Sunday, July 20th: Brattleboro, VT
Only two days left after today, and we entered our penultimate state, Vermont. The 'mont' part should give you a clue - it has hills. And today was the day my legs decided to go awol. I was useless any time the road went up, almost as if my bike and I had never been formally introduced.
The day started at the by-now-earlier time of 0700, another clue that the day might be demanding, into light drizzle. After only a handful of miles, however, we were all getting wetter from the inside via perspiration, than from the drizzle, so at the top of the first hill, still in town, jackets were peeled off and stuffed in pockets.
SAG 1 was at 27 miles (<30 to me and my group, because we had already gone wrong twice) on the parking lot of a Mobil station, half way down the gradual descent towards Old Bennington. Michelle dished out some anti-indigestion tablets to me, which worked just fine for a while, but the problem came back later, after the long climb out of Old Bennington. At the next SAG (58 miles) I got a whole bagful!
Another, shorter, climb took us to the summit of Hogback Mountain at >60 miles, and then it was plain sailing as we dropped down to Brattleboro at the foot. Our first Red Roof Inn hosted us for the night. Dinner was at the 99 Restaurant, our first. Not too bad at all - pesto penne.
Mileage today : 82
Cumulative : 3918