *Best
Bike Rides in New England* book. It was listed as 36 miles that passed
through 5 covered bridges and near a few more. Part of the route was
on 119 in New Hampshire. I have ridden 119 across Southern New
Hampshire and remember it being somewhat rolling in nature, so we
decided to park 30 miles from the loop and take 119 to the loop, do
the loop and then return. This would give us some good hills, some
nice rural New England towns and some picture opportunities, so I can 
finally finish off my last roll from PBP this summer!

When we rode Sunday morning, the roads were still damp and it was
quite chilly, but the predictions were for sun and 60F temps. We
loaded the bike into the van and headed west to the start of our ride.
As it turned out we would be parking near the turn around point of our
February Century. (some may remember that we had snow flurries through
that ride) As we entered the state park, we saw the snow on the trees.
It looked just like February! By the time we reached our chosen
starting point, the ground was covered. It was just warm enough to
cause the snow to melt and fall from the trees onto the road, or cars
or bikes ...

It seemed a good deal colder in Ashby Ma, than in Maynard (and it was)
I was starting to regret not bringing my heavy gloves, and extra leg
warmers. We got the bike setup and rolled out on our adventure at
10AM.  Of course our first stop was 20 yards down the road to adjust
the computer (why can't I ever remember to do this?) But soon we were
rolling up toward the New Hampshire border. The fog hugged the ground,
making visibility poor and keeping us damp. As the snow melted, we
could see steam rising from the ground. And occassionally as we passed
under trees overhanging the road or power lines a big chunk of snow
would come crashing down on us. But soon the sun came out and the
hills warmed us more. By the 15 mile mark, we were ready to stop and
peel off a layer of clothing. Restarting was a bit chilly, but soon we
were both comfortable. Our route would take us up 119W to 32N toward
Swanzey, NH. From there we took back roads paralleling route 10S back
to 119, then continued west on roads paralleling 119 to the final
bridge and then back on 119E to where we started the ride.

A brief aside here. Back in 1988, when I did Boston-Montreal-Boston
with Bob Wolfrom, I was taking lots of pictures in preparation for a
slide show. When we reached the NH border, I wanted to stop and take a
quick picture. Bob was worried about losing too much time and told me
that we would not be stopping at ever !@#$%* covered bridge for
pictures. So when we hit the first one, I insisted we stop! We got 
lots of pictues along the way, plenty of sleep and finished in a good
time anyway. 

So back to the ride. When we reached our turn on 32 and checked the
mileage, I realized I had miscalculated or mismeasured the route and
it would be short, so I pulled out the guide book and figured out how
to add an extra loop in the middle of the ride. Of course, we got
strange looks from people passing by as I was sitting up on the back
of the bike reading a book! The first 5 miles on 32 were basically 
the screaming descent desribed in the book, but then the road leveled
out. We came to the first covered bridge and stopped for a picture
and our first quick break.  We did a small loop within the big loop
to add mileage and when we came out on 32 a second time, we saw a 
bike ahead. It turned out to be another tandem, but with not terribly 
talkative riders, so we moved on. At one point, we were confused about 
a right fork that really should have read go straight - don't turn 
left on the dirt road. But since the road we were on turned rough
and had large patches of missing pavement, we went back and took a 
right turn up a steep hill and past a fast*deaf*hungry*dog. We did 
manage to make it past him and found ourselves right back where we 
started.

As we approached the final bridge, I realized where we were. This was
the bridge where I had made Bob stop on Boston-Montreal-Boston!  After
a couple of pictures and a power bar, we started the journey back. The
final section on the route in the guidebook alternated between
pavement and packed dirt, but was easily passable on the tandem. Then
we hit 119 and the end of the flat part of the ride.  The hills on the
way back were flattened out by the tailwind, but still left us tired
by the end.

The skies on the ride changed constantly from sunny to cloudy to
threatening to sunny again. Every 5 minutes it was different. I guess
this is typical New England. I've heard people here say, if you don't
like the weather here, wait 5 minutes, it will change. 

We finished the ride in 6.5 hours with 6 of that on the bike. So this
meant that even with all the picture taking, that we only spent 1/2
hour of the bike for food, bathrooms and pictures. I think I may have 
convinced Steve to let me bring a camera along on other rides.

BTW, the Allsop continued to perform exceptionally. No stoker butt 
problems on this ride. 

Oh yeah, Is anyone else out there doing Mitchell this year?

-- 
Pamela Blalock                                     pamela@keps.kodak.com
Kodak Electronic Printing Systems, Inc             4 down, 8 to go!
164 Lexington Road, Billerica, MA 01821-3984       Darn, we got in!
 
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