NH Seacoast Ride - August 26, 2015

Ride Report

Wednesday August 26, 2015 NH Seacoast Ride

Riders on the short ride: Andy Lewis, Alan Schnerv, Betty Hoffman, Bob Armstrong, Chris Schuch, leader-Edie Baxter, Elisa Braun, Fred Difinis, Ilkka Suvanto, Jacque Smith, Jimmy White, Joe Marcangelo,  Lei Wang, Linda Wilcox,  Maureen Helting, Maurice King, Nancy Smith, Richard Fortier, Selig Saltzman, and Tom Clark

Riders on the long ride: Barbara Martin, Bernie Flynn, Bob Apsler, Bob Wolf, Dale Ferguson, Dom Jorge, Fred Newton, Greg Stathis, Caz Zelny, leader-Ken Hablow, Curt Dudley-Marling, Lindy King, Rich Taylor, and Sandy Gray.

Short Ride Report. A hot, slightly humid, day tested our resolve but looking ahead to spectacular views of the NH seacoast, twenty riders set forth having been warned of the hazard on the right side of the first bridge.  20 riders proceeded on the route.    The ride went smoothly, no flats, no mechanical difficulties.  The group re-grouped at Odiorne State Park,  stopped briefly at Fort Constitution and then rode into Portsmouth for lunch. There being such a multitude of lunch possibilities, the group split up and met back an hour later, to ride back to the start following an interior ride.  The last ten miles, back once again along the coast, riders rode at their own pace, some fast some slow to take in the spectacular views of the coast. Future riders will find the start easier to find using their GPS, if we amend the naming of the start from Salisbury, MA to Seabrook, NH.  Thank you Dale for your clarification. Short ride report by Edie Baxter.

Long Ride Report. I would like to thank Edie and Jacque for putting their Salisbury to Portsmouth ride on the WW calendar and for Joanne Samuels for doing the same earlier this year. For the 65 mile ride I merely combined the 2 routes for a magnificent seaside ride all the way up the coast from Salisbury through Hampton, Rye, Portsmouth, Kittery and the Yorks – all three of them.

Our group of 13 riders started before the short ride and we were chugging along at a pace close to 18 mph when Bernie Flynn had a flat. He fixed it in record time but not quick enough to stay ahead of the folks on the short ride. They breezed past us thumbing their respective noses. Not to matter because once we got going we picked up the pace again.

After going through Portsmouth we rode along the coast road through Kittery Point to York Beach and turned onto Nubble Road. At Nubble Light we stopped for an ice cream break. This is where Bob Wolf caught up to us to make it 14 riders. (I hate riding with an unlucky 13.) We continued, turning onto Ocean View for an outstanding view of Cape Neddick Harbor where we stopped for a photo op. The route back took a slightly inland turn on traffic-less tree covered roads. We managed a lunch stop at a bagel shop in York Village then bogeyed back through Kittery and Portsmouth then onto route 1A along the water back to Salisbury.

We got to Nubble Light at mile 39 at a 17.2 pace. The return home was with a slight head wind so it was not as fast but quite respectable at 16.2 overall. Long Ride Report by Ken Hablow.

Thanks to all the riders staying together without the need for a sweep or human arrows. All of us enjoyed the pacelining and the camaraderie. Thankfully (oddly) there was no traffic all the way back down Rte 95 and onto Rte 128. Northbound, however, fergedaboudit