I LoVermont.

More than nine years... it's been more than nine years since I've been back here in Vermont. When I was a college student here, I was totally lame. I didn't enjoy being outdoors. I didn't exercise. I smoked a pack a day and drove my car like an idiot. As they say, youth is wasted on the young...

I haven't been riding a lot in the last couple of weeks, although I have been bike commuting from Brattleboro to Marlboro. I think the move(s), coupled with stress, contributed to a brief cold/sinus gooberage, which kept me off the bike for a few days. Also, the first week of classes was a bit hectic, but things have since settled out. I haven't had a real opportunity to explore more than a few different routes that I can take on the way to work, but I haven't found a 'bad' route yet (or a 'dumb' route, see Alba Rd. entry). It is absolutely spectacular out there.

The way I'm treated while riding my bike here in Vermont is a foreign experience to me. People wave (and NOT with the middle digit extended). Cars get into the opposite lane of traffic to pass. Last night, there was a car behind me that basically tailed me like a team car for a half-mile and deliberately held up traffic so that I could go over a narrow bridge first. The other day as I was passing a farm on a hill, this guy stormed down his driveway to the mailbox and started cheering me on (Allez! Allez!). Last weekend, I passed a dude walking down the road with a bunch of flowers in one arm and a basket of cherry tomatoes in the other arm. When I rode by, he offered me the tomatoes. Vermont is awesome. No, wait... Uh, it stinks... It VerSucks... Umm, don't move here. It's cold.

I had a chance to take a few photos on the way to work today. When the leaves start to change, I'll post some new ones. In the meantime, here's my new commute.


I had never passed through this covered bridge (photo below) before doing it on my bike.


I'm not on the road for more than a few miles before I pick up a dirt road that takes me up to the college.







I pass lotsa cows, lotsa sheep, lotsa corn and a Maple syrup and sugar house.



I used to live on this road pictured below (Cowpath 40).

This is the road to the college. Our emeritus professor of mathematics used to give a lecture at Town Meeting about how speeding down this road at twice the posted speed limit only 'saves' you approximately 2 minutes. It's the law of averages... For all the times I've sped down this road, I'm now going well under the speed limit.

Ride safely and happy trails.