Bev arrives at 9 and we load up our paniers and head to the local coffee place (The Metropolitan) that does serve espresso. The forecast is for rain all day and as we leave the hotel at about 10, it starts to rain lightly. We are wearing full rain gear, expecting the rain to increase in intensity during the day. We make it to Ossipee without encountering significant rain. We stop at the gas station convenience store (The Big Apple Store) for our final dose of chocolate milk. There are only quarts and half gallons, so Jim looks further and finds Fairlife Core Power Elite 42g High Protein Milk Shakes. 14 fl. oz., 230 calories and surprisingly good. We go outside and the rain has begun in earnest. Oh well, that’s why we carried the rain gear for 600 miles. Brief digression on rain gear.  Len in his parsimonious panier packing has decided not to take the good gear and by his own admission pays the price by riding wet and cold.  Lesson: don’t listen to Len on any parts of this blog. Lots of rain and many hills later (Jim is thinking that when you’re in a car, you just don’t notice the hills) we come to the turn off from Route 16 onto the Wakefield Road and Route 153. I had no recollection of the number of hills between Ossipee and Sanbornville despite having driven the route many times. I am most surprised by a short but steep pitch on 153 – completely forgot it was there, argh!

Lovell Lake eventually comes into view, and we ride the last 2 miles on recently paved road. The pavement ends at the turn off to our destination. I didn’t tell Len about the recent paving until we turned on to Brackett Road. He was dreading the mud and the steep pitches ahead. We arrived cold and wet. A warm shower never felt so good.