Is a cold endeavor. Even with a wetsuit.
Rebecca and I tried again today to swim at shortsands. Walking down to the beach with wetsuits on to the waist in low 90's air temps was an exercise in heat acclimation.
We stepped in up to our knees for cooling while pulling up the rest of the suit. The water stung until our feet numbed. Zipped up we plowed forward into the frigid water. There is no mistaking when water crests the zipper seam and trickles down my back.
The first strokes with my hands in the water feel like swimming through needles. Water on my face takes my breath away. Twenty strokes in Rebecca is done. I remain stubborn.
I stroke forward and my face hits even colder water. I remember these thermal zones from last year. This one freezes my face and ears into an instant headache. That's new. I aim for shallower water closer to the shore and start swimming again.
I am here to swim. I make it across the beach to the Katadin Inn. One leg down. When I lift my face from the water my goggles immediately fog over. When I put my watch in the water it immediately fogs over. Oh the science experiments.
A few strokes into the return trip I am really struggling. My form is crap. I take a mouthful of salt water. What is going on? This feels like fatigue at the end of a two mile swim - but it's only been a few hundred yards. Focus. Stretch. Catch. Hello? Catch! Ok, no catch, just pull. My extremities are less responsive.
Stop to assess the situation. Whoops, no bottom there, in over my head literally and figuratively. Stay calm, focus on siting, and SWIM!
The bottom comes into view. It gets closer. So does my site. Shallower water closer to destination.
Head up, feet down, walking out of the water. I start peeling off the wetsuit. The air doesn't even feel warm to my torso.
Seventeen minutes of swimming was all I managed. The water is cold to the point of incapacitating. It was shocking how fast the cold set in and took it's toll.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
New Hampshire Rockingham Recreational Trail
Looking around York Beach, ME on Google Maps with the Bicycling overlay I noticed a long trail just across the NH border. I found an idle slot in the schedule on Wednesday morning and made plans. Peter offered to drop me off near the trailhead to save me early miles. We left the cottage at 6am for the 20ish mile drive down near the trail head. Stratham Hill Park off Highway 33 provided a convenient drop spot for me to begin riding and Peter to begin the trek back to the interstate and Maine.
A short ride up Portsmouth, Squamscott, and College put me near the trail. The riding was easy, shoulders usually adequate, and morning traffic light enough. I found this building near the east end of the supposed trail head. I'm guessing this the old rail depot referenced on the TrailLink website. TrailLink really let me down on this one. They apparently recently moved GPS hosting to Garmin. Gamin bundles routes into region bundles for download. Garmin also imposes a bandwidth check that my mobile broadband card could not pass. I ended up using http://gmap-pedometer and the GMapToGPX script to map the route. I still need to submit feedback to Garmin and TrailLink.
The trail is a faint gap in the weeds off to the right.
Soon enough I found confirmation of the path.
Early going was good enough. I quickly realized my planned 15mph average speed was unrealistic. The new goal was anything over 10mph.
Shortly down the trail this stadium appeared off to the south. It seemed a bit large for a normal football field. I suspect a dirt track for racing.
Large portions of the trail were covered in this black gravel. It was almost charcoal at times at certainly marked up my bike and water bottles.
Some nice leftover railroad bridges on the route. All bridges and culvards had boards laid parallel to the trail in the center of the road bed. The ends, as well as all street crossings, showed clear evidence of scraping. I'm guessing that's from snowmobiles. Somewhere along the trial I saw 2 snow mobiles parked beside a shed. There were interesting to me mostly in their rarity. There was plenty of evidence of 4 wheelers on the trail. Several places had pretty deep banked corners where a 4 wheeler trail met up with the trail and overlapped for stretches.
I passed through the first town delighted to find Dunkin Donuts and Wendys. Those were good to keep in mind for later. This was the second town along the route. It was comforting to find civilization along the route.
This train depot, cars, and section of track receive plenty of TLC from the Raymond Historical Society. Between the full size train cars there was one rail service card about the size of a four wheeler with enclosed cabin.
The aforementioned culvards along the route were interesting. I saw them mentioned in trail reviews. This was my first encounter. As I slowed to take the picture I heard voices echoing through the tunnel. The fairly large group moved to the right to make room.
When I cleared the tunnel the group erupted. They were a group of cheerleaders. I was pushing the pace for multiple reasons. Cheering just pushed it further.
Further down the trail I passed two more groups of cheerleaders. The second group I think was the "C" squad. They barely managed to leave enough room for me to get buy. As I "buzzed" them with the sparse available space they squealed and shrieked in surprise. Their cheer squad leader had already ordered them make room twice. I was on my third call of "on your right" by the time I got to them. They managed no claps and no cheers.
The third group cleared the trail at the very last second and managed a couple of claps. I think they were the "B" squad.
Alone again on the trail I found this dock directly connected to the trail. It was a smooth ride down the trail, down the dock, and could have been right off into the water. I didn't stop to check but I'm betting it was cold. Ocean temps at nearby Cape Neddick are fluctuating between mid 50's and 60's.
Site of a former depot but this was the only remnant. I like including my bike in photos. It's a reminder that I was there. New for this trip is the third water bottle holder just behind the front tire. Only shorter bottles fit without rubbing the tire. Running out of water is a huge personal fear especially as I learn and experience more about bike packing. The fourth bottle, in the back pocket of the pannier, isn't included on the count of cages on the bike itself. Room for 3 insulated bottles now. Time for another acquisition.
This highlights one of the challenges of the approximately half dozen culvards. They are short with some shorter than others. Only one could I stand in. this one was about average. These also feature planks running parallel to the road bed that make for interesting riding surface. TrailLink recommends walking the culvards. I agree for safety. I did manage to ride all of them but with several hairy moments.
Coming out of the culvard is a nice downhill. The M.O. for culvards was flip on the headlight (just visible to the right of reflector in this picture), hammer the pedals to drive up the loose gravel climb, hug the top tube to be short enough to enter the culvard, focus on the floor looking for rocks and cracks in or in between boards, shoot out the other side, sit up, pick a line, and zoom down the hill. Culvard crossings were quite exhilarating.
This was the one nice tall culvard I could ride through unphased. The increased height also meant more light inside.
I found this bog interesting for the density of what I know as cat tails. They stand here dense like wheat in a field.
Here is another example of surface on the trail. Dodge the larger rocks. There are 2 vague tire tracks on the left and right. the undulations in the trail resembled moguls at times. I nearly got air just rolling along at 11.6MPH.
One genuine tunnel on the route. A nice underpass to avoid the road. There was some graffiti. There were some interesting official looking markings that contributed to the writing on the wall.
And finally the end of the trail in Manchester, NH. The end is rather unceremonious. Just before this the trail looked like someone plowed the original rail bed with a pointed blade typically seen on dozers for cutting firebreaks. There were railroad ties and spikes littering the left and right with a course but ridable bed in the middle. This is about 1 block east of Elliot Hospital. Take a right and immediate left for a road that leads directly to the hospital in case of any trail incidents. There is also a pizza shop to the immediate right that looks promising for carb re-loading.
Conveniently the CVS at the end of the trail is open 24x7. Great for resupply. In my case Pepsi and Peanut Butter cups for a boost. Oh, and a bit of shade.
Heading back east I encountered a road construction crew the second time. The "No Parking" signs clearly did not apply to them. Fortunately they did leave room for me to navigate on the eastbound leg. During the westbound leg they completely blocked the trail and sent me hiking through the brush.
Marsh land around Massabesic Lake. This bit reminded me of scenes from Georgia and Florida. It provided a nice bit of familiarity.
Here is the road bed inside one of the culvards. It's not terrible but it's not exactly highway grade roadbed for smooth sailing - especially for a cyclocross bike running 38mm(?) tires.
I tend to focus on the negative. This shot was intentional reminder that there are some nice sections of trail as well. Good surface, good shade, and smooth rolling.
It's really great to see the railroad infrastructure still in use. I've only seen sides on a bridge like this a few times. I'm guessing it is to protect the bridge from water prone to flooding. More research required.
The trail is primarily maintained by a snowmobile club. I never figured out how the gates at every road crossing could be compatible with snowmobiles. Snow life - it's all such a mystery.
The route was well signed. There are plenty of amenities available if the signs are to be believed. Most of the signs appeared printed on a home printer and the laminated. It's not durable but it is simple and efficient. I suspect one or two replacements during a short Maine summer suffice.
Fresh off the east end of the trail I found myself ravenous hungry. A Shell(?) gas station helped that with plenty of ice water and a single sleeve of Fig Newtons. Only three remained by the time I reached the cottage. It was refreshing to see 'teens staffing and stocking the store. Seems like the 'cheap unskilled labor' market hasn't yet been flooded here.
Setting out after resupply I followed 108 to 33 to some other roads to eventually 1. Most had a nice wide shoulder for riding. I don't know the real intent of the shoulder but it sure makes for good biking. It's a bit rough, seems to be concrete base about 15-20' long that's been paved over. There are bumps but you're free to take the bumps without worring about getting creamed by passing traffic.
At one point my hastily planned route carried me through an office park and onto this closed overpass. A nice wide bridge just for my little bicycle.
Coming down the other side provided a bit more signage and traffic!
Taking a right on the path in the picture above led to this dedicated bike path. I really enjoyed my short stint of biking in NH.
Heading up 1 I crossed the grated bridge from NH into ME. Riding the grating was a bit of adventure but it was expected. There were sidewalks open to pedestrians but foreboding signs for cyclists. Traffic was low and my speed was high so I stuck with the road and things worked out.
I continued up 1 with its wide shoulders rather than trying backroads. Slower pace on the railtrail had already consumed my allotted time for the trip. The wide shoulder was great. The ride wasn't as scenic but I'd already enjoyed 50+ miles of good scenery.
I finished the day with around 85 miles. If I was a martini I was shaken and stirred from the terrain and rough joints in the road. All in all it was a great ride though.
In Jill Homer's book she shares a tip she learned for avoiding mosquitos - keep it over 10MPH. In my informal testing it held up. I carried one of the new Off Clip-ons for just-in-case. Mosquitoes were on me like white on rice when I stopped to grab something from the pannier or exchange water bottles. Normally I can do sundries while rolling but trying that on this trail garnered a sharp jolt at best and an endo at worst. With a flat or any mechanical the bug repellent would have been a life saver.
The trail bed is also pretty rough. It was ridable on my cyclocross bike. I don't know how much difference the Specialized carbon and Zertz inserts made but in my mind they helped keep the jarring down to a tolerable level. While doable it wasn't exactly pleasant. This was actually another experiment on the day. I wanted to see just how bad semi-rough trail is with a hard tail. It's bad enough. My interest in the Moots YBB is re-affirmed. If you consider doing this trail bring a mountain bike with plenty of rubber between you and trail. Keep your eyes open for obstacles as there are some really rough lines.
A short ride up Portsmouth, Squamscott, and College put me near the trail. The riding was easy, shoulders usually adequate, and morning traffic light enough. I found this building near the east end of the supposed trail head. I'm guessing this the old rail depot referenced on the TrailLink website. TrailLink really let me down on this one. They apparently recently moved GPS hosting to Garmin. Gamin bundles routes into region bundles for download. Garmin also imposes a bandwidth check that my mobile broadband card could not pass. I ended up using http://gmap-pedometer and the GMapToGPX script to map the route. I still need to submit feedback to Garmin and TrailLink.
The trail is a faint gap in the weeds off to the right.
Soon enough I found confirmation of the path.
Early going was good enough. I quickly realized my planned 15mph average speed was unrealistic. The new goal was anything over 10mph.
Shortly down the trail this stadium appeared off to the south. It seemed a bit large for a normal football field. I suspect a dirt track for racing.
Large portions of the trail were covered in this black gravel. It was almost charcoal at times at certainly marked up my bike and water bottles.
Some nice leftover railroad bridges on the route. All bridges and culvards had boards laid parallel to the trail in the center of the road bed. The ends, as well as all street crossings, showed clear evidence of scraping. I'm guessing that's from snowmobiles. Somewhere along the trial I saw 2 snow mobiles parked beside a shed. There were interesting to me mostly in their rarity. There was plenty of evidence of 4 wheelers on the trail. Several places had pretty deep banked corners where a 4 wheeler trail met up with the trail and overlapped for stretches.
I passed through the first town delighted to find Dunkin Donuts and Wendys. Those were good to keep in mind for later. This was the second town along the route. It was comforting to find civilization along the route.
This train depot, cars, and section of track receive plenty of TLC from the Raymond Historical Society. Between the full size train cars there was one rail service card about the size of a four wheeler with enclosed cabin.
The aforementioned culvards along the route were interesting. I saw them mentioned in trail reviews. This was my first encounter. As I slowed to take the picture I heard voices echoing through the tunnel. The fairly large group moved to the right to make room.
When I cleared the tunnel the group erupted. They were a group of cheerleaders. I was pushing the pace for multiple reasons. Cheering just pushed it further.
Further down the trail I passed two more groups of cheerleaders. The second group I think was the "C" squad. They barely managed to leave enough room for me to get buy. As I "buzzed" them with the sparse available space they squealed and shrieked in surprise. Their cheer squad leader had already ordered them make room twice. I was on my third call of "on your right" by the time I got to them. They managed no claps and no cheers.
The third group cleared the trail at the very last second and managed a couple of claps. I think they were the "B" squad.
Alone again on the trail I found this dock directly connected to the trail. It was a smooth ride down the trail, down the dock, and could have been right off into the water. I didn't stop to check but I'm betting it was cold. Ocean temps at nearby Cape Neddick are fluctuating between mid 50's and 60's.
Site of a former depot but this was the only remnant. I like including my bike in photos. It's a reminder that I was there. New for this trip is the third water bottle holder just behind the front tire. Only shorter bottles fit without rubbing the tire. Running out of water is a huge personal fear especially as I learn and experience more about bike packing. The fourth bottle, in the back pocket of the pannier, isn't included on the count of cages on the bike itself. Room for 3 insulated bottles now. Time for another acquisition.
This highlights one of the challenges of the approximately half dozen culvards. They are short with some shorter than others. Only one could I stand in. this one was about average. These also feature planks running parallel to the road bed that make for interesting riding surface. TrailLink recommends walking the culvards. I agree for safety. I did manage to ride all of them but with several hairy moments.
Coming out of the culvard is a nice downhill. The M.O. for culvards was flip on the headlight (just visible to the right of reflector in this picture), hammer the pedals to drive up the loose gravel climb, hug the top tube to be short enough to enter the culvard, focus on the floor looking for rocks and cracks in or in between boards, shoot out the other side, sit up, pick a line, and zoom down the hill. Culvard crossings were quite exhilarating.
This was the one nice tall culvard I could ride through unphased. The increased height also meant more light inside.
I found this bog interesting for the density of what I know as cat tails. They stand here dense like wheat in a field.
Here is another example of surface on the trail. Dodge the larger rocks. There are 2 vague tire tracks on the left and right. the undulations in the trail resembled moguls at times. I nearly got air just rolling along at 11.6MPH.
One genuine tunnel on the route. A nice underpass to avoid the road. There was some graffiti. There were some interesting official looking markings that contributed to the writing on the wall.
And finally the end of the trail in Manchester, NH. The end is rather unceremonious. Just before this the trail looked like someone plowed the original rail bed with a pointed blade typically seen on dozers for cutting firebreaks. There were railroad ties and spikes littering the left and right with a course but ridable bed in the middle. This is about 1 block east of Elliot Hospital. Take a right and immediate left for a road that leads directly to the hospital in case of any trail incidents. There is also a pizza shop to the immediate right that looks promising for carb re-loading.
Conveniently the CVS at the end of the trail is open 24x7. Great for resupply. In my case Pepsi and Peanut Butter cups for a boost. Oh, and a bit of shade.
Heading back east I encountered a road construction crew the second time. The "No Parking" signs clearly did not apply to them. Fortunately they did leave room for me to navigate on the eastbound leg. During the westbound leg they completely blocked the trail and sent me hiking through the brush.
Marsh land around Massabesic Lake. This bit reminded me of scenes from Georgia and Florida. It provided a nice bit of familiarity.
Here is the road bed inside one of the culvards. It's not terrible but it's not exactly highway grade roadbed for smooth sailing - especially for a cyclocross bike running 38mm(?) tires.
I tend to focus on the negative. This shot was intentional reminder that there are some nice sections of trail as well. Good surface, good shade, and smooth rolling.
It's really great to see the railroad infrastructure still in use. I've only seen sides on a bridge like this a few times. I'm guessing it is to protect the bridge from water prone to flooding. More research required.
The trail is primarily maintained by a snowmobile club. I never figured out how the gates at every road crossing could be compatible with snowmobiles. Snow life - it's all such a mystery.
The route was well signed. There are plenty of amenities available if the signs are to be believed. Most of the signs appeared printed on a home printer and the laminated. It's not durable but it is simple and efficient. I suspect one or two replacements during a short Maine summer suffice.
Fresh off the east end of the trail I found myself ravenous hungry. A Shell(?) gas station helped that with plenty of ice water and a single sleeve of Fig Newtons. Only three remained by the time I reached the cottage. It was refreshing to see 'teens staffing and stocking the store. Seems like the 'cheap unskilled labor' market hasn't yet been flooded here.
Setting out after resupply I followed 108 to 33 to some other roads to eventually 1. Most had a nice wide shoulder for riding. I don't know the real intent of the shoulder but it sure makes for good biking. It's a bit rough, seems to be concrete base about 15-20' long that's been paved over. There are bumps but you're free to take the bumps without worring about getting creamed by passing traffic.
At one point my hastily planned route carried me through an office park and onto this closed overpass. A nice wide bridge just for my little bicycle.
Coming down the other side provided a bit more signage and traffic!
Taking a right on the path in the picture above led to this dedicated bike path. I really enjoyed my short stint of biking in NH.
Heading up 1 I crossed the grated bridge from NH into ME. Riding the grating was a bit of adventure but it was expected. There were sidewalks open to pedestrians but foreboding signs for cyclists. Traffic was low and my speed was high so I stuck with the road and things worked out.
I continued up 1 with its wide shoulders rather than trying backroads. Slower pace on the railtrail had already consumed my allotted time for the trip. The wide shoulder was great. The ride wasn't as scenic but I'd already enjoyed 50+ miles of good scenery.
I finished the day with around 85 miles. If I was a martini I was shaken and stirred from the terrain and rough joints in the road. All in all it was a great ride though.
In Jill Homer's book she shares a tip she learned for avoiding mosquitos - keep it over 10MPH. In my informal testing it held up. I carried one of the new Off Clip-ons for just-in-case. Mosquitoes were on me like white on rice when I stopped to grab something from the pannier or exchange water bottles. Normally I can do sundries while rolling but trying that on this trail garnered a sharp jolt at best and an endo at worst. With a flat or any mechanical the bug repellent would have been a life saver.
The trail bed is also pretty rough. It was ridable on my cyclocross bike. I don't know how much difference the Specialized carbon and Zertz inserts made but in my mind they helped keep the jarring down to a tolerable level. While doable it wasn't exactly pleasant. This was actually another experiment on the day. I wanted to see just how bad semi-rough trail is with a hard tail. It's bad enough. My interest in the Moots YBB is re-affirmed. If you consider doing this trail bring a mountain bike with plenty of rubber between you and trail. Keep your eyes open for obstacles as there are some really rough lines.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)