04/14 - 04/16/00

A weekend up north to escape the insanity of everyday life is just what the doctor ordered. The smell of the outdoors, and the comfort of being surrounded by friends (including Buster the dog) can only bring some good juju.

We slept in a bit on Saturday and even had time to enjoy a big breakfast at Polly's Pancake Shack. Getting caffinated and our fill of flapjacks and bacon we decide to spend the day on Mt Avalon.

The temperatures were an amazing 70-80 degrees. We arrived at the trailhead parking lot on 302 just before Crawford Notch. Mike, Alison, Mike, Kim, Ed and I head off at the crack of 2 pm on the Avalon Trail. The trail conditions were medium pack snow almost right from the start. We packed a few sets of crampons and insteps in case we needed. We headed up with gators and poles and were fine, I think if I had a heart rate monitor it would have been going off! We encountered ice at some steep points that we would have to descend later, oh boy.

Spending time at the top was amazing, sun blaring and a nice cool breeze made for a great snack break. Took a coupl eof snaps and enjoyed the moment. Then out came the crampons for the hike down. Ed, Alison and I sported some nice traction and in so we took the lead and hacked out some flat spots in the ice on the way down. These babies are nice!
  1. whoa
  2. heading up to Avalon
  3. at the top
  4. couples
  5. us with Washington
  6. heading down
  7. after a long day and too much food
  8. swing
Sunday involved cooking up a HUGE breakfast, which we all had a hand in creating. We had Mike D on bacon duty, Kim on the French toast, Alison on the spicy hash potatoes, Ed on the cutting board, Mike C on the toaster and for me - the eggs. After consuming all of that - we sat and digested for a while....burp! And some motivated soul made the call to ride.

It was a bit overcast outside and threatening spinkles but hey no biggy. Just for the record (Campy?), the roads up there are still covered with SAND and gravel from the winter season but that didn't stop the Team Cannondale and the Merlin ExtraLight equipped with new Rolf wheels from heading out into the day. We (4 Cannondales, 1 Merlin and a Trek ) road out on Rte 116 and around to the triathlon hill. Fun stuff and the downhills were fffffast!

We got back in time for some lounging and rested up before we headed home to RI. We finished it off by drafting each other on the way home, Team DeLessio and Team 'Cavros' won the two sprints...ya know - I had to give them something >;)

Oh yeah! we topped it off by stopping at Shorty's and grabbed some awesome Mexi food for dinnah! (Hooksett NH, exit 9)
David Y. Gong
AnnMarie WebSubStation
judyboy@ids.net