Exploring Vermont Rail Trails - Day 4 (of 4)

Day 4 (Waterbury - St Johnsbury, 105km or 65mi)

I got up early and started packing. It was a cool night indeed but I was warm, maybe because I decided to wear most of my clothes to bed (which was not much - I didn't take a single long sleeve shirt and had no socks). At 6:50am when I left air temperature was only 11C/52F. A bit too cold for sandals. Pretty soon my toes felt a bit numb, especially on fast downhill.

I put the rain jacket on, which help blocking all the wind chill, but had nothing to protect toes and fingers with. It would've been nice to buy socks, but there were no appropriate stores open anywhere at 7am. I kept going, sticking to Cross Vermont Trail.

Weather forecast for that day said partly cloudy with sun and no rain. Unfortunately, in the early morning hours all I could see was nearly nothing. Everything was covered by a thick fog.

Before 9am I was already in Montpelier. Foggy weather continued and it was actually quite pretty, especially when sun started peeking through. The worst part about it was that on downhill my glasses got very quickly covered with millions of tiny water droplets and I couldn't see anything. I had to stop frequently to wipe it off.

By 11am fog was pretty much gone. It was getting hotter and more sunny. I stopped at Cabot briefly, got some water in a local store and kept going towards the last section of Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Now I feel that the hill I climbed right outside of Cabot was sort of pointless - it didn't add anything meaningful to the trip and it was probably better to just take the main road (Rt215), which wasn't that busy.

The first part of the remaining trail was rough with chunky gravel yet again, but once I reached Channel Dr the graded trail begun and from there it was basically all smooth sailing all the way to St Johnsbury. Even better - the whole trail is this direction is on down slope making it very fast to ride.

I got back to my car at 2pm after 4 days of cycling, 436km (270mi), 2 burgers and 6 beers.

Exploring Vermont Rail Trails - Day 3 (of 4)

Day 3 (Lake Champlain - Waterbury, 130km or 81mi)

I was lying in my tent trying to fall asleep, thinking about coming rain. Since I hate packing wet stuff in the morning, I figured I could probably avoid this by bending the rules a bit. Deep at night I decided to move my tent (freestanding tents are easy to move) and bike inside the "breakout room" at the campground. It was nothing more than an old shed with some pool tables and arcade machines inside, but I figured that nobody will play there at 2am. I was lucky. Soon after I managed to hide inside, it started to rain. Heavily.

I woke up at 6:15am ready to start the day. Unfortunately, it was still pouring outside. I started packing up my stuff and wrapping everything in plastic bags. By 7:25am I was ready to go, if only weather was a bit more cooperative. The forecast said it would stop raining by 11am but there was no way I could wait for that. I zipped up my jacket and rolled on.

As expected, pretty soon I was all wet. That didn't really bother me that much. It was that kind of weather with steady rain yet warm and even when wet I wasn't cold and felt surprisingly comfortable. I did discovered a couple of issues with my setup though. One was that I had my camera in a hip bag, which was getting wet and muddy from the splash coming from the rear tire. I slid the hip bag over to the front, placing it on my belly which took care of that problem, but then I thought it would be really good to have a simple plastic, lightweight fender" attached to the bottom of saddle bag, protecting my butt and lower back.

The best decision of the trip was to take sandals instead of regular shoes. Sandals are absolutely the best as long as temperature allows it. No need to worry about soaked shoes and wet socks.

Once I got back to Swanton I simply continued on Lamoille Valley Rail Trail - the second one of rail trails planned for this trip. The section from Swanton to Sheldon Junction is still not officially open I think, but it's very usable, being nicely graded and finished with red crushed fine stone.

The more adventurous part starts after you cross the renovated rail bridge on Missisquoi River. From here the trail is officially not on map and it seems to be used mainly by snowmobiles in winter. It's often narrow, muddy and flooded in places, with lots of chunky gravel on others.

It's definitely useable for cycling, as long as you bring your mountain bike. Just be careful with bridges - there are many on the trail and most are in decent condition, with only a couple in a derelict state. Officially, in these places the trail is closed (which is properly marked), but you can still cross on your own risk. Just don't step on rotten wood beams.

This rough trail section continues all the way to Jeffersonville, at which point the trail becomes more civilized again and the officially open section begins. At that time it was about noon and rain stopped. My jacket and bike started to dry off and I raced along the flat path towards Morrisville. I was getting hungry and was very excited to arrive at Lost Nation Brewing around 1:45pm, where they serve excellent beer and really good food as well.

Once refueled, I continued south towards Stowe and Waterbury, taking a more scenic route away from the main road (Rt100) to avoid car traffic. At Waterbury I really wanted to visit Prohibition Pig bar, I heard so many good things about but I wasn't hungry nor thirsty and it was getting a bit late, so I decided to move towards the campground.

After arriving at Little River State Park I was told that campground was full and sold out. That's not something you want to hear after biking over 80mi in rain. Fortunately, after a while and some negotiations it turned out that someone was leaving early and I got a spot. I set my tent up, cooked a dinner, took a shower (good I had 2 quarters left!) and hang all food and soap in a bag on a tree. Just in case some teddy bear was going to visit at night.

That night felt much cooler and air was crisp and fresh. The rain must have pushed all the humidity away. It was going to be a cool night.

Exploring Vermont Rail Trails - Day 2 (of 4)

Day 2 (Newport - Lake Champlain, 125km or 78mi)

After a very windy night I got up at 6:20am, packed up and started cooking breakfast. Unfortunately, cooking on a an alcohol stove in windy conditions is close to impossible and I very soon found out I was burning through too much fuel. I finished my oatmeal but decided to change my plans for next couple of days in terms of future breakfasts, since I had to conserve fuel.

Back on road at 7:25am I was making a good progress moving through some rural land just south of Canadian border. Here is where I had the only mechanical on the trip. I found out that one of the plates in the chain has slipped off the pin and chain was just hanging on on one plate only. Not good. Fortunately, I had a tiny multitool with me and could use pliers to move the plate back in position and then push the pin in with chain breaker tool.

Sometimes I find some very unexpected things

The next step was a strenuous climb up the mountain pass in Jay Peak range. It's not particularly steep, but it's loooong so don't get too excited - the summit is still further away than you think.

Like I said before, the great thing about climbs is that there is always a downhill afterwards. Very soon I was back in the valley and next I took West Jay Rd, which is unpaved, keeping me away from trucks and cars and it runs close to the border. I mean - very close to the border.

In fact, the road is so close to the border that at some point you will find yourself in Canada, even if you didn't ask for it. That's one of those unique spots on U.S. map where the border, which is a straight line on a map, crosses the infrastructure "in a wrong way", putting the official border markers on the wrong side of the road.

Very soon I reached Richford and hopped on the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail - the first long rail trail on this trip. I like this place. It's a very easy road to ride, being flat and well graded. It runs through some open farmland and just feels relaxing in general. Not every bike route needs to be like a stage in Tour de France, right?

By 1:25pm I was already in St Albans. I suspected some overcast and even rain on this day but it was actually sunny and hot. I ran out of water, so my first step was to get resupplied in liquids and some snacks and my second step was the have beer and eat something good. I found a table outside of Twiggs Gastropub and can recommend not only their burger, but also Fiddlehead IPA - excellent in every way.

At 2:30pm I was back on road and went north towards Swanton. My plan was to reach a campground at the edge of Lake Champlain but the only way to get there was Rt78. Unfortunately, it's a terrible place for cycling. Being the only route connecting Vermont, New York State and Canada in this part of the country it's very busy with heavy car and truck traffic. I wish they built a proper separated bike path somewhere next to the road, because riding a bike there feels sort of terrifying.

When I arrived at Campbells Bay Campground I found out I was the only one with a tent. Air was heavy and humid. Felt like thunderstorm was on the way.

Exploring Vermont Rail Trails - Day 1 (of 4)

It's the fall season of 2021 and all I know that I need a break. Just a few days on my own, away from family (sorry!), my usual surroundings and especially, from my day job. Since in these weird (post)pandemic times nothing is certain anymore, when an opportunity came, I grabbed it quickly and decided - I'm packing up my bike and going to Vermont.

End of September is typically quite decent weather-wise here in New England and after checking forecast I found out it was supposed to be still warm so no heavy clothing was required. Unfortunately, the forecast also mentioned some heavy rain coming up in a couple of days. Not ideal.

Day 1 (St Johnsbury - Newton, 77km or 48mi)

Early morning I put everything in my car and drove north to St Johnsbury, VT. Getting close to White Mountains the fog on highway was so heavy I couldn't see anything a half a mile ahead. I started to rain. "Just great" - I thought - "If the whole day is going to be like this, it doesn't seem like a good start". Fortunately, once I cross the mountain range weather improved quite a bit, rain stopped and sun started peeking through a gap in clouds.

I arrived at around 10am, unpacked and started pedaling north. The great thing about Vermont is that even around larger towns it doesn't take long to find an unpaved road. It was humid, cloudy and cool (~64F/18C). That's actually not a bad weather for cycling (as long as it doesn't rain). I hate riding in full sun anyway.

Soon I realized that I had a pretty good pace, which may have been because there wasn't that much to see on the way so I didn't stop for pictures too often. I was rolling through a cattle country.

Actually, to be honest, there were things to see. Unlike in Massachusetts, in Vermont fall seemed to be in full swing already. Lots of trees were wearing yellow and red outfits.

After several climbs and some very rewarding downhills, I first reached Barton and then my final destination for the day - Newport. I arrived early, at 2:45pm. There was still plenty of daylight left, so I set up my camp at Prouty Beach Campground, took a shower and went to Newport Natural Market to get something to eat. I found out they had some really nice beer for sale as well (Chimay!) but only in 4-packs. I guess that's a benefit of travelling with someone - you can share a 4-pack. I had to pass on that, otherwise I probably wouldn't be in condition to bike the next day. Four heavy Belgians is a bit too much in one setting.

Then I decided to bike a bit on Newport Bikepath north, along the eastern edge of Lake Memprhemagog. Arriving back at the campground I cooked dinner, watched some really nice sunset and then went to bed. Unfortunately, while the test sites are beautifully located right at the edge of the lake, they are also not sheltered in any way from wind. There was a pretty strong wind coming in from the lake and with my tent flapping and making noises, it was very difficult to sleep.

There is no bad weather for cycling... but there is pollen

As we all know, there is no bad weather for cycling, only bad clothes. At least I wish it was all this simple. Unfortunately, no clothing is going to protect me from pollen, which we get in overabundance every April through June. There are days where absolutely everything gets covered by a thick yellow dust blanket. After living in New England for quite some time, my body apparently stopped tolerating pollen and now every spring I suffer from allergies.

This creates a problem. I sort of temporarily run out of good options where to ride a bike. My usual places are heavily forested and in general, pollen seems unavoidable. After a few unpleasant situations and remembering my last year's ride when I was pretty much ready to pull my eyeballs out, I decided to completely change the strategy this year.

The goal was simple - ride where there is no pollen (duh)! Of course, around Boston this means there are basically only two options left: (1) city and (2) beach. Essentially, I either ride in the middle of Boston, where are few trees or ride very close to ocean, where constant breeze blows pollen away.

After testing it over the last two weekends, I have to say this actually works. First, I tried the city. Since riding a bike in Boston isn't typically a very pleasant experience, I decided to start very early on Sunday morning, when traffic was still very light and go to those places where cars don't go - the old, narrow alleys of Beacon Hill.

Sure, it wasn't a very long ride (in terms of distance) but revisiting those XVIII/XIX-century streets is a purely magical experience.

Going back home to Arlington, I could immediately tell the difference between the very downtown core of the Hub and the greener suburbs. The closer I was getting home the worse pollen situation was becoming.

Next, I tried the beach. I mean, I can't actually ride my bike on beach, but I could design a route that would take me as close to the ocean as possible. Starting from Georgetown, I followed north to Newburyport and then along the coast all the way to (almost) Portsmouth, NH. It was actually a perfect morning for such a ride: 17C (63F), cloudy and with a light breeze.

The way back was a bit boring though and since I didn't want to follow the same route I decided to ride a bit more inland. Unfortunately, that meant being exposed to pollen more. Overall, the coast part of the route was way more interesting and I wouldn't mind trying it again.

Now my problem is that I have already tested the two most obvious options and I ran out of ideas what to try next. Can we end the pollen season early this year, please?

Riding the distance

Let's get to the point - my last post was titled "Why I don't have time to ride a century" and just a few weeks later I had a chance to use a whole day to ride as much as I wanted. And I didn't like it.

But let's start from the beginning. I decided to just enjoy a full day of riding - something that doesn't happen very often as work or family usually sort of "get in the way". I designed a route that seemed reasonable, picked a day when weather was supposed to be decent and started early enough to have plenty of time.

I took off in Winchendon, MA and moved north towards New Hampshire. There are some nice dirt roads in this area that are certainly worth visiting - roughly between Winchendon and Jaffrey. At this point I realized that there are some problems with riding a bike off-road in early spring. First - it's still quite cold, to the point when it may actually be sub-Celsius-zero in the morning. Second - April is rainy, which means that some trails may be flooded.

And they were. After carefully assessing the situation I realized that the puddle is too deep to ride through it, but shallow enough to walk through. Unfortunately, both sides of the road had enough vegetation and swamp to make it impossible to go around the puddle. That left me with one option - shoes off, bike on shoulder and walk.

Here comes the worst part. If you see that the top of the puddle has a thin floating sheet of ice on it you can be sure that this isn't exactly a hot tub.

After waiting a few minutes to get at least partial feeling in my feet, which allowed me to put my socks and shoes back on, I continued towards Jaffrey, NH. From there I moved back south using Monadnock Branch Rail Trail.

Then I rode west just north of the state border. It started getting a bit warmer and some sun was popping out. It was already afternoon and I had to take a break for lunch. It's always good to pack up some real food - sandwiches, nuts for snacking, chocolate. I hate riding with just fake "cycling food" like gels and bars.

At some point around mile 60 or so, I started getting a feeling that I was supposed to enjoy it more. In other words, weather was fine, road was good, bike was rolling just fine, yet I somehow couldn't enjoy riding the distance and adding miles. I was getting tired.

Maybe it was simply that 127km (80mi) was too much to take in a hilly terrain. At least for now. Maybe my expectations were wrong. Or maybe I need to pack up more sandwiches next time. Somehow I think that in the future I would rather go for two short rides than one really long one. We'll see about that.

Why I don't have time to ride a century - Hampstead Circuit

It got warmer and now you see them everywhere. They were hibernating over winter and with first signs of spring, they come back ready for action. Landscapers. Their noisy leaf blowers wake me up now every morning.

Just kidding, I was obviously talking about cyclists. Most people give up cycling in winter. I don't - but I understand that riding in freezing weather may not be enjoyable to many. I, on the other hand, don't enjoy riding in rain. Or mud.

For this reason, I actually very much enjoy riding on dry winter days. That means - those days with no rain, no snow, but sub-zero (That's a metric zero!) temperatures. In such conditions all mud is frozen and those flooded trails that were impassable in summer, become icy roads.

But those days are gone. Sun is out in nearly full strength, rapidly melting snow and ice. I thought I could revisit some long-forgotten places, so last weekend I took a quick trip just across the northern state border - starting in Windham, NH on a rail trail.

Early morning was still a bit freezing. Air temperature barely hovered above 32F/0C. I decided to stay warm by going faster.

Not all ice melted yet.

Soon I reached the intersection with Rockingham Recreational Trail and started rolling on its frozen, sandy surface. I was glad to be there early in the morning, before sun begins melting frozen mud into a gloopy mess.

The trail was empty, not counting a few loud ATVs. These buggers are the main reason why Rockingham Trail remains muddy and eroded. I still remember when I tried to ride there years ago on my old bike with 35mm wide tires. Big mistake.

Sandy Rockingham Trail in early morning sun.

After roughly 25km (15mi) I decided to turn around and start riding back. I thought it would be a good idea to use a power line. You see, most high-voltage power lines have a maintenance road running under them. With a bit of luck, we can use those roads as informal trails.

"A bit of luck" turns out to be the critical factor here. With my luck, the trail quickly turned out to be completely flooded and I had to turn around. "Well, no matter" - I thought. I simply followed the main road instead, until I could reconnect with the power line trail.

I found that while I could enter the trail off Rt 111A, the entryway was again flooded. The flood wasn't huge but had a stream of water rushing right through the middle of it. I figured I could still use the trail if I go around the flooded part. This forced me to walk through some bushes. What I didn't anticipate is the number of thorns on those twigs. Very soon my legs looked like were scratched by an angry house cat.

It hurts more than you think.

Back on the trail, I started going up and down the uneven rocky surface until just after barely a few minutes I found myself in front of yet another flood. Darn! There was no way I could cross it, but looking at my bleeding legs I decided not to turn back and go through the thorns again. Fortunately, there was a narrow ATV trail to my left and after a quick look at the map, I figured it would probably take me to Long Pond Rd and maybe I can abandon the power line.

But no. The ATV trail was just meandering between the trees and suddenly I found myself back at the power line... on the other side of the flood! Fortunately, this was the last major obstacle on my route and the rest of the trail was somewhat more usable.

Ups and downs. The power line trails can be rough, but it's the floods that make them a real challenge.

Once I reached Kingston Rd, I stayed on pavement for most of the return leg. I tried to avoid Rt 111 though. It's like a main highway with way too many cars and trucks and despite a pretty wide shoulder, riding bike there is simply not enjoyable at all.

Soon I was back at Windham. Those 55km (35mi) took me 4 hours to ride - way too long by any "road" standards. But then no regular "roadie" would try to ride in places I did. This is basically why I don't have time to ride a typical century. There is just not enough light in the day to fit that many detours and stops in my ride.

Some people ride to add miles, but when I ride I only add scars.

Rethinking 2020

It's finally 2021.

After the dreadful 2020, we all hope that 2021 will bring some long-awaited relief and things will start changing for better. I'm ready for more bike riding without wearing a mask all the time.

It's also time to rethink some things here. For years, I've been writing this whole blog mostly for myself - to document my own thoughts. My audience was scarce and infrequent. Yes, I know that in order to have a lively and successful blog one needs to write almost daily and write interestingly. But building a large audience has never been my goal.

As such, you can expect that in 2021 blog updates will remain scarce and infrequent. Maybe it's the pandemic that has been wearing me out in the recent months. Or maybe it's simply that now I want to focus more on what I find most interesting and most fun for myself - just documenting my occasional bike rides and bikepacking trips.

There weren't that many of them in 2020. Because of the virus most of us got stuck at home. I actually had some big cycling plans for the last year and obviously, they never had a chance to realize. Who knows, maybe with the vaccine coming, 2021 will let me enjoy bike riding more?