After several 8-12 mile bike rides on the Northern Rail Trail this year, I decided to return to the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail and try to complete it. I spoke with Eileen very early in the morning and took care of some chores. At 0810, I left my house and drove to Bradford (I-91, VT/NH-25). From 0855 to 0925, I did some "Secret Shopping" at Hannaford. Afterwards, I drove across the Connecticut River and headed north (using River Road, NH-10, US-302) towards Lisbon. My was going well until I spotted a parking lot that I thought I’d used when last in the area (DEC 2022). After parking and getting geared up, I headed south along the Ammonoosuc River. It was sunny and warm, a rare treat for late October! The leaves were also very pretty. In the first mile, I started having deja vu and wondered if I hadn’t already walked the section. Sure enough, I soon spotted the outline of the distant Bath Covered Bridge and realized I’d fallen victim to a "Senior Moment"... The end result was two miles that didn’t count for my goal of peddling the last 9.2 miles of the trail. Back in my car, I drove north again and found the correct parking lot on the north side of Lisbon itself. I then (1100) rode south to locate the Fire Station, my last backtrack point, and then reversed to the north with the intent of reaching Littleton. Things went well for the first hour and the only concerns I had were the constant ATVs that kept passing me - everyone was out enjoying the day. The sharp gravel stones that I had to cross made my bike shudder and I heard some disconcerting noises coming from the tires. About six miles into my ride, I noticed that the rear wheel looked flat. My bicycle has “presta” type inflation valves and they haven’t been my friends up to this point. Fortunately, I did manage to reinflate my tire and continued north. About 15 minutes later, I realized that the tire was flat again. Thus began yet another “Jim misadventure”… By this point, I was very close to the northern end of the trail so I continued towards I-93. But then it got really overcast - minutes later, the beautiful sunny day turned all the way into a full on drenching rain shower. I kept thinking of Sideshow Bob and his “uuughhh” sound… Still stopping every 10-15 minutes to refill my tire, I managed to reach Littleton (I could see all the stores on US-302 on the other side of the river). At that point, I didn’t care that I was only 0.2 miles from the trail’s end - instead of finishing, I started backtracking at the I-93 overpass (1230). It continued raining and my tire kept going flat as I struggled my way back towards Lisbon. With four miles to go, my tire finally refused to take any more air and I had to start walking… Muddy and discouraged, I trudged slowly south. What else could happen? While I was wondering about this, the sun made a reappearance in all its heated brilliance - for the rest of my “bike ride”, I got treated to one more Summer weather hike. Rolling up to my car at 1430, I was quite relieved to be finished with about 20 total miles on the bike trail... Once I was ready to leave Lisbon, I started driving towards White River Junction (using US-302, NH-10, River Road, NH/VT-25 and I-91), hoping to be able make it to my swim lane reservation at the UVAC. Within 20 minutes, however, it became clear that I simply didn't have enough time to swim before they closed. Instead, I went home (arrived at 1520). After cleaning the mud off my bike (and myself), I went to Mass at St. Denis (1700). When I got home later in the evening, I decided that I'm going to walk the last 0.2 of the Ammonoosuc Rail Trail... One thing is certain: my kayaking and biking adventures in 2023 have been anything but boring!
