/routes/6844292
North from Groton ventured 8 hearty souls - Bob himself, Clyde (b'day last week), Dom J (Whiskey Fork like I'm getting), Ken and Jack, Elizabeth, Frank and me. All was sort of fine until NH where we tried to take connecting roads between commuting roads. The connecting roads had a house per mile, maybe less - and corresponding less care of the roads - there was packed ice, luckily covered by a fair amount of sand to give some traction. After a mile or more of this in smaller doses we came to a sign the said DEAD END about 13 miles from the finish. But a driver who came by said, "The road goes thru" - what he meant was "The road goes thru a bunch of hills and dales and more ice and sand and in some places it's not paved." - but he didn't vocalize those words. So Ken and Jack (with Ken navigating) turned around at this point and went back to a clear section of road and searched out a less treacherous route. 6 of us went on. - sometimes riding, sometimes walking. Some what later about 6 miles from the end, Elizabeth's rear wheel lost the connection between the cogs and the axle. So she could coast OK but had no power. Clyde pushed her on the fairly flat road and Bob called in Eli who was coming out for lunch - Eli picked up Elizabeth and 5 of us motored on. About 1/2 mile from the finish I bailed and went to the parking lot and the remaining 4 went to lunch to meet Eli and Eliz , as well as Ken and Jack who had been there a while. Dom and Frank joined me in the parking lot where I took photos of Dom's Seven bike with a whiskey fork and fenders. I took those pics to show Patria at Ride Studio Cafe for my new bike. But Patria had beatend me to the punch and already had such a fork waiting for me - New bike next week.