#diyGravel: Lake Champlain
Racing DK is something that’s always felt impossible for me. First of all, late spring is just about the busiest time in my life as a high school teacher. I can just imagine the conversation with my principal now. “You want to take all of your personal days the week before exams to go to Kansas and do what, now?”
On top of the impracticality of the trip, training through a harsh Vermont winter, logging enough miles to be in peak form so early; well, you can see why I’ve never made it to Emporia.
But everything is different now, and whereas I’d never expected to have a few thousand miles under my belt by late May, the teach-from-home lifestyle I found myself in this spring made it way easier to wrap my head around a double-century before summer even set in.
I floated the idea of riding the distance of DK as part of @iamtedking’s #diyGravel initiative to my husband at the beginning of the month and he was intrigued. Okay, riding partner, check!
But the real tricky part of how we’d put this ambitious distance together came in the form of travel restrictions and logistics. We couldn’t exactly do a point to point given the necessity of sleeping somewhere the night before in order to ensure an early start. If we were going to cross state lines we’d need to be fully self-supported. A loop from home seemed like the simplest solution. And then we realized that it’s about 200 miles to circumnavigate Lake Champlain. THIS is the kind of adventure I could get really excited about.
And so, we headed north bright and early on some beautiful gravel roads near the shores of the lake, rolling through farm country as the early summer sun crested green hills and warmed (eventually!) the pastures.
We have the experience of completing a 200 mile ride once before. Together with a few friends, we rode the length of the state of Vermont, the 200 on 100, several years ago. Most importantly, that day taught us the utter necessity of efficiency on and off the bike. So, when we strategized this around-the-lake ride, we knew and anticipated a few things.
- We wanted it to take about 12 hours of pedaling time– no bike lights.
- We wanted to minimize off the bike breaks and time our stops.
- We might get bored at times — bringing an earbud each and having a podcast cued up would be essential for the “dark miles.”
- We would want a meal, something substantial and savory about half way.
- Tyler would likely want to ride harder than me for the first 100 miles.
- I would probably feel stronger than him later in the ride.
The day was forecasted to be far nicer than it turned out to be. Just after we started pedaling at about 6am Tyler called out “Jeez, if the wind keeps blowing this hard its going to be a loooong day.” Unfortunately, he was right about that.
Winds forecasted to blow from the north had originally felt like a great opportunity to catch a tailwind for the entire middle half of the ride, the time we would be in NY. Unfortunately, weather shifted as the day went on and it was one of those rides where it felt like the wind was always howling in your face. So it felt extra wonderful to hear from friends throughout the day who knew what we were up to, and woke up to see what an unfortunate hand the weather gods had dealt us.
Our ride plan looked roughly like this:
- Wake up @ 4:00am – breakfast of oatmeal and coffee at home.
- Start ride @ 5:30am from Richmond, VT.
- First stop @ mile 36. I refilled two bottles I’d drank in the first stretch. I read an encouraging text from a friend and lamented about ice cream shops not being open at 7am 😉
- Second stop @ mile 65. This was the last stop before we entered New York state so we filled our bottles and our pockets, knowing we could not go into any stores once we crossed the border. I ate a waffle from my pocket and drank a coke.
- Third stop @ mile 118. This was our only stop in NY, at about 1pm. My parents agreed to drive their car to a pre-determined meeting point, where they had a cooler packed with food for our pockets, drinks for our bottles, and a pizza and iced coffee, which tasted AMAZING at this point in the day.
- Fourth stop @ mile 160, back in Vermont. Just after we crossed the Champlain Bridge we hit the local convenience store for hydration, salty chips, and some gummy candy.
- Finish @ mile 202. I don’t think I had my helmet off before I was on the phone placing a take-out order for our favorite fried chicken sandwiches from Hatchet, our main street taproom. Nailing it with 12:02 of pedaling time was certainly worth celebrating!
I am very pleased with how we executed this ride. We stuck to our plan, hydrated and fueled appropriately, and took turns capitalizing on each others riding strengths. As predicted, I found that a slightly slower but consistent pace felt right for me in the first 100 miles. I was concerned about conserving my energy, and kept a close eye on my power numbers and heart rate to be sure I was comfortably in the endurance zone, ensuring sustainability for the long haul.
As also predicted, I felt much better in the second half of the ride than the first. By mile 150 I was in a steady, comfortable groove. When we found ourselves in the homestretch and there seemed to be even more left in my tank, I wondered how far I really could ride in a day!
While I won’t be testing out this curiosity any time soon, I am grateful for the chance to see my state, and the Lake I’ve been staring at all my life, from a whole new perspective. With racing on pause it’s easy to feel frustration and itchiness for travel and competition. This challenging time is teaching me so many things, among them is the importance of self-discipline and creativity for my own challenges on and off the bike. And to never overlook the adventure that could be right in my own backyard.
Want to learn more about route finding and navigation? Check out this webinar with my friends at Girls Gone Gravel: Route Planning for Gravel Cycling
