Vermont is spelled with a capital “V”, surely no coincidence. With the loads of mountains and climbs available, it had to start with a “V”. I mean, if it was mountainous enough to draw a runaway “loose” nun who left the church for a sailor, it must be good, right? (Great nordic skiing there””Trapp Family Lodge, if you are there in the winter months as well).
Anyways, being a seventh generation “V”ermonter myself, who was raised on a family farm on Rogers’ Hill in West Newbury, VT (which was hand cleared and settled in 1763 by my G-G-G-G-G-Grandfather and still owned by my father) I have a deep love and feel for VT, liberal politics notwithstanding. So when I heard about the 200 on 100 “Dumptruck of Awesome” that was available, I just knew that I had to do it. And not only that, I knew that I had to share this beautiful “Ode to the V in Vermont” with all of my best cyber-cycling-soul mates. Okay, soul mates might be going a bit far there, but you get my meaning.
So, enough with the intro.
Break out the rollers, get on the trainers, find your winter gear; lay off the seconds, nurse that one glass of booze, hold the toasting to one drink, dodge Cupid’s chocolates and shoot the Easter Bunny because training for this bastard started yesterday and you’ll be paying for it on the 28th of June, 2012 in spades!
See you in the pre-dawn hours on the Canadian border with our eyes firmly fixed on the prize of the Massachusetts border. Let’s drive this dump truck like Mel Gibson leaving the compound in a post-apocalyptic world, baby!
Route and location details on the Cogal Event Page.
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View Comments
@Rob
You know: I've been at this awhile. And I had no idea that bling made one go faster. All this hard work and training gone for nought? Just drop some money I don't have into the bike and I'll be riding with the pros in no time? Of course, the seatpost is the stupidest thing to upgrade: it's the one part of the bike I can't admire while riding...
@Steampunk
What upgrades did you get? I must have missed the pictures.
@RedRanger
No pics yet. I have a box full of Ultegra bits and pieces (shifters, crankset, derailleurs, cassette) to put on the bike, Deda Newton bars, and Fizik tape. Wheels en route. Sadly, I won't have time to put it all together before the Madison mini-Cogal next week. Pics to follow...
@Steampunk
Awesome to hear your dressing up the CAAD.
@RedRanger
Quickest way to n+1 seemed to involve upgrading this bike on the cheap (but for the wheels and seatpost, everything else came in at lowish cost, à la velominatus budgetatus). New bike wasn't going to happen this year, but this might be the next best thing in the short term, with funds left in the kitty for future purchase. My café has just got into the bike business. I sorta have my eye on one of these:
@Steampunk
While I'll sorry that I won't be able to see the upgrades, I'm relieved that my humiliation will be lessened.
@Steampunk
Sounds like you should be dialed in for June. Exciting times around here, lots of purchases recently.
I have started a spreadsheet gathering names and so forth. To keep the webbots from getting everyone's email, I set up an account to compile the document with.
If you are planning on attending, please send an email to 2muchon100@gmail.com and I can send you the doc link, which anyone can edit.
If there are data fields you feel would be more pertinent, go ahead and add them.
Success of this Cogal might hinge on the actual pre-ride details, and the more of those we can get ironed out now, the more we can enjoy the training and suffering.
@roger
Brilliant, thanks for doing this!
@roger
email sent