Chili Festival Winner!

Last weekend was the Middlebury Winter Carnival and Chili Festival. This was the third annual event which has gained Vermont State wide recognition. It has been picked as one of the top 10 winter events in the Green Mountain state by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce. With the opening of the new Cross Street bridge the organizers were able to shut down Main Street for only pedestrian use. The crowd was estimated to be well over 3,00 people. The big event, the Chili Cook Off had 53 participants with almost 80 different chili entrees. Now that is a bunch of tums. Most entrants were restaurants with some coming down from Burlington. Attendees sampled the chilies and voted for the best. Our Chef Rob's entry of a venison chili gave Jessica's at Swift House Inn recognition as the best game chili. More exciting was it was picked 3rd in show or the third best chili out of 80. Stop buy and sample the chili as it will be on the menu!

Ride Across US Day 14

Well........I am somewhat sadly writing this post from home. Wednesday, Day 14, I rode from New Roads back to Baton Rouge airport, which was 45 miles, rented a car, drove to a bike shop, packed and shipped the bike, drove to New Orleans, spent the night and flew home. I had made the decision on Day 13. This was a good jumping off point and the next was about a week further. The challenges of a solo ride along this remote trail are many, as I've described. I never got "down", upset, or defeated by the numerous weather challenges, wrong routes, difficult roads, bad food, or lousy motels. In fact, on the road I felt great and really strong, and I started the trip in a much better condition than I had the previous trip. I was packed right, had all the right equipment, bike was tuned and I had prepared thoroughly. Having a great friend along the last time made the nights and meals fun and energized you on the road; you could share and motivate each other through hard days, support each other, and laugh at the day. Doing a solo trip you have none of that and that was difficult. Michele has been amazingly supportive and encouraging. Last Monday the Swift House received a 25 plus inch snow storm. Michele spent the next 3 days removing snow, which is my job, along with her work, my other tasks, and the guests. She did this without complaint, as usual for her. So I was struggling with what the impact of my trip was having and with why I had to be riding. I decided that right now there were better and more important things I should be doing. I did not want to be on the road any more. Biking and challenges were fine. Loneliness and not wanting to be there was another story. I am a very lucky person that can just say I do not need to be here and go home. My sons and their friends do not get to do that in their work!
So here I am, at home after the 45 mile "Ride of Shame" back to the airport. I am happy to be back and to have completed a 850 mile ride across FL, AL, MS and part of LA. In Baton Rouge I took my bike to a bike shop that was listed on the Cycling map: Dave's Bike Shop in Baton Rouge. Turns out that it is a one man shop: Dave in his garage in the back of his house. Nice set up and well equipped. Turns out Dave is not only a great guy of my age but a long distance cyclist. He had an article on the wall that showed he had completed the Lewis and Clark Adventure Cycling Route of about 2200 miles. He said to me "yes, but it took me three segment trips as I can't get away from my shop for more that 3 weeks at a time and miss my wife, so I do these trips in segments". Segments he says, not all at once? Wow, never thought of that, amazing! So.........anyone want to ride with me on segment 2 of 3, next year, across Texas on our way to San Diego?? I've done segment one!!

P.S. In the next few days I will be writing down some observations and thoughts about my trip. Things that are probably best left off a blog, about cycling, social comments, driver behavior etc. If you want me to send you a copy just e mail me or ask on the blog. Thank you to all that have followed me, I enjoyed your comments and support. Thank you for the e mails to Michele. I am off to fix a towel rack, I'm back!

Ride Across US Day 13

The second forecast round of severe thunderstorms came through very early in the morning and did not dissipate until about 9 AM. This delayed my start until about 10:30 but what a very comfortable place to be delayed, the Wildflower B&B. The weather was now beautiful, clear and cool. Not to have an uneventful day I had to first detour about 20 miles off route to the south to Zachary LA just north of Baton Rouge. You see I was all comfortable sitting talking with Michele, I stood up forgetting my glasses were on my lap. My first step was on the glasses snapping the fish line that holds the lens in. No problem, ride to the nearest Walmart eye care center get them fixed. The Adventure cycling route is on some highways but mostly back roads and small towns. The ride to Walmart was along a somewhat busy highway with wide but terrible shoulders, not a problem just ride. Arriving at the Walmart I walked the bike into the entrance lobby while many watched in surprise, had my glasses fixed, for free and had lunch at Subway. Back on the road and headed north east to rejoin the route. There is a supplemental Cycling route on the Adventure Trail route that goes into the Baton Rouge Airport so I quickly picked that up heading out. My day was going to be a short ride again because of the weather and glasses delay, oh well. I road to St Francisville, a very pretty river town and took the ferry across the Mississippi. The river was high and muddy, as were all the rivers around this region many were expected to flood in the next couple of days. I ended the day about 5 miles further in the town of New Roads which was along a false river. These are large lakes that have been left when the Mississippi has made one of its many changes. I had a nice room in a 20 room motel associated with a restaurant. Yahoo, a restaurant, which was on a float on the lake. No dinner at a gas station tonight. Today's observation; Shoulders of roads are an interesting part of the road, mostly ignored by drivers. What they are is a collection area for whatever comes off of or out of vehicles. I have passed by enough spare parts to build a car, I often wonder where all those big bolts come from. You better keep your eyes on the shoulder ahead or be surprised what you hit and I have. There are things that I've passed that need to be left off the blog!