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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@Anjin-san
Ah, well Mrs. Steampunk is clearly more efficient. The withering glare pretty much says it all. No words necessary.
@Buck Rogers
"Die" because 330km is a ridiculous distance to try to cover in one day.
My VMH knows the ride as "That long one in Vermont you might not return from".
While the thread seems active make sure you guys all email roger to get on the spreadsheet if you aren't already. Getting down everyone's plans will help with logistics, so please make us aware, give us the contact info we need, etc. People who just "show up" are welcome, but if you can't get back to your car of need a place to stay, you're on your own.
Rented a mountain bike today and kicked my own ass climbing. Lots of fun, but don't get me wrong, I still love the road more. I will however be doing it at least once more before 200, its a great workout/bike handling lesson.
Keep training guys, this early spring may have been enough to get our sorry asses in shape in time!
Is there an official V-route that has been mapped out yet? Doing a bit of research on the interweb, there doesn't appear to be a true official 200 on 100 route. Here are some options:
Option a) Ride the entire 100: 216 miles, 13,000ft of vertical. Definitely too much on 200.
Option b) The route from 200on100.org/bikely. Makes a left turn from 100 and takes a B line for the border on some VERY small roads. 206 miles, 12,300ft of vertical. Not sure I want to finish in the dark in the wilderness.
Option c) The route somewhat ridden by the dynamic trio in the film. 100 to 112 to 8A. 199 miles, 12,000ft of vertical. For some reason, they took a detour from 100 towards Newport at the start which added about 10 miles to their trip. Not being on 100, this has been removed from the route.
Option d) 100 to 112. 202 miles, 11,500ft of vertical. And the last 10 miles are all downhill. Not as direct as option b), but definitely gets you over the 200 miler mark. And did I mention the last 10 miles are downhill?
I'm a big fan of option d).
@CanuckChuck
I'm a fan of option a). If you're going to do it, do it all the way, but I'll defer to the popular vote on ths one.
@Buck Rogers
What's all this miles and feet we're talking about?
@CanuckChuck
You will definitely have me for company, as that is the time I am contemplating.
@xyxax
Myself as well. If T King, T Johnson and Ryan did it in, what was it, 10 or 11 hours, there is no way I will be in before 13 to 14 hours at the earliest. It's going to be EPIC in the true sense of the word!
@Steampunk
Sorry about using the m and f words... Being originally from Steampunk land, I do love the metric system, but for some reason, I've embraced the mile as my cycling measuring unit and I can't make the switch to kms. The average speed, the distances, the time/distance goals... it all works so well for me in old money. Humble apologies.
Chuck, I'm glad you brought this up.
I might be looking at this at a different angle.
Since this bus chartering us up to North Troy is about 95% in the books, I'm thinking of the destination in 2 parts: 1) where can we shower up and locate a pub w/o traversing the state and 2) those driving in can safely park their car overnight
North Adams, MA pop 13,000 - this would allow us to start and finish Rt 100 in it's entirety. Has a handful of bars and hotels/motels.
Greenfield, MA pop 17,000 - from rt 100 we would catch 112 to 2, into Greenfield.
There are other towns (villages???) between the two, but google maps doesnt show much of anything that would be useful to us.
I'm pretty much game for either route. The messed up thought up doing 100 top to bottom does intrigue me.
@roger
I agree, I like the idea of doing 100 from start to finish, and I like North Adams more as a town. It's a nicer place, and closer to I-87 and I-90 for those traveling west, north, or south.