5-H:
Horrid, Hot, Humid, Hazy, & Hilly; An absolutely brutal day when you put than many H's in a row. The day started off with a horrid breakfast in the hotel lobby. Then I stepped out side into the next three H's (The temperature here in Brattleboro hit 97 F to set a record high). Within the next twenty minutes of being on the bike I got to the hilly part of the ride.
Today's 80 miles took us from Albany NY to Brattleboro VT, though some of the most scenic roads we have been on. The tree lined country roads, the gorgeous heritage homes, the white church steeples, and great road conditions make this a wonderful biker paradise. If it was only 30 F cooler this would have been the ride of the tour.
The highlight of the day had to be visiting the Bennington Revolutionary War memorial. There I met Oscar a 3 year old black Newfoundland. He was visiting the memorial with his family from Connecticut. The Bennington Revolutionary war memorial was built in late 1880's and is a three hundred foot granite obelisk , and the tallest structure in Vermont. During the Revolutionary war the Continental army was in full retreat towards Bennington but they got to the Bennington supply depot, defeated the British, who had no supplies, and then forced the British to carry on to Saratoga. This turn of events enabled Benjamin Franklin, who was in France, to convince French to join with the Revolutionaries. The French wanted to be on the winning side,(somethings never change). Oscar sure knew a lot about American history but then he claimed to the a history student. He also thought that it was way to hot, but was glad to be in the air conditioned van rather than on a bike.
Next up came the 7.5 mile climb to the summit of the Green Mountain. Tracy stopped to dump ice water on me which sure helped and got me to the 5 mile mark. At that point there was a stream that was running along the road so I went and sat in the stream to try and cool off. The water was no more than 65 F as it was flowing from the big ski area on the top of Green mountain. It worked and at the top Tracy was waiting with more ice water. On the decent I hit a top speed of 46 mph.
By the time I got to the hotel my heart was pounding and I had to lie down for about 45 minutes in order to get my heart rate under control.
Today's pictures are of the Bennington monument. It is really quite a monument and seeing it has inspired me to come back to this area to further explore to sights of Vermont. I had no idea that this sort of history and beauty existed.
Two days left - unbelievable!
Terry
3 comments:
You forgot one H, H#!@ on wheels! When you said you met a black newfoundland, I thought you meant a dog and were missing your Bouvie's. Thought maybe you had heat stroke and were hallucinated when you said you learned alot from him. Hummmm! Maybe, I have heat stroke. It is finally summer in Calgary. Enjoy your final 2 days.
Chris
Lucky dog got to sit in the air-conditioned van . . . I took Phantom and Xena for a walk to the crosswalk where 53rd turns into 40th and ended up having to tow Phantom back most of the way . . . and it was only about 18 at the time.
Brutally hot ride today . . . nearly done, wheel dipping on Friday am?
Ride safe,
Agnes
Terry, one more big ride with some elevation, then it's downhill the rest of the way. Perhaps another swimming hole along the way. Enjoy the last two days, keep up the good work.
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