NBD for the Lovely Lady

Yesterday my girlfriend decided it was high time for a new bike. The old Trek mountain bike she has been riding since we met over a year ago has served her well, but it is in need of some help at this point. When we first came to New Hampshire we rented some Trek 7.2 fitness bikes for a ride on the rail trail. We both enjoyed riding them and now that it was time to score a new ride she went with what she knows. Its a really sweeet aluminum frame bike with more racy geometry than her old mountain bike. Needless to say its a little tougher to leave her in the dust now.

After we picked it up, we headed out on the Northern Rail Trail for a little cruise to test drive her new whip. She was gliding effortlessly down the trail on her new ride all the way to Mascoma Lake. It was here that we decided a break and Rip Van waffle were in order so we stopped at one of the benches on the side of the lake. At this point, mother nature decided to throw us a curve ball and it started drizzling. No big deal we thought. It loooked like it might pass right by and the radar said there wasn't even anything in the area. As we sat there chatting and enjoying each others company the rain started to pick up. It was really starting to rain at this point. We had talked about diverging from the rail trail and going over the bridge to look at houses, but we also thought about heading back to Lebanon due to the rain. For some reason when we did get going I started heading back to Lebanon. As the rain started to let up, I asked where the turn off for the bridge was because we were almost at the end of the lake. My girlfriend politely pointed out that if I wanted to go across the bridge we would need to turn around.

So we turned around and made a right by the Shaker Village Sailing Club and then a left on Main St to cross the lake. It was my first time diverting off the rail trail and the ride across the bridge was pretty nice. There's actually a bike lane going across. After crossing the bridge and going by the beach we made a right on 4A and rode by the cool lakeside homes. We followed 4A to the end of the lake and made a right on Payne Rd where we had to take a little goat path to get back on the rail trail. No big deal though. It was a great ride with a lovely lady and even the rain couldn't dampen the spirit of it.

I've found several other great road routes in the last weeek or so that I will be sharing soon so stay tuned. New Hampshire still has a lot of great cycling to offer me and my girlfriend it seems.