Rain, Rain, Go Away

Megan getting a little help on a steep section

Thursday morning it was raining pretty hard. So we took the opportunity to rest and sleep in, then power through the morning on a dozen Dunkin Donuts. We don't have those out West, so that was exciting. We rolled out pretty late in some light rain and started making our way to Vermont. That day we were in the Green Mountains. Not as many rolling hills this time as there are sizable climbs. Suffice it to say, Megan was glad for a little push up one of the mountains.

State #3!

We weren't moving very fast, and with the late start and rain, we only ended up going 53 miles on Thursday. It rained hard through the night, but thankfully let up a bit around the time we got going.

Riding through the rain in Vermont

Friday it rained a ton. Only about 16 miles in we stopped for lunch, hoping the rain would let up a bit, but it only got worse. So we were forced to ride it. Some roads we've ridden out here are smooth, but a bunch are old highways with a lot of cracks and good places for puddles. So that became a problem as we rode to find a place for camp. The spray from trucks going around us was also real nice. Shelby put plastic bags inside her shoes in an attempt to keep the water out, but later informed us that the water had just seeped inside the bags and her feet were soaked anyway. Thankfully we all had enough clothes on to stay warm, we were all just soaked to the skin and muddy from the road spray. 

We stopped in a little town that afternoon at a laundromat as the rain was dying out to dry ourselves and our clothes for a bit. We then left, anticipating a campsite in the next two miles. Turns out, the campsite was supposed to be a mile and a half up hill with a 10% grade on average. Then it turns out that the campsite no longer existed. So that was unfortunate wasted energy. At least it was downhill on the way back to the highway.

Our campsite gone, we stayed at the Old Hancock Hotel, which gave us a room with a kitchen and a little loft. More than was necessary, but it worked well for us and gave us time to dry our gear out. We only did 49 that day. Rain makes it difficult to get anywhere.

We started today with what has been rumored to be the worst climb of the whole trip. It's innocently named "Breadloaf". That doesn't make it sound too bad - we all like bread in the Galinat family. Friday we heard from a random guy shopping  in the grocery store and the Hancock Hotel lady that Breadloaf is exceptionally steep and a nearly impossible climb. Apparently it "would make The Kanc seem like a little warmup".

Stacey on a back road in Vermont

But we took on Breadloaf anyway this morning. Everyone we heard from was right: it was really steep. The top was a couple miles of 10-12% grade, reaching 15% at some points. It wasn't impossible though, we made it to the top even if it took us a while.  The name of the actual pass is "Middlebury Gap".  "Breadloaf" is the name of the town on the other side of the pass.

Megan at Middlebury College

On the ferry to New York

We descended into Middlebury, where Megan got the chance to do another bike-through college tour. The sun even started to peek out a bit.

Hooray!  State #4!

A big highlight of the day was crossing into New York via ferry across Lake Champlain. Sadly the lake crossing didn't eat up very much distance, but it was a fun break. We stopped in Historic Ticonderoga for ice cream, since there's an unlimited budget for that, then pushed on to the campsite we're at now. After the ferry we crossed onto map number two on our route. This time there's no elevation profile, which means that we must be nearing the plains where everything is flat. Unfortunately that also meant we had no way to predict that 900ft climb out of Ticonderoga.

We did 60 miles today, and are hoping to catch back up on mileage tomorrow. It's been a week as of today! We've been climbing about 5000ft each day, too, and are ready for some flat country.

Roadkill Report: Squirrel, Possum, Bird, Rabbit, XL Moth That Megan Killed

Money found:  $0