51 miles. Early morning fog, fairly big climb, heat and good tip from fellow cyclist

Thanks to Richard and Debbie, our hosts at the Pumpkin Patch BnB, for getting up before dawn to fix us a delicious and energy sustaining breakfast. We headed on the road around 6 and within the first mile we saw two adult beavers and a pup swimming in the river.

Gently rolling hills with an overall downhill trajectory took us to Bethel and eventually to the base of our major climb outside of Sharon. We peaked out at 1500 feet over 4.5 miles and when I caught up with Maja waiting at the top she was talking to a cyclist who had climbed up the other side on his ultralight road bike. We talked for a while and he warned us it would be “wicked hot” but that we had a nice a nice downhill in front of us. We parted and we headed down one side as he rode down the other. It was indeed a nice long downhill and after 20 minutes who should pull up behind us but our friend from the top caught up with us! That meant he had biked to the bottom of the climb at Sharon, turned around and sped back up the hill, crested and caught us on the downhill side. Amazing. In our defense he was riding a light road bike, was in great shape, was not carrying panniers and knew the road. But still…

Toward the end our maps advised us to turn left through Thetford to East Thetford where we were to meet Camilla. Just before that turn our buddy said that road was under construction and had two climbs on the way to our destination but if we stayed on the road we were on, we would get to East Thetford without construction or climbs but added about 4 miles to the journey. We trust road advice from cyclists over that of people who don’t ride so we thanked him as we took the flatter route.

We met up with Camilla right on time at Isabell’s Cafe in East Thetford and we sat for a bit talking and into the restaurant walked our cycling friend!

So now we have a much needed rest day as we prepare for the last legs of our trip. We got a new front tire for Maja’s bike (we each have 2 new tires since our departure) at Omer and Bob’s bike shop in Lebanon.

Maja and I had a meeting at Dartmouth (Maja’s alma mater) in the afternoon so we had some time after that to revisit the campus after which we returned to Camilla’s house for dinner and Olympics watching.

Tomorrow we have massages in the morning and a tour of the Zimmerman House in Manchester and meet up with two of Maja’s college friends and Saturday we head into New Hampshire and over the White Mountains – you guessed it, more climbs.

47 miles. A grey day and a long slog up Brandon Gap in high humidity

We are out of NY and into our 9th state, Vermont. Starting early, we pedaled to the ferry landing and waited for the first eastbound trip.

Once over into VT, it started to rain, as was predicted for the entire day, but stopped after about 15 minutes and didn’t rain the rest of the day.

Our host Richard at tonight’s BnB, the Pumpkin Patch, had told me by phone that the ACA route was under construction and he had learned from other cyclists to avoid the path through Middlebury and take #73. There would be climbs, he assured me, but once over the gap it would be downhill the rest of the way into Rochester. And what a climb it was.

We thought we had found a short cut to Richard’s route that would have made today a manageable 38 miles but, as these things sometimes go, our wonderful little short cut was blocked by a crew replacing a culvert on the road. We stared longingly at the other side of the hole being dug and our dream was to walk our bikes the 25 feet over the ditch to resume our ride. The foreman was adamant about his liability risk so refused our plaintive begging. The work-around added 9 miles or so to our day that was no longer the manageable ride we had planned.

The temps were cool but the humidity high so it wasn’t really comfortable cycling. Maja, of course, sped up the hill and I slogged along way behind forced to walk the bike at various times as the road grew steeper. Outside Brandon we passed a plaque commemorating the invention of the electric motor there by Thomas Davenport in 1834. I wasn’t aware that Yankee tinkerers were playing around with DC electricity then but I learned tonight that Volta invented a wet battery in the early 1800s.

But back to the ride.

Once over the gap it was a 9 mile downhill run and after 6 of those miles I found Maja patiently waiting for me and after a brief sandwich we pedaled the rest of the way to the Pumpkin Patch.

An enjoyable dinner tonight at the School Street Bistro so now we are resting for tomorrow’s challenging hill climbs and our entry into New Hampshire. We will spend a rest day on Friday with our friend Camilla and visit the last of the Wright houses on this trip, the Zimmerman House in Manchester, NH. We are both looking forward to completion of our journey and will spend a few days in Maine decompressing before heading back to Phoenix… by air not by bike!