Day 2: Swanton, VT

August 5, 2017

Distance: 45 miles

We woke this morning at about 8:30a.  It was raining and shortly thereafter it was hailing.  We knew our ride today would be delayed, but as it turns out very delayed for another reason.

Our 1st continential breakfast of the tour.

So, so breakfast

Happy people in the morning - What!

Since we were delayed by the weather, I decided to work on the Garmin routes for the next three days. 

Inside the room a the Best Western

We had about 40 miles to ride today and about 1700 feet to climb.  We needed to get going!

Today's route and elevations

It was about 11:15a and it had stopped raining.  At about 11:30a the front office called to ask what time we were leaving, which just reinforced that we needed to get going.  Steve was already packed and bringing his bike outside when I realized I couldn't find my bike shoes.  Not good. Rats!   I forgot to pack them.  Just great. This meant a further delay.   We had to search for a bike shop.  Lucklily Earl's Bike Shop was only 2 miles away.  This would add 4 miles to our ride, but what choice did we have - I really couldn't ride with flip flops. 

Making my choice

Steve was great.  Because of my mess-up it added 4 miles to our ride and delayed us by 1 more hour.  He didn't care one bit - what a guy!

I bought new shoes and new SPD clips.  Luckily they had a great selection.  In fact, I like these new shoes better than the pair sitting in my closet at home!

Nice shoes

 This is Megan, the sales woman who helped expedite the purchase; she was great!

Megan the bicycle racer.

 Time to put the flip flops away and get on the road.

This guy thought it was funny!  Okay it was a little funny!

We rode through the town named Winooski.  We rode through this town last year too!   Steve even took the same picture as this one below.

Version 2

We rode the Lake Champlain Bike Way mostly the entire day.  It was a beautiful ride on really beautiful roads.  Even though there were scattered showers all day, we seemed to have missed them with every mile that we rode.  The road was wet alot of the time, but we never saw a drop since that morning.  And what was better, the wind was blowing from the south and we were riding north, so we has a great tail wind most of the day.

Our first bike path of the day

As you can see below the sun came out to stay - for the rest of the day!

Steve striking a pose

Steve visiting the dead

We rode 35 miles straight through before we took a real break.  We had lots of hills today, but we only had 1 real steep climb.  About 15%.  All other climbs didn't exceed 9%.

This is a picture Steve took without me knowing

This is a picture I took without him knowing

 Quick break for a snack!

Chicken jerky

Steve on the go

Steve with Lake Champlain in background

Me hydrating

More shots of Lake Champlain below.  This was our first real rest.  We only had 10 miles remaining before we arrived in Swanton.

Taking a real rest

Overlooking the cove

Posing for Steve - good lighting

Posing for me - not so good lighting

Bike Path into Swanton

We are staying at the Swanton Motel tonight.  A little dive and the only motel in town. Fortunately, it is clean and they had a room.  There is only one restaurant in town, so we called Pam's Pizza for delivery.  I had a salad and chicken wings and Steve lasagna.  Sorry Brian no pictures.  We ate it all by the time we had remembered!

Tomorrow we are off to Plattsburg.  A shorter and flatter ride planned.  The weather forecast looks good for tomorrow and as long as I don't misplace my new shoes, we will get on the road a lot earlier than today.