 Dan's House |
 On The Road |
 Meet the Crew At McDonalds |
 Top of the Hill Day One |
 Home Sweet Home |
Goal: Home to Montreal in 5 days
Starting Lineup: Bob K, Bob N, Carlo, Christine, Dan, Dom, Don, Fred, Tim & Tony
Day 1 (June 24, 2003)
Tim and Fred left home at 9:15 for a scheduled 10:30 rendezvous (notice the clever insertion of French) with the rest of the team at the Raymond McDonalds. Contrary to most of this year, it was sunny, hot and humid. At the 2.6-mile mark (having survived two previous tours without so much as a flat) our first mechanical occurred – Tim’s chain broke. A last minute “throw-in” – the chain tool – was deployed twice before the problem was fixed sufficiently to continue. The chain was damaged by snagging in the derailleur cable and badly in need of replacement. Tim’s gears slipped the rest of the way to Raymond. We arrived 10 minutes late which ultimately meant no breakfast for us (since, predictably everyone else arrived early and was anxious to roll). Dom repaired the chain with extra links from Dan’s tool kit while Bob N shopped for a replacement chain at a nearby hardware store. The rest of the group arrived without incident save for the two chipmunks that Carlo ran over on the way.
From Raymond we began the hot climbs up 107 through Deerfield to Route 4. We didn’t stop for water (graciously supplied by an auto shop) until then – from there we took a nice back road through South Pittsfield and finally stopped for lunch at Zoya’s in Pittsfield at 1:30 and 40 miles (Tim and Fred were famished by then). From there, an extremely long, hot climb up 107 left Fred's cheeseburger talking to him and left everyone very hot, thirsty and tired (well, except Dom who was loving it). View from the top was worth it – with the haze and humidity the distant hills looked like the Great Smokies. From there, we went down through the beautiful little village of Gilmanton and then through a nasty, little rush hour section through Belmont to Silver Lake Campground road (which, holding to tradition, climbed to the campground). Arrived at 4:30 and 57 miles; after making camp and cooling off in the lake (much warmer than expected) we cycled 6 miles round trip to the Tilton Diner for dinner and finished the day sitting on the docks watching the sun set. Total miles: 63
Click on any picture to enlarge in a separate window.
Day 2 (June 25, 2003)
Early crew was up at 5AM with final roll out at 6:30. With promised continued high 90’s heat and humidity, we bade farewell to Bob K. and Carlo. After a reprise of the climb on Day 2 of the NH tour, we followed the lakes and streams for the next 10 miles or so in the shade – what a nice change of pace! We stopped in New Hampton for a duplicate photo from the NH trip and then pushed on to Bristol for breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup at the 20-mile mark. We took West Shore Road around Newfound Lake and were treated to awesome views of the lake. A fisherman yelled to us – “Are you going to just ride by all this?” After a quick photo stop in Hebron, we rode up to Sculptured Rocks (32 miles mark) for some play in the mountain stream (Dom, Don and Bob were brave enough to try full submersion). The black flies were still active up here and Fred managed to get a leg-full of bites. A local father told about a dirt road over the ridge that would eliminate the backtrack and our biggest climb of the trip thus far.
The diversity of our group was in evidence as some pushed for the “devil that we knew (from topo plots)” while others thrilled with the lure of the unknown. In the end, Dom, Dan, Don and Christine opted for the paved hill and the rest of us decided to trust the local. Neither group ended up disappointed (or at least willing to admit it); for our part we had thousands of butterflies and nice, rocky climb through shaded woods without one car, followed by a soft, sandy, almost unrideable descent before hitting pavement again with a 5 mile downhill to our meeting spot. The former group reported the hill as being “not that bad” and had the honor of arriving first. At 12:40 (45 miles) were we all together again riding the last 10 miles to the Scenic View campground in Warren.
We found a nice campsite on the river and skipped lunch to hang out in the pool and do laundry. Tim learned the fine art of tire repair with the trip’s only flat. While Dom rode off for an evening of rock climbing (obviously we weren’t pushing him hard enough on the bike), the rest of us had dinner was at Calamity Jane’s right across from the missile (donated by a local resident in 1971 who wanted to give the community a tie to the space program – his decision that the community needed some exposure to the wider world was ratified when the local parade held to honor the arrival of the missile by truck mistakenly “struck up the band” for a truck load of septic tanks!). Finished the evening with ice cream at Fat Bobs and showers (Christine reported that the women’s shower didn’t work – yeah, right – and had to shower with Don). Total miles: 60ish
 New Hampton |
 Newfound Lake |
 Newfound Lake Deepest Part |
 Sculpted Rocks |
 Dirt Road Over The Mountain |
 River at Camp |
Day 3 (June 26, 2003)
Departed a little after 6 and summited a big climb near Mt. Moosilauke. From there, we were treated to about 10 miles of gradual downhill and set up the first paceline of the trip. Most of the way was powered by Dom and we looked like team Postal with Panniers screaming down toward the Connecticut River. The river valley was foggy and cool; stopped for breakfast at the 24-mile mark in Woodsville (the slow service negated our early start). After crossing the river, we began a 20-mile (first 10 was gentle following a stream) 1400 vertical foot climb in the hot sun.
After stopping for fluid at a store in Groton, we began the serious part of the climb and after cresting a particularly steep section, Fred's bike began to sway. Pulling over, we quickly discovered a broken frame (right rear wheel stay)! In the woods of northern Vermont, with no cell phone service and a broken frame, Fred feared his tour was over. While Don rode ahead to inform the rest of the group, Bob’s resourcefulness began to engage. As luck (or providence) would have it, weI coasted to a stop in front of a State Park entrance and a mini-van with two women and their children pulled in a few minutes later. Soon, we had used the park phone to contact a local racecar shop and had secured a ride for me there (which turned out to be only 3 miles behind us). Bob rode down the hill and met me there. MANY thanks to Brent Hatch and his wife at Hatch Manufacturing for dropping his work on a Pike’s Peak racecar and welding my bike and to the nameless woman in the minivan who gave me a lift (These are just the most prominent examples of the good alluded to in the title). $20 (he only asked for $10) and 2 hours later, Bob and Fred had biked back to the park, picked up Fred's luggage and we were on our way hoping to catch the others before they called Fred's wife Terri and worried her. The weld was perfect – Fred didn’t even have to adjust his derailleur after reinstalling it and we cranked up the steeped grade in the heat of the day (1PM).
Lunch was a quick stop at a slimly little sandwich shop in the old Marshfield Starch Mill. We then continued up the road to Cabot and cooled off and ate free cheese while touring the cheese factory. Quite educational (and restful)… interesting tidbit: first featured farmer in the video about the coop was John Malcolm. Again, we were treated to niceness as we were allowed to use the phone to call the campground and inform the group that we were on our way. One more hot climb awaited us and then a nice downhill into Hardwick where we found our group having drinks on the porch of the local restaurant. Of course, we were welcomed with opened arms and cool drinks ready (yeah, right!). After a long dinner there (watching the comings and goings of the local populace including a drunk guy celebrating his 50th birthday), we hit an ice cream stand and then a steep climb to the Idle Hours (rip-off) Campground. Although expensive, they did have an aboveground pool and showers that worked, so life was good. Tony discovered a huge bubble on his rear tire and made a temporary repair with plans to find a bike shop in the morning. Total miles: 75
Day 4 (June 27, 2003)
Rolled out with bugs (again)… party waited for Fred (why is he always last?) down by the pond. First section was rolling down hill following the Lamoille River. Dom and Fred opened it up and did some higher speed cruising all the way to Morrisville covering the 16 miles in less than an hour. Stopped for breakfast – Tim, Tony and Fred went for cheap and quick at McDonalds while the rest of the crew hit a local breakfast place. We then continued to follow the river all the way to Jeffersonville. Found a local bike shop, but it didn’t open until 10, so Tony decided to continue to push his luck. Ran into a few cyclists at the convenience store – we were told that there was a nice restaurant along the river in Freleighsburg. While Bob and Fred took advantage of his first cell service in days, the rest of the crew pushed northward up out of the river valley.
After a long, hot climb we met up with them in Enosburg Falls, where we had visions of resting during a nice lunch. But, alas, the forward group had already decided to push on to Quebec! So, after another 5 miles or so (with a ferocious head wind and threatening clouds) we arrived at the border. No check of ID or bags – just waved on through. We took our obligatory photo and then rode hard the final kilometers into Frelighsburg. Had a nice lunch by the river and scouted a place for dinner prior to going to Le Camping des Chutes Hunter (again at the top of a big hill) where we were greeted with “No one in your group has reservations? – That’s a big problem.” We ended up with a site near the old sugar shack at the far end of the campground. The weather front had passed through leaving us with our first cooler, low humidity, weather of the trip. An excellent dinner back in town next to the river. Total miles: ??
 Freleighsburg Hotel de Ville |
 Camping By The Sugar Shack |
 Riding to Dinner |
 Dinner By The River |
 Sunset Ride Back To Camp |
Day 5 (June 28, 2003)
Up earlier – at the bathhouse waiting for someone other than Fred by 6. Weather was cool and sunny – some even donned their fleeces since they’d carried them all this way – with a tail wind! This part of Quebec is flat with lots of cornfields and the kilometers were easy. A bit of a wrong turn brought us to the northern tip of Lake Champlain (Venise en Quebec) and then on to a late breakfast at the 47-mile mark in Iberville. (I won’t even mention the disagreement over routes that almost had us pedaling on Rt 133 – the I89 feeder with all the US to Montreal traffic!) In the end, after much “engineering” we found some nice back roads that lead us almost into the suburbs and contrary to the previous trip, easily found the bike path leading us across the St. Lawrence and into Montreal. Total miles: 71 to the Hilton (17th floor)
 Bridge Over One Of Many Waterways |
 At The St Lawrence Bob & Carlo Are In Our Thoughts! |
 Montreal's Bike Paths Are Awesome |
 Cruising toward Montreal |
 Arriving In Downtown |
Trip mileage: about 330 (don’t know exact because the cyclometer was stolen along with the bikes on Day 6 – now you know the “bad”)
Flora: Lots of corn, trees, etc.
Fauna: Feral ones mostly in Quebec – deer, fox, dogs (only one threatened us the whole trip), birds (blue heron, red-wing blackbirds, crows, seagulls, robins, etc), chipmunks, groundhogs, cows, horses, sheep, snakes
Cyclists: A great group that survived 5 days of “togetherness” and HOT conditions with fun, good humor and courtesy – Let’s do it again next year!
