Covered Bridges of New Hampshire

[jmarran]

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

I made it home without incident too. I'll play around with the pics once I thaw out.

Thanks for organizing/leading it Fred!

John

 

[ionbeam]

The Yankee Freezer Burn ride went awesome! Thank you FredW for the tour-mister duties. Someone needs to make a Freezer Burn license plate bracket to go with the Butt Burner bracket.

We left home at 7:30 am when it was 31° (Kelvin I believe) and rode ~65 miles to the meeting point at Fiddleheads. Surprisingly, FJR after FJR rolled in. Everyone ordered two cups of coffee -- one hot cup per hand While us FJRheads were kibitzing and waiting for the sun to warm things up the Seacoast Sport Club rolled in on their concurrent Bridges of NH ride. If you ever want to know the difference between a Sport/Touring bike and a pure sport bike you only needed to look at the SSC riders. What a bunch of blue, shivering and shaking riders they were. I absolutely salute their love of riding to have braved and endured the ride they had to start the day :good: While cold, the FJR group was quite ok. My hat is off to the other FJR riders that made a 2+ hr ride just to ride. Dave, Ann deserves something special for making your long and cold ride today!!!

We had a fine ride enjoying the countryside until we arrived at the bridges rich part of the tour. Getting to the area of the bridges is simple, Fred did a great job of getting us down the back roads, actually to the bridges.

The day ended with a spectacularly well timed arrival at the Yankee Siege Engine Trebuchet, just in time to see it throw a pumpkin into low earth orbit :lol: 10' steel wheels and a 65 foot tall throwing arm powered by a big box of scrap rail road rail chunks did the job.

Once again I was lucky enough to spend the day with several of my best friends that hadn’t yet met.

God speed Dan, I hope you don't have too much smoke when you turn your key on with the high beam switch in the on position :scare2:

We are now sorting through ~350 pictures taken during the ride, pixs to follow...

Thanks Fred, and a glad to have met ya'll that rode with us today!

 

[BkrK12]

Already tried the switch thing, Alan. No smoke - nothing happened except the engine started. It's going to make me crazy.

It was a great day - if only it had been a little cooler! It was especially nice to have the other bikes - diversity makes for interest.

Thanks to Fred for leading the pack. It was a pleasure to meet everyone.

Dan

 

[ionbeam]

Samplers:

 

[Fred W]

Hey everyone,

Glad to hear that you all made it home in good shape, especially the folks that made the longer hauls from Mass, Dave & Ann, and John.

I'm really glad so many folks braved the Autumn chill to ramble around the covered bridges and backroads of Cow Hampshire. It really was a spectacular day, the epitome of a New England fall day, though it's really too bad we didn't put this together ~ 2 weeks ago when the color was brighter.

It was a great pleasure to ride with my FJR friends again, and pretty cool to see the Trebuchet. This was my first attempt at leading a group ride and you guys (and gals) made it too easy. Thanks to all of you for coming and making it a great ride day. I hope each of you enjoyed it half as much as I did.

I'm nervously watching the playoff game 7 now, so I'll have to wade through pictures and GPS tracks and post up more tomorrow.

PS - Dave, how did you like that lower section of Rt 31 going down to 101? I think that is one of the better roads in New Hampshire. Not technical tight, but nice sweeping twisties along the river.

PPS- Wow looks like Helen was busy!! Great pictures. Can't wait to see the other 300!!

 

[ionbeam]

How could I have forgetten the mug shots group picture:

L to R -- Jmarran; Ionbeam; BkrK12; (Ann in back, pillion with 08FJR4ME); 08FJR4ME; BostonBoy; FredW, ride leader

 

[madmike2]

That group is almost as scary as the NorCal bunch. That idea is REALLY frightening!

Awesome pictures, I can see why you guys love riding that area.

 

[jmarran]

OK, as promised here's the few pics I got:

At the Fiddleheads Cafe:

At the bridge we stopped at:

Here is a pumpkin as it's being launched into low-earth orbit:

 

[Fred W]

And I'll add my few pictures from yesterday:

Rest stop at the 6th Covered Bridge crossing:

My version of the "mug shot" you get a better look at the ladies.

(Note the black thing in Helen's left hand. It seems to always be there!!)

Lunch stop. Dan peruses his color headlight schematics provided by Ionbeam, Helen peeking around the window post, Peter chowing down on his sammich, JMarran scowls as he contemplates knocking over the liquor store across the street.

The Trebuchet, cocked and ready to fire.

The "target", which as with the chain of stores is pronounced tar-jay.

Actually the punkin' went over the castle, into the field behind by several hundred feet.

And here is the Trubuchet in action:

Click to view

It is amazingly violent in action and hurls the projectile pumpkin about the length of 6 football fields!

 

[Fred W]

And here was our GPS track log:

 

[ShawnKing]

Surprisingly, FJR after FJR rolled in.

Why is that surprising? Only FJR's were invited...

 

[BkrK12]

Surprisingly, FJR after FJR rolled in.

Why is that surprising? Only FJR's were invited...

Shawn, Tomorrow morning, go outside and look up at the sky. If it isn't cloudy, you will see a big yellow orb shining brightly and providing light. It is the sun and it is what the world revolves around. I know you will find it disappointing that the world does not revolve around you, but try to learn to live with it. Dan

 

[Fred W]

Surprisingly, FJR after FJR rolled in.

Why is that surprising? Only FJR's were invited...

I'm sure that you already know this, but clearly what Alan meant was that it was surprising that anyone was rolling anywhere, considering the chilly temps.

Let me ask you this, Shawn: Had I not stated that our ride invite was for FJR's only, would you have come up to New Hampshire yesterday?

 

[ionbeam]

Yes, based on the written response to the Bridges ride Alan meant 1) it was a surprise to see as many hardy soles turn out as did and 2) to distinguish our ride and our FJRs from the mixed breed Seacoast Sport Club ride that also rolled in about the same time. The SSC riders are all good doobies and I enjoy riding with them, it's just that on this day their ride agenda was different than ours.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Just a few more pic's

Kudo's for Hellen doing such a great job taking pictures. Usually i will have my wife Ann take pictures also but i don't think she was going to take her hands out of those mittens. I will just post a few of my favorite pic's.

I think Dan gets my vote for the cleanest bike



Getting ready to start the ride, it's not easy to move with 3 layers of clothing on.



View from one side of bridge



View from other side



Thanks FredW for the private tour down 31 south on the way out it was a nice run. We had a great day and great time. Nothing like seeing FJRs taking on the backroads of NH. Did anybody catch a glimps of the 07 cherry? Wonder who that was. Maybe someday we can do something down this way sometime. Might have to call it, Sandy beaches tour. Twisties would be limited. Much better roads in NH.

 

[Fred W]

Those last two pics are of the Ashuelot River, running under the Ashuelot Bridge (the white one) in many of the other pictures. It was a rest stop along the way Here.

A group ride on the South Shore would be a nice idea. I'd like to get out on the Cape even. The challenge, in my experience, would be in missing the weekend traffic. Have to go after labor day for sure.

Thanks again, Dave and Ann, for riding so far to ride with us.

 

[BkrK12]

I think Dan gets my vote for the cleanest bike

Thanks, it goes along with compulsive punctuality, which my wife considers a major character defect.

Dan

 

[luvtoride]

Hey, looks like you guys has mucho fun. Those colors... WOW!

 

[Fred W]

Hey, looks like you guys has mucho fun. Those colors... WOW!

It is amazing how quickly the colors came and went this year. Here is a picture I took 2 weeks ago when scouting the ride:

Compare that to Alan's (or Helen's) taken on Sunday:

The leaves, umm... left.

From green to gone in 2 weeks.

 

[snikr]

You guys look like you had a good time. Sorry I couldn't make it this year. I guess I need to lay out a VT Covered Bridges ride next year. But hten again, I ride throught a covered bridge EVERY DAY!!

Tom