First MTB Ride in New Hampshire

Here's a post submitted from up north.  We are here in the northeast visiting with KT's parents, staying in their nearly finished new home.  The house is very nice with a great view and there is plenty of mountain biking nearby.  Yesterday Chris, who will officially become my brother-in-law this weekend, took me for an off road ride near North Conway.

The leaves have turned and the trails were covered.

We headed out for several hours of riding west of North Conway, NH.  The trails we started out on are called Sticks & Stones and for good reason.  There were plenty of rocks and roots to roll around and over.  Everywhere you look up here there are rocks and more rocks.

 

We stopped at an abandoned quarry for a look around.

A lathe was used to turn large, granite columns.

After connecting up with some other trails we went up and over a shoulder of a mountain before heading back to the start.  There were some fun, twisty sections and some good climbing on the way up.  At one point we popped out onto a rocky bald before turning back into the woods.  Once over the ridge, we rode some pretty steep downhills that were testing my counter-gravity bike handling skills.  It was a good ride.

 The final uphill to get over the ridge was a
hike-a-bike as it was unrideably steep.  
(Of course the picture does not do it justice.)

I hope to get out a couple more times during this trip, and I will try to get some "big view" pictures to show off the mountain terrain.  Tomorrow morning will hopefully result in a ride.  My map is ready to go.

 It was the perfect fall day for a ride!