The Kanc

Spring at Dartmouth is the season for lots of road biking.  On any given sunny afternoon in Hanover you will find a big group of Nordic skiers working together to haphazardly fix each others bikes and then heading out in a pack to explore all the great roads in the Upper Valley. Each spring I try to do as much biking as possible before I head to Craftsbury where the smoothly paved roads are much harder to find.  This past week was the last week before graduation and my Dartmouth teammates and classmates wanted to do one last big ride together before we headed off across the globe to Alaska, New Zealand, California, and of course Vermont.  Our plan was to ride a loop including the Kancamagus highway, starting and finishing in Lincoln, New Hampshire.  One of our Dartmouth coaches, Ruff Patterson, organized a route that was over 80 miles in length and we decided on Thursday as it was the only day that worked for everyone.  Of course we later saw the forecast for that day which was calling for mid -90s temperatures and thunderstorms but we had already set the plans.  So despite waking up to a steamy downpour in Hanover, Pat, Hannah, Ruff, Rosie Brennan, John Gerstenberger, Eric Packer, Nils Koons, and I loaded up our bikes and drove to Lincoln.

The 4 H’s of the day: Hot, hazy, humid, and hilly

The ride started out uphill, climbing on the Kancamagus Highway towards North Conway.

John, Eric, and Pat starting up the climb

Franconia Ridge from the Kanc

Everyone was psyched to get to the top of the long ascent, especially Hannah

Instead of following the Kanc all the way to North Conway, we turned off onto Bear Notch Road over another smaller pass but the lack of any traffic, smooth pavement, and curvy descent into Bartlett, NH made this my favorite section of the ride.  Then we rode over Crawford Notch which included the steepest ascent of the day.

After a quick lunch break we turned onto Rt. 3 and stayed on that road to Franconia Notch.  This was a hard section with lots of false flat and long straight sections so I was psyched to be able to jump into the draft of the pack and get a break.  We rode the bike path instead of the highway through the Notch which was a nice change of pace and fun to ride on the narrow and curvy path.  Meanwhile the skies were darkening and the first rain drops were falling by the time we finished the bike path.  It quickly turned into a thunderstorm but luckily we only had a few downhill miles left to get back to the car.  The downpour was timed perfectly and a very refreshing way to finish the long day.

An awesome ride and the only disappointment of the day occurred when Fat Bob’s Ice Cream Shop in Warren, NH which is famous for lots of flavors and huge servings was closed when we were driving home.  Just another reason to come back!