Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Ride Day 145

Today I rode from outside Middlebury VT to Orford New Hampshire 62 miles of hard work over steep rolling hills. The views were perfect once the morning fog burned off. My Garmin 800 was directing me and I did not like some of its choices for routes. The entire Garmin 800 disappoints me. I found my way with some help from store clerks and gas stations along with my crappy map. I got kind of hot later in the ride from all the spinning up hills in the bright sun. All the people were very friendly. I am spending the night at paradise campground in Orford NH about a mile up the road from where I found this wifi. I am tired so not much more to say. Next time...

Ride Day 144

Today I rode from Paradox to Middlebury. The ferry across Lake Champlain was a nice break and a good way to enter a new state. Vermont was beautiful right from the minute I stepped off the ferry. Green rolling hills with lots of nice farms and apple orchards. There were mountains too not just hills. The weather was getting hotter by the day but I took it easy so it did not bother me. Lots of hills was the rule. Spin up and glide down all the way. I stopped for lunch in Middlebury and ate some good Thai food. Then I climbed over Green Mountain, a 12% grade that was a few miles long. That was a bit of work. I spent the night camping along the road and talked to the homeowners for a long time. They were clearly exhippies and were fun nice people. I slept well but my star watching was blocked by foggy skies and in the morning everything was soaking wet. Such is life.

Ride Day 143

I left Golden Beach Campground early as usual heading blindly toward the ferry on Lake Champlain. I did not have a good map so I tried to enter it in my gps but the stupid thing would not accept my destination so I picked out one close by and it took that one. I am not very happy with my Garmin 800. The gps took me on a route along gravel roads and I followed it but was a bit nervous about having to turn around at some point. The route got me to where I was going and did return to paved roads. The roads were little used county roads with lots of rolling hills. I do not think there was a single level stretch on the entire route. I was either spinning up hills or braking down them all day long. I must be getting fit though because I just calmly spun up hill after hill without stopping or getting overly tired. After about 60 miles I ran into a couple from Wisconsin riding from West to East coast. We talked for a bit then we agreed to share a campsite for the night. They too were nice people. We will likely ride together for a bit today also since we are going the same way. I am 10 or 12 miles from the ferry right now at a campground that was nice and quiet for a change. I do not have wifi so I will post this later when I find some good wifi…

Ride Day 142

Today I rode from Booneville to Long Lake NY 56 miles of rolling hills. I spent last night at a campground in Booneville and had a good time talking with Erik and Dan then an eighteen-year-old girl came into camp riding a loaded bike so she joined us. I think her name was Jasmine but I could be wrong. I am brain dead remembering names. We talked for hours about all different junk and we all had a good time. In the morning I rode with Jasmine all the way to Inlet or one of the other small towns but we lost each other there somehow or other either she lost me on purpose or we missed communication but she was gone all of a sudden. I looked around and waited to see if she would turn up but she was gone so I rode on alone. I did not like riding on highway 28 which was the main road as it was loud and very busy so I just took a turn on a whim and rode down it because it seemed to be going in the direction I wanted to go. It quickly turned into a gravel road but I just kept going, trusting my instincts if not my luck. It turned out to be an interesting ride and it did get me to where I wanted to go so it was fine. I am in a state park tonight and had a nice shower then sat around talking to a bunch of people that kind of gathered around me and my bike. They had a million questions but nothing new. It is almost sunset right now and I hope it is a good one with Raquette Lake and the Adirondacks in the view. I am going to go down to the lake and wait for it. If it is good I will post the pic. The sunset was only soso but I met and talked with a couple that were escaping from their family for a little while. They were fun to talk with. They offered me a beer and I took it for a change. I have not been drinking while I am riding but I just had the one beer. We talked while we waited for the sun to go down. It was a good time. After the disappointing sunset I went back to my tent and rested for the night.

Ride Day 141

I spent the night last night with Warm Showers hosts kit and Lou in Pulaski and had a great time with nice people. Warm Showers seems to work out for both parties involved since I see the joy that the hosts get from their guests. After a great dinner and a breakfast Kit rode with me for the first 15 miles and then she turned around and went back home. She is in training for some competitions. After we said goodbye I ambled along to Boonville where I was planning on staying the night but when I arrived to town I found a Woodsmen Weekend going on with 40,000 people in a 7000 person town. It was crazy with all the traffic and people. I stopped to buy some cookies from the high school wrestling booth and then I headed right out of town. I passed a campground on the way and decided to stop to see how much they charged to camp because I really did not want to keep going. To my surprise it was only $6 to camp for bikers. I paid and put up my tent. I met another guy there Erik that I talked to and we had some good conversations. Then an 18 year old girl came riding into camp fully loaded on her bike. She camped next to me and we all sat around chatting.

Ride Day 145 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 145 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 144 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 144 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 143 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 143 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 142 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 142 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 141 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details

Ride Day 141 by jimfrogs at Garmin Connect - Details