July 17, 2018
Day 60 Northfield
Northfield, VT
Le Tour de Rudolf - mountain stage.
What. A. Day. We moseyed back over to the Hot Biscuit Diner for breakfast, not in a big hurry today; we “only” had 60 miles to go. We rode the 15 minutes to the ferry across Lake Champlain. (In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, my great grandfather was the general manager for the Champlain Transportation Company that ran the steamships up and down the lake. My grandfather also worked for the company as a young man.)
The ferry service we used today was established in 1759; the boat could fit about 6 cars. You can even buy t-shirts and maple syrup on the ferry! Once across, we entered the great state of Vermont. We had some gorgeous riding along the Champlain Byway into Middlebury. We rode past Middlebury college, where my parents graduated 60 years ago! We had a wonderful lunch at Two Brothers Tavern - salad with kale, asparagus, cheese, capers (not on mine 😛) and torn focaccia. A-mazing. While we were sitting there, I perused the rest of the day’s route. I knew we had a couple of good climbs to get across the Green Mountains and was a little concerned. It was a hot and humid day, the type that makes breathing difficult for asthmatics like me. Jon told me to stop freaking out. When you spread the elevation profile out, the climbs aren’t as intimidating as they look. Yes Dear. And then we proceeded to walk up 2 mountains. The first one rose gently at first, then got a little tougher. We passed a couple of older fellows outside a farmhouse and one commented that we hadn’t even gotten to the real climb yet. Swell. A mile or so later, we hit it. It got too steep for us to bike. Then it started raining. Time to “embrace the suck.” And then it got suckier when the pavement ended and turned to dirt/gravel. Picture walking up a 30 degree sandy beach hill while pushing 50 lbs of bike and gear. I believe I quoted our neighbor a few times “F-ity, F, F, F! We finally got to the top and the descent wasn’t much easier. It was raining harder and so steep that our hands were cramping from braking so hard. When the dirt is loose and the road is steep, you just can’t go down fast. The walking up and slow descent significantly slowed our progression for the day. About 3/4 of the way down, as it leveled off a bit, a guy in a truck had stopped and asked us if we wanted a ride to town. We actually weren’t entirely sure what town he was referring to, then looked at the map. He was referring to Warren, which was about a mile and a half away. It seemed just as easy to continue riding on, so we thanked him and went on our way. And of course it rained harder. We stopped at the Warren Country Store and swapped out our soaked shirts for dry ones. Never mind that they were yesterday’s dirty ones. They were dry at least. We sat inside the store, sipping on hot beverages and waited out the passing storm. We had one more ridge to go over. After about 30 minutes, the storm passed and we headed out. 5:15 and 13 miles to go. Blessedly, this climb was paved the entire way. It was still steep and required about a mile or so of walking, but not as long or as slow as the previous climb. Just after the summit, the “Pavement Ends” sign emerged. Dammit. But again, it wasn’t as bad as the previous ridge and we cruised into Roxbury fairly quickly. Five miles to go to our friends Brad and Emily’s house in Northfield, VT (all downhill on real roads!) at about 6:45. They’re another set of AT’01 alum. They’re actually out in a 3-day Long Trail run, but left us beer, food, fresh towels and a soft bed. We’ll see them tomorrow when they’re done. We cooked up some steaks and crashed. 😵
Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 238 miles (383 km)
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