Rose Mountain Rumble--2019

This marks the fourth year in a row that we've done the Rose Mountain Rumble in Lyndeborough, NH, and every year the ride it's been awesome (2018, 2017, 2016).

Great course, great support and amazing post-ride food.

Before I get to the ride, let me mention the nearby accommodations...

One year, Jean and I camped at a campground in Brookline, NH called Field and Stream, It was, and is, a favorite campground. Another couple of years we camped at Salisbury Beach State Park campground. A different vibe, and a little too far to be convenient. This year we were going to go back to Field and Stream but we waited too long and couldn't get two sites (for ourselves and LizDan and their travel trailer), so Dan found a campground in nearby New Boston, NH called the Friendly Beaver.

I'm not sure how to put into words our camping experience, but let's just say it was *interesting.*

Our site was in the absolute back of the campground property, essentially in a giant dirt lot with a small hill. This hill was apparently the highlight of the campground as "campers" (the majority seem to have travel trailers that have porches and enough additional structures to ensure that these trailers are never going anywhere) drive their golf carts up and down this hill over and over and over and over. Remember, we're at the end of the property so there's no reason to drive down there except to go to this hill and the traffic to, and up and down and from this hill was non stop. Yes, they'd drive up the hill, and then down the hill. For fun. In addition to golf carts going up and down a hill, there was plenty of Joan Jett and Quiet Riot and Van Halen blasting. A different camping experience indeed.

Anyway, it was close to the course, so in that respect it worked well. However, despite its proximity, we still arrived about 10 minutes before the start, and by the time I got on my bike, the masses had already taken off. Oh well. It wasn't a race, so I rolled out on my own and set off to work my way back through the pack.

Relive 'Rose Mountain Rumble (modified)'

Jean, Liz, and Dan signed on for the 20M (24), and I was in for the 40M (44). I gave Jean a pat on the butt when I passed her and rolled on after I caught up with them. I was feeling good and having fun until about 25 miles... I'm not sure what happened but I was suddenly ready for a nap. I didn't really bonk, but I just wasn't feeing it anymore. I rolled on and hit the pit stop at about mile 28. I had a couple of Fig Newtons and then by about mile 30 I decided to cut the ride short and head back. I figured Jean and LizDan would be done and we could eat together and head back. I checked my Garmin and it looked like there was a way to "navigate back to start" that would be about four miles so I clicked "yes" and followed the GPS prompts.



The joke was on me. Think about this... I was tired and I was hoping for a shortcut back... Take a look at this elevation profile below, and the arrow indicates where I left the actual course for the "shortcut."

Yep, my shortcut was straight up. And, it was straight up on Class 4 unmaintained roads, so it was essentially a mountain bike ride. I had to laugh and just kept grinding. In the end, it saved me some miles, but might not have save me any time.

However, I still got back in plenty of time for the great food including grilled chicken, veggie burgers, fresh corn-on-the-cob and some decadent baked goods.

I even ran into an old friend that I hadn't seen for years and got to talk with someone who actually reads this blog (I knew it was more than Russian bots).

All in all, it was another fun RMR and another opportunity to raise some money for the Piscataquog Land Conservancy. We'll be back for 2020 for sure, and we'll book our campground early!