Originally Posted by
markk900
Y'know: I wanted to post a little bit about the experience of the ride this weekend.....what you don't see from the photos is the reconnection to both history (on the bikes and with the trail and the bridge), but also nature....we went past (and sampled) wild grapes, picked the few remaining wild raspberries still uneaten by the birds, watched monarchs getting ready for their migration, picked a bunch of apples from the old trees (and later made them into apple crisp that I am now enjoying), and even stumbled upon Jack-in-the-pulpits seeding, which I have never seen before and are beautiful.
Its a real privilege to be able to do this, and the bicycle enables this....so there, go and hug your bike!
Our Rail Trail runs through wild country, along some amazing and very different streams and small rivers, lakes, little towns and villages, abandoned water powered mills, through deep rock cuts hacked out by Irish immigrants in the early 1800s, etc. What it lacks in riding challenges it makes up in history, scenery, nature, and companionship.
While my riding buddy Glenn and I can pound out the miles on the pavement for good exercise, and tackle the hard climbs to the tops of steep and sometimes very long hills, it's just the two of us. To have my wife and her friend join us on the Rail Trail for an afternoon of leisurely riding, wildlife watching, picnic and ice cream stopping, is just magical! The two women I ride with love the flatness, and the lack of any traffic to pay attention to. But let's not forget last week's bear encounter!
A few pics from the Northern Rail Trail here in NH. Hope you don't mind.
