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.