Covered Bridges of New Hampshire

OK folks,

I know this is short notice but there has been some interest in running the (in)famous Covered Bridges ride this coming weekend. I've cashed in my kitchen passes and am now cleared to lead this boondoggle this coming Sunday, Oct 19th.

We will be following a modified version of the ride route that I laid out and tested in the Covered Bridges GPS route thread. You can download the updated GPS route here:

2008 NH Bridges Tour.gdb

2008 NH Bridges Tour.gpx

(right click one of the links above, save File as, etc.)

The pace of the ride will be 2-up friendly. This is primarily a sightseeing / foliage tour. Bring your cameras!! The weather should be great. Forecast is cool, crisp and clear. The route will be over mostly secondary and backroads with a few dirt roads thrown in. No single track, and no highways (unless you use them to get there or back).

Please note: This will be an FJR only ride. If you want to ride something else, or have a friend or S.O. that rides something else, you'll want to hook up with the Seacoast Motors' Ride that is going on the same day.

The ride will start as usual at the Fiddlehead cafe in Hancock, NH, kickstands up at 9:30 10:30AM. Plan on arriving early if you want to sample their coffee and breakfast sandwiches. We'll have a lunch break at the traditional pizza / sub shop in Walpole, NH, and should be finishing up at around 4PM in Hopkinton, NH.

Full details on this ride will be forthcoming (as I make them up)

Post up if you plan on attending...

You da man!!! See you at Fiddleheads Sunday morning.

Fred W said:

Please note: This will be an FJR only ride.

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That's a real shame...

Looks like it's going to be a chilly ride up, but this is looking pretty good to me.

Let me check with my wife - oh yeah, don't have one.

Let me check with my g/f - oh yeah, don't have one of them right now either.

Yep, looking pretty good.

jmarran said:

Looks like it's going to be a chilly ride up, but this is looking pretty good to me.Let me check with my wife - oh yeah, don't have one.

Let me check with my g/f - oh yeah, don't have one of them right now either.

Yep, looking pretty good.

Click to expand...

:lol: :lol:

John, you could just ride up Saturday afternoon / evening and stay at a hotel. There is the Hancock Inn, right there in Hancock, or if on more of a budget, there's an EconoLodge in Bennington (~ 6miles away).

It'll be great to have you along!

Update to Post#1 with GPS route for Sunday's ride.

For those that are not GPS fluent, here's a couple of map pictures of the route.

They are kind'a big, so I won't post them inline. Open then in your browser or download them.

The morning ride:

https://home.comcast.net/~fredwills/GPS_Rou...0Route%20AM.jpg

And the after lunch section:

https://home.comcast.net/~fredwills/GPS_Rou...0Route%20PM.jpg

We'll be running through (or right past) a full dozen covered bridges on this route. I cut out some of the rougher paved roads on the previous year's route and substituted some smooth hard packed dirt roads that will give you some views you've likely never experienced before.

Let's ride!!

I'll need to check my schedule - and my cash stash. Just spent 4 days in Toronto with my son for his hockey tournament this last weekend. I'll have to see if I can make some cheap sleeping arrangements. Let me make some calls.

Well, I may now have an opportunity to make a few bucks shooting a wedding on Saturday, so definately can't go up and stay the night before if I do.

I still want to do this ride, and not 100% on the job anyway, so hopefully it will all work out.

I won't be able to make - there's just not enough time to get ready to ride - my back tire is shot - I have a new one in the garage ready to go but no time left tomorrow to get it mounted - I'd be scrabling with about 2 hours of time to get everything pulled together and organize my travel and sleeping arrangements. Next time. Thanks Bro!

VH

VanHarlan said:

I won't be able to make - there's just not enough time to get ready to ride - my back tire is shot - I have a new one in the garage ready to go but no time left tomorrow to get it mounted - I'd be scrabling with about 2 hours of time to get everything pulled together and organize my travel and sleeping arrangements. Next time. Thanks Bro!
VH

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Damn! We'll miss having you along, Harlan.

Take it easy.

Thanks for leading this ride Fred. Be sure to take lots of pictures so I can see what I'm missing (seller's remorse). You guys should have perfect weather, albeit on the cool side, and the color is still very good.

Folks - I've decided that we should push back the start time by 1 hour to "kickstands up at 10:30AM".

I have edited Post #1 to reflect it.

The reasons are two-fold.

1) It is friggen cold as a witch's *** this morning (Saturday). We had our first hard frost here in Londonderry, and it will be just as cold tomorrow morning, even colder as we get up country a bit. Weatherman says things will warm up nicely as the day progresses. The extra hour should give everyone a bit more time to get to Hancock from wherever without riding in the dark.

2) The Red Sox made it to game 6 and are playing tonight. Got'ta stay up and see if they can make it to game 7!! Go Sox!!

It doesn't look like there will be that many folks that can make it, so we should have a small group. Looking forward to a nice ride...

It's 36 degrees in the shade here at 10:30 so if tomorrow is anything like today put on another layer of long johns and make sure you have heated grips and riding gear plus your taller windscreen. Other than temperatures it will be a fine day for riding with lots of sun. Nothing like October riding with cool crisp air.

Hello Fred,

Just caught this post on you covered bridges ride. I know my front tire is down to the wear bars and not looking to good. I was hoping to run it till the snow falls. I might still try and make this ride. If i do i will be leaving in the A.M.. Ann says she would like to go but i am not sure how she will deal with the cold. Hope to see you there.

P.S. Dont wait up.

08FJR4ME said:

Hello Fred,
Just caught this post on you covered bridges ride. I know my front tire is down to the wear bars and not looking to good. I was hoping to run it till the snow falls. I might still try and make this ride. If i do i will be leaving in the A.M.. Ann says she would like to go but i am not sure how she will deal with the cold. Hope to see you there.

P.S. Dont wait up.

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Dave,

It appears that the turn out will be low, based on number of posts. I have pushed the start time out a bit so that we can be a bit warmer (and also watch the Sox!! tonight). I'm sure that after ~10AM it will be fine, just like today.

Talking with Ionbeam, we may cut the bridges short and shoot over to see the Trebuchet in Greenfield NH. That thing is a pisser, and you can really only see it in the fall. You shouldn't miss it.

Oh, as to the wear bars, we're only going around 150 miles (plus whatever your to and fro is), so you should be fine.

Hope to see you tomorrow.

The Punkin Chunkin is fun. These guys have won the world championships the last four years and are disassembling the trebuchet a week from tomorrow and trucking it down to Delaware for the this years championships.

I hope to make it up there in time, just show your post. Please don't wait up.

I so wanted to make this ride and meet some of the Northeasteners but couldn't pull it off. Grrrrr. I hope you are all having a great time. Post up some pics when you get back.

Well we made it back.

Thanks for leading this ride today Fred. Awsome job and we met some good folks. We will post up some pics later.

Thanks,

Dave & Ann