Day 47

Albany, NY to Brattleboro, VT -- 79 miles -- Today was a spectacular day! I think it was my favorite day of the whole tour. We only have one more day to ride so tomorrow's ride better be perfect if it's going to beat today. Maybe it was God smiling down on us due to the blessing by Father Michael, Don Behrens' pastor, who came to the hotel to see us off this morning. The five of us who have been attending mass each week stayed around for an extra 15 minutes so we could receive his blessing but it was worth it. He was a humorous and delightful man and we wanted to be there for Don, as well. He has raised over $25,000 for the Catholic Charities Emergency Relief Fund for the Diocese of Albany. This group really rolled out the welcome mat for us by providing two SAG stops fully stocked with homemade brownies and all sorts of cookies and drinks. How I'm going to go back to my Weight Watchers lifestyle after eating like this for two months I'll never know! I'd love to know the average calorie consumption of our group on a daily basis! Anyway, back to the ride itself. The weather was perfect. It had rained during the night -- as it has almost every night for the past two weeks -- but by morning the skies were clear and the wind was blowing gently out of the west. We've had a tailwind almost every day since we got into Missouri. We paid our dues the first part of the trip with horrendous head and crosswinds, that's for sure, so we were due a change there. We crossed our 12Th state line when we crossed into Vermont just outside of Bennington. I have biked in the Bennington area before when I did a bike trip with Walt and Claudia Stallings and Debbie Mickel a year ago last October. We had a continuous 7-mile climb coming up outside Bennington which was very similar to the climbs we've done many times out in Colorado. The descent was fast, fun and scenic. I topped out at 45 mph and I was holding back a little. Our German father and son team, Achim and Alex, reached 53 mph which I had no trouble believing. They have a slow go of it on the climbs with their tandem recumbent machine, but boy can they fly on the flats and downhills. We had another SAG stop at mile 52 and still had more climbing to go but it wasn't that bad. The Green Mountains are a beautiful place to ride and I'd love to bring Lee back here to do the very ride we did today. Brattleboro is a charming Vermont town with lots of quaint shops and restaurants. Four of us opted to walk to a barbecue place about a mile from the hotel and it was one of the best meals we've had the whole tour! I have to admit I had my doubts about barbecue in Vermont but they nailed it. It also probably tasted so good because we had ridden nearly 80 miles and climbed over 6,100 feet without stopping for lunch (that's if you don't count string cheese and triscuits as lunch). We're all getting a little bit sad that tomorrow is our last day. It's a strange feeling. We've been together for 7 weeks and I do mean together! We've shared breakfast every single day, SAG stops, riding experiences, laundry duties and group dinners for over 50 days and after Friday night, I may not see most of these people ever again in my lifetime. Tomorrow is going to be a long, difficult day when we go through New Hampshire into Massachusetts heading for our final destination of Burlington (89 miles).