some photos from the ride today. not the greatest weather, but the rain held off for most of the race.

first, some shots from the sign-in and the start line.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/45/img0277smfo2.th.jpg (http://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0277smfo2.jpg) http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/5575/img0275smqu7.th.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0275smqu7.jpg)


http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/6681/img0278smah0.th.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0278smah0.jpg) http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7691/img0279smtf3.th.jpg (http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0279smtf3.jpg) http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/7793/img0280smln2.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0280smln2.jpg) http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1681/img0281smkd2.th.jpg (http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0281smkd2.jpg)


here's one of the obstacles we had to negotiate today, about a half mile of gravel road. took this on my way back down, cause I didn't have time to stop for photos on the way up.

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/530/img0288smqe0.th.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0288smqe0.jpg)

at the top, it wasn't really raining, it was like there was a wet mist just floating throughout the air. but pretty foggy, and temps were a bit raw, under 50 degrees. early finishers were already headed back down, and people weren't spending a whole lot of time at the top. parking lot emptied out pretty quick.

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3038/img0287smls1.th.jpg (http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0287smls1.jpg) http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/4626/img0286smmz2.th.jpg (http://img170.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0286smmz2.jpg) http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/971/img0284smgp4.th.jpg (http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0284smgp4.jpg) http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/15/img0282smun8.th.jpg (http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0282smun8.jpg)

guy I know coaches one of the local school's biking teams, and brought a bunch of his kids out to ride today

http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/5599/img0283smgl1.th.jpg (http://img527.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0283smgl1.jpg)

took a few shots on my way back down. the first couple are the falls at Lower Falls. other shots of the Swift River, and one of the feeder streams coming off the hillside.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1843/img0291smry2.th.jpg (http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0291smry2.jpg) http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/273/img0290smkl3.th.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0290smkl3.jpg) http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5821/img0289smmv2.th.jpg (http://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0289smmv2.jpg)


http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8485/img0294smsf4.th.jpg (http://img185.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0294smsf4.jpg) http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/1548/img0293smps1.th.jpg (http://img514.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0293smps1.jpg) http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/8059/img0292smxw8.th.jpg (http://img527.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0292smxw8.jpg)

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/7218/img0295smwj8.th.jpg (http://img72.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0295smwj8.jpg)

and along with a free meal of spaghetti for doing the ride, I also got a t-shirt.

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6135/img0298smoh3.th.jpg (http://img503.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0298smoh3.jpg)

What was this (a ride? a race? a rally?) and where was it?

Nothing like getting wet and sloppy on a bike!

time trial. remember this pic from a couple weeks ago? the fog-shrouded parking lot is about 100 feet or so below where this sign is, at the top of the climb.

start is about a quarter mile from the beginning of the Kancamagus Highway in Conway, NH, and finish is at the entrance to the parking lot, just below the height of land.

roughly 21 miles, 2300 feet of climbing, most of that coming on the last five-mile long climb. always the weekend before Memorial Day weekend.

for some pictures of the same ride I took back in April, you can check out this thread.

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=91338

same parking lot, photos taken 6 weeks apart.

this picture was taken looking up toward the road at roughly the point where I took the winter picture of the parking lot from. top of the climb, and the sign, is just up the road a little bit to the right, past that outcropping of trees.

official pics from the event can be seen here (http://nebikes.com/?PageName=17&GalleryType=1)

and is that the lookout near the top? Looks like it was a little chilly:cool: I was checking out NEbikes website and they map out some great loops.Good stuff. Never mind. I can't change the title and I just read that it's a 21 mile tt. Nice pics. Keep em coming.I'll get up there one of these days