Craftsbury Commons

Up Dirty Hill


Down Dirty Hill

​I have been trying to find a good tag line for today's ride, but I have been struggling with it. I might be be a little brain dead after finishing the ride so I will call this the Dirty Hill Ride. Did that get your interest?

​We left the Wildflower Inn after spending a pleasant three nights. My eggs over easy were still very good and they provided enough protein to last me a while. The temperature was about 40 when we rode out and the sky was overcast which made it feel colder. In addition, the first few miles were downhill and the wind chill was extreme.

​The trees along the route were beautiful. Leaves were changing. We saw a lot of red, yellow and gold. They weren't spectacular yet, but they were getting close. We weren't looking at leaves, though, after we turned onto a packed dirt road and started a very steep climb. Most of the hills we climbed before today were very short steep rollers. Not this climb. It was steep for well over two miles. The dirt was vary hard, but there were some sandy patches where we spun our rear wheels and almost caused us to fall. No one fell, luckily. The descent on the other side was tricky. The downhill grade was as steep and we had to keep breaking to avoid rocks and washboard ruts. So, as Anne Shirley, I used my imagination to name this the Dirty Hill. Even though it was a tough climb, it was beautiful with heavy woods lining the road. I was slow. My group had descended before i reached the summit.

​Lunch was at the Craftsbury General Store. It had a lot of necessities on the shelves. Things like worm droppings for compost, hiking boots, fruit, bread and sandwiches. This is where I caught up with the group. I had ham on rustic whole wheat.

​We left the store and rode up to Craftsbury Commons which is a quintessential Vermont village with white buildings and churches arranged around a spacious green. I was riding with Julie Leever and John Beland.

​The rest of the ride was pretty normal passing farms and corn fields until we approached Stowe. We had to ride in very heavy traffic on a road with almost no shoulder. We were very happy to reach the Green Mountain Inn.

​We will be spending two nights in this inn. My room is small but comfortable. I have another very high bed where I have to take a running leap to get into it.

​After cleaning up I went on a search for some good ice cream. I decided that I wanted this more than my normal ride-over beer. The Malt Shop was next to our inn and had lots of flavors. I chose a special chocolate and pumpkin. We have seen lots of pumpkins along our ride, so I thought that I would get into the spirit. I got my beer at Happy Hour.

​Several couples in our group rented cars or went back to Burlington to pick up their cars so that they could finish the ride early. I have never seen this happen before on a BAC ride. Some had places they need to go to. Others wanted to be independent and not ride the designated routes. Because of this, we saluted Julie and Tom at Happy Hour and thanked them for leading the ride.

​I had dinner at the Whip, the inn's restaurant. I had an Octoberfest beer and the house hamburger. I ate with John Beland, Jeff Smith, Trever Frid, Helene Motyka and Michael Calderraro.

​I have to make a decision about a ride tomorrow. I don't want to do another 100k and the shorter 20 mile ride doesn't look very interesting. I might ride to the Ben and Jerry factory and then come back here for the Octoberfest celebration. That should make for a good day.

Today's Ride