Hello everyone,

Somedays rain must fall and as we have been living in a bubble, the odds finally caught up with us. I also made a strategic mistake in that I assumed the cloud cover did not mean rain and the coolness in the air would go away. I was wrong. As one friend used to tell me, you are often wrong but seldom in doubt.

When we left in the morning and wandered through Albany, I was cool but not cold and he sun occasionally peeked out. We were riding in a big group of most of the 7:30 departure riders and we hit a lot of lights riding out of Albany and crossing the Hudson River. When we got into the country we had quite a few short and steep climbs and I started to get warmer and actually hot. I only wore a jersey with no arm covers and did not bring a rain jacket. However, as the groups began to separate and I chased some of the lead groups, the temperature seemed to keep dropping and the cloud cover increased. I was getting pretty cold on the descents and that caused me to slow quite a bit.

When I reached the first SAG at mile 25, I was so cold when I stopped cycling that I jumped right and the bike and kept going. That part of the ride took us through the town of Bennington and I started to feel a few isolated rain drops. This was after the Vermont state line and I basically just threw my sand at the sign and kept riding. Around mile 35, in Bennington, the drops came a little more and I began a 6.3 miles climb with the second set quite a bit steeper. It was just sprinkling at this point but my mind kept dwelling on the fact that i didn’t bring a rain jacket and warmer clothing.  I was riding alone but saw a couple of riders up ahead.

The van and truck was at the top of the climb and then the deluge started. I was cold and Tracy asked me if I wanted my rain jacket and spend the truck so I could retrieve them from my bags. That helped some but I was told the temps dropped into the 40’s and I already was pretty wet. From that point we had a big descent and the next SAG was at mile 53 13 miles away. I had to slow on the descent because of the cold and my brakes didn’t function very well wet. It was a moot point as speed was just too cold anyway. Part of the way down, I caught up with Ian and we rode to the Sag together. The rain abated some but it was still cold but occasionally the sun peeked out.

The SAG was at a stored and I went inside for something warm to drink. I was shivering so bad that Tracy said I should change cloths. I got a dry jersey, a vest, a pair of neoprene gloves and socks. I spent over an hour at the SAG drying ou, eating and warming up. As luck would have the sun was shining when I was ready to leave.

We had another climb up Hogback Mountain and then a descent into Brattleboro. In total another 20 miles or so. It actually warmed up enough that I was over dressed and too warm. I ride in with Chris from Scotland whom I have not ridden very much with. He is pretty funny and afterwards we went to the store to get some chow. I also cleaned up my bike nodded laundry as I was now out of clean cloths for the remaining two days of riding.

Tomorrow is a 90 mile ride to just outside eBoston. Right now, I am feeling pretty tired and congested. I have not felt quite right the last couple of days and the lack of good judgement n my part may make tomorrow’s ride a lot harder. In the end we have been living in a bubble and this day doesn’t change the fact hat we have had extraordinary good luck on this trip.

Thanks for reading

~Chuck