Back roads in NH, more hills, and more connections!

 

Day 13 - 3 Jun 24:  Doug made me a wonderful breakfast and we said our goodbyes - a very, very nice overnight stay.  The route Doria set up for me was just as nice as she said - beautiful NH back roads through the woods and over the streams (see pictures).  The only negative was the climb to Peter White Cycles, and there was no way around that!  Peter welcomed me in to take a look at my electrical charging system, and before he got to that, I mentioned the issue I'd had with my rear rack on Day 1.  Peter took a look at that, noted that mounts were counterbored and had been put on backwards - and promptly fixed my rack.  Then he and Bob discussed my charging system and Bob put a new unit in my head tube and everything seemed to work.  During the financial end of the deal, Linda asked about where I was coming from and my response of Binghamton, NY got a reply that the Finger Lakes region of New York is very scenic and they have a cycling friend in Ithaca, NY.  I asked who (there is only one cyclist who came to my mind from Ithaca) and it was Glen Swan.  I never really knew Glen personally, but back in my younger years, I rode in some team triathlons in which Glen also rode.  He was the premier rider in the area and always cleaned up in the bike portion of the events -  not even close.  His sister's family lived nearby and his nephew and niece, Matt and Katie Noxel were friends with my sons and I coached them for a couple years in youth soccer.  It is indeed a small world.  Bob put air in my rear tire, which shouldn't have been so soft and gave my a bad feeling.  After a few miles and arrival into Hillsborough, my bad feeling came to fruition and I stopped to fix my first flat tire of the trip.  After mounting the new tube, I had a hop in the tire, but it held air fine.  At Peter's suggestion I had lunch at Tooky Mills Pub and pedaled off toward Henniker along the Contoocook River (pictures).  At 42 miles I stopped and spent the night at the Henniker Hotel.