IBTS14 9/22 Fairlee, VT to Lincoln, NH

As we leave Vermont and head into New Hampshire one question is on our minds: Will the roads be better?  The roads in Vermont have to be among the worst in the nation. There were stretches yesterday with ruts running parallel with the road that could suck up my entire 700x28 wheel.  So the first day’s verdict is that the NH roads are SLIGHTLY better.

In Vermont you have the Green Mountains and in New Hampshire the White Mountains.  Both are the northern end of the Appalachia Range. Tonight’s assignment is to find out the difference, if any, between a “gap” and a “notch”.

 Last night’s forecast was 40% probability of rain until noon.  A storm blew through last night and there was early morning sun on the lake.  At breakfast Ed Hass assured us there was no rain in the forecast for this week.  But clouds rolled in as we got on the bike.  And we did get a little rain.  Plus the temperature was lower than anticipated.  So we had a cold day of not great riding; once again most of the day was in climbing two big hills.

 

 

Photos: A New Hampshire Church, threatening skies and our first glimpse of Fall Color.  A couple of rider’s observations:

• Kris Carlson: It Italy all towns are hilltop towns and you climb to them.  It seems that many New England towns are in a valley and you climb out of them.
• Larry:  When you wave to people up here, they don’t wave back.  And my observation is that many if not most of the clerks in the stores and not very friendly, at least not “Texas friendly”.

TODAY’S RIDE

IBTS14 9/21 Rochester to Fairlee, VT

In the first blog in this series (9/15) I mentioned this is an “anniversary ride”.  So it’s time to explain.

Dr. Clifford Graves was a Swiss-born surgeon in the US Army during World War II.  The army, being short of transportation, gave bicycles to doctors.  In his book, “My Life On Two Wheels” Dr. Graves describes two situations when he escapes the advancing Germans on his bicycle.  After the war, Dr. Graves spends time cycling in war-torn Europe and meets both English and French bicyclists.    To make a long story short, Dr. Graves, now a surgeon in San Diego,  eventually decides to organize a bike tour.  Letters go out to his friends in the US, England and France.  So 40 cyclists show up at a Vermont town square in September 1964.  With little else than their panniers (saddle bags to you Texans) they take off on a two week tour.  When the ride was over, everyone wants similar events to continue so Dr. Graves forms The International Bicycle Touring Society” (IBTS) with the simple proposition “We all organize and lead tours for each other”. The idea takes off and in the first 20 years IBTS conducts over 200 tours in the US and internationally.

In the early 1980’s Dr. Graves is both diagnosed with prostrate cancer and marries, for the first time at age 68, his office manager. The office manager takes over the club’s administration.  Due to both conflicts in personality and policy, most of the IBTS members rebel and form another club, Bicycle Adventure Club (BAC).  BAC is a going concern with over 800 tours in the past 30 years.  The club has over 50 tours on the books in 2015. So we are on the 50th anniversary tour of Dr. Graves first tour in 1964.  IBTS and BAC are merged once again.

 

NEW ENGLAND CHURCHES ON TODAY’S RIDE

 

I was not looking forward to today’s ride. In the first place, it was listed as the most difficult ride of the tour; 4,700 feet of climbing in 50 miles.  Fortunately, it was only 3,600 or so feet of climbing.  We climbed 500 feet in the first mile (ouch) and over 1250 feet in the first 3.5 miles.  And in the second place, it was supposed to rain.  Well it didn’t rain – the skies were clear all day and it was a glorious day of cycling with many miles on the open road.

BRENDA’s BIOS

KRIS AND CHUCK CARLSON (Dallas, TX) Chuck and Kris have been married 45 years!!!.  Is this longevity a part of cycling or something else? Maybe tandeming!  Chuck was a copy writer  for 27 years, some of these years he was self employed. Kris was with JC Penny company for 36 years and worked in district and regional positions then was promoted to VP and Director of Support Services. They moved to Dallas when Kris was promoted to the corporate office position.  Although they log a high percentage of their biking miles on a tandem they both have done plenty of single bike riding.  Kris has done RAGBRAI twice and Chuck once. Chuck has also ridden Oregon Bicycle Ride (OBR) 7 times. One of his proudest accomplishments was to ride Vatternurndun, in Sweden. This is a one day ride of 300 km with 16,000 riders. It took him 12 hours to complete the ride. But after last year, their proudest ride is Alison’s Sierra Cascades.  Chuck and Kris are the coordinators for the Dallas Area Tandem Enthusiasts (DATES) and they lead day rides for this group.

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY’S RIDE

IBTS14 9/20 Rest Day in Rochester

Well it’s not officially a rest day; it’s a day designed to ride “the gaps”.  “Gaps” are gaps in the mountains; what we call passes in the West.  But I don’t think too many are riding today.  A good number of us are taking the van to Stow for a British Car Show called The British Invasion..  Supposedly there will be 600 cars; we had many pass us on the road yesterday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a 1960 baby blue Austin Healy Sprite – exactly like the one I had my senior year in college.  The red and black Austin Healy 3000 is like the one John Hunsucker, Bill Woods and I drove from Beaumont, Texas to Ft Lauderdale, FL to see Lamar Tech get beat (by Middle Tennessee State) in the Tangerine Bowl (1992?). The car broke down many times on the trip and we had to be towed back to Beaumont so we could resume classes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BRENDA’S BIOS

ROZ AND LARRY GIBEL (Albuquerque, NM) They have been married for 40 years and have known each other for 45 years. WOW!!! They produced 2 children, a son who is a documentary film producer and a daughter who is an actress. Neither child is married nor has produced any grandchildren, although the daughter is engaged. The kids live on both coasts and Roz and Larry are sort of central in New Mexico. Larry is an Urologist and worked as an Associate Professor at University of New Mexico Health Science Center. He also served in the capacity of Surgical Director of Kidney Transplant, also Medical Director of the Stateside Donor Program and for many years was the Chief of Urology at the Veterans Hospital.  Roz’s training is in speech pathology and for many years worked with children with neurological developmental difficulties.  Since moving to New Mexico 28 years ago she has worked as a free-lance travel agent which allows her to tailor her time to her meet her clients needs as well as her own needs. Larry retired a little more than 2 years ago. This Cascades-Sierra trip is their favorite of their 5 BAC rides.

 

 

 

 

 

CRAIG DEIDRICK (Lincoln, CA) Born in Ohio but looking for different opportunities he moved to California when he was 18. He began working as an apprentice electrician. He never thought this would be his career but it was and he spent many years as an electrician on commercial projects. Craig has never been married. His hobbies include skiing, hiking, biking and backpacking. Craig has traveled extensively over the years and he says his most interesting adventure was in 1999 on a 2 week trek in the Ellesmere Island National Reserve in Canada. At times he was only 500 miles from the North Pole at 82⁰ N Latitude.

 

If anyone is looking for a project, here’s a start: 

IBTS14 9/19 Ludlow to Rochester

For the last two days we’ve been 100 % of the time on Vermont Highway 100.  (“Turn left out of the hotel.  50 miles later, turn right to the new hotel.”)  Highway 100 has more towns than the previous road, but the “towns” are that, just towns.  Sort of like driving through West Texas.  Want a cup of coffee? Or a bathroom?  Forget it.  I had no notion it would be this way.

 

At Simsbury, we stopped at one of two great deli’s.  We ate our lunch outside on the picnic benches. It was cold – at 12:30 the temperature was still below 50 degrees. There were three locals at the picnic tables; two guys and an individual who didn’t know each other.  They all shared a common theme: that Vermont 100 is the worst road in the state.  And we can attest to this; both the road and the shoulder were, as an Irishman once told us, “various chug-holes all attached by tarmac.”  We couldn’t get off of it too quickly.  But we’re on it for two days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY’S ROUTE

IBTS14 9/18 Wilmington to Ludlow

Bummer. I wrote much of yesterday’s blog but lost it.

In the previous blog I “commented” on the small room and bed we had.  Well, yesterday we hit the jackpot: a very large room with king bed. Plus fireplace and double Jacuzzi.  After four days on the bicycle, my butt was ready for the Jacuzzi.  (Tonight we have a bidet in the room but I can’t figure out how to get warm water in it.) 

There were only a couple of restaurants in Wilmington but everyone seemed to recommend The Anchor.  And a good recommendation it was.  Very fresh seafood, perfectly cooked.  Everyone at our table was happy.

On yesterday’s difficult route we stopped at a farm store for lunch.  Like many stores in these small Vermont towns, they don’t have rest rooms – even for customers. Since I needed a rest room we stopped at a pie store down the road. Our intent was to just buy coffee but they had almond croissant look-alkies (the centers were macaroons) and so we each had one of these with the individually-brewed- cup-of-coffee. That went down really good and somewhat prepared us for the monster hill at mile 47. .

 

  After a mountain top, you surely expect  downhill. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TODAY’S ROUTE

IBTS14 9/17 Charlemont, Ma to Wilmington, Vt

 

Yesterday I neglected to tell you we were staying on a farm

  What’s the old saying? “Make hay while the sun shines”?  Well here that hay is made and shrink wrapped; which is good because the sun isn’t shining.

 Today we rode from Charlemont, Ma to Wilmington, Vt..

The route was mostly on remote roads without traffic.  There were very small towns along the way but Craig and I couldn’t figure out why anyone lived there. “How far would you have to drive to get a loaf of bread?” 

The vegetation was primarily forests; we were aware that we were riding next to a river or lake. The scenery was wonderful and the roads mostly smooth; what more could you want? A cup of coffee, that’s what.  We rode 28 miles – up and down and back up some more – is search of a cup of coffee.  Finally, at mile 28.3 we had to settle for a wine tasting.

The Old Red Mill Inn is pretty basic.  It will be interesting to see if Brenda and I can spend a night together on such a small bed.  If you see a blog tomorrow, we survived the night!  Otherwise, my memorial service will be announced in a later blog. Stay tuned.

TOAY;S ROUTE

IBTS14 9/16 Northampton to Charlemont

TODAY'S RIDE WAS FAIRLY DIFFICULT FOR A 34 MILE RIDE. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.

                          NORTHAMPTON HOTEL                                                            CHARLEMONT LODGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had lunch in Shelburne Falls.  Photos below were taken on the way into town.

  

 

WE HAD RAIN THIS MORNING AND IT CAME LATER THAN FORECAST.  SO WE STARTED LATE AND ARRIVED LATE.  THEREFORE THIS IS A VERY BRIEF BLOG; HAPPY HOUR BEGINS IN 10 MINUTES.

 

 

 

 

TODAY’S ROUTE