The bike that kind of does it all

June 19, 2011

It turned out to be a tad more windy today than Mia and I had originally been planning.  I decided to head out for the trails and roads today instead of just the road.  This way it would keep me out of the wind for a large percentage of the ride.
I headed out on my Salsa Fargo.  This bike has got to be the most versatile bike I own.  It does trails, pavement, and anything in-between without a single complaint.  It is probably my 2nd favorite bike.  My road bike still holds the #1 spot.  That being said though, I have found myself out on the Fargo quite a bit this year.  Mostly because of the horrible spring weather we had.  I just couldn’t bear to subject my road bike to the nastiness that was March through May here in NH.

I kind of made the loop up as I went.  I did know that I wanted to hit a specific section of powerlines off Clinton St (route 13) that I had done on my cross bike about 6 years ago.  I ended up having to push the cyclocross bike a lot because of a lot of loose gravel climbing.  I knew that this was the stuff that the Fargo would have no problem with.

For the most part the powerlines sections are groomed for snowmobiles and ATV.  Somebody had been out here with some sort of ATV recently judging by all the tire tracks I saw.  They were fairly fresh.

It doesn’t look it from the shot above, but that was a lot of loose, rocky climbing.  I almost cleaned it until a little bobble about 40 feet from the top.
This trail leaves Clinton street in Concord and ended up eventually a Kimball Pond in Dunbarton, NH.  I want to explore the powerlines beyond Kimball Pond, as those should get me into Goffstown and probably Manchester from there.

From Kimball Pond, I went into Gofftown and then climbed back up Twist Hill Rd into Bow, NH were I grew up.  I am not 100% sure, but I think Woodhill has got to be the highpoint and You can see up towards the White Mountains.  Concord is in the foreground.

After dropping down Woodhill, I turned onto Branch Londonderry Turnpike, a class VI road.  I have driven a everything from a bike to an ATV to our first $200 1981 Dodge Omni on this road.  It’s seen some marked improvements in the past 10 years.  Not sure if it is the town or the local snowmobile clubs doing all the work.

This drops down to Page Rd and there are some trails off that road the eventually bring you toward Turkey Pond.  From the end of that section of trail I came home through Concord on the pavement the rest of the way.  I had already been out for quite awhile and needed to get home.

It was a nice little adventure and a good way to spend the afternoon.  Also a nice change of pace from doing all the same old loops that become routine after awhile.

Here is the GPS data.

Thanks for reading