Prisoners of Gravity. Part 1
My father has a phrase to describe the topography of southern Wayne Co. and Monroe Co. where Brian and I do most of our riding. That phrase is: “It’s flatter than piss on a platter”. We are flat-landers. It was with some concern last December that Brian noted in this log that the profile on the Adventure Cycling (AC) map for Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine looked like the EKG for a heart attack.
The route indicated four large climbs (large for flat-landers). They were Bread Loaf, Mt. Sharon (we learned the name from some local cyclists), Mt.Moosilauke, and the Kangamagus Pass. We did each of these climbs on separate days. The AC map provided us with plenty of information to do some constructive planning.
By the time we got to East Middlebury, VT and the start of the climb up Bread Loaf, we had already crossed the Adirondacks and had a lot of climbing under our belts in the previous two weeks. Still, this was the longest and steepest hill we had encountered. We nervously thought that it could take us up to five hours to get to the top at Middlebury Gap. At 7:30 we started to climb and almost immediately we heard a water fall. In less than a mile the road got quite steep (approximately 15%) and we were pushing the bikes. This was not good for our confidence. Fortunately, within a mile the grade became gentler and we were able to ride, slowly, to the top. Less than a half a mile from Middlebury Gap, the road became steep again, and we walked the last bit to the summit. It took us three hours to get to the top.
The trip to the top of this mountain and the other climbs was not as scenic as we hoped. The roads lead right through National Forest land. The forests are dense and it was difficult to see very far into the woods. There were not many overlooks. Part way up Bread Loaf we came to the village of Ripton with its general store. We stopped for coffee and a snack. We tried to engage the proprietor in conversation with little luck. This was one of our first encounters with Yankee reticence.
A neat sight on Bread Loaf is a facility for Middlebury College. This was a set of two and three story clapboard buildings painted yellow. These buildings looked like they could easily be over 100 years old and could have been old hotels or hunting lodges. What a neat place to go to school.
We put on long sleeved shirts for the ride down. The plan was to keep some distance between us and try not to let the speeds go over 30 MPH. It proved difficult to keep the speeds under control. With the loads on the bikes, not to mention all the gear we were carrying, we were certainly gravity enhanced. We found that it takes a tremendous amount of concentration when moving at those speeds and consequently we were not able to appreciate the scenery.
Our confidence was really bolstered after Bread Loaf. We started our next climb the following day after being fortified with coffee and homemade cranberry muffins at a little general store outside of Bethel. We did this climb like we had done Bread Loaf. Brian let me set the pace and we went up at a slow, steady rate. We actually watched our heart rate monitors more than the speedometers on the climbs although I found I could keep the bike upright at 2.7 MPH. Brian can actually climb faster than me and often passes me when I really slow down. We reached the top in less than two hours.
We came racing downhill into the town of South Strafford. We met a group of local cyclists in front of the general store. They seemed impressed that we came over “Mt.Sharon” with loaded bikes. They looked at our maps and routing and suggested a detour that would add about 3 miles but would eliminate a very steep climb. We took the suggestion and followed a very scenic road that met the AC route in East Thetford. This was the best road information that we received on the trip.
At East Thetford we crossed the Connecticut River in to New Hampshire and made camp at Orford. We were off of the road at 2:30. We got cleaned up, took a nap, loaded our dirty clothes on Brian’s BOB trailer and headed off to find a laundromat and an Italian restaurant. It just doesn’t get any better than this.
Wes
