Biking in Sept

 It is never a good sign when I’ve been biking a lot, typically that indicates an injury. September was one of those months. I ended up with 500.2 miles on the bike over 30.75 hours. Most of that was in the final 2 weeks of the month as I eased back on the running and built up the biking. It looks like October will also be a biking month as I’m slated to take at least 2 weeks with just one short (3 or 4 miles) run a day. I’ll try to get in at least 2 hours a day on the bike during that time. Hopefully after that I’ll be able to ease off the bike and slowly ramp up the running. Time will tell.

This is my "old" bike. I still try to get out there on it at least once a year. 1997 Bianci Strada

Biking in Vermont

 Earlier this year I biked across Vermont on the Lamoille rail trail. About 10 miles from the finish, I crossed the Missisquoi rail trail. That got me thinking about riding the Missisquoi as well. I’d run sections of the trail while on my quest to run in every city/town in VT which I completed in 2021. The Missisquoi was like the Lamoille with a gravel surface but clocked in at 26.1 miles in one direction (the Lamoille is the longest rail trail in New England at 96 miles). I had booked a campsite at Lake Carmi state park which was about half-way through the rail trail. I had to laugh at the write-up about Lake Carmi calling it “the fourth largest lake located entirely within the state of Vermont”. Wow, they were really digging for some superlative! I’d decided to bike an end-to-end-to-end (52.2 miles) which would eliminate any logistics for getting to the start but would make for a long day as I’d only been biking one day a week (2 hours). I’d met up with Tom Anderson, a former CMS and GLRR teammate and rival from college days when he ran for Keene State, and he was interested in doing the ride as well. I chose the day after Labor Day for the ride with the following day in the event of foul weather.

 

I headed up to Lake Carmi on Labor Day with a couple of enjoyable runs along the way. I was not pleased to find that the lake itself was closed due to algae blooms. So much for swimming. I settled into the comfortable lean-two and was a bit surprised to wake up at 4 a.m. to steady rain. I had not seen that in the forecast. I made my way to St Albans and got in a short run as my knee was really bothering me, but I did not want to take a “zero” day. Tom was a bit late, which turned out to be good as the steady rain got lighter (and would end by about 30 minutes into the ride). I put on a bunch of layers, but Tom chose to just go in shorts and t-shirt. It was 65 degrees and humid even after the rain ended and we got a few brief views of the sun. At 8:40 we were off!

 

I warmed up quickly as the pace was solid. Tom could easily ride 5 mph faster than me (or more) but he was aware going in that my goal was 13 mph for the round trip which would bring us home in about 4 hours. I was on the pedals the entire time, no coasting. As the trail is a former railroad bed the climbs and descents are minimal (never exceeding 2%). Tom would do a couple of pedal strokes and then coast as I caught up. We’d repeat this for the whole ride. The trail was scenic with views of farms and mountains and long stretches through corn fields. There were a few road crossings of busy route 105 that required caution but otherwise it was a beautiful trail. Tom told many stories as we rolled along and I conserved oxygen just giving nods, laughs, and the occasional “yes”. We reached Richford in 1:56, so a little ahead of schedule, and stopped for less than a minute to get a picture and turn around. I had a couple of “chomps” to avoid running out of fuel but did not drink any water for the ride (never really got thirsty). I started to get tired after 40 miles when my lack of long bike rides began to show. We didn’t slow down, but my effort increased. I began counting down the miles as every half mile was marked and every half mile was a small victory. We ended up coming back in 1:56 for a total time of 3:52 which worked out to 13.5 mph. I was happy with the effort and Tom seemed to have a good time (despite me holding him back). It turned out to be a nice day and by 1 p.m. I was on the road back to camp for a LONG hot shower and some relaxation time.

 

at the turn

at the finish

I'm fourth from the left and Tom is fifth - 1984 NCCA XC Champs (11th and 10th pl)

Looking back August 1996

30 Years ago (August 1996) - I raced three times, twice in Europe on the “Mountain Circuit”. I started the month with a 2nd place finish at the Bridge of Flowers 10 KM which also served as the USATF NE championships. I was the New England Champion missing the old course record by 2 seconds but was 32 seconds behind Moroccan Houssine Siba. CMS had a very strong team taking 2nd-7th place!

 

1 Houssine Siba                 23M Kingston, NY              1/77            31:10 5:02

2 Dave Dunham                32M Bradford, MA    CMS    1/156            31:42 5:07

3 Mike Nahom                   28M New Milford, CT         CMS    2/77   32:09 5:11

4 Craig Fram                     37M Plaistow, NH    CMS    2/156            32:18 5:13

5 Eric Morse                      31M Barre, VT                   CMS    3/156 32:22 5:13

6 Dan Verrington               34M Bradford, MA    CMS    4/156            32:46 5:17

7 Gary Gardner                  25M Keene, NH                 CMS    3/77   32:46 5:17

18 Richard Bolt                 25M Lunenburg, MA CMS    6/77              34:17 5:32

The last two races were European Mountain races leading up to the World championship. I was sick during the trip and never felt ready to race. I managed a 5th place finish at the Challenge Stellina in Susa Italy (5,000’ of climb) and a third at the Kitzbuhlerhorn race in Kitzbuhel Austria (4,000’ of climb). Kitzbuhel is an unusual race as the race gets steeper as you progress. The last 500 meters is marked out in 100 meter increments. My last 100m took 37 seconds!

Active long weekend

 I kicked off July with a long weekend of running, biking, hiking, and a little swimming. I missed doing the Chelmsford race, but my ankle/foot just did not feel up to racing. On Friday I headed out and got in a nice run on the Londonderry Rail Trail, then onward for a fantastic, rare Friday morning ride. 

A migraine hit which had me feeling off for the remainder of the weekend. I set up camp in Bear Brook and got in a nice swim to cool off. The water was bathtub-warm but still felt good to get out of the heat and humidity. 

After that I headed over to Epsom for a run up to the highest point. It was buggy and the footing was a bit rough over the 1.1 miles that climbed over 600’. The view was terrific, but the haze cut down on what I was able to see. It was a rough night with temps only getting down to 70 and high humidity. 

I got up a couple of times to see if I could catch the International Space Station, but low clouds kept it out of sight. 

I got in a very buggy run on the camp road and ended up with welts all over my back from deerflies feasting on me. I woke up with something wrong with my left ear which was not feeling right. I headed over to Concord for a nice Holiday group run and checked out the ceremony at the capital building.

 After that I headed over to Bow for a hike to the town high point. The unofficial trail to the summit became overgrown after 100 meters so I bushwacked straight to the top. The summit was covered in blueberries and featured a nice view that like the previous day, was obscured due to haze.

 After catching the fireworks, I decided to head for the hospital as I now had no hearing in one ear. I was worried it might be related to my migraine but also thought it could be water from the swim that I couldn’t get out. I ended up spending 6 hours in the waiting room overnight and another hour getting my ear taken care of (water and wax). It was a relief to get my hearing back, but I was exhausted from being up over 24 hours

. No time to rest as I headed over to the Northern Rail Trail for a nice 10 mile run in the much more refreshing conditions (68-74 degrees but lower humidity). I checked out the geocache near the Hannah Dustin statue and after that it was on to the always fun Sunday ride, closing out the weekend with a nice 2 hour ride in optimal conditions.

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:

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.