Day 42, Ticonderoga, NY to Fairlee, VT

Today I rode 94.28 miles with 6,531 ft. of elevation gain. Some would describe today’s weather as atrocious. It was cold and raining all day long. I personally found it to be very enthralling. I had never ridden a bicycle in such conditions. There certainly was the element of danger due to the slick road conditions but the added challenge made it so much more rewarding for me.

We embarked on the Fort Ti Ferry which transported us, our bicycles and the support vehicles across Lake Champlain from NY to Vermont. The ferry connects the Lake George and Adirondack regions of New York, with the Middlebury and central Green Mountain areas of Vermont.

I entered Vermont, the 14^th state of my journey. Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Vermont is the 6th smallest in area and the 2nd least populous of the 50 United States. It is the only New England state not bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Lake Champlain forms half of Vermont's western border, which it shares with the state of New York. The Green Mountains are within the state. Vermont is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east across the Connecticut River, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. I now have only New Hampshire and Maine left. Two more days and I will complete the West to East crossing of the U.S.A. I have 141 miles of riding left to reach the Atlantic Ocean at Portland, Maine on Monday.

This is the only photograph with all the 22 riders in it. Did you count? You got 23, did you not? Well, 5th from left is Scott Heather, one of the guides. As all of us disembarked from the ferry together and got ready to saddle up and start riding, a thought struck my mind and I quickly acted upon it. I suggested that before we go our own way through the day, this would be a perfect moment to capture all of us in a photograph and here it is. The credit for this photograph goes to Joanne Ernst. Our guide Dave Edwards also snapped a picture with his very fancy camera with a lens that juts out about 2 feet. I am hoping to be able to get my hands on that photo as that should be more detailed with better definition and contrast.

Even though it rained all day, it did not stop me from enjoying the beauty of the Green Mountains of Vermont.

Vermont this time of the year is a landscape artist’s dream. The vibrant colors of the season are best captured on the slopes of the mountains of Vermont.

The highlight of the day for me was the teamwork that made the descent of Brandon Gap possible for me. As I reached the Gap, my guide Amy inquired about how I was doing. Was I cold? Was I wet? Was I hungry or thirsty? Did I want to take a “bump” and ride in the support van down the steep slopes coming up? There were 7 riders that were doing exactly that. No sooner had I stated my personal decision to ride the descent that there was a flurry of activity around me. One person handed me a banana and as I shed my rain jacket to reach my day bag strapped to my back to reach my rain pants, another person started peeling the banana for me. As I took a bite at a time, someone held the banana in their hand for me while I put my rain pants and rain jacket back on. I suddenly found myself with 5 pairs of hands. Holly, a very experienced bicyclist joined Amy in rattling safety instructions to me knowing how green I am at this bicycling thing. The folks sitting in the support vehicles also were prodding me on with encouraging words. And finally, Evan Mirapaul, a fellow rider who was done for the day peeled off his very fancy neoprene gloves and handed them to me. He helped me remove my wet and soggy gloves and don his warm and waterproof gloves. Would it not have been for that, I would have had very cold and stiff fingers on the descent adding to the danger. Nicole was busy with her GoPro camera capturing the moment along with her commentary. And then I was off. All this took no longer than 3 minutes. Would it have taken longer, I would have started to get chilled and hypothermic eliminating my possibility of going for the descent from Brandon Gap. 

My wish is that people reading this blog try to apply this principle of teamwork in their daily lives and see for themselves how much more can be accomplished with this kind of a mindset. I will never forget this day for as long as I live. My eyes are welling up with tears as I think of the selfless generosity of my fellow riders and wrap up this blog for today.

Goodnight.