training in vermont - day 1

the theory goes that if you are going to climb the rocky mountains on a bike, it's wise to prepare.  that preparation includes having your bike in top shape, having your body in top shape and, most importantly, climbing other hills, just as steep, just as long.  the climb in manhattan up to riverside drive from the hudson river bike path doesn't quality.  ditto the hills in new jersey.  yes, they have hills and some are quite steep.  but, for the most part, you're dealing in half-mile climbs.  so i'm up here in vermont for the weekend to get my legs, arms, lungs and, most of all, head into shape for the western states ride.

Welcome to Vermont!!

i thought i'd take it easy this first day in the hills.  there's a loop around our house up here in winhall [or bondville, i can never remember in which town the house actually is -- it's on the borderline] that goes into winhall, then up to londonderry, then up to bromley mountain and then back to bondville.  it's about a 25-mile loop with some good, long climbs.  i added a bunch of miles by diverting away from bromley when i got into londonderry and headed into the quaint village of weston, home of the vermont country store.  the original [only there's another country store just across the street that advertises as being there longer and that THEY where the original.  ya gotta love yankee spunk!].  that added another 15 miles and another good, long climb.

just for grins, or grimaces as it turned out, and to push myself stupidly on the first day, i then rode up the stratton mountain access road.  if most of the hills i rode today were somewhere between a 6% and an 8% grade, this road had to be double digits steep.  i refused to start my first day of hill training using my granny gear, but, up this road, i was in the next best thing.  at the end of the already long day, this just added insult to injury.  my right knee was barking and my right shoulder wasn't much better.  still, i wound up getting up there.  and back.

stratton mountain.  yes, there's still some snow remaining.  it was a cold spring up here.

lori told me to call her when i finished so she knew i was still alive.  she asked if i carried my driver's license with me.  in all these years of riding, i've never done that.  i always have my phone, some cash and a credit card, but never my driver's license.  spooked by her suggestion, i thought for sure this was an omen.  and yes, i wound up taking it along with the other stuff, threw it in a baggy and stuffed them in my back pocket of my bike jersey.  thank goodness i didn't need it [and no one else needed it to identify the body!].

a long bath and a nice meal and i'm done with day one.  now for some much needed rest.