Day 12, Adirondacks and Green Mountain Loop Bike Trip, 2019

Day 12, GWSP to Dorset, VT ? 60 miles

Today was a longer riding day and I wanted to get an early start, but weather and physical things have conspired to slow me down. Plus my butt hurts. If anyone doesn’t think they need gluts to cycle are dead wrong.

This a.m. it rained, starting at around 5:30. As I tried to pack up there would be cloud bursts or else splitter splatter from the trees. I was frantic to pack without getting my sleep system wet. The humidity is thru the roof. I felt like I was riding in slow motion.

Leaving GWSP there was MORE mountain to climb. Two miles in my lowest gear at about 3 mph. Then a white knuckle downhill, worrying about trucks and crappy road all the way into Rutland and West Rutland.

In Castleton at a little coffee shop at the depot I bought an egg and spinach wrap. I was around about 25 miles. I say about because all day forgetting to turn odometer back on or leaning on it and knocking it off kilter.

After eating I hopped onto the Delaware and Hudson rail trail. I’d been leery of this trail after previewing it on Google maps and had plans to jump ship if it turned muddy, Rocky, or too slow. It was a dream. Level, shady, and all to myself. I didn’t have to think about traffic or navigation. I took it for 8 miles into Poultney where I discovered the best used bookstore in New England. I swear if I wasn’t on a bike I would have gone crazy. Even their cards were cute, but where would I have put it in the humidity? I put the book into my handlebar bag thinking I’d move it when I took a break. Wishful thinking.

It rained when I was on the trail, so I was wet. It rained when I was cycling around Lake St. Catherine. It rained hard outside of Wells that I had to stop and stand on a narrow porch. I was there a long time. By now I was thinking I probably wouldn’t make it. I also thought I might die of hypothermia or else pneumonia. Dorset was still 13 miles away.

I couldn’t get a hold of my host’s. Either there was a cell phone dead area or else out of network.

So . . . I kept going in the slackening rain. At one point I made a wrong turn and started riding back to Wells. I turned around, retraced my steps UPHILL. There was no bike lane or berm to speak of and the sides of the road were torn up from trucks. I felt safe but was stressed out. I was riding so slow, I felt like I’d never make it to Dorset and my Warmshowers host’s house.

Then I turned off down a gravel road. I walked the bike; I just couldn’t take anymore. I’d been riding wet since 11 a.m. and had nothing to eat since 10:30.

Finally arrived and it was worth the push. My host’s home is beautifully situated. Right away they helped me get my stuff set up to dry. I washed a few items in the show and put those to dry also.

So dry, clean, and fed. Sitting under a cabana walkway watching the mist come down and the dew rise up. I expect tomorrow to be foggy.

By the way, the book in my new handlebar bag which was advertised to be waterproof survived completely dry. I recommend Banjo Brothers products.