Nice report boys. Sad year for miles. The Balsams is closed for renovations supposedly grand-reopening this fall. I heard a big resort group had bought it but then recently heard that fell through and a smaller group bought it so we'll see what happens.. Basketball and soccer end next week so weekend day trips are now a possibility. Lets ride.
The chilly day began with #7 arriving promptly at 4:45am in Leominter at the Pezidential estate. With a tremendously efficient load up we were off up route 13 toward NH inside of 10 minutes. Just about at the Townsend/Brookline sign #2 anounces "sh....t I left my registration papers at home"....We went all the way back.
The Sunnoco Station gave us our NH registration and we were off to Nash Stream. As we got through "The Notch" we noticed the lack of snow. As we approached Lancaster and Groveton we began a discussion about what conditions would be like between Cranberry Bog and Diamond Pond. The snow did not look so good and a decision was made to drive to the clubhouse at Diamond Pond. We arrive at 9:20 and were riding by 9:30.
I immediately headed out on to the trail the wrong way. #2 and his extensive knowledge of the area got us straightened out. We were pleasantly surprised by the good conditions right away. We headed east toward 20 and 145. It went from good to great as we got closer to Pittsburgh.
#2 wanted to go 8 miles up one of those up and back dead end trails that go within inches of the province of Quebec. BTW they don't groom those. We went from perfectly groomed Pittsburg trails to back country bumpy as hell trails. I lead the way at a heated pace. I stopped at the Wolf Den (some cottage in the middle of nowhere) and asked the Pez what he wanted to do. He wanted to truck on... for at least 5 more miles. Why not? We got to the end and had that feeling we were not supposed to be there. It was actually the corners of NH, ME & QC.
Having had enough of this bumpy mess, I agressively bolted out of there. I was in one of those riding zones, where you think you should be tired from the rough riding, but you just keep on going. It was about 9 degrees out and the extra effort got the blood pumping pretty good.
Soon we were back on the firm, perfectly groomed and wide open trails of eastern Pittsburg. I lead for another 50 or so miles at a "prom night" fast pace. It was awesome riding those trails fast and furiously as our skis were on edge around every hard corner. We kept stopping at signs to map out our path towards the lunch place in downtown Pittsburg. We took 145 to 142 to 147 into town. Near town, the snow turned to that familiar slightly brown snirt.
The line for lunch was 30 minutes (no way) so we ate at the grocery store deli quickly and efficiently. We had 97 miles under our belts by lunch and we thought we were about 25-30 miles from Diamond Pond. I had been cold for the last hour and was still cold while eating. I looked and both the vents were open in my coat and my side zippers were open on my pants.
#2 took over after our mid day feeding. We headed south and east toward the Balsams.That place looked like a ghost town #2 was cruising. I had trouble keeping up. I also had some problems with glasses fogging in the extreme cold. Are they out of business at the Balsams? We wanted to ride up that mountain. The trail was closed. At this point we found conditions to be seriously dwindling. We headed back toward Diamond Pond and found some Karen Carpenter thin trails on the way back. We decided the best decision we made was driving the extra 40 minutes to DP.
We were back at the truck at 3:30pm with temps dropping. It was cold just loading up the sleds. It was nice getting out for a day of riding. We had a couple of close calls with some dopes who travel on the wrong side of the trail, but there weren't as many sleds as we had expected.
#2 drove home since I was riding on just 3 hours sleep. Great time. The season has about 4-5 weeks left. Let's get out again soon.
#7
-- Edited by Caboose on Monday 13th of February 2012 07:39:51 PM
