Got the word early in June that my 'A' race, the White Mountain Triathlon, was getting cancelled. Sucked on several levels: my fitness right now is as good as it's ever been (well, bike and run... swimming? Not so much...); always good to get to the Franconia area and meet up with friends; the primary beneficiary of the WMT is the Adaptive Sports program that I volunteer for [http://adaptivesportspartners.org/], and so we would be out about $5k in donations. Kind of sucky all the way around.
So I decided to do my own event: my folks have a camp in northern NH, Colebrook. Colebrook also recently got it's first nano-brewery, Coos Brewing. And there happens to be a hub of breweries in the Franconia area: Schillings in Littleton; Iron Furnace in Franconia; and Rek'lis Brewing in Bethlehem. There also just happened to be Copper Pig Brewing about half-way, in Lancaster.
Thus, The North Country Brewery Tour was born! I'd ride Route 3 and Route 116 from Colebrook to Bethlehem and visit each brewery, and donate $10/mile to ASPNC!
That was Saturday afternoon, and it was honestly the most fun that I've had for any type of even in a long while! And, hopefully, this can turn into an event that we can continue in the coming years, as all the breweries were great and accommodating to all of us! Was only two of us that road the entire thing, but we had several others jump in for different legs, and I thought that added another aspect to the ride that was un-expected but also fun as hell!
If any of you guys are in the area, swing in and say Hi to these folks - they're great, they're beer is tasty, and the food is amazing!
Here's the route, for those that care:
Now, I know what some of you are saying: You replaced a Half with a 75 mile ride? That's not much of a challenge! Well, I thought that as well, so while the ride didn't happen until almost noon, I went out at 6 and did this first:
That was my Saturday, and again - one of the funnest days that I have ever had! Err... you know, while running and cycling, anyhow...
Anyone else got anything that they've put together themselves? I may be digging this kind of thing even more than racing!
- Jeff
So I decided to do my own event: my folks have a camp in northern NH, Colebrook. Colebrook also recently got it's first nano-brewery, Coos Brewing. And there happens to be a hub of breweries in the Franconia area: Schillings in Littleton; Iron Furnace in Franconia; and Rek'lis Brewing in Bethlehem. There also just happened to be Copper Pig Brewing about half-way, in Lancaster.
Thus, The North Country Brewery Tour was born! I'd ride Route 3 and Route 116 from Colebrook to Bethlehem and visit each brewery, and donate $10/mile to ASPNC!
That was Saturday afternoon, and it was honestly the most fun that I've had for any type of even in a long while! And, hopefully, this can turn into an event that we can continue in the coming years, as all the breweries were great and accommodating to all of us! Was only two of us that road the entire thing, but we had several others jump in for different legs, and I thought that added another aspect to the ride that was un-expected but also fun as hell!
If any of you guys are in the area, swing in and say Hi to these folks - they're great, they're beer is tasty, and the food is amazing!
Here's the route, for those that care:
Now, I know what some of you are saying: You replaced a Half with a 75 mile ride? That's not much of a challenge! Well, I thought that as well, so while the ride didn't happen until almost noon, I went out at 6 and did this first:
That was my Saturday, and again - one of the funnest days that I have ever had! Err... you know, while running and cycling, anyhow...
Anyone else got anything that they've put together themselves? I may be digging this kind of thing even more than racing!
- Jeff