NH Gravel Cycling

Last Monday morning, Kate, I, and our two dogs Finn and Fergus piled into the car and drove up to Trish, Doug, and their dog Gavi’s house in central NH. Also joining us were Jesse, Ruth, and their dog Wally. Kate and Trish have known each other since they were babies. Trish was one of our bridesmaids at our wedding over 30 years ago. Kate and Trish always enjoy spending time together. While Doug, Jesse, Ruth and I rode our bikes, Kate and Trish spend many hours hiking with some or all of the dogs or kayaking on the pond.

The weather for the week was great for riding, dry with temperatures between the upper 50s to upper 60s. Monday and Thursday, we had both sun and patchy clouds as shown in this photo taken on our Monday ride. Tuesday and Wednesday almost entirely overcast. The first photo on this post was taken on our Tuesday ride.

Central NH is relatively sparsely populated and crisscrossed with many dirt roads. Doug had put together 4 rides for us that highlighted many of his favorite sections. On the tops of hills, we often had vistas of valleys and more distant mountains.

When not either climbing or descending a hill, we rode by many scenic ponds.

While our routes had paved sections and lots of dirt roads, we did have the occasional sections that were even less travelled such as in this photo above.

The fall colors were all around us. However, with the clouds, they generally were muted rather than poping as they would in the sunlight if the skies were clear.

On our Wednesday ride, we crossed 4 covered bridges. I love the lattice work on this one.

We also crossed several beautiful stone bridges such as this one.

As we are now in October, some of the houses already have decorated for Halloween.

I have had the opportunity to cycle in beautiful places in 29 states and in 4 other countries. Nonetheless, cycling in the fall in New England is absolutely among my favorite riding. I love the fall colors, the farms, the hills, the streams, the ponds, the old cemeteries, and the constantly changing landscape.

When we were not riding, we were enjoying the beautiful views at Doug and Trish’s house. This is a view from their dock looking across the pond.

I will end with this photo of Jesse, Ruth and Doug sitting around the fire pit after dinner. This was a fabulous week with wonderful friends. How lucky am I?