Vermont
Vermont…from brrrrr to beautiful!
So today was the first real ride that hit me-
Luckily I can now recover at a Residence Inn in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The managers, Doug and Carol, are AWESOME!!!! They helped us with a room and also got us an interview with Gary Dutton from the Connecticut Valley Spectator. While we were at the hotel we met several other people who had a lot to share. Julie Ackley- who is organizing a trail ride to benefit substance abuse: www.headrest.org and Dr. David Marshall who was a pleasure to talk to about training and prevention of overuse injuries.
What a great place to stay.
Thank you for your generosity.
So the ride today was good- hilly but good. Jacea and I sat in the van and figured out that I had about 26296 pedal strokes today. These are the things you figure out when in a van and not eating or riding. Eating does take a good share of my off the bike time.
I logged my 400th mile and completed the 4th ride. It was tough at mile 70 to come to the realization that I still have over 4500 miles to go. I did though and it was invigorating after the cold and rough start. Mist that was rising from just about everything… including my bike and hot coffee. Joanna- thanks for the Dunkin Donuts cards.
I headed out as Marin asked “what do you do if it gets cold on the ride and you need more clothes”. I said- “I’ll pedal faster” It ended up warming up- thank God- Jacea was there too, and she was all bundled up and ready to ride with me again…. However, she thought twice when she really realized how cold it was…. I think we were all in shock since our minds told us it was August but our bodies told us it was October. So this ride was solo-
It was pretty chilly and I was getting cold. The ironic part was that at mile 30, I entered the town of Barton- There was the smell of wood burning stoves and several tall church spires and stoned walls that greeted me in the typical New England fashion that seemed so familiar. The funny part was that on a small table near someone’s house was a pile of clothes and a sign that said- “free”. I thought- wow- wouldn’t those have been nice a few hours ago. I left them there for someone else.
I felt pretty good when a guy came off a side street (Brooks) and I rode with him for a bit. He had a strong pace and promised to share our website and ride information with his family. That inspired me to keep riding. I rode on and got back to vantasauras, where Marin and Jacea met me at mile 100.
Today was a great day- the highlight was riding the rolling hills of Vermont and seeing the beautiful hills in the distance. The funny part came when I passed a tractor and the farmer driving looked over and gave me a thumbs up and later passed me while asking if I wanted to race…. I couldn’t pass the opportunity so I sprinted…… All I could think about was getting to Lebanon and getting a tune up for my bike at EMS and a Subway sandwich…… The sprint paid off and I beat the tractor and made it back in time to meet Jacea and Marin to drive to Lebanon to fulfill all our Subway dreams…. A huge Shout Out goes to Charlotte for making these dreams possible and making it possible to dream tonight at the Residence Inn…
Down for the Count- but up for the ride…
Gary G