Journey Notes

I managed to get on the bicycle by 8:30am. That's pretty good given that there is still a bit of jet lag from flying back from the west coast.

I used Google Map's cycling directions to choose the route and it took me through rolling countryside. It did take me through one 5 km section of dirt road but that was a fairly good surface for a dirt road. I met up with another guy (didn't get his name) riding in my direction so I road with him for about 10 km. I drafted him a bit so I managed to get some extra distance for free! He gave me some pointers about riding in Vermont and the best route to my destination.

Did I mention the rolling hills? There were a lot of them. On the country roads, some of those hills were very steep and long. It made for a fairly slow day with an overall average speed of just about 20 km/h (13 mph).

I rode through Burlington, Bristol, Salisbury, and Rutland.

By about 11 am cell coverage for T-Mobile cut out and never came back. I realized later that I had looked at the wrong coverage map for T-Mobile and that all of southern Vermont is a dead zone for my phone. We always make sure that we have a detailed routing for the bike saved on my phone and that if I have communications problems, I will stick to that route so Rochelle can find me along that route. That was the case today.

It was very hot and humid. The forcast was for 30C (86F). I didn't have ice in my pack this time so I ended up drinking quite a bit to compensate. Even though I have done many 40C days, 30C still seems awfully hot.

We stopped in Bristol for lunch at about 2:30 pm. As I was getting ready to go after lunch, I could see dark storm clouds and lightning to the north and looking like it was heading my way. I rode south and that storm followed me but seemed to go around me more than at me. About 5:30 pm, my front tire went flat. It had had a slow leak so I had pumped it up, hoping to change the tube later on, but the leak was now not so slow and I had to change the tube.

As I was leaving Rutland, heavy rain started and lightning was all around me. It caught me pretty quickly. It rains a lot in Vancouver but not like this. I put on my rain jacket and continued on. Because of our lack of communications, our plan for the afternoon was for me to ride until about 7:30 pm and for Rochelle to catch up to me about that time. The storm hit about 6:45 pm so I knew I had 30 to 45 minutes in really heavy rain and lightning. It was a bit frightening to have the sky flash so bright that it lit up the entire road and trees extremely brightly. Some of these were less than a kilometer away. The thunder was incredibly loud. By the time Rochelle caught up with me, I was soaked through and through.

We drove the final section to Rochelle's father's place. I am glad that we did not have to camp last night with lots of damp cloths and a couple of leaks in VanGo.