“Rain, Rain, Rain, stupid rain!” Mike and I say this a lot when we are sick of rain, and it’s quoted because we heard it from a movie that we can’t recall at the moment. 

Anyway, yeah, it rained again on Wednesday during our ride, but it wasn’t so horrible. The East is really getting hammered this summer - not the best time for a bike tour here, but we didn’t know that back in January; it’s a first for us.  I mean, we have dealt with some rain on tours in the past, but not like this.  Not rain that makes us alter plans. 

We are currently in Randolph, VT visiting my mom, and we planned on this, but we also planned to leave a day earlier than we are now scheduled due to thunderstorms on Friday.  For now, we will enjoy some downtime; however, if you are a bike tourist who has been on the move for two months, you know how hard that can be. 

So, I started the paragraphs above yesterday, Thursday, and am now sitting here in Randolph on Friday watching the rain come down and glad we are not riding in it.  You might think that it is just rain and we’ll just get wet, and that is true, but so many aspects of the ride are impacted from the rain when it is a heavy one with predicted thunderstorms: visibility is impacted making it hard to see when glasses are fogged or hard for cars to see us; there are puddles and spray from cars which can make the road conditions difficult to see - and so far, there have been some large cracks and potholes that we have needed to avoid for our safety; lastly, being wet, setting up the tent in the rain, or just trying to find lodging in remote areas on the weekend can be a pain.  These are all good reasons to plant our butts on the couch today.

Before I go, let me tell you some highlights of the past two days: 

1. Riding the Brandon Gap and Bethel Gap (Rochester Gap to the locals depending on which side you are coming from) were really enjoyable, even with the steep grades.  Traffic wasn’t too bad, there was light rain, and we got to ride classic VT gaps with winding treed stretches and peeks of layered VT mountains. 
2.  Number two and three are written from Mike making a guest writer appearance: The Gear House is a fairly new bicycle and outdoor gear shop in Randolph. We visited the shop a couple of years ago when we drove across country to see our families. Owners Rob and Robin use to lead cross country bicycle tours. Dawn had had issues shifting into the largest chainring with the grip shifter that was installed just before the trip. We called The Gear House and they were able to fit us in right away. They diagnosed sand and rain effecting the cable, but the real problem was discovered after testing the initial repair.  They found that as the front derailleur shifts to the big chainring, a pin in a pivot pops out.  A fix was made that will hopefully get us to the finish line. In addition to the bike shop, Rob and Robin are advocates for the Ridgeline Outdoor Collective. The Ridgeline Outdoor Collective works on developing and promoting trails in Vermont. If you are on the ACA route, you might like to slightly deviate from the route and pop on over to Randolph to visit the shop, camp in Randolph Center, and enjoy one of the many amenities that Randolph has to offer: The Chandler Music Hall - Chandler Center for the Arts for music or an art performance, a brewery, or an enjoyable meal.  
3. We also enjoyed Sweet Scoops ice cream shop in Randolph; the ice cream is so good!  A large cup is nearly a pint of super creamy ice cream. I (Mike) needed a repeat of maple walnut Thursday night. I (Mike) had picked up some maple candies at Mom and Pop’s World’s Best Maple Syrup in Rochester on Gap Day, our friend Ed Craft also stopped here on his ride, and this gave us the idea. More sugar bombs to get us up the New Hampshire climbs!
4. A special treat was a stop into The Chandler on Thursday night while there was a rehearsal for Saturday’s 31st Annual Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival happening.  The public could sit in on the rehearsal for free; this was pretty special.  We enjoyed listening to some Mozart and decided we needed to listen to classical more often at home.  It was very relaxing. 
5. The final highlight was visiting my mom and the town in which I went to high school. Everything seemed so much bigger then. We shopped and had an enjoyable meal at The Forge. Or, Mike might say that the final highlight was giving me a cribbage beat down; he beat me three games in a row…!!!

Tomorrow the rain subsides and we head to Maine; we should be there in three to four days depending on how big we go.  We have lots of climbing.  

Team Bean

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Stats

1. Cribbage Game Wins: Mike 16, Dawn 9
2. Tortillas Eaten: Mike 178, Dawn 54
3. Jars of Peanut Butter: 7
4. Flats: Dawn 2, Mike 1
5. Bike Haters: 4 (We had our first one in Montana yesterday.) None in North Dakota that we know of. 
6. We may have had some bike haters in Canada…not sure; they do it in a polite way…
7. Bags of  Salad Consumed: 27
8. Dog Encounters: 2
9. Beers, too many to count
10. Bags of M&M’s: 5 of various sizes (I swore off of these about a month or so ago…that is why there are no updates.  I have been tempted though.
11. Fritos: 11 of various sizes 
12.  Bear Encounters: 1
13. Major Inclement Weather Episode: 1