One Climb Wonder

Amy and I started a long Labor Day holiday weekend last Friday with a bike ride on an abandoned railway from the Massachusetts / New Hampshire state border to Fitzwilliam Depot and back.  We had the trail to ourselves and enjoyed the ride along the swamps, lakes, streams, and woods.

Amy

We rode through fields of flowers even as the leaves were starting to turn red and yellow.

Tiny white flowers

After a quick stop in Troy for pastries, we rambled into Morningside Flight Park and setup our tent for the weekend.  I wasn't going to fly but changed my mind when I saw pilots climbing under a lone cloud to the north.  Stacy arrived just after I started rigging and we joked about our "good timing".  Well, our timing wasn't really that great since the pilots that climbed out under that cloud floated back in as I stepped out to tow.  I knew I was in trouble when Rhett said "today is a good day to practice your climbing skills"!  Rhett dragged me around the valley looking for lift but returned to the field where I pinned off directly over my launch spot.  I checked all the usual thermal spots but didn't find anything until I stumbled into a 0.4 m/s (80 fpm) climb to the west.  I climbed back up to tow height, got greedy, and ended up losing the climb.  I sniffed around some more before playing in the mechanical turbulence and lift drifting along the 137m (450 foot) ridge before zipping across the road for a landing.

Stacy, Rodger, and Ross

Later we had an impromptu hang-glider-rack design meeting around and under Stacy's truck before heading into town for beer and pizza.  I didn't have an epic flight that day, but still had a great time biking and hanging out with good friends.  Life's good.

Flights: 1, Duration: 0:31