May 22, 2025
Day 11 Stuck in Rochester
Nor’easter delay
No map and no average speed.
A Nor’easter is hitting the East Coast and its fringes are affecting this side of Vermont. Ad and I have spent the last two days looking at forecasts and trying to figure out what it means on the ground. Complicating things is that my next ride is a climb above 2,000 ft, which translates into snow. Complicating things even further was the talk about Rochester about now even in Rochester. So, in the name of safety, I decided to stay back today. It really was not a hard call because of the risk and because I haven’t had a real rest day since the start, although I have had some low mileage days which provided some good rest.
So, I slept in - not really. I still woke up at 6am and looking for the rain outside. None. I kept looking and the rain here did not start until 11am. And the it was light. So, in retrospect, I probably could have made a run at it.
Instead I hung out at this lovely B&B, the Pumpkin Patch, with its very nice owners Debbie and Rich, and their daughter Karissa. The room and whole house is very homey and their friendliness makes it more so. Breakfast was great and the conversation with Rich after was very entertaining. He’s a good story teller and I enjoyed listening to his knowledge of this history of this house (1823), the modifications prior owners made to make the fire burn hotter to heat the house, stories about his son, his bands (he’s a drummer), his career with a cell tower company and Rich’s Navy stories.
Their daughter Karissa, now 40ish, lives with them. She is a person with disability and requires all day attention. The love that Debbie and Rich show her and she back is inspiring. She is a central part of their purpose in life. In fact, one of the reasons they moved to Vermont from New Jersey was to give her better social services. That seems surprising given the comparative size of NJ vs. Vermont, but demonstrates the strong social services in this state. Karissa has an aide, Patricia, who spends the day with her doing an activity. Today it was bowling, which she has been doing for years. The big balls, not candlepin. The real thing! Debbie and Rich tell me that they don’t have candlepin in NJ - it’s a New England thing - like tonic.
I took a walk to the bike store for a revisit after a quick bike check there yesterday. I talked to Dune and he told me the Brandon Gap climb, where I’m heading to tomorrow, is easier than the Middlebury Gap, which I’ve done in past rides, so that was good to hear. Also, Kancamagus Gap, which I did a few days again, is, in his view, harder than Brandon Gap, also good to hear. He did say I should expect snow! - but it bounces off you not like rain. Good spin! And I was worried about the heat (heat is still the worst).
So, while at the store, I bought some real winter gloves. The Showers Pass gloves I have are good, but this heavier set will provide some peace of mind.
The rest of the day was spent ruminating about the weather and what clothes setup should I use (e.g. rain paints or not if it’s not raining - too much time on my hands!). I’ve converged on a working solution, but I think a few more hours of thinking about it should help (!!).
Rochester is a quaint little town and good stop over place traveling east to west on Route 100. The restaurant Maple Soul last night was excellent. The Rochester Cafe is an excellent breakfast and lunch restaurant which I’ve visited in the past. The grocery store is completely stocked. The hardware store has everything you need - but no surprise they don’t have GoPro mounts to replace the one I broke in Lincoln. (Walmart in Ticonderoga for that). And I took advantage of the downtime to do some laundry at the laundromat. A full service town.
So, up and out early tomorrow to take on Brandon Gap and on to Ticonderoga.
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