It was an early morning start today (6:15 am) to try and beat the heat, and potential rain. We did beat the rain in, however even though my stats list 88 for the temperature at the end of my ride, the feels like was 93 and it even got warmer by late afternoon.
There were four pretty good climbs today. One was at least an 11% grade and several were 7-8% climbs. For me, that was tough. For my friends who have been riding for 65 days, they “weren’t so bad.” I am so impressed on how much strength and stamina they all have. There was a stretch of brand-new asphalt which made for smooth riding. When we were stopped by a flagman for the one-lane section of the road, he said if the group had come six weeks earlier, it would have been a pot-holed rough road. So happy that this time, the group had good luck with a road.
We also had a couple of interesting stops along the way. The first was at the Appalachian/Log Trail Trailhead. We got off of our bikes and walked a short distance to a bridge over the river. If you were on the bridge by yourself, it wasn’t too scary. However, when several people were on it, it moved/swayed and made me uncomfortable. The bridge was actually a replacement over the Clarendon Gorge in memory of Bob Brugmann who was “lost at this site while hiking the trail he loved.”
The next stop was a local bakery called Sweet Surrender Bakery. This is when I discovered I did not have my wallet. I was in a panic as I thought I had lost it as I specifically had told my roommate the night before that I was putting it in my bike bag – only I didn’t. I called the tour director who found my duffel bag, and with careful instructions by me over the phone, he found my wallet. I was beyond relieved. Wallet-less, Linda treated me to a scrumptious raspberry oatmeal bar and a cup of coffee.
Not too much later, we were flagged off the road by the tour director so that we could see an old covered bridge that was off the main road on a short gravel road. It reminded me of the movie Bridges of Madison County. Yep, I’m showing my age.
The Connecticut River was alongside much of our ride today, and it provided beautiful scenery. I took quite a few more pictures today and had a tough time whittling them down.
Another exciting moment for me was when I reached the hotel and was talking to friends on the ride, the tour director put my brand new bike shoes on my bike seat. I turned around to look at something else and realized they were there. I literally jumped in surprise. No more duct taped shoes for the remainder of the ride!
We overnighted at “the common man” inn. It was originally part of the Monadnock Mills. The “Sawtooth mill, originally the forge shop of the former Joy Manufacturing Complex became an adaptive reuse project. The Common Man was one of the first occupants.
We had dinner at Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza. I opted for a Greek Salad, mainly because we had a late lunch, and I ate heartily at that late lunch!
Stats from the day:
Start city: Fair Haven, VT
End city: Claremont, NH
Miles: 64
Total miles to date: 232
Pedaling time: 4:40
Avg. speed: 13.7
Feet climbed: 2,546
Wind: start: SSE 4 mph; end SW 6 mph
Temperature extremes: 73 at ride start, 88 at ride finish
Sunrise at the start of Day 4
Climbing one of the small hills. Fred & Janet near the top of the hill with Linda closest to me.
ALong our route today.
We rode past an Appalachian Trail (AT) Trailhead. We got out and hiked to a bridge.
The bridge along the AT.
More along the AT.
We stopped at a local bakery and the pastries were delicious, This is when I discovered that my wallet was missing.
We had to detour off our route just a few hundred feet to see this nice covered brideg.
The view from the covered bridge.
View of the Connecticut River which we rode alongside for much of the day.
We entered New Hampshire with about six miles left in the day.
The lobby of the hotel, The Common Man, in Claremont.
