The Great Memorial Day Bike Ride

The New Boston (N.H.) Town Gazebo.

As this whole blog might indicate, I'm big on ritual. And just this past weekend (a long one, by virtue of the U.S. holiday of Memorial Day, which is celebrated on the last Monday of each May), I realized that I have another one going.

Let's call it "The Great Memorial Day Bike Ride." What happened was two years ago, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend was one of those spectacular spring days we get all too few of in our part of the world — warm, sunny, dry, and just full of promise.

So that afternoon, home early from work, I hopped on my bike, setting off on the first long ride of the season. It took me from my home in Bedford, N.H. on hilly back roads to the town center of New Boston, a small unsuburbanized community to the west. I then took Route 13, following the Piscataquog River downstream to Goffstown, a larger and busier town. From there, I took Wallace Road, which means a long climb up one side of the Uncanoonuc Mountains and then back down into Bedford.

It was long enough to be a memorable adventure, and at the time I thought it was the start to a season full of long bike rides. That was not to be, alas, as a biking accident that July sidelined me for the remainder of 2010. But it was memorable enough to spur me to get on my "new" bike (now more than a year old) this Memorial Day weekend for a repeat.

I hadn't planned on this, as our Memorial Day weekend had been otherwise claimed by houseguests from New York up for a family trip to the Granite State. But this past Monday, after making the rounds of the local cemeteries and putting petunias on the graves of relatives, I found myself back home on a day that was supposed to be the loser of the weekend, weatherwise, but was actually quite nice.

So I got out the bike and off I went, thinking that I had better get in some time if I'm ever going to be able to tackle the Kancamaugus Highway later this summer. (We'll see.) Yes, we had all climbed Mount Monadnock on Saturday, and my knees were still feeling it. So, even though the prior Memorial Day ride was in the back of my mind, my tired self (as well as predicted thundershowers) didn't plan on a repeat.

But who knows? Sometimes, once you're out on the bike, you find energy you didn't know you had. Grinding up a minor slope on Liberty Hill Road (the next street from my home), I felt terrible, like I should just turn back. But I kept going, and soon found I didn't want to stop. (Maybe it was the adrenaline rush from trying to cross Route 101 in Bedford, a busy highway that divides the town.)

And yes, before I knew it, I found myself downshifting to tackle the long steady grades on New Boston Road, then passing the New Boston town line, then making a right at a junction known locally as "Klondike Korner," all the while thinking I might need to turn back if a thunderstorm seemed likely.

But the sun stayed out and the sky stayed blue, spurring me deeper into New Boston, riding past homes sporting patriotic bunting and through the scent of evening cookouts wafting out onto the road. Up and down, and then finally DOWN, a steep grade and a sharp curve, putting me at the New Boston town gazebo.

Route 13 into Goffstown is pretty level, and I felt strong as I settled into this section. I was later surprised to find that I wasn't in the highest gear, but that had actually helped encourage me. After negotiating heavy traffic in Goffstown on Route 114, I peeled off onto Wallace Road and into the teeth of the long steady climb up the side of the mountain.

Home in two hours. Route of 28.1 miles, according to Google Maps. Not bad for a first big ride of 2012, and I hope the first of many. I do hope to do the Kanc later this season, and would also like to try for the seacoast -- perhaps even a round-trip! However, the idea of biking from York, Maine to my home is off for this season because they're replacing the one bridge in Portsmouth, N.H. that makes this ride possible. So maybe in 2013.

However, I find I do like the idea of a long solitary bike ride on Memorial Day weekend. It gives me time to think, and you can't help but think of Memorial Day as you pass all the decorated homes and, yes, smell the cookouts. It's a nice way to start the summer, and I think I'll try to do it again next year, weather willing.

In terms of running, a couple of new towns coming up: Effingham on Sunday, June 3, and Northfield on Saturday, June 23. However, at this rate, I'm not going to reach my goal of completing this quest by May 14, 2016, so I better start arranging for some back-to-back town runs.

Also, in terms of the "Running in All 50 States" quest, it looks like this will be the first month since I started in which I don't add a state to the roster. (Unless I sneak in a nearby one on Wednesday, May 30.) Well, we shall see. I have Maryland scheduled for June, Arkansas and Oklahoma for September, and several east/Midwest possibilities as part of a road trip in October, but it would be nice to keep the "every month" momentum going...

Saturday, May 19: 5K in Meredith (#133)

Meredith, with its white clapboard buildings and modest strip mall developments, is sort of like the upper middle class answer to Wolfeboro, the extremely well-to-do enclave on the other side of Lake Winnipesaukee.

And the 5K race on Saturday, May 19 was the first really hot one of the season, with bright skies and temps climbing towards 80 during the run. I finished in a pretty respectable time of 29:15, good enough to be 53rd out of 161, although a good number were walkers. (The race was a fundraiser: the Nathaniel Bibaud 5K Run/Walk 2012.)

One thing is that this race was point-to-point, starting at Inter-Lakes High School (perched on a bluff above town) and ending on town's Lake Winnipesaukee docks, where the 230-foot M/S Mount Washington calls. (But only once a week, apparently, according to this year's schedule.)

So it was a net downhill, but not without first taking us up into a residential neighborhood, and only then down a steep hill to the level of the lake, which it then follows around the bay to the town's center.

Unusual for New Hampshire communities, Meredith has an extensive network of sidewalks, which we used for long stretches of the race, especially near the end. Unfortunate, it seemed all the sidewalks were arranged so as to be in broad daylight at 10 a.m., meaning very little shade on this course.

Still, I felt fairly strong throughout the race, and was energzied by the last quarter-mile, which takes you along a network of wooden docks (which wobble a bit as you run on them) and a town park. With the finish in sight, I pushed hard and passed a gal who was also giving it a good try.

It was a good race, although I almost missed it due to incorrect information posted on www.coolrunning.com about it. This happens a few times a year, at least—I'll head all the way out to some unfamiliar part of town to seek out a race, and when I get to the listed starting point, no one's there! I think sometimes these people must fill out the form wrong, putting their office address (as town rec director, for example) instead of where the darn race is supposed to start.

Arriving in Meredith, I spotted the finish line no problem, so at least I knew a road race was indeed taking place. But the listing had the start at "Prescott Park," which was a mile or so up Route 3.

So up I went, to find a lot of people at Prescott Park, but no one who knew anything about a 5K race. So I went back into town, to question the folks at the finish line.

"Oh, it starts at the high school," a guy said. Okay! But how is it that organizers who post race info online get the starting location listed wrong so often? I can't tell you how many times I've been launched on wild goose chases to find races in unfamiliar, sometimes unsuccessfully. Okay, end of rant.

Got there with just enough time to register, bring change back to my car, and then arrive at the start, where festivities were already underway. After barely enough time to adequately stretch out, off we went, around the school and then, surprisingly, UP some side streets. (So much for my visions of an all downhill course...) After going in and out of a cul-de-sac, we then lost most of our altitude all at once, barrelling down a steep hill that bottomed out at lakeside.

For the final mile, the course followed the lake shore around to the town docks. Good news: Meredith is one of those rare New Hampshire towns that actually has sidewalks! Bad news: They invariably exist on the unshaded side of the road, at least during this road race.

Unusual feature: This is the first race I've run in with any appreciable distance on waterfront dockage! Weird, as some of the docks float on the water, meaning they roll a bit underfoot.

Finished strong but pushed myself a bit too hard, I think, judging by the overheated wastedness that enveloped me afterwards. I dispelled this zombie-like state by walking back to the starting point, which I didn't have to ask anyone about.

Biking home from Bollywood

No road races this weekend, but now that the semester's over (I've been teaching two courses at UNH-Manchester), trying to make room for a lot more activity among other commitments. And, in the process, for the first and perhaps only time in my life, I got to change my clothes in a movie theater.

Yesterday was a good example of how it's working lately. Volunteered to help at a colleague's Bollywood Film Festival, but it was such a nice day (sunny, dry, mid-70s) that a bike ride was imperative.

So the wife dropped me and the bike off at the funky Wilton Town Hall Theatre, site of the Bollywood Festival, which is about 20 miles from our home in Bedford, N.H. (Alas, I didn't pack the camera, so no original photos with this post.) Soon as I was discharged from my festival duties, I snuck into the unused "screening room" to change into bike clothes and did the 90-minute ride back to home base.

But that wasn't all. We have three dogs, and they really need to get exercised pretty much every day (as do I). So after giving our lawn a haircut, it was off to the races with the two younger pups, taking them on an abbreviated run/walk to a nearby brook so they could jump in and burn off some energy.

I held it there, and I'm glad I did, because my right Achilles tendon continues to feel a little dodgy. And I wanted to try a longer run today, in advance of this month's "50-stater," jaunt next weekend, which will probably be either Massachusetts or Maine. We'll see.

On that score, June will be Maryland (when I travel to a film event), and September and October will be Oklahoma/Arkansas/Missouri, which leaves July and August to fill. And then November will be the Manchester (N.H.) Marathon, so if I keep up the one-a-month pace, I should get to 10 by the end of the year, anyway.