Pedal On and On...: 2011

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Day 48 - Green Mountains of Vermont

Latham, NY to Brattleboro, VT

Distance: 79 miles
Time: 6.25 miles
Elevation Gain: 5,308 ft

2 Days to final destination

Its been a long day, so this post will be short.

Today we had overcast to partly sunny skies with a chance of rain. Temps were in the low 70's to high 80's. We traveled through the Green Mountains and crossed into our 9th state, Vermont. We had 2 good climbs, the first was 10 miles long with grades of 4 to 9%. The 2nd was 4 miles long with grades of 4 to 7%. We had many smaller climbs, some fairly steep but very short. We road through very heavy forest and several old cities and towns with old red brick buildings, narrow streets and heavy traffic. A lot of the roads were in bad shape with bad shoulders or no shoulders at all. It was good to get back into the mountains with nice views and overall it was a great day!

Tomorrow we continue our ride through the Green Mountains and cross our final state line to New Hampshire. We have our finale banquet tomorrow night so I might not have time to post.

Link to MY GPS Route

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

The Land of OZ

Vermont State Line - Me, Terry, Mary, and Russell

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View -

Road Hazard, This truck was so close I could have touched it.

Front Camera View

Pedal On!!

Friday, August 5, 2011

Day 47 - A Warm Up Ride

Little Falls, NY to Latham, NY

Distance: 75 miles
Time: 5.5 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2,448 ft

Today's ride started with heavy fog and a good climb. The fog helped to keep us cool during the climb with temperatures in the mid 60's. The sun quickly burned the fog off and it got into the low to mid 80's by early afternoon. We did a lot more climbing today then we have done in a while, a warm up for final days of ridding up and over the Green Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. I had a nice enjoyable ride through the country side with lush green and thick forest, rolling hills, and ridding about 20 miles on a paved bike path that took us along the Erie Canal. We road through a few small towns that looked run down and one almost like a ghost town in the fog.

I had my rear tire blow out early in the ride and luckily 2 of our support vans were not far behind me. They stopped and helped me replace the tire and got me back on the road. Another ridder had his front tire blow out while going done a hill and crashed. He's OK, but cut his head that required 16 stitches.

Tomorrow will be a hard day, we have over 6,000 ft of climbing and 80 miles as we start our climb into the Green Mountains and into Vermont.

Link to My GPS Route

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View - Entering the Twilight Zone

Rear Camera View - Ron

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Rear Camera View - Diane

Rear Camera View - A Lock on the Erie Canal

Rear Camera View - Terry

Rear Camera View

Front Camera View

Front Camera View - Erie Canal on the left

Front Camera View

Front Camera View - Road Hazard

Front Camera View

Pedal On!!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Day 46 - New York

Liverpool, NY to Little Falls, NY

Distance: 78 miles

Time: 5.75 hrs

Elevation Gain: 1,787 ft

Total Distance: 3,358 miles

Distance Remaining: 292 miles

Days Remaining: 4

Today was another great day!! It was partly sunny in the morning with mostly overcast skies during most of the day and the temperatures stayed in the mid to high 70's. We are traveling in heavy populated areas and we have to pay very close attention to the road and traffic. New York drivers have been the worst drivers we have encountered so far and a lot of us have had close encounters of the 4 wheel kind. We traveled mostly on busy highways ridding through a lot of towns of all sizes. We did ride on a few back roads that gave us a break from the traffic. There wasn't a whole lot as far as scenery goes, but we did pass by the worlds smallest chapel that was built in the middle of a small pond covered with green moss (see photos below).

Tomorrow we ride to Latham, NY; 74 miles with a few good hills. This will be are warm up ride for the big elevation days that are coming up.

Link to My GPS Route