Kangamangus Highway 2010

It's a shame i didn't capture this event in a blog sooner to it actually happening. It's now a month later i'll try my best to recap. Below are the notes from my 2nd trip on this road.

It all started with serious uncertainty between Graham, myself and Mark. We wanted to do the Kank but the ran looked really bad and we had only Saturday to make it happen. We monitored the weather maps for hours and had plans. They were in order, do that Kank no matter what, me drive down alone to Graham's to do a ride around his place, featuring a trip into NYC, or a trip around Mt. Wachusett. NYC was out, and last minute we decided we'd get wet regardless so the Kank, ran or shine it was.

7am at my place. We loaded up the very cool FJ Cruiser with my rack and headed North, but only after breaking my favorite coffee cup. In hindsight i could have taken this as a sign but didn't. We got a little rain on the way but but nothing to right home about.

We arrived at the perfect parking spot in Lincoln, NH and got ready and before we knew it we were on the bikes headed east at a blistering pace, Graham was flying, well for mile 1-4 he was. It went on to rain for the first 2 hours. We were soaked but not complaining, funny how that works. We stopped at the top for some adjustments and headed down, this was slightly scary since it was full on raining and it was a road, with 2 ton cars on it.

After miles of coasting we started the trip North up Bear Notch Road. In the two times i've done this road it's never seemed like a big challenge in comparison to the other climbs of the day, however staying on my bike was another story. We stopped for a bio brake and the sand on the side of the road was pretty deep, instead of correcting my front wheel at the expense of breaking something i chose to fall over, with Graham watching causing both of us to laugh. Nothing more then a sand wound that the rain eventually fixed.

The trip down Bear Notch was awesome and the trip east on 302 was fast. We were going to hit the store on our map for drinks but we were good. Going from me doing it solo to having three us made for very fast times.

We went around the bend to 16 South and stopped at Flat Bread Pizza and each had one, then stocked up on coffee and drink. From there we tried to get to a back road but after one failed attempt, im not pointing fingers Graham, we decided to take it all the way down to 112. I was pretty happy we made this choice. This gave us a measurable target, the top was about 22 miles away so we could monitor the effort. The trip west up the Kank is so much harder in my opinion, and not just because it starts at mile 70 of our effort. It's relentless.

Last year, this part was a near religions experience, one day I'll brush off the draft i wrote and publish to this site, this year things were better, it was cooler, no sun and plenty of water on hand. I accomplished my goal, once again, of not putting my foot down until reaching the sign at the top. Once again the accomplishment was very special, some things don't loose their luster. We all grouped at the look out. Graham was always ahead of my and I tired like mad to catch him but he had the better legs and went out of sigh maybe 6ish miles from the top. He was up first, then me and then we both cheered on Mark who opted not go to the sign but instead pull into the look out area. When telling him to go for the sign there were some choice words expressed in jest so we just left it at that, i didn't pry.

We spent a little longer at the top, taking pictures having others take our pictures, it was fun, but not as much fun as the show we missed but Graham was privy to, a handful of Harley guys downing a 100 proof bottle of So Co; all driving and well lubricated, unreal.

On the way down we pushed the speed a little. As it started to flatten out a little I hit "E", it was something I hadn't felt in some time. I went up this little hill and it felt like people were pulling me backwards. Mark and Graham put it into high gear and finished about a half mile in front of me.

It all went by so fast. In the parking lot i tried out Graham's 56cm PedalForce. It was strange to say the least, he has a very aggressive setup, handle bars down, seat jacked up... and it almost fit me but it did feel strange, too compact. and the cockpit was almost non existent on the count of the smaller size. I didn't feel i had full range of leg motion, all what you'd expect when dropping down a size. Other then that it weighted in the 15's, who wants a bike that light .

This brings us to dinner, once again, time flies by, it was already dinner time. There we are leaving after breakfast to go out for a ride and now that we're finished we're having dinner... and beers. That's always the best part. The burger joint we stopped at was amazing. Forget the name but if in ever in the area again, that good. We got home late, forget the exact time, maybe 10?

What next? Next time I might be traveling to Graham's neck of the weeds to do some Upstate NY riding. The sooner the better.