It was a challenge right off the bat this
morning. We are on busy road right away, have to negotiate a traffic circle, over some rough railroad tracks, and in to a tunnel where there is no lighting, wet concrete which is slippery with holes filled with water making it very hard to see. But, everyone made it safely. Right after that we have to ride through dirt and gravel in a construction site for 1/2 mile. We are on very busy roads all the way to the first SAG. Chet's family is there to meet everyone with lots of peanut butter sandwiches and other treats.
Leaving the SAG we ride 3 miles to find the Bennington monument, which stands 306' or 93 meters high. It celebrates a victory by the colonists over the British "Red Coats" in 1777. There is also some very typical new England houses that we ride by. A mile after that is the Vermont state line where we sprinkle some sand. When we leave there the directions show that we start a 7 mile climb. The grade is not that bad but the road is not good with bad shoulder in places and lots of big trucks. The support van is waiting at the 7 mile point so I thought the climbing was over but it went on for another 2 miles. We eventually find some decent descent as it is 8% grade downhill for 2 miles. We make it to the second SAG at mile 56.
We leave the SAG and have a 3 mile climb up Hogback mountain where there is the "100 mile view" at a rest area. We then have more rollers all the way down to Brattleboro. Sarah knows of a nice restaurant so we stop there and have an excellent lunch.
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