Discussion: Pack

My brother's classic training ride when he was in high school was to ride from home in Townsend to the top of Pack Monadnock and back. I think perhaps I did that once, maybe 5-10 years ago (just a bit further from my house). But as for the disc brakes, that brings up a memorable incident. My brother's wedding was up at the summit, with everybody parking at the bottom and walking up the road together. There were a few exceptions, one of which was the elderly Justice of the Peace, who I drove up in my car. Then she waited there while I hopped on my bike and rode down to meet everybody and walk the rest of the way up with them. I grabbed the bike out of the back of my car, put the front wheel on, and started down the road. Mountain bike, three piece suit, pretty fine. But when I put the wheel on, I neglected to hook up the cable for the front brake, and the rear one doesn't have a lot of stopping power. That first steep pitch was pretty scary, but when it flattened out I was able to stop the bike and fix the brakes. Whew! I can be a real idiot sometimes. It's a miracle I'm still alive.

As for Temple, Nancy had the same reaction that I did: completely out of the question. I think I'd be hard pressed to ride more than a little bit of it on a mountain bike.

Kimball's is renowned for quantity, but not necessarily quality.

Still hits the spot during our ski summer camp, when we stop there after our long hike.

JJ, you're lucky to be alive. I've done that just leaving my house going down the little pitch to the main road, and barely stopped.

In a situation like that, one does consider options like whether there are any bushes available to crash into, but New Hampshire has a lot of sharp rocks. And I was wearing a suit, as I noted, didn't want to mess that up.

Kimball's isn't typically my first choice among ice cream shops in this area (I've never been to the one up there), although I did go to the one in Westford last weekend and it was quite good.