Bike Across America – Day 48

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Start: Latham, New York
End: Brattleboro, Vermont
Mileage today/cumulative: 79 / 3,511
Elevation Ascended: 5,132′
Weather: Cloudy, 67° at start; rain, 82º at finish
3D Relive Video (approx. 1 minute)

At the start of this tour, we looked at the mileage and elevation profile for today’s ride and expected that the climbing would make this stage difficult, particularly after 47 days on the road and no difficult climbing since leaving South Dakota. As it turns out, the climbing was the easiest thing today. Weather, road conditions, and drivers were a much bigger challenge.

The first 33 miles, all of them in New York,  were beautiful. Cool cloud cover, no rain, smooth roads, and quaint New England-ish towns made this a very pleasant stretch. Everyone was in fine spirits when we came upon the Vermont state line, where we officially added another state to our States We’ve Biked In map. Then all hell broke loose and the ride quickly went into the toilet. As if on cue, rain began falling immediately after we crossed the state line. It started as a light rain that turned into a soaker and, on one long descent, a torrential downpour that lasted for about ten minutes. Upon entering Vermont, the road also immediately deteriorated when sections of what was already a narrow shoulder turned to rubble. The state line was also the start of all of the major climbs and descents for the day. Finally, add people who believe that the best way to drive a vehicle in pouring rain is to close their eyes and press the accelerator through the floorboard. The ride quickly turned into a test of bike handling skills and total mental focus. We’ve each ridden hundreds of thousands of miles and that level of experience was needed today.  Vermont has edged out Michigan for the award for Worst Roads on the Across America North Tour, but we hear that New Hampshire could be a contender. We’ll find out tomorrow morning. At least it’ll be sunny.

There were some interesting things to see along today’s route but the deteriorating conditions made it difficult or, at times, dangerous to stop and look. One of the sights was the poet Robert Frost’s gravesite in Bennington, Vermont. Dave Stabler, one of our friends and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Oregonian, managed to find it and reported that it was quite nice. We also saw signs for anything that you can imagine with maple.

One more challenging ride tomorrow, then an easier celebratory ride to the Atlantic Ocean on Monday. It’s been a wild ride!