2018 Rose Mountain Rumble Gravel Ride

It's hard to know if I was rumbled or if I did the rumbling, but the 2018 Rose Mountain Rumble has been completed, logged, video'ed and documented on Strava, No fake news here.

This year's event was a repeat of everything that's brought us back three years is a row: great course, great weather, and an awesome post-ride feast.

I did the the 40M as did Racer-X rider who has been MIA for a couple of years now, Tom Merrill. Jean, Liz and Dan took on the 20M loop, and fun was had by all.

The ride also offered a 60M loop and 50M loop, and all had the option of doing another 10M bonus loop, but it was hard to pass up the food and go out again, at least that was the feeling for our group.



The 40M loop I did was advertised as "a fast paced ripper chocked full of scenic dirt roads, good tree cover, scenic overlooks, technical descents and climbs." I'd say that was accurate!

As with all of the gravel rides I've done, it's always great to see the diversity of the bikes out on the course. There are, of course, dedicated "gravel bikes," but there were plenty of other bikes including many mountain bikes.

Personally, I think it's interesting that back in the early 90's hard tail mountain bikes with little to no front suspension were touted as "go anywhere--do anything bikes." I remember riding bikes with 1.75 or 1.95 tires, eventually going to 2.00 or 2.1's. Now, as mountain bikes have gotten wider and wider and wider tires with more and more suspension, a "new" breed of bike "evolved," which is nearly identical to the mountain bikes of the 90's but with drop bars. These new bikes can go anywhere!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, from a component standpoint, there's 11 or 12spd and disc brakes and yada, yada, yada, but hardtail frame, narrow knobby tires and rigid or short travel fork has been done before. Niner has come full circle and now offers its RLT gravel bike with a flat bar option. But I digress...

And just as there are many different types of bikes at these events, there are also many types of riders, from hardcore hammers to people just out for a fun time on a beautiful and challenging course. I really love that aspect of the gravel rides and that's one of the features that keeps me interested.

Anyway, back to the ride. The RMR is a fundraiser for the Piscataquog Land Conservancy (PLC) which is "a private non-profit land conservation organization working to conserve the natural resources and scenic beauty of the Piscataquog, Souhegan and Nashua River valleys of southern New Hampshire. PLC has to date permanently protected 104 properties totaling more than 6,300 acres, and typically conserves 3-5 new properties each year. All PLC-owned properties are open to the public to explore and enjoy. Once land is protected, it is regularly monitored by our team of more than fifty volunteer property monitors. PLC also offers a wide range of educational and recreational outings – including the Rose Mountain Rumble!

PLC serves the communities of Amherst, Bedford, Brookline, Deering, Dunbarton, Francestown, Goffstown, Greenfield, Greenville, Henniker, Hollis, Lyndeborough, Manchester, Mason, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Nashua, New Boston, New Ipswich, Temple, Weare and Wilton. PLC is based in New Boston, New Hampshire."

I like supporting local organizations like this, and they do a great job of organizing the event. I was hoping to come in at under 3hrs, but was 5 minutes short. I guess I'll be back again in 2019 to try again.

Here's a flash back to 2017 and 2016...