Vermont to Switzerland
8′ tall sunflowers. 7′ tall sugar snap peas. Tomatoes coming in. Zucchini all over the place. Broccoli has been delicious. More romaine and endive and escarole than we know what to do with. And now raspberries and strawberries everyday.
Planning a ~230m mixed terrain tour, from BTV to Moose River Plains (I rode the Pugsley here last winter) and then south to the Utica area to hang with family for a weekend. Staring at maps, downloading GIS data from the NY DEC to ponder in GoogleEarth, and generally day dreaming.
Fargo, bikepacking gear, 1 or 2 nights depending on how much ‘mixed’ terrain I can connect. Right now I’m thinking pave and dirt road to Indian Lake, then Cedar Lake road to Moose River Road, connecting to the Otter Brook truck trail.
From there we have options – ride west connecting back to Moose River Road and connect to NY 28 near Limekiln Lake, then pave south to the Utica area, or, just maybe I’ll feel up to an 8 mile carry on a footpath through a wilderness area to connect south to some more dirt. I’d have to come up with a way to put the bike on my back*. Maybe like this, or like this, or even this. With the hike I’d exit somewhere near Rt. 8 in Piseco, where I can connect to NY 10 and then Powley Rd.
Torn, and scouring maps to see if there is anyway to make some other connections work, to get to ride the length of MRP, then head south, and maybe connect over on some supposed hike and bike trails in the Black River Wild Forest, and get to ride Powley Road. I’ve done a single day double century (all paved), and I had an aborted attempt to mix in some dirt and gravel roads – so I’m hoping to mix in as much dirt as possible this time around.
*Bikes are verboten in Wilderness (I won’t go into how I feel about human powered transport in the wild here) – so I’d have to get the wheels off the ground and be sure it was obvious I was ‘hiking’. If I did the hike, I’d then hit more dirt road, with less touristy paved routes as I work my way south.
Rain is subsiding. Lake is receding. Garden is growing.
Left early Sunday morning and managed a fatigued ~48 including some tacky, some snotty, and some dry dirt, rolling south from town to the covered bridges. Still feeling off, but opted to climb Irish Hill on the return leg, and actually felt OK. Lots of low gears for me…
Monday morning and we are still getting wet.
So much rain… starting to get depressing, until I walked outside from sipping my coffee and saw a rainbow. I raced to the lake hoping to catch it over the mountains, but the rain picked up and it went back to hiding.
Hoping Summer arrives before Fall.
We love living in Burlington. Spent time in the garden, and did a bike cruise to the Intervale for Summer Thursdays. Flatbread, ice cream, music, and time to run around with the little one.
Course checked most of the 114k Fall Classic route on a wet, rainy, and muddy day. Slow going in some parts with all the water we had flowing… but good fun to be out on the bike. Modified the route as I took off and returned from home. ~3800 ft of climbing (by altimeter), average grade of 4% with max grades (several!) topping out at 16%. Lots of high single digit grades on dirt (short, sharp climbs) – and some double digit grinders. The wet slowed me down – but I still pulled out ~80 miles for the day. If we get a wet spell prior to the big day I’ll be running some 32 cross tires on the IF.
The first photo in this post is from a spot Thompson Rd., just as it turns to a single lane for a great descent. On clear days it looks like this.
This was the last ride for my current drive train components. Big ring is shark finned, chain was finished about 150 miles ago, rear cassette is showing its age in the middle range. I am debating running an 8spd setup on the rear – using my Ergo 10 lever to pull a Shimano rear mechanical over an 8spd cassette. Cost of keeping up the 10spd is pretty high when playing in the dirt…!
Ava starting to get the hang of her bike… going berry berry fast.
A good day. Trying to keep things in perspective – but I struggle often with where my riding, free time, and fitness have gone. In the end – I wouldn’t trade back. We spent a family day on the bikes Saturday to the Farmer’s Market and then to American Flatbread for lunch followed by Ben & Jerry’s on Church St. A nap on the way home for the little one let mama and dada score some easy cruising miles.
Monday afternoon Ava finally decided it was time to ride her scoot bike all by herself. She’s out on it now with our nanny, cruising up and down the sidewalk. Life is good.
Solo adventuring today on some favorite roads. Household stuff to do – so I kept it short to 38 or so. Shot some video descending Governor Chittenden Road – but the bar mounted camera bouncing around makes it nearly impossible to watch.
