May 16, 2021
Day 11: Rochester, VT to Ticonderoga, NY
Middlebury Gap, Bears, and I'm Banned in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria
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Climbing Today; 2,997 ft Climbing to Date; 27,632 ft
I'm not a big fan of B&B's, but staying at the Pumpkin Patch in Rochester, VT allowed us to be inside. Rich and Debbie run the place, and they do a very good job of it. The place is a bit old (i.e. "quaint") but it was comfortable enough if you ignore the fact that my bed leaned to one side and Doc's felt like he was in a hammock. They made us a real incredible breakfast though, and we needed it for the day's labor that included the climb to Middlebury Gap. But we needed to leave and get going, and this is why I don't like B&B's; you feel obligated to socialize with the proprietors even when you need to do other things. At any rate, we had planned to leave by 07:30 and while I managed to get rolling at 08:10, Doc got caught up in conversation and wasn't able to break free until a bit later.
The climb up Middlebury Gap wasn't too difficult until the last 2 miles, and then the grade steepened significantly. This was the only hill we have climbed so far that I would rate as being as tough as the Appalachian climbs on the Transam route. It was hard. I spun up in my granny gear and stopped many times for breaks, and near the top I was stopping every tenth of a mile or so. It was an exhausting climb, but we made it. At the top we chatted up some Harley riders and talked motorcycles and bicycles - they were pretty blown away by what we are doing.
"May the Road Rise Up to Meet You" - it did indeed.
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We cruised on from Middlebury Gap, anxious to put in some miles cause this was going to be a long day. There is a ferry that operates and transports passengers from Ticonderoga, NY to the Vermont side. It was closed down in 2020 due to the pandemic, but the website says it will reopen in mid-May. Well, it's mid-May but the ferry isn't running just yet. Unfortunately for us, that meant we had to detour north to the nearest bridge and add 13 miles to our day.
The good news that came from the detour is that we saw a mother bear and cub! Doc spotted them in the woods near the road when we rolled past. The cub was frightened of us and climbed a tree - fortunately it didn't yell and cause the mother to rush to it's defense - it shinnied down the tree and ran to mom and they disappeared into the woods. When Doc saw the bears he shouted and I finally spotted them. Doc had put his camera away cause we were headed into a rainstorm, so he couldn't get a picture. I was wearing the GoPro on my helmet but it had gone to sleep and wouldn't respond to my voice commands - so finally I grabbed my camera from my handlebar bag and barely got off a shot as the animals fled. It's not a good picture but it really is a picture of a bear - honest.
We had a great lunch at a little country store - they made some fantastic sandwiches, and the owner told us we could eat on the balcony of his upstairs living quarters. We were in a hurry because it looked like we were headed right into a rainstorm, so we ate half our sandwiches and took the other half for the road. Long story short, the storm missed us and we stayed dry other than a few stray drops.
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We rode across a bridge over Lake Champlain - how cool is that, we bicycled over a Great Lake! Doc and I argued whether Champlain is a Great Lake - he was right in that it is NOT actually a great lake. It's kind of complicated though, because for a brief period in 1998 the United States government officially recognized Lake Champlain as one of the Great Lakes. But apparently it isn't big enough to be considered a Great Lake. So anyway, we rode our bikes across Lake Champlain.
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When we reached the other side, we were in New York! So we have traversed Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont so far.
We won't get through New York so quickly - it will take us 10 days or so.
Found Money Update. The found money fund has increased a bit. Yesterday I found 12 cents on a picnic table, and today 2 more cents were added at a convenience store stop. So now the fund stands at $1.28 and we have barely gotten started, so it seems likely the "found money" fund will be able to buy that cup of coffee at ride's end after all.
Banned in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria. So this whole video thing is new to me. I have a youtube channel so I can upload my videos and then link to them on this journal. Yesterday's video showing snippets of our ride through Vermont plus Doc and me talking was apparently offensive to the aforementioned governments. They claim that I violated their copyrighted material, and they have now banned me. I'm not kidding. I got an email from Youtube explaining that my video was banned by those countries for copyright infringement. Apparently it isn't something that concerns Youtube, because they said it won't count as a copyright strike against me. Unfortunately, it means that my loyal followers in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria will not be able to see today's video either. Be glad that you can see it - if those rogue governments banned it, it probably won't be long before Oklahoma and Arkansas follow suit. Good night all...
Today's ride: 57 miles (92 km)
Total: 476 miles (766 km)
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