Central Vermont Tour

[Crankin]

Day one was completed at 2:30 today. We got here yesterday around 4, and hung out, read, and then went to our first dinner arranged by the Inn to Inn company. The B and B we stayed at was fine, though not at the level the rest of the inns are. They do have a winery and brewery and we had a tasting when we arrived. Dinner in Brandon was awesome. Got up today and it was 50 degrees and windy and cloudy. We started at 10 for a 40 mile ride in a very round about way to Middlebury. It's really only 18 miles, but we were on some great low traffic roads for the first half of the ride. There were 4-5 climbs of 10-12%, but not too long I didn't tell my DH I wanted to kill him, so that's a good sign. We stopped in E. Middlebury for lunch; I wonder why gas stations and convenience stores here always have gourmet sandwiches!!
Got to our inn (much nicer), our luggage was in the room, and we showered, and walked to town. Had a great beer and a cheese plate, as well as wonderful conversation with the bartender and another guy who worked there who is a cyclist.
Our dinner at the inn is at 7 and I am quite ready!

[thekarens]

Sounds like a really nice first day.

[emily_in_nc]

Are you with Bike Vermont or VBT or another company? We did an inn-to-inn tour of the Connecticut River Valley many years ago with DH's parents, and I have SUCH wonderful memories of the riding, food, camraderie, and all the Ben & Jerry's we ate! We went with Bike Vermont. Would love to do another one someday.

We also went in mid-September and had glorious weather for four of five days. The fifth and final day it rained and was chilly, but it was our shortest day, thankfully. Hope your weather improves!

[Crankin]

The company is called Inn to Inn. They shlep your stuff while you ride and they provide the routes. No group of people to deal with. It's sunny today, we'll be leaving soon. Tomorrow looks to be rainy for at least half the day, so we will probably have the guy just take us back to where our car is, instead of us riding there. After my experience in the Finger Lakes 2 years ago, I am done with riding 50 miles in the rain.

[Crankin]

Today was *challenging.* It's not that I haven't done harder climbs or more miles, just that the climbing was relentless! We did 49.5 miles with 3600 ft. of climbing. There were about 7 flat miles, but we were fighting a very stiff crosswind on that section of road.
Every long descent was followed by a climb and the rest of the time it was a steady 2-5 % grade up, with little flat spots in between. The scenery was a bit more open than yesterday, with more farms than forest. We are now near Lake Champlain, in Shoreham, a very tiny town. There was a huge ride that started here today "tour de Farm," and an apple festival. We caught the end of the festival and now a lot of riders are coming into the inn for a drink.
The jury is still out on tomorrow's weather. The ride is only 30 miles and we are also supposed to take the ferry over to NY state to see Fort Ticonderoga first.

[ridebikeme]

Sounds like a great day Crankin! Hopefully the weather will allow you to finish the ride tomorrow, although either way, it sounds like a great time. And of course, adding additional miles at this point in the season is always a bonus

[tulip]

They shlep your stuff while you ride and they provide the routes. No group of people to deal with.

I spent a few months in Europe doing the same thing--self-guided tours are very popular over there. I really enjoyed myself, as I'm not much of a group person and group tours can be tough if you don't like the group! It's also less-expensive and I love that I can go off-route and explore on my own with a detailed map (European maps are amazingly detailed and accurate).

[OakLeaf]

Hope you're having good weather today! And that you're taking lots of pictures.

[Dogmama]

I spent a few months in Europe doing the same thing--self-guided tours are very popular over there. I really enjoyed myself, as I'm not much of a group person and group tours can be tough if you don't like the group! It's also less-expensive and I love that I can go off-route and explore on my own with a detailed map (European maps are amazingly detailed and accurate).

I've done Bike Vermont twice. The first time was great - nice group and great routes. Last time, the majority of the group knew each other, seemed to drink a lot at night and became argumentative. The routes were just OK. We are going to PA in October and will just rent bikes & go from our hotel rooms.

[Crankin]

OK, I am home.
Today was ugly, but we did ride. The rain went through last night, and there was nothing really forecast for the rest of the day and the radar looked OK. We cut off the jaunt to Ft. Ti and the ferry, bringing the ride to 26.5 miles. We tried to get it down to 22, but all the short cuts were dirt or gravel roads. We were prepared for relentless climbing, by looking at the profile, but at about mile 5 (where the climbing began), it started misting. That was OK, but at about mile 14 or so, it started raining. Just for about 5 minutes, but there was a vicious headwind, the temperature was going down, and the grades were all 12%. DH started zooming down the hills and sprinting up the ups, to get it done. Not as fast as usual, but I just couldn't do it... I don't stand, except on little hills, and by this time, my legs were shot. After one point, there was a really hard climb that came to a stop, where we had to make a left. It flattened at the stop, so I rested. Problem, was, after the turn, there was a bit more of a hard climb (12-14%) and I was so tired, I had a little trouble getting started, but DH waited at the top. After that, we were both equally tired, and we just slogged ahead. Eventually, we went down a 9% downhill, where I was praying there were be no similar up on the other side, but there wasn't, and it flattened out to a nice 3 mile newly paved flat road. We got into Brandon center, made our way to where our car was at inn #1, and drove back to the village to get lunch. By this time, while it was dry, it was about 48 degrees and felt like November. We had an excellent lunch, congratulated ourselves, and drove to the inn which the owner of the Inn to Inn company owns, to shower, since the owner of the place we stayed the first night didn't want to give us a room to do this... It was freezing out when we left, but the sun was coming out and by the time we were over the gap, the temperature was near 60.
I am glad I did this, and I am ready for the flat century I am doing next weekend. Tired though, and had to make phone calls in the car, on the way home, with emergencies and such that happened over the weekend.
I also have had bad and good on tours with others. We liked our Spain tour because it was a small group (10) and it was an international group, which cut down on the loud, ugly American drinking, which we had in the Czech Republic/Austria. We are going to do a tour with them, next fall, from Lisbon to the border of Spain.