Green Mountains Treat

I have been anxious for quite a while to get back into the mountains. Today, I got my wish! Right out of Troy, we started climbing, and the rolling terrain continued until we got to the first SAG stop. They had a lot of carved animals for sale at the store where the SAG was set up. We knew right away that we were in for a tourist-trap day.


In the distance, we could see the mountains we would be climbing, or skirting, as it were.


All of the towns we passed through today were ripe with history, and I took pictures of some of the old buildings and monuments as I rode.

This is a monument in Bennington in honor of the Green Mountain Boys of Revolutionary war fame.

In the same town, there was this old hotel, which I photographed but did not investigate.



Here is a picture of me entering Vermont, the penultimate state of this tour.


The first "designated" climb was sort of long, but not too steep. I did really well thanks to my preparations yesterday. On the route to Troy, we had few hills, but on each one I had started slow at the bottom, and sprinted up each one, trying to accelerate over the top, not slowing to recover. I feel this paid off well today, as I felt great on every climb. Also, I have been intentionally not riding with anyone (very closely at least) to make it a little safer. In honor of Kent, I am taking every precaution I can think of to make sure I have no incidents that could send me home early. Some of the others are doing the same.


I descended into Wilmington, a town full of tourists competing with trucks for space on the road, with little room left for bikes.


Fortunately, Sara had told me about this pie shop she had remembered from riding through here before. I checked in at the SAG, then headed back into town to wait for Sara, Chuck, and Peg, who ride together. We met up at the bakery she had remembered, and I had this great piece of raspberry pie. It was about time! The last good piece of pie I had was in Idaho. The states in between either had no good pie, or kept it hidden.

Sara and her raspberry pie

Chuck, looking cool in his ABBike Doo-Rag


The scenery today was the best since the Black Hills, in my opinion. I am refering to the overall presentation, not specific things like Niagara Falls. Today we passed a lot of lakes and mountain streams, which combined with the exquisite cool mountain air, made for a most delightful day of riding.