Day 35, August 28 Manchester Center to Chester Vermont

As we were checking into the Chalet Motel, in Manchester Center two days ago, the clerk mentioned that we were welcome to stay an additional day if we wanted to rest before going on. Apparently, we looked as bad as we felt. We replied that we were headed to Claremont, NH, a 50-mile trip, the next day. He startled and said, "In one day?? Are you sure? The hills down that road are really big." 

Breakfast at Bob's Diner 

During the ride from Schuylerville, I had discovered a 1/8 inch cut in our front tire.  When we got a chance to really look at it on our day off, we found it to be almost through the tread. We used a $1 bill inside the tire to reinforce the area, which seems to be holding. There is a Schwalbe tire dealer in Hillsboro, NH. We plan to use a rental car to go there on our coming rest day in Claremont to replace the tire.

Back to the trip. We came to our senses, and divided the 50 mile trip to Claremont into two almost equal legs of 27, then 23 miles, but it was still a classic future shit¹ event. The 27-mile route to our new destination, Chester, had to go by Vermont's famous ski resorts nestled picturesquely in the Appalachian Mountains. Even with the shortened miles, we were warned over and over, "Do you know how big the hills on that road are?" often adding that their car had a hard time with them. Sigh. 

The day would begin with a 6 mile climb to Bromley Mountain ski resort, lose a bit of altitude and continue to climb until mile 17. After that, we were assured, it would be all downhill. All told, we had 2200 feet of climbing ahead of us, on a busy two lane road, with almost no shoulder. We began to dread the ride.

Those stripes running down the mnt are ski runs.
If you look closely, you can see chair lifts.

Like a lot of future shit events, it turned out to be better than expected.  Not wanting to repeat the exhausting experience going into Manchester Center, we made sure to stop riding before we absolutely had to, and to walk slowly until the hill was less steep, and we could ride again. We had to walk a fair amount, but we found that as long as we kept the pace slow, we could go a long way without stopping. Needless to say, it was slow going. In the first two hours, our averaged speed was only 3 mph. Thankfully, once we passed the Bromley ski resort, the road turned down, and we enjoyed a 5 mile descent into Londonderry where we stopped for a mid morning break next to the West River.

The West River

After our break, we began a 5 mile climb, the last half mile of which was at over 9%. Yeah, we walked that part. Shockingly, the last 9 miles was down hill! The pavement wasn't that good, with dappled sun making seeing the surface difficult, so John often had to brake to keep us below 30 mph, but 9 miles almost all of it over 20 mph. What a gas!

Tonight we stay in the Fullerton House B&B, very nice room. Tomorrow, a short ride will bring us to Claremont, a new state, and a rest day.

¹ In my experience, there a 3 kinds of events that we all experience:

 1. Future Shit - by far the scariest shit of all. Its worry keeps you up at night and makes your stomach upset.

2, Present Shit - you just have to get through present shit. Nose to the grind stone, problem solve, you know what I'm talking about.

3. Past Shit - the best shit of all. It's the stories you get to tell about the present shit you survived, and the circumstances that got you there in the first place.