Final day

 Well this is the final day, 20 miles, most on a bike path, a meetup at Dunkin’ Donuts then a final 4 miles promenade to the Atlantic ocean.  Pretty impressive group, 3400 + miles, 6 weeks and lots of memories.

Above is the first leg, 12 miles, followed by 4 miles of bike path, then meetup at DD.

And the final wheel dip in the ocean.

Some family and friends along with a bike pic.

And that’s all she wrote folks. Until next year!!!

19jun today we cross over into vermont

 Today’s ride dedication is to a young lady at the hotel in Troy where we stayed her name is Tuba. I believe she’s Turkish so Tuba, today’s ride is for you.

Wow, what a day. A little bit over 75 miles and the  temperature is supposed to approach 94° and over 5000 feet of climbing. Within 4 miles we had a horrendous climb, At the top of the climb there wasn’t a dry spot on my kit, socks, helmet,  everything was soaked with sweat.  Once I got past that and let the heart rate settle down it became more enjoyable. The next three pictures are the beginning of a climb, then the top and a descent on the brigadier general James Kenny Memorial Highway which took us to a really nice lake.

Immediately after the lake is another climb. If you could let your heart rate settle and look to the side we were following a little stream. More than once I wanted to stop, go down into the stream and just sit and cool off and let the water flow over me. However most of the time the stream was down a pretty steep embankment.

After getting around the above mountain and following the road we came to another climb but there were still cyclists in the distance for me to catch. After catching them over a rise then a beautiful descent and arrival at “the Big Moose”.

So if you haven’t caught the gist of today, or the theme of the ride, it’s climb, followed by more climbs, followed by more climbs. After passing the big Moose there was another brutal climb and of course, 2/3 of the way up, on the steepest part was the sign welcome to Vermont. The easy part was stopping for the picture the hard part was getting started again.

I am pretty sure there were no descents, it was just a climb, level off, climb, then level off then more climbing.  At one  point we came into a town and had this Gothic type church I thought it was pretty cool and I believe after that it was the first SAG stop of the day. I popped in filled up another 60 ounces of fluids had some cherries, bananas, blackberries and grab some gels and power bars, dumped water on my chest, my shoulders, my back and my helmet then hit the road again. Another brutal Climb and at the top was the prospect ski mountain.

Once over the peak it was a gentle down hill and then I stopped for some picture taking.

After that I saw one of my favorite signs. Over the course of the day I believe I saw this sign maybe 10 times. I never looked at my Garmin to see what my climbs were but if the descent was 8% then the climb had to be similar.

this was followed by more climbs, then it leveled off and I took the opportunity to snap a picture of wildflowers. A short distance after that was SAG stop number two with a choice. The choice was we could turn around and go back a half a mile and get back on the route or we could continue straight for another 4 miles of climbing And go up hogback Mountain. Myself and Payton were the only ones opting to climb 4 miles for the views. I think part of the detriment for other people was that we had just climbed 8 miles and it was pretty brutal.

I know this seems strange however after a brutal 8 mile climb the 4 mile one was a drop in the bucket.  The views were spectacular and then at the top we turned around went back down the same way we came up and continued on the route. At that point I was done taking pictures and just heading to the hotel. So here is the hogback Mountain pictures.

Yeah, I look pretty happy. You have to understand the story to really appreciate the smile.  In 2022 I climbed this mountain. It was rainy it was miserable, it was cold and again we had an 8 mile climb followed by a 5 mile climb to get up here. I was freezing cold and looking forward to a great view, a great descent, and a warm hotel room. We got to the top and it was fogged in, visibility was about 200 yards, and we couldn’t continue. Vermont Department of transportation had tore up the roads for 5 miles; removed the pavement all the way down to the dirt and with all the rain it was mud up to the hubcaps of cars. There was no way we could get down the mountain on bikes. We had to turn around and go back the way we came to the bottom of the mountain and then go around it. Not today though; I just had to deal with heat and exhaustion, but I kicked Hog mountains butt!!!  After that was the descent and a relaxed pedal to the hotel.

Postscript.  I didn’t get off Scott free. If I sit and move my legs backward I get terrible cramps.  Cyclists will understand this and laugh.  BWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!