PacTour Revisited?

The day started innocently enough. Clear, sunny, cool (started at 45 degrees, never above 65.) Jim planned to ride North, around Lake Winnipesauke, and back. Hoped to see a little more Fall foliage up north. Figured the ride would be around 100 miles

Jim'ss looking pretty lean in this photo that Opa took (we'll burst that bubble later on.) He started the ride on time (8am) wearing his favorite cycling clothes (Long Sleeve Jersey and Knickers) - notice the beautiful jersey design Lon and Susan did from last years Arizona Desert Camp that Jim and Terri did (and will do again this year - join them!!) Jim figured around 6 hours ride time with 15 minutes off the bike, so he oughta roll back into Dover around 2:15 to pack his bike and suitcase and head off to the Manchester airport around 3:30 for his 5:35 flight.

Started the day on long stretches of back roads towards Lake W.

The sun was at Jim's back as headed out Northwest. The wind was out of the Northwest so Jim had a head wind going out. Fortunately this changed to a head wind coming back so Jim wasn't cheated out of his work out.

Nice to see integrity is alive and kicking in NH. Pick up some firewood for $3 on the honor system.

Lake Winnipesauke. So far so good. 36 miles out, probably about 36 miles back, maybe 25-30 miles around the Lake. Should be in for a 100 mile day. Still on 6 hours with enough bars and gels for 6 hours. Jim is trying to shed some more pounds, so the low intensity riding in NH should do that. He starts the rides before eating then eats just enough to keep the sugar levels up during the ride.

A small bit of Fall color along the road.

The Green Mountains across the lake to the North. Lots of little islands, inlets and "fingers" characterize Lake Winnipesauke. It is not a simple oval or round lake.

More Fall color. Kinda cool how this tree has turned color on one side only so far.

Some "real" bikers out riding today. Intimidated by the man coming towards them clad in lycra, for sure.

State Highway sign. Most states have some sort of state theme used as the outline for their State Highway signs. NH uses the "Old Man in the Mountain." Utah uses the "Beehive" you can figure that one out.

Temperature in Meredith, kinda the northern most point and pretty much 1/2 way thru the ride. Nice cool day. This is the last picture , for reasons you will discover below.

Ride data from the Garmin. Notice the Northern tip of the ride, where the "25" sits on top of the Yellow route traveled tracing. Meredith sits 3 mile back from this turn towards home, and the odometer was showing 69 miles. Quick calculation, figuring that the way back will be somewhat shorter than the way out puts the ride at 130 miles, not the estimated 100! Time to put the head down, no more picture taking and hammer home, hopefully to catch the 5:35 flight. (Manchester airport is 45 minutes from Opas so Jim figured leaving at 3:45 would work.) It was around 12:30 with 60 miles to go, ride average so far had been 17mph so best case scenario, 20 mph with no stops and Jim would pull in around 3:30. It's not hard to see the definite increase in heart rate starting around mile 70 with a definite increase around mile 90.

Had to take 1 more picture as this is the car dealer, Tri-City Dodge, where Opa has been shuttling cars and chauffeuring the owners around the seacoast for the past 25 years since he retired from the AF.




So a day that started innocently enough, turned into a ride of "PAC Tour" proportions. Nearly 130 miles which is what Jim, Terri, Will and JW averaged for 4 weeks this summer to get across the U.S. with PAC Tour. Also up to PAC Tour standards was a head wind in both directions.
The day was very cool, a lot like a winter day in San Antonio Ð starting at 8am at 40 degrees and never getting above 65 degrees. Long Sleeve Jersey and Knicker weather which is perfect.
The ride was gorgeous, and a little hilly finishing out at 7 hours ride time, nearly 130 miles with 6500 feet of climbing. The only "sustained" climb was on Route 28 heading towards Alton on the way out, about 1/2 mile 10-12% grade. (his is similar to "Big Bertha" in Stone Oak. The roads were smooth, except for the more "back" roads which had a few frost heaves. The traffic was light and gentle.

Jim hit Rochester at around 2:30 and figured he had about 15 miles to go. By the way Peg, one of the first roads you cross coming down 11 into Rochester is ÒMargaret RdÓ so youÕre famous!! Jimcalled Opa when he was leaving Rochester, about 10 miles out home to let him know that heÕd be there in 30 minutes. Jim knew that Opa would be fit to be tied about cutting it so close, but, what can you do. There was no "short cut." The 25-30 mile rough estimate around the Lake turned out to be 60 miles!!

8 miles out Jim had to make a quick stop at a convenience store because he was totally bonked (remember he had taken food for 6 hours and was currently over 6 1/2 plus he had been riding hard the 2nd half rather than easy Zone 2 all day. Grabbed and scarfed down 2 bags of Reeses Pieces and energy level immediately resurfaced.

Jim rolled back into Dover around 3:30, and with Opa's help packed up his bike, printed out its Fedex label, showered, threw his clothes in his suit case, left his room trashed which Peg will have to pick up (sorry Peg) and they rolled out of the drive way at 4:15. Opa was not happy, but controlled his emotions remarkably well. They got to Manchester at around 5:10 (Peg had made sandwiches for Jim to eat in the car fortunately.) Jim probably would have made his flight, but it was running 20 minutes late so we squeaked thru. Even had a chance to go out and give Opa and Peg a hug before going to the gate!!

So the day nearly ended on a positive note - until Jim was walking to his gate in the Manchester airport. Remember the "svelt" looking Jim from the first picture above. A woman was herding 2 small children thru the airport walking towards him. You know how this goes, the woman is narrating their voyage, partially directing the children as to where to go, mainly to let the oncoming and surrounding people know what they might expect to happen. As they approached Jim the woman says "Ok girls, we're going to walk around these _people_." Well, Jim has pretty good awareness of his surroundings and really hadn't perceived that he was walking with or near anyone else. He looked around and confirmed this. So basically, "svelt" Jim, is as big as a group of _people_ walking down the airport hall. Oh well, guess this is incentive to continue the riding and weight reduction plans.

Everyone is back home where they belong. Opa had an amazing week of surgery with Day 1 recovery. He is healing and pretty much back to his "old" self. He can go back to driving in 2 weeks. The Fairy Tale that was 16 Trestle Way in Dover, once again, is.