A little rain, a lot of sun, a bunch of climbing

I work for a software company that still spoils its employees.  I can't help it if I'm lucky.  Part of this is free iced coffee in the office.  Part of it is a trip to the Mount Washington Resort in New Hampshire.  This is a gorgeous old hotel nestled in the White Mountains next to the tallest point in the eastern United States.  I brought my bike and did a short ride. 

A view of the valley with the mountains in the distance form the hotel verandah 

Mountain passes in New Hampshire are called notches -- they look like notches in the mountains after all.  I left the hotel and rode toward Crawford Notch.  There was a stiff enough headwind that I had to put some effort into going downhill!  The weather also got weird.  It started out sunny and hot.  Then it got cloudy and sure enough, it started to rain very lightly.

Before leaving the hotel my manager reminded me to put on sunscreen

I saw these two cyclists stopped earlier - they were putting on their jackets.

I just wanted to dip my toes into the notch.  I did not want to ride too far down into it.

My bike and the scenic vista 

After stopping at the scenic vista for some photos, I turned around and biked back up the notch.  There was a stretch with just about no shoulder that really scared me.  Cars were passing at near highway speeds.  Fortunately, the drivers were courteous and gave me a very reasonable amount of room.

A little lake in the mountains

Then I turned off onto a seasonal road, Clinton Road.  It's not maintained in the winter.  And it didn't look too great in the summer either!  I think it was a very gradual uphill most of the way.

Finally it dumped out on the access road to the cog railroad.  This is a railway that goes up to the top of Mount Washington.  The sign said it was only 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the cog railroad station.  I thought, what the heck.  So I rode up the road.  And I do mean UP.  Wow, it was a steep incline.  Meanwhile the weather had gone back to being super hot.  My bike computer said it was 94F/35C.  

I heard thunder in the distance.  A passing hiker told me he was glad he wasn't up on the summit.  Anyway, it was a really tough climb, but I made it up to the cog railway.  I can't imagine what it's like to do the Mount Washington Hill Climb ride.  I had one of my coffee pouch things from GU.  Kinda gross tasting, but I really needed the caffeine.

Then I did the six mile ride down the hill to the intersection with 302.  Very fast, very scary.  My legs were jelly anyway.  I rode back to the hotel and met up with my family.  You know, it was only a couple hours out on the bike, but wow it was a lot of fun.

Thanks for reading.  Keep the rubber side down.