Bike across the state

 My game, my rules...

With the ride across VT on the Lamoille rail trail this week I've now biked across (in order) NH, MA, CT, RI, NY, and VT. I'll have to work out some cross-Maine ride. For the most part I've used existing rail trails to ride across a state. NH was really nice with an 80+ mile trek on the Cross-NH adventure trail that ran from the VT border to Bethel Maine.

CT was a fun adventure. Up at 3am. 530am train from Springfield to New Haven. Bike south to north mostly on the paved trail. About 55 miles on the canal trail and 16 (mostly at the end) on roads. Only stopped once when I thought I was lost and the other stops were for traffic lights.

MA was a combination of many different rail trails (paved and dirt) and a fair amount of road to get from Winsocket RI to Nashua NH. Great fun covering 73 miles with Scott S.

RI was a rare "out and back" mostly on the Washington Secondary Bike Path (38 miles). East Bay Path, India Point Park, Old Bridge Path and Trestle Trail. About 15 miles on road to connect and about 10 miles of really (REALLY) rough trail in Coventry to get to the border. That part, locally known as the Trestle Trail, is really torn up and either sand or railroad track ballast. Brutal. Washington Secondary path, especially the part in Coventry was great!

New York was a weeklong adventure riding with 300 others on the Erie Canal. Great fun, despite being super hot most of the trip.360 miles!

I guess you could argue that most of these don't fully traverse a state, but the ocean, a lake, and just nothing convenient to complete the mileage may have kept me from going from one border to another...but like I said "my game, my rules".

Be careful out there!

Lamoille Rail Trail - Day 2

 Day 2 of the Lamoille ride would be easier (a relative term) with 2/3rds of the distance completed the previous day. I had 33 miles to go and unlike day 1, there would be no significant climbing. It was essentially all downhill from Jeffersonville to the finish in Swanton.

I did not sleep well, but that isn't too unusual for me. I was up at 5am and out the door by 515 for a run on the Cambridge Greenway and Lamoille Trail. My legs were definitely heavy from the long previous day. After the run I headed over to the gas station and got myself an XL coffee. I slammed the coffee and was on the bike by 655 am. It was 53 degrees and sunny so I put on gloves over my padded gloves and a long-sleeve and light windbreaker over my short sleeve biking top. I had 33 miles in front of me and was in no rush to plow through it. This section of the trail was especially scenic with many farms, bridges over streams, and just nice wooded trail. As the day before the surface was mostly very firm packed dirt. There were some sections with softer dirt (usually near farms) and there were a lot of small road crossings to keep engaged.

By 10 miles in I was sufficiently warmed up that I decided to take of the windbreaker. Of course, I didn't want to stop so I carefully pulled one sleeve off, then the other, then started pulling it over my head. I hadn't taken into account the bike helmet and snagged on it and was completely blind! I quickly applied the brakes and luckily did not crash. The 15 seconds I took to get untangled was the only stop I'd made over the two days of riding. The 33 miles featured mostly downhill but a lot less than yesterday with 400' of drop but a big chunk of it (200') was in the last 10 miles. I enjoyed spinning along with little soreness except a saddle sore on one side. The morning went by much quicker than expected and I managed to complete the ride in 2:15, about 15 minutes faster than I thought I'd do.

The trail ended at the very interesting depot which is now the Swanton Historical Society building. Well worth a visit! I took a short tour before heading back to the car. Another state crossing in the books!

Stats and maps:

Weather changes

 In prep for my long ride on the Lamoille trail I tracked the weather when it was 10 days out. I made my decision 3 days out. It was funny to watch the forecast change as it got closer. It turned out to be just about ideal conditions for a long bike ride.

06-06     

       

 06-07  

06-08 

06-09

 06-10   

06-11 

06-12

Lamoille Rail Trail

 From the Lamoille Rail Trail official site:  

Ramble across Northern Vermont

At 95 miles long, the LVRT is the longest rail trail in New England and connects 18 towns from St. Johnsbury to Swanton. The LVRT is a four-season, multi-purpose recreation and transportation corridor for walking, hiking, cycling, horseback riding, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, dogsledding, and snowmobiling.

I had planned out a trip across VT two years ago but was thwarted by pouring rain and cold temperatures. On that trip I ended up biking from Morrisville to St Johnsbury (50 miles). Since then, I'd been planning on returning and doing the entire trek. I decided to break the ride into two parts and also chose to go from west (St Johnsbury) to east (Swanton). The advantage of west to east is that the first 20 miles climbs (nearly 1,800') but then the remaining 75 miles features a steady downhill of about 2,000'. The disadvantage is that generally the wind comes out of the west (headwind).

I had vacation this week and the shuttle runs on Monday and Wednesday, so I charted the weather leading up and with a few days to go chose the Monday shuttle. I hit the road at 5am on Monday and stopped in Lebanon for a nice run on the Northern Rail Trail. The rain had passed and the temperature and humidity were both headed down. I continued on to Swanton and parked at the recreation department field near the end of the trail. I had enough time for another run before the shuttle arrived. The noon shuttle was not ideal since I'd be getting to St J in the afternoon and likely not finish the first day's ride until after dark. I was ready to ride when the shuttle arrived a few minutes before noon. The ride went by quickly as there was only one other stop along the way and I was in St J at 2:30. As the driver removed my bike from the trailer my back tire came off!  Fuck!!! Apparently all the rattling had loosened the quick release (how that happens is beyond me) and the nut had fallen off. As he began calling local bike shops I went back to the trailer and unbelievably found the nut! What a lucky catch. It must have fallen off as he lifted the bike off the rack otherwise it could have been anywhere over the previous 100 miles.

I quickly hooked up the saddlebags (panniers) and got rolling at 2:40 pm. I figured based on the terrain (all dirt and uphill for 20 miles) that a good ride to Jeffersonville (66 miles) would take me about 6 hours. I guessed about 10 mph for the first 20 and then 12 mph from there on. I certainly wasn't going to push the pace but I also wasn't going to go easy. It was nearly ideal temps with upper 60s at the start. The wind was blowing steadily at about 15mph out of the NW. That just happened to be the way I'd be going so there would be some tough headwind at times. There were some people out on the trail especially at the start and now and again when I passed through a town. The craziest was a guy riding an off-road unicycle!

The miles passed and I was mostly just counting down to the top of the climb. I reached 20 miles in 1:43 which put me well ahead of my "hoped for" time of 2 hours. Now I'd have about 50' of drop per mile with a very steady downhill to help move me along. With many miles to go I settled in to a good rhythm.

It was getting a bit cooler as I carried on at about 15mph with temps dropping under 60 degrees. I'd only gone with a shortsleeve, shorts, and gloves. Mostly it wasn't "cold" but my hands would have been better with full gloves (I had them packed in the bag for the next day and didn't want to stop and get them out). I hit a few open areas where the wind was tough and there were also spots where the dirt was a bit softer and slower. Mostly it was very nice packed dirt and steady long straight stretches. I did have to be very cautious on the many dirt driveway and dirt road crossings...not to mention the crossings of the main roads which had very fast moving traffic. The trail really felt remote as I rolled through fields and farms and every once in a while a small town.

I had a little issue with saddle sores (despite lubing before and reapplying "on the fly") but otherwise everything seemed okay. I realized around 50 miles that I might finish the ride in 5 hours, well under expected time. I ended up rolling into Jeffersonville by 7:35 pm and cracked 5 hours (4:55). I did have a little trouble with the bike computer getting confused in the traffic circle in Jeffersonville and had to loop it twice.

I got to the hotel and even had a few minutes before the general store closed to get myself some VT cheddar cheese and some chips for snacking. I hadn't drank anything during the ride and only had 1 gel and 4 chomps over the course of the afternoon. It was time to call it a day as the sun set. I was a bit wiped out with 10 miles running and 66 riding.

Week Ending 06/15/26

 Rough week with my foot/ankle feeling much worse. Saw my podiatrist on Thursday and got 3 cortisone shots. Xrays showed severe arthritis which wasn't a surprise but probably now at the point where I'll need to do something else. Hoping the shots offer some relief and will get an appointment with a rheumatologist. Also struggling with a huge (and deep) blister on my heel. So, with the shots I needed to back off a bit for at least a few days. I bumped up the biking as a result, which wasn't bad timing as I'd planned on a long ride this coming week. In addition to the running this week I got in 9.5 hours on the bike. Onward.

Week - 61

Month - 145

Year - 1,907

Life - 168,907

A rare ice coffee on Friday

 

Looking back - June 2021

 5 years ago: June 2021 – A busy month with a lot of traveling around New England and getting some racing in.  Thankful to be back to MASS START racing after the long pandemic!  I started the month with the Causeway 15km race. I hadn't raced in Vermont since April of 2018 (Sleepy Hollow Mountain race).  I found a 15km race that ran on the Colchester Causeway and signed up right away.  The trail is very scenic as it cuts across Lake Champlain.

Eric Morse and I arrived at 7am and checked out the first 2km loop around airport park and a bit of the way to the actual Causeway as a warm-up.  The big issue was going to be the wind.  Out in the open on the lake and the wind was 20-30 mph.  The 85 entrants were put in four starting waves based on when you entered the race and we'd be starting 20 or so at a time with 2 minutes in between.  I was in the final wave so there would be 60 people to catch. 

It was a little crowded on the very narrow opening loop with people in the group ahead of us staying 2 or 3 abreast so we had to run in the grass for a lot of the first 2km (1.2 miles). After 2 miles there were very few people to see but just enough to keep chugging along to catch them.  I saw the leader and checked my watch and when I checked it at the turn, I figured he was nearly 10 minutes ahead (really about 4 minutes as he'd started 6 minutes before me).  I'd also counted four others that I'd try to track down on the way back.  I slowly reeled in three of the folks ahead of me despite miles of 6:48 and 6:59. The wind was just brutal.  I ended up third to cross the line but one of the guys had started 4 minutes ahead of me, so I'd actually beaten him.  The course was a bit short of 15km (9.3 miles).  The 6:30 pace was a bit disappointing, but I did make it through and hopefully didn't get my groin/glute much worse than it was heading in. 

 

1 Waylon Kurts                  Middlesex, VT          M19    53:58

2 Dave Dunham                Bradford, MA M57    59:30

3 Alex McHenry                 S Burlington VT       M55    1:01:41

4 Seth Kutikoff                  Manhattan, KS         M32    1:01:55

5 Jeffery Jodoin                 Milton, VT     M52    1:02:40

 

Next up (06/12/21) was the second race in CAR series, this one had a name that tells it all – Over the River and through the Woods. This course started at Delta Dental in Concord, climbed up over route 93 then crossed over the Merrimack River on what has to be the narrowest bike path ever.  After that there is a mile of cross-country trails along the banks of the River before returning over the bridge.  An hour before the race I met up with some of my “Duct tape and spit” teammates along with a few others for a very enjoyable warm-up course preview.  What we didn’t know at the time was that the course had been altered due to “covid reasons”. The changes would make the course a little longer than 5k and would somehow lessen congestion (?).  I knew that Tim Cox (5 seconds) and Joe Shairs (10 seconds) would be catching me in the early going.  Tim caught me at ¼ mile and we stayed together as Joe stormed by at ½ mile.  I was happy to make it through the race without running into anyone.  My goal was to run under 6:00 pace so I can’t complain with my 18:41 (5:59 pace for 3.13 miles).  I was also happy to top the age graded masters category.  I was surprised to hear afterward that some people did not do the loop around the building and ended up cutting 45-60 seconds off of the course. 

Place  Time   Pace   Name            Age    Bib     City, State     Div pl  Div    

1        16:47  5:25   Warren Bartlett       23      1        Loudon, NH   01/14          M2029

2        16:53  5:27   Matthew Adams       23      6        Concord, NH 02/14          M2029

3        16:56  5:27   Michael Mott 18      3        Alton, NH      01/10 M1519

10      18:08  5:51   Joe Shairs     53      11      Peabody, MA 01/26 M5059          CMS

11      18:41  6:01   Dave Dunham         57      8        Bradford, MA 02/26          M5059 Duct Tape & Spit

15      19:25  6:15   Doug Deangelis       54      19      Newbury, MA 05/26          M5059 Duct Tape & Spit

20      20:09  6:29   Darin Brown  54      23      Madison, NH 08/26 M5059          Duct Tape & Spit

27      20:37  6:38   Scott Clark    55      14      Gilmanton, NH         09/26          M5059 Duct Tape & Spit

36      21:23  6:53   James Pawlicki        46      38      Lynn, MA      01/16          M4049 Duct Tape & Spit

 

Barry Scanlon from the Lowell Sun wrote a nice article about the 1989 Mt Washington road race which is still the closest finish in the history of the race (1 second).  I had a lot of fun meeting up with Hodgie at Shedd Park in Lowell for some reminiscing.

I was struggling a bit with a hip/groin/adductor but still managed to run in 20 towns in Vermont over a long weekend. It was fun driving around and basically running for 30 minutes then driving 30 minutes over the span of 5 hours.

The final race of June was the I had some troubles leading into the race as my adductor was really bothering me for nearly two weeks.  On race morning it was already closing on 80 degrees and very humid as I got together with some of my teammates for a 3 mile warm-up.  After warming up and feeling pretty decent I changed into race shoes, ditched the singlet and headed over to the start.  This would be the first mass start race in the series. I’d be keying off of Jim Angel and Ernie Brake.  Ernie was already 10 seconds up by the mile (6:06) and pulling away. I got Ernie by 3 miles and he offered some encouragement as I went by.  I kept it together into the finish and was surprised to finish in 20^th overall.  I got the 50+ age group victory by exactly 1 minute (over Angel) and Ernie and I had a good battle in the Age Graded category where I got another slim victory.

50+ age group results

Pl       O'all    Time   Name            Age    City    St       Team

1        20      38:28  Dave Dunham         57      Bradford        MA      Duct tape and spit

2        28      39:27  Jim Angell              57      Hopkinton     NH      Kezar lake

3        32      39:48  Ernest Brake          59      North Sutton NH      Kezar lake

4        35      40:27  Terrence Ferns        52      New London  NH      Kezar lake

5        36      41:08  Doug Deangelis       54      Newbury       MA      Duct tape and spit

6        37      41:14  Darin Brown           54      Madison        NH      Duct tape and spit

7        61      45:32  Ben Strauss            50      New Boston  NH     

8        65      46:03  Vincent Perelli        57      Penacook      NH     

9        66      46:15  Stephen Landry       52      Penacook      NH     

10      69      46:42  Douglas Smith         56      Penacook      NH