Back from my tour through Vermont. Beautiful. Drove through New Hampshire, spent time in Newburyport MA & Boston. Leaves are beginning to turn & air was crisp.

But, back to the tour. Not sure I would do it again. Did a commercial tour with strangers. Before the ride, everyone was talking about their rides through Spain, France, Scotland, etc. DH and I are thinking - uh oh...visions of being dropped floated through our heads. Not so. We averaged an outstanding 7MPH - took 8 hours to ride 40 miles (many stops.) We didn't want to be rude & ride ahead but it was obvious that the group was struggling. Next day we did ride ahead.

Dinner - an older couple got drunk each night. She would get loud & wax poetically about anything (sperm was a big conversation piece for awhile.) I kept my mouth shut until she started gushing about poor Lance Armstrong. I interrupted her. Another person said, "Do you know a lot about cycling or about Lance Armstrong." My reply: "Both." So, I made an "instant enemy - add my big mouth." Really didn't care at that point though. I don't tolerate drunks well (lots of childhood stuff around that).

Next time, I think DH and I will just map out a ride, rent some bikes & go. It was so beautiful that we would have loved to just enjoy it on our own.

The tour leaders had the patience of saints. One guy didn't know how to shift & kept throwing his chain. They were really good about diplomatically teaching him how to shift gears properly. Another woman demanded to know how steep and how many climbs we had (we were going through rolling hills.)

So, I think the moral of the story is - if you're going to do a group ride, bring your own group!