Middlebury, VT - Sept 16-18

 

Woke up to grey skies and mist/drizzle so took the morning for leisurely breakfast, blog writing and work.  Adventured out around noon south on the "mansions to mills" tour, towards Brandon.  After a false start on Creek Rd (dirt, and closed a mile down), and a second false start on South Ridge (dirt, and gates) we got into some nice open fields, farms and mostly quiet back roads (with some spurts on route 7). Saw a few mansions (including the Shard Villa) in Brandon, but nothing like Saratoga Springs. And no mills.   Took an extra loop towards Shoreham over some long climbs & screaming descents.  Never really stopped for lunch, but got swiss rolls (Jon), a cookie (Mark) and chocolate milk to power us back to Middlebury for last night, and good pizza in nice outdoor setting at flatbreads.  50 miles. 

Last day of 5780 (ride of the day - appropriately/mysteriously named land of milk and honey) we got one of our earliest starts (9.30 - yeah, bike trip schedule is tough) on one of the VT signature rides,  up to vergennes and then over and south along the shore of lake champlain.  Day was crystal clear, thanks to the 'Canadian cold front' and its brutal headwind out of the north.  Other than a free ride south along the lake,  we fought a cross breeze much of the day.  Nice farms, quiet roads, some wooded scenes and great vistas as we rode up and down over rolling hills. Finished with a trip to the co-op, then long drive east on back roads to meet up with i-89 and the way home. 46 miles. 

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