Gig Harbor Washington to Bar Harbor Maine 2001

Unless you're better at geography than I am, you probably didn't notice that we went straight from NY to NH and skipped right over VT. Well we didn't exactly skip, but we rode from 5 miles across it's western border to 5 miles across it's eastern border. If tomorrow wasn't Friday, with it's inevitable unbearable traffic, we could spend tomorrow night in Maine.

The Weather Channel is our favorite TV. They said it would be rainy in the morning and cool all day. We usually leave early to beat the heat. Since we didn't need to, we ignored Mike's alarm at 5:30. The complimentary coffee and sicky buns didn't do it for us so we walked across the parking lot, in the rain, to McDonalds. It was bad even for McDonalds but we got full bellies and were on the road about 8:30.

Ticonderoga looked pretty cool downtown and lots of historical buildings and plaques would be very interesting on another trip. We did have time to read a few paragraphs of history on the ferry. We won several decisive victories in 1776 and made a strategic retreat in 1777.

Ticonderoga ferry

As we stepped off the ferry Mike looked at the Vermont map. The wind was from NNW at 13 mph (thank you weather channel) and the Adventure Cycling route wound NE before dropping back a little S. Mike chose to follow another road that was more directly E. I stayed on route because following all the little twists and turns distracts me from the big miles.

It was an outstanding route today. Vermont is incredibly beautiful. Fewer lakes, more hills. I guess these used to be big mountains that have been worn down over the millennia. You'd think that would make them rounded with flat valleys between, but you'd be wrong. The route profile today was more like W\_I_W\I, but the I's involve over 1000 feet of climbing. 7300 feet of climbing today! That's the most of the trip by far.

Middlebury college had campuses spread up and down the route. The main campus was a typical school except huge and grandiose. A few hundred feet up the steepest climb was the Bread Loaf campus with all these buildings that looked like old barracks, except nice. These were set in acres of manicured lawns. I kept looking for the putting greens, but there were just a few pairs of chairs scattered around, maybe a pair per acre.

The climb to Middlebury Gap was so steep that I was practicing Lamaze harder than anyone who didn't wind up having a baby. I'm not sure how I managed to keep shoving my feet ahead and I'm not sure why the chain didn't break under the stress. It's a good thing everything held together because I know it was too steep to walk.

13% grade?!

When I finally reached the top, sweat was spewing out of me like a sprinkler. My heart was jumping out of my chest. At least I puffed hard enough that I must have gotten all of that Ontario smog out of my lungs. A truck stopped right ahead of me at the top. The driver was checking his rig out for the descent and came over to talk to me. We had a great talk about the Northeast and Northwest, bikes and routes, etc. He warned me about the descent, that it was extremely steep, then levelled off a little, the became extremely steep again. I was glad I'd adjusted my brakes.

I sailed down the hill using plenty of brakes. The road was bumpy enough that I would have been in trouble if I'd gone any faster. After 6 miles of dropping at up to 12% grade, the road continued to fall more than it climbed. When I finally made Hancock, I needed food.

I'd only eaten spaghetti last night and I was craving protein. I found a cool old building with a tourist shop and a small restaurant. The tomato sandwich and spinach salad looked so good, but I had to go for the eggs with homemade venison sausage. It was delicious and effective. I was glad to have many miles to digest before beginning another big climb. As I was eating the truck driver came in to make sure I'd made it down the hill ok. He hadn't seen me in a ditch or wrapped around a tree.

I stopped after a few miles to get some water. As I was pulling around a hill to get back on the highway, a bike came flying past. A few seconds later and I would have run into him. It was Mike! I didn't know which route or rider would be faster, but I didn't expect to see him till night.

We rode fairly close together, up Tucker Hill and Thetford Hill and all the other hills they didn't bother to name. Finally we crossed a bridge and were in New Hampshire. The route took us along the river on a lovely little road, there were more walkers than cars, and that led us directly to Pasture Campground. We rode up a quarter mile or so to a store and deli and got a burger and beer and chicken and NA. It was delicious and filling and we didn't have to cook beans. We got back in time to set up camp in the dark. We're really awesome. Light? We don't need no stinking light.