Minnesota Mike's Ride Across America

Day 28, Thursday, Oct. 2nd, Ticonderoga, NY to Rochester, Vermont. 67 miles, Total miles 1,695

Nice morning, but frustrating that I have to ride north up to the bridge 15 miles away to cross over Lake Champlain to enter Vermont, due to the barge not running with low lake level conditions.

As I was eating my lunch inside the convenience store, I see another cyclist loaded down with gear pull up to the store. We introduce ourselves while drinking our chocolate milk. John is from Northern California and started at the most Eastern part of Northern Washington and riding the same Northern Tier route across America as me. Except I am doing it in two halves and he is riding a total of 4,700 miles to the most Northeastern part of Maine. Okay he must be a ‘badass.’ And he is turning 67 in a couple weeks, my age.

We ended up riding the afternoon together and stayed at the same motel in Rochester, NY. Was a semi-hostel type place with a small bedroom and shared living quarters and bathroom. John and I walked across the street and had dinner at a ‘farm to table’ restaurant in town. Only one in town and were asked if we had reservations. A two hour wait, we ended up finding a spot at the bar with stools and two seats opened up.

We had a long steep climb late in the day and then rewarded with a long descent into town that seemed to last for a couple miles.

Day 29, Friday, Oct. 3rd, Rochester, Vermont to Orford, New Hampshire. 58 miles. Total miles 1,703

Another clear crisp day to ride through Vermont. I can see my breath as I sip my coffee on the park bench in town. Getting myself motivated to tackle the day and the climbs. My feet are cold as I ride with my trusty black windbreaker jacket and my yellow bright riding jacket.

Vermont is very pretty with winding roads as I ride next to a river and rolling wooded hills.

Had a climb today that maxed out with a 17% grade ascent! Had to pull my sweatband out for that one. As I am catching my breath, I see John coming up the hill chugging along, about 3:30pm. We ride together for the next couple hours until we find the Pasture Campground just inside the New Hampshire state line.

Set up my tent, get a shower in and prepared my freeze dried meal I had left over from my trip two years ago. I think I have two more big climbs coming up before it gets back to more manageable rolling hills.

Day 30, Saturday, Oct. 4th, Orford, NH to Passaconoval Campground, NH

Broke camp at 8am, will stop at next town that has a convenience store for some breakfast food. I said goodbye to John who is not planning on doing as many miles a day, he has his wife meeting him in a couple weeks at his ending point in the most Northeastern spot in Maine, he will be done next week and trying to pace himself. His total continuous miles biking on this trip will be right around 4,700 miles! Wow!!

Taking a break late morning alongside a babbling brook with my nuts and a left over half eaten muffin from this morning. One climb in the books, but a long one is coming up in like 14 miles and it’s a steady 8 mile ascent.

I will be staying somewhere in the mountains tonight. Hoping to get over the pass, then should be smooth riding into Maine. I made it over one of the passes, Kancamagus Pass, and then John caught up with me again by early afternoon. So we rode up the next pass together as we rode into Lincoln, New Hampshire. The town was bumper to bumper with cars and all the city folks from NYC and Boston viewing the fall colors.

John and I rode up the pass, total elevation gain 4,600 feet from the two passes we climbed. We pass hundreds of cars that were stuck in a traffic jam. It actually made the climb go quicker as we were passing all these stopped cars and fist pumping people that were sticking their hands out and encouraging us on. All these motels around are booked, so another night of camping at Passaconaway Campground. A dry campground, so no shower tonight. I have my roast beef sandwich that I bought this morning from the convenience store, that will have to do for dinner. Earlier in day when we were in Lincoln, John and I treated ourselves to a chocolate malt at an ice cream stand and then had lunch at McDonalds. While at McDonalds three younger guys took an interest to our ride and wanted pictures with us and our loaded bikes. We felt like celebrities🤪

Day 31, Sunday, Oct. 5th, Passaconaway Campround, NH to Naples, Maine. 61 miles, Total miles 1,825

Another awesome day to ride. John and I broke camp and some amazing views as the sun came up over the mountains and highlighted the colors and rivers as we continued our descent down the mountain.

We stopped for a late breakfast in Conway and continued riding to Naples, Maine. We had a great steak tip dinner and walked back to our motel in the dark on shoulder of highway. It was nice to be back in a bed and have a shower after the past two nights camping.