Road Trip

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99.9% of the rides I do are with in an hour or two of my house. I occasionally sneak in a bike ride on some of my business trips or vacations like my rides in Moab UT and Las Vegas NV but I haven't really taken any dedicated bike vacations until now.

The destination was the Vermont side of Lake Champlain close to Burlington. Lake Champlain is a large lake that stretches 125 miles from the top of Lake George all the way into Canada and is 14 miles at it widest. The lake has many big and small islands and is surrounding by mountains on both sides. It is an extremely picturesque place with a lot of interesting things to see. This is a long post that describes our trip if you just don't feel like reading the whole post just Click Here for pictures which will show you most of what we did.

We rented a house on South Hero island right on the water. The house ended up actually being nicer than expected and was a pretty comfortable place to stay. The only surprise was that the water for the house came directly from the lake meaning we couldn't drink it and had to buy some bottled water. There isn't a lot in South Hero so everything is down the road a piece (meaning 15 miles to the nearest dinner) but Burlington is about a half hour away if you need some entertainment.

The drive up was a long 6 hour plus drive since we had to go almost to Canada to get there. Once we all got there we settled in, got some supplies and had a decent dinner at a local diner. We had planned to stop at the local pizza place but it was closed for some reason.

Thursday morning was our first bike ride and the plan was to use the ferries to do a 50 mile loop down to Burlington then across the lake and back up the New York side to Plattsburg. We had plan to start from the house but the road was gravel so we started in town about a mile away.

It was a bright sunny day so we had some good views of the surrounding mountains. This is one of the reasons that I came up here to do some rides where the scenery is dramatically different than in NJ.

The area around Burlington is filled with nice bike paths so after about 10 miles on a county highway we wound our way along the coast and through the woods to the city. Along the way we enjoyed some nice views of the different part of the lake.

The ferry from Burlington to Kent only runs a few times a day so we timed the ride to take the 1:30 pm ferry. I padded our starting time to make sure we got there early so by 1pm we were at the dock waiting for the ferry. It was windy so the ferry ride itself was a little rough and cold. Once we got to Kent on the NY side we warmed up quickly climbing a hill away from the lake then following the Amtrack rails up the coast.

The wind was at our back and getting stronger so we made really good time all the way up to Plattsburg. From there we took the ferry back to South Hero island. We stayed at the back of the ferry on the short trip to the island because the wind and waves were spraying water over the front. At times it was a little hard to stand.

We ended up getting back around 5pm because of the late start and ferry ride but it was fun day. Today the pizza shop in South Hero was open so since is was late and we were tired we got some decent food from the pizza place and relaxed in the house for the night.

Friday we headed out for another bike ride. This time the idea was to ride close to the Canadian border and do a loop over the border. We started on the Isle La Motte at the Saint Ann Shrine. This shrine is advertised as the place of the first catholic mass in Vermont. The church has an unusual outdoor pavilion full of pews where they hold services.

From the shrine we took a quick tour of Isle La Motte then headed up the coast of another island toward Canada. The wind was still blowing from the south around 15-20 mph so we made good time but knew it would a head wind on the way back.

We eventually made our way near the top of Lake Champlain and crossed from VT to NY into the town of Rouses Point which is small town on the NY/Canadian border. There was construction on the bridge which make it a little tricky to get over it. There was only one lane was open and the east and west traffic had to alternate going over the bridge. I wasn't expected much from this town since we were north of the middle of no where and as we rode in the town it did look a little run down. We did however find one of nicest coffee shops that we have ever seen. I don't drink coffee but the others said it was really good. They also had some great pastries and I had a good piece of crumb cake that they even heated up for me.

From Rouses point Lynn, Cheryl, Laura and I headed into Canada. Larry did not have a passport so he rode off back the way we came to meet us where we would be coming back into the US. Once we got over the border we had to stop for 10-15 mins for some paving work they were doing on the rode. This area is mostly farmland and once we got pass the road work we has some nice views and quiet roads then we turn backed toward the US and hit a hellacious headwind that had us a times in single digits for speed.

At the Canada US border we had a little hard time getting the attention of the border guard but eventually made it through the border and met back up with Larry. From here we continued along the roads of the island and worked our way back through the head winds back to the shrine.

Dinner that night was in Burlington which is a college town with a good selections of restaurants in a nice open mall area in the middle of town.

The next day the wind was really kicking up and was probably gusting close to 30 mph so instead of biking we decided to go to Stowe.

Stowe is one of the best ski area on the east coast and a good place get some scenic views of the Green Mountains. We didn't have any really plans but once we got to Stowe we headed towards the main ski mountain and ended up driving most of the way to the top of Mount Mansfield then doing a 1.4 mile hike to its peak. Although the trail had a few difficult spots where we had to climb over a few large rock we eventually made it to the peak while enjoying some good views along the way.

After the hike we when into the town of Stowe itself, for lunch, before heading back to the house. We of course had to stop at the Ben and Jerry's factory which was on the way back. We spend a quiet nite at the house before heading home the next day.

On the way home we stopped off in Saratoga Springs to visit Dave F who moved there a few years ago. It was nice to catch up with him and we talked about coming back up this way again to do some rides in this area.

If was a good trip besides riding and hiking in a different area it was nice to spend some extended time hanging out with some of my biking friends. This is definitely something I will try to do more next year.

We Have Nothing to Fear but Fiddler's Elbow

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Fear is one of our base emotions and has been useful to our survival as a species. There is a excellent book "How We Decide" by Jonah Lehrer that explains how emotions can both enhance or impair our decision making ability. Fear is useful when it helps us avoid dangerous situations but other times fear can take over our ability to reason and cause us to make bad decisions.

One of the examples, in Jonah Lehrer's book, of fear causing some people to make a deadly decision is the story of the Mann Gulch Fire. You can read the full account here. In the Mann Gulch Fire a bunch of smoke jumper got dropped on to the side of a ridge to fight the fire. Unfortunately soon after they arrived the fire got out of control. The men tried to head down to the river but burning embers had lit the grass by the river on fire and the fire was quickly spreading up hill. Most of the men panicked and headed up the hill to a rocky crevice for cover but the fire was moving to quickly. One man however, Wag Dodge, was able to control his fear and come up an ingenious idea to save his life. He actually lit the grass in front of on fire as he headed up the hill. This took the fuel away from the fire behind him. This allowed him to quickly create an area which he huddle down in and allowed the fire to pass around him. His ability to control his fear saved his life. The other men weren't so lucky.

The question is when do we listen to our fears and when do we dismiss them as irrational. Fear is a powerful motivator which is why it is a used in commercials to try and sell us stuff we don't need.

     "Is restless leg syndrome ruining your life!!!. Then have we got some useless medicine to sell you"

This weekend I decided to try and climb Fiddler's Elbow. For those of you who don't know about Fiddler's Elbow it is by most accounts the steepest and hardest hill to climb in NJ. Check out Ken Roberts site that describes all the hard hills in NJ here. You can check out Google maps to see the profile but basically in three quarters of a mile the hill rises about 600 feet. Most of the road is between 10%-15% grade with a really steep part of about 140 feet that is over 20%. The hills profile and reputation scare most people away. Some people who think too hard about attempting the climb wake up in a cold sweat at 5:45 am in the morning worrying that they will fall over an crash if they attempt the climb.

To those who are gripped by fear, get over it, Fiddler's Elbow is just a hill. It's a steep mother but if you know your limits and do a little prep you can probably make it most of the way up the hill and live to tell about it.

The route I took to Fiddler's Elbow was more or less my normal route to Merrill Creek with a detour to Fiddler's Elbow. You can find the route here. Luckily I didn't have to do this ride myself but got a few other crazy people to come with me Laura, Blake, and Jeff L. We started from Milford and headed up along the river. It was mostly an uneventful ride to Stewardsville. As has happened a lot to me this year one of the roads that I wanted to take had a road closed sign acrossed it. I am famous for not letting a road closed sign stop me so we went up the road and found the problem was a closed tunnel which we were able to get through.

Since there isn't a lot of places to stop for food we made a quick stop in Stewardsville since we won't get to Bloomsbury until mile 40. From there we headed up the east side of Merrill Creek. These were roads I had not been on before. Rt 519 was a little busy but the other roads were nice. I deviated from the route here a little to shorten the ride a bit and take our one steep hill. So instead of taking the left on Garrison Rd I made a right just before onto Ridge Rd. This meant we would stay up on the Ridge and not go down to the Delaware River just to climb back up.

Ridge Rd was nice and after about half a mile we got a view of what we had to climb.

In 3 miles we got to the famous Fiddlers Elbow Road. On the left just before Fiddler's Elbow is Roxburg Station Road and the hill I cut out of the ride. One look down the hill confirmed this was a good idea.

After a couple of picture at the bottom of Fiddlers Elbow up we went with Jeff and Blake in the lead. Fiddlers Elbow is a winding road so you can't see the whole climb. The climbs starts off at 8% then you turn the corner and see it get steeper for most of the climb the grade is 10%-15%. It was tough but with my gearing I was slowly making it up the hill. Although my heart rate was high it was manageable. Although there are no flat spots on the hill it is amazing how a small 8% great feels easy after going up a 15% grade for a hundred feet. I stopped about a third of the way up to slow my heart rate and take a couple of pictures. The one below is Laura heading up one of the steeper part. It looks much worst in person.

I managed to keep going up the hill and made a brief stop just below the last part which is the steepest. Laura had passed me and was just ahead I saw her stop about 100 feet from the top. I headed up the final slope but as I got near where Laura was I had nothing left. It was a combination of my front wheel coming off the ground and my heart rate getting really high. I tried tacking a little bit but felt like I was going to tumble so I got off the bike and started my walk up the last 100 feet.

Laura had maintained a really nice slow steady pace and was really determine to make it up the hill on the bike. She tried a couple of times to get back on the bike. Falling a couple of times but in the end followed me on foot up the hill. It was so steep that walking up the hill was pretty hard but we all made it to the top. My GPS had a maximum grade of 24% for the last part of the hill which I believe.

Blake and Jeff were at the top waiting for us. Blake had had to walk the last 100 feet also. I knew Blake was a really good climber but he was impressive the way he went up the hill. If he actually had compact he probably would have made it to the top with out a problem. The only one who didn't have to get off the bike was Jeff. If you read the profile in this months Freewheeler you would have read that Jeff was competitive cyclist when he was younger and although this was the first time I have ridden with him it is clear he is still a very strong rider even through he has not competed in a long time.

After we completed Fiddlers Elbow we were at the top of Merrill Creek and headed down Millbrook. The last time I went down this road it was pretty beat up but it must have just been paved recently because it was smooth. We had a 2 mile 600 ft decent which was nice. From there we headed over a hill into Bloomsbury for a real break before climbing out of Bloomsbury and back down to Milford.

At the end of the ride I had 54.5 miles and 4834 ft of climbing. Except for Fiddlers Elbow none of the other climbs feel that bad and it didn't feel as hilly as a ride as the amount of climbing would indicate.

Ten years ago I road mostly in the flatter parts of the state but since then I have over come my fear of hills am open to riding any where no matter how hilly it is. After climbing Fiddler's Elbow today I know that deciding where I ride will not be restricted by fear of climbing but by where I can find the best roads and scenery to enjoy.