I think this rain will never end. Not counting a few breaks, it's been raining roughly since early April. For some of you it may not matter, but I somehow never really submitted to cycling in rain. I just don't find it enjoyable in any way.
Nevertheless, last Sunday I really wanted to spend a day outside and explore some places in southern New Hampshire. Of course, the moment I left my house it started raining heavily. I quickly checked the forecast for Manchester, NH and it showed a heavy overcast but no rain. I decided to chance it.
Rain followed me all the way to New Hampshire border but then, when I approached Merrimack, a miracle happened - it stopped raining and soon I noticed that highway was completely dry - a good sign that heavy rains on that day must have been only happening in Massachusetts.
I left my car at Rt 101 and quickly hopped on the bike. My plan was to explore the full length of Rockingham Recreational Trail from Auburn to Newfields, then ride back through Pawtuckaway State Park and Bear Brook State Park. It's a pretty long loop, about 70mi (113km), so I anticipated it would take me almost the whole day.
I bet the trail is quite popular on warm, summer weekends but since the day was cool and cloudy, I didn't see many people that day. In fact, the whole day turned out to be perfect for bike riding but not so great for picture taking. Heavy overcast made the sky white or grey in all pictures. On the other hand though, air temperature was only 50-60F (10-15C) and that's what I like on long rides. I don't need to worry about overheating, sunburns and I don't get tired too quickly.
The Rockingham Recreational Trail was built in place of a former railroad and as such, is very flat so you won't find any steep grades there. But there are a few underpasses where the trail is crossing major roads. These were built in form of narrow tunnels. Interestingly, they are also very, very low. So low, that in places one needs to be very careful not to hit head when sitting on bike.
A large portion of trail runs through and alongside wetlands. Swamps and marshes surround it on all sides. I actually like it a lot since it adds some variety to otherwise straight and flat road.
The closer I was getting to Newfields in the east, the more remote the trail was getting. I was meeting fewer and fewer people on the road and eventually, I reached a defunct railroad depot and a small parking lot - the eastern terminal of Rockingham Rec Trail.
After rolling on gravel for the last 25mi (40km), it was time to merge now with a paved road and make my way back west. I quickly realized how spoiled I got riding on a rail trail. The road ahead was maybe paved, but it was also hilly and required some climbing. This is one thing you can always be sure when you ride on a rail trail - it will be very flat, since trains that used it in the past would have never made it up a steep grade.
Another 15mi later, I finally entered Pawtuckaway State Park and road became unpaved again. In fact, it quickly got very rough and rocky and I was glad my bike had wide tires to handle that.
Pawtuckaway Park is certainly a popular place. Despite less-than-perfect weather, the park was full of visitors and I had to share trails with hikers and roads with cars.
The situation was completely different when I got to Bear Brook State Park. This place was empty. I didn't find anyone hiking the trails and I had Podunk Rd all for myself.
It took me about 7.5 hrs to ride the full length of this route, including all stops. When I finished, I was very hungry.
I managed to record the ride this time and not run out of phone battery (The trick is to download the map for offline use and put cell phone in airplane mode for the whole time). I was surprised later to find out that GPS measured my top speed at 72km/h (45mph), but that's quite possible, given some very long and steep hills around Nottingham and Deerfield.
When I got back to Massachusetts, it was still raining. I guess this means I picked a good day to spend it across the state border. And I deserved a beer...
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