I've read about folks riding the gravel roads of Vermont, and so I jumped at the chance to play hooky from the
Jenny Brook bluegrass festival on Saturday, riding a
23-mile loop up from the
Tunbridge World's Fairgrounds into the Central Vermont hills, 3442' of elevation gain, up hill and down dale in the towns of Tunbridge, Chelsea, Vershire, and Stafford. This ride included a lot of
long, slow climbs and long, fast descents (hit 49 mph on one of them), with a sampler of Vermont road surfaces, from smooth pavement (just the thing for a fast descent) to well-graded gravel to rougher gravel to a Class 4, abandoned road whose roadbed had turned into a streambed for a quarter mile (got wet feet on that one). The route was chosen after staring at about a half-dozen maps of the same area, which disagreed with each other on key points in a surprising number of cases; to some extent, the ride was chosen to test the maps, and to help me learn how to interpret them for Vermont's unique complement of roads.
I rode a few blocks on VT 110, along the White River, taking a slight detour to have a look at one of the several covered bridges in Tunbridge.
The Vermont architectural idiom is organic, likable, and endures through use.
Got to Stafford Road and started a long, long climb up from the White River to the highlands to the East. I chose Stafford Road for this initial climb because it looked to have the gentlest grade among the available choices. It is well-paved, and much of it appears to have been recently surfaced. I fell into a climbing groove between a gentle mash and a productive spin, using the low range of the Sugino triple crankset in a way that seemed allow sustained progress with a minimum of dawdling.
Turned off onto a dirt road to have a look at the Stafford Road Cemetery.
At 1500',
after a climb of 1000', I turned North onto County Turnpike, recently graded gravel. This was beautiful and rolling, a pleasure to ride.
One surprising feature were little orange butterflies, in groups of up to a dozen, who sat together on the road surface and fluttered up in clouds as I approached. I'd see them, and others, for the rest of the ride.
To be continued...