Long Trails

What is today Sunday, Monday?  I'm too tired to remember anymore.  It's my 13th day on the road and it has been one of my favorites so far.  Just saying 13 days doesn't seem like a long time, but because I have been measuring the days in distance rather than time, it has felt like 800 miles and not 13 days.  I left Middlebury fairly early and got some food, chatted with a Middlebury swimming and diving alum about cycling for a bit, and took off.  The Green Mountains in Vermont, let me just say "Wow".  The Greens were amazingly beautiful.  Rock formations on either side of the road, streams turning into waterfalls every couple hundred feet, and beautiful mountains at every turn.  If I were to compare the beauty of the Adirondacks and the Greens, I would say the green wins easy.  True the Ads have more lakes, and you can see further to vast stretches of rolling hills, but there's something romantic about the Greens that the Adirondacks lack.  For me at least.

 They reminded me of back packing through the Wind River Range in Wyoming when I was a freshman in high school.  There aren't a lot of people there, and that's how I like nature to be.  Having tons of people disconnects you with your environment, and to not sound too much like a hippie, it disconnects you with the world.  Now, don't worry, I'm not about to start meditating or anything, but when you are in an area that looks, smells, and feels like it did hundreds of years ago and you take a moment to let it all sink it, it is truly sublime.  It is a great feeling, it really is.

Not too far into the Greens I came to my first major ascent. It was a 1500 foot vertical climb with parts reaching 12 degrees.  I did not know that I was coming up to such a climb until I was 3/4 done with it.  I was out of breath and I was pushing myself really hard.  Eventually I stopped and was like "There has to be a top to this thing.  I mean I feel like I've been climbing non stop".  So I looked at my map and realized where I was.  Duh.  I got to the top, took in the sites for a bit, and began my descent.  I wanted to just rocket down, but there was a lot of water on the cracked winding roads hugging the mountain. Even though I was riding my breaks before every turn, I was still flying.  I reached 42.6mph and I could have reached well beyond that.  It was nuts.  I can only imagine how fast I could have gotten.  Geese.  Luckily I was able to get another big downhill with some dry roads before the day was through. 

After four hours of mountains and then 1500 feet of more vertical I was hungry.  I stopped in this little place where I was told to get their Banana Pecan Pancakes.  Oh how that sounds good, but breakfast was over.  I died a little inside when the waitress told me that.  Instead, I got a turkey swiss and avocado melt with a side salad.  For dessert...get ready...a Vanilla Maple Syrup Malted Milk Shake.  OOHHHHOHOHOHOOHO YEAH!  The maple syrup was fresh Vermont maple syrup made two shops down.  It was heavenly.  If someone said to me, "Hey Evan if you had to eat..." I would interrupt them there and say Vanilla Maple Syrup Malted Milk Shake for the rest of my life, yes.  It was that good.  If only I could have had the pancakes with it.  Oh Damn.

After more mountain climbing I met up with these two students from Princeton.  One was getting his PHD and the other one had just graduated.  They were from Sweden and decided to take some time off and bike the states for a while.  I am terrible with names and I feel bad I forgot them.  They were both really nice people.  We cycling for a while together, but eventually I pulled ahead of them after the second major climb and downhill.  1000 feet vertical feet of climbing at about 10 degrees.  It was tough, but beautiful.  The way down was a bit more dry than the first descent and I made it up to 45.3mph.  That was fun.  Especially on winding roads.

I'm going to cut this short because I could not be more tired than I am right now.  At the end of the day I made it through the Green Mountains In a single day of riding.  80 miles through mountains, and I worked my ass off.  It was spectacular and I recommend driving, camping, lodging, (or riding) through them to anyone. It's a great experience.  I made it from Middlebury Vermont to Orford, NH.  When I got to Orford I went into town, got a large phili cheese steak and mac-n-cheese with ground beef in it.  I ate that in about 5 minutes.  I also go two 22ozs of Long Trail Brewery's Amber Ale.  They are a micro brewery (or macro im not sure) out of Vermont and this beer is great.  Get it next time you are up here.

I'm going to bed though.  Good night and as always, thanks for reading.