VTXL DAY 3 Chelsea VT

Made it to Chelsea vt. Toughest day of climbing of the trip.7000ft. 50 miles. I'm still in town, but it's only a couple miles to get to where I camp tonight. So I'm posting now. No guarantee of cell coverage when I'm up in the hills

I'll probably just set up my tent . get out of the rain. And fall asleep. I'll try to blog tomorrow if I have time

VTXL day 3 morning, covered bridge

i wrote a longer post last night, but need better cell for it to upload.   will do once I get to Topsham, or sooner.

Slept fine.   was in my tent around 7p.m. last night.  read for a bit, and then decided to try sleeping by 8p.m.  drifted off by 9 i think.

going to eat brekkie and get going asap this morning.   try to beat the rain coming mid afternoon. 

Later

Day 2 VTXL evening camp at Greenbanks Hollow Covered Bridge

Long day, just shy of 60 miles, 59.25 and 5,000ft.   my bike computer isn't loading today's ride to the app, but I'll sort it out at home, no biggee.  I know I did it, lol

Butt is good.   really good actually, touch wood.    I felt the back of my legs and inside thigh muscles tiring towards the last couple hours of my 8 hour ride today, which is a clear sign that the seat was too high and too far forward.   I'd made those adjustments a couple weeks ago.   It's good on flatter terrain but not for all the climbing i'm doing, so I just went back to what I had marked/painted on the seatpost and seat rails, and I felt my strength on the climbs return.     easier on my lower back too.   

It did take me almost 8 hours to ride the 60 miles today.   Some of the climbs were tough and muddy.   Hopefully, i hit my groove tomorrow, or I'll have to adjust the mileage plan.   Less distance, 55miles but more climbing tomorrow, 7,000ft.   Crazy!    it'll be the most of the ride if i can doit, but i need to keep an eye on weather.   Thunderstorms and rain are coming late afternoon possibly, it could cut into my riding time, so i need to make an early start and not leave anything that makes me waste time doubling back.   Thankfully the rain that's definitely coming will be overnight when i'm in the tent.

after the lock snafu, no other incidents the rest of the day.   Recharged food wise at a nice farm stand.   got an  ice cream cookie sandwich, rootbeer, and a dense heavy blondie with decadent chocolate, reese's cups, white chocolate and crushed graham crackers on top.  Hit the  spot.

Dinner at camp was just cheese and pepperoni, a peach from the farmstand, the rest of the blondie and some wasabi almonds.   Didn't have time to stop at the Red Barn brewery.   I needed the time at camp to wash clothes and setup camp.   

took way more photos today, here's a sampling.   I'll review more later and post more

VTXL Day2 Morning

Slept ok, better than first night.   I think this campground just has a little too much road and train noise for normal foam earplugs, I needed my ear muff too.   Still got 2 hours of quality REM and deep sleep combined, and that's generally enough for me to function well.   At home, now that i've lost more weight, i sleep better too.    Get more like 3-3.5 hours of REM sleep

In a gross TMI ala Dan oversharing pic.   I love the new wide mouth Nalgene collapsible canteen I got for a pee jug in the tent and bikepacking.   Lighter than a gatorade bottle, wider opening, fits perfectly in the little tent pocket.   Can hold 32oz/1 liter.

the ground chair works well in the tent too.  more comfy on the air mattress too.

typing this around 6a.m. nice and cozy in my tent. will fix the orientation later

going to quiety pack up and go ride the 3.2 miles into town to get breakfast.   Not starving, but i could eat.   I'll eat a Nature's Bakery fig bar pack for fuel before riding.   gotta give my riding muscles the carbs they need,  but i checked on my ridewgps app.   it's an easy 3 miles into town with only 100ft of climbing, the roads follow around Island Pond, but that's not always a guarantee of flat roads.

time to pack up and I'll snap some photos of the bike and add here in a sec.

It's 10 past 9 now. I had to double back to the Kingdom Market and Island Pond.  I accidentally left my bike Lock there.   I lucked out it was still dangling on the pallet I used to lock up my bike when i got back.    Also lucky that the three miles I had to go back were fairly flat,  an easy six mile penalty for being stupid and maybe half awake.   But i clearly remembered when unlocking the first time seeing it drop and thinking to myself, better grab that before you leave and forget it.   I didn't.   I ate my breakfast sandwich first and forgot.    Oops

VTXL Day 1, Canaan Vt to Brighton State Park

First thing first, Jacqui survived her first night in the GFC camper.    We both didn't get as much sleep as normal.    I got enough REM and deep sleep per my watch,  2 hours total.   6.5 sleep overall . There were nearby loons, and they were LOUD at 4:30a.m.    I regretted not bringing my single hearing protection ear muff thing that I wear over the ear not on the pillow.   There was some distant tractor trailer j braking too.   

Still though, I believe she said she'd be open to trying camping again; she just needs to figure out her pillows better.  For breakfast, I made her kodiak pancakes (the protein brand) cooked with butter in the pan (makes them tastier).    She had boiling water for her instant coffee, cold milk from the fridge, and she had precooked crispy bacon.    Not a bad breakfast.   I took care of the dishes and stuff.

Oh, and the toilet in the truck was a success too!   Saved a 5am. walk up the hill to the bathroom.

We enjoyed the campfire together last night.   It was good to just hang out and talk some.   

I was optimistic on my start time, and didn't actually start until 10:30-10:45a.m.   Touch wood, so far the only thing I forget was a toe nail clipper.   I took care of it at home a couple days ago, but I missed a couple.   Solved with a Walgreens stopped in Colebrook on the drive up to Canaan

The ride today went well, the rain jacket and pants were already put to good use, had some decent rain for about 30 minutes, and enough drizzle for another hour or so.   

here's some photos from the ride today,   with the rain, i didn't take as many.   Wasn't hugely scenic today.

There was one weird tiny gas station, general store, hunting tag,  place.  I got an orange soda and small bag of chipss for salt.  Inside, they had a chalkboard up of all the reported deers taken last hunting season, like a scoreboard.   odd place, and food selection was better than you'd think.   He had 2 big german shepard dogs in the store with him with a weird Beware warning on the front door.    I think it's a redneck local hangout.   Some liquor and beer for sale too.

The bike setup worked well  on the ride today,  I'll post photos tomorrow of the bike fully loaded up.   Right now I'm sitting in the new ground chair i got as i type this.   the butt on the ground part is a bit firm, but the thigh and lower back support feels great right now after biking 5 hours.  those muscles need relief, and I sit on the tailbone more, which is spared on the bike seat, the seat bones get more abuse.   But honestly today, they were fine.  and the roads I rode were insanely tough, way worse than Erie, hopefully my butt is ok in the morning.

Anyhoo, back to the chair, I have the keyboard closer to my knees and the phone on my lap closer to me as I type this now.   a photo jacqui took of me using it yesterday.   suprised the photo came out as well as it did because she was laughing after watching my ungraceful lowering myself into it.   I'm getting better with practice.

After getting back, I also took a hot shower at the nearby bathrooms. and I put the dirty clothes in the fabric bucket, so i could clean them too.   I filled the bucket with hot water and a little soap, then quickly showered.   After finishing my shower, I held the bucket up again and captured more hot water until the shower stopped, timed it well.  added some of the dr bronner liquid soap to the bucket and manually agitated.   then I let the clothes soak in the bucket as I dried off and dressed.    Once clothed, I dumped the bucket's dirty clothes water in the sink and reloaded with cold water from the sink a couple times to fully rinse while manual agitating again.    To get things drier, I did the stomp trick on the clothes in the bucket when carefully lying it on the floor, and that got more water out. 

Back at camp, I hand wrung everything and hung them on the line i kept.   the bucket is the orange and black thing hanging to the right of the orange jacket in the photo below. i may leave the wetter stuff out overnight, the morning dew will be less than if they're still soaked.

Dinner was peanut butter on a thick slice of my homemade 50% whole wheat sourdough bread, and i chewed up 3 seedlesss dates and Mama bird spat them on the peanut butter bread slice.   gross, but it works, and i'm the only one eating it.   I like peanut butter and dates together.

also ate  2 packets of brown cinnamon sugar pop tarts 9(400cal each) and some wasabi almonds for salt.   drank 1 scoop of my protein powder mixed with water.  I burned an extra 2500 calories today biking, so I'm probably still under calories.   Will pig out in town (Island Pond) for breakfast tomorrow and resupply on food before continuing on.   More miles tomorrow, but more biking time.

  Speaking of the protein powder again, I think I'm going to save it for dinner.   I think my body will recover better if I have a protein powder drink after the ride, and to repair muscle while i sleep.

I did notify bikepacking.com that their suggested detour route also had a bridge crew replacing a  bridge.   That happend at mile 21 of 46 on my ride today.   I got through no problem, but tis the season I guess.   hopefully I don't run into that a lot.  Had to walk down a steep ravine and back up the other side.   steep 10ft drop.

VTXL day 0 truck travel day

Woke up early at 5:30 a.m., couldn't fall back asleep.    A mix of nervous excitement and happiness the time has finally come to do this trip!   I was also lying in bed worrying I'll forget something important, worrying I'm bringing too much, worrying how I'll make it all fit on the bike...worrying.

In a last minute thing last night, I pre-mapped some routes on ridewithgps to bike all the way home.   Stole a route from a guy i met in the Adirondacks who was biking cross country from Boston.   Biking home from the end of the VTXL would add 2 more nights and 3 days to the trip.    If I'm really enjoying myself and the weather cooperates, I might do that.    I know all the rail trails and quiet road routes to avoid the heavier traffic once I get to Rutland Mass, ~30miles west of home.

Anyhoo, it's 7:30a.m 'ish now, I've rechecked all the stuff on the list.   Truck is packed.   But no point leaving early,  Vermont's Brighton St park's check-in isn't until 2p.m.  ,  so I'm going to try and relax until 9:30a.m.    Maybe also take a shower I don't really need.

Google Sheet link 

The plan is to drive up mostly via NH, and then cut over to the Northeast corner of Vermont after driving the highway past Franconia Notch.  It's pretty through there.   On the way, going to stop for lunch at Lincoln Diner in Lincoln NH;  Jacqui loves a good diner.    

Yesterday, I pre-made spaghetti and lentil based meatballs for dinner (I swear they're really good!) .   I've made them 3 times now, and I've added them to my weight loss plan page's favorite recipes. 

I also pre-cooked bacon to go with pancakes tomorrow morning's breakfast at camp.   It's just easier to cook bacon at home.   (And much safer when in bear country) 

• preheat oven to 400F
• line a normal size, rimmed cookie sheet with aluminum foil 
• lay out bacon into single layer with gaps between each strip
• bake for 20 minutes on middle rack
• we like bacon crispy, so after 20 min add 2 minute increments to check for doneness.   It goes fast at the very end and can burn.     

For the campfire later, I also made paper towel bacon grease fire starter material.  

• Mop up all the bacon grease with paper towel on the aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. just lay paper sheets flat into the grease, don't bunch them
• let towels cool, and then place them in a good quality gallon freezer bag.  Fold them first as needed.   
• Store ziploc bag in another air tight container.      
• Don't leave container in your vehicle overnight
• I store them in the 5 gallon trash bucket with an airtight lid I strap to the back of the truck's passenger side rear bumper swing arm, so if a bear smells it, it won't tear into my truck looking for it.    It can just rip the bucket off the truck and enjoy its snack.   (touch wood,  hasn't happened yet, but bears can tear through your vehicle like tissue paper)

Tonight at camp, I'll be organizing stuff I've dumped into tote bags.     I figured it would give me something to do, so I'm not annoying Jacqui all night yapping.   When I bike tomorrow, I also get to leave a lot of stuff at the campsite inside my tent, so it'll make things easier first day.    On the Erie trip, it took me 30 minutes to load up the bike.   I'll only need 5-10 minutes Tuesday, less annoying for Jacqui when she drops me off.      Worst case, if I can't make everything fit wednesday morning.   I'll throw stuff out before leaving the campground Wednesday.    Talking food mostly. 

Anyway, that's Llall for now.   Going to relax before the drive starts, later!      Blogging calms me down, and helps me kill time when I'm worrying.   Hopefully this wasn't a boring read. 

Lunch at Lincoln Diner was good!.   I got a cheeseburger with onion rings, jacqui a regular hamburger with fries.  I ate only have the onion rings at most, they were more the thin slice kind vs the thick huge ones.   like straw onion rings but still ring cut.

I shared onion rings w Jacqui stole a few fries in return.   They didn't serve the burgers with lettuce, tomato, or onions because of the cyclospora problems.   Jacqui and split a rather large slice of carrot cake.   Had some of the ice but didn't touch any on the back wedge, too rich for me these days.

Did the rest of the drive in less than 2 hours.   Google redirected us to some back gravel roads which I don't think Jacqui enjoyed much.   The campground is nice, would come here again, our site has good tree seclusion from other sites, and it's only 4 hours to get here, about the same as Moose River, but with taxes a site costs $42 per night.    but still, depending on the ride tomorrow, i could see coming back just to go ride in the Silvio O conte woods nearby.   it's a fishgame reserve, so i don't think they allow dispersed camping in there with vehicles.    probably not even bikepackers.

again, the plan is to get a good nights rest here, make breakfast in the morning, drive 45 minutes to Canaan,  I set up the bike, load the hitch carrier in the truck to get it out of jacqui's way, and Jacqui heads off home with a record shop stop on the way home.

I'll bike the 50 miles back to camp.   If I'm feeling super good and hungry, I'll bike into town for food, but I have plenty to eat right now.   I'll be leaving my kevlar food bag tied to a tree at the campsite when I leave.    no reason to carry the extra weight on the ride tomorrow.  

Only bringing my electronics, rain jacket and pants, 2 liters of water, and snack stuff for 5 hours of biking and peanut butter wrap for lunch.

Wednesday will be the first real day I have to haul everything, but Tuesday I can ease into things, and like I mentioned before, it'll be my last proper warm shower for awhile.

Here's some photos.  i'll have to fix the potrait ones later.   And no Mom, that's not the green shirt i used to wear all the time, it's a new one with similar coloring.   And even though I'm down to <215, still rocking the Hunneyman belly.  LOL

VTXL planning

Here's the VTXL ride I'm about to do,  https://bikepacking.com/routes/vtxl/ 

The VTXL will be over 300 miles and way more climbing than the Erie Canal ride I did last year.     Every day, I'll be doing about as much climbing as I did over the entire 8 days on the Erie, >5,000ft.    Still, I'm hoping I'll be able to do 50-60 miles per day.    When I rode the Erie trail I was around 265lbs, now I'm down to tick under 215lbs, so climbing is much easier. 

  Also, I've fixed the bike seat problems I had on the Erie (touch wood), so that should make a big difference.   It's hard to pedal with power when your butt is screaming at you to get off the bike.    Yesterday (Friday) I did a 44 mile ride with 3600ft of elevation gain, and I felt great after the ride, like I could keep going a couple more hours easily, and I woke up with no muscle soreness/ joint stiffness the day after.   So, Touch Wood, I'm ready!

If all goes well, the VTXL will take me 6 days, Tuesday to Sunday, and Jacqui will meet me at Mass MOCA in Adams Massachusetts Sunday afternoon to pick me up.   I'm excited.  Vermont is so beautiful for bike riding.   The VTXL route is mostly on Vermont's class IV dirt roads, which are well maintained and have very little traffic.    You're often pedaling under tree cover, and there's lots of water, just bring a water filter.   Being able to do this sort of trip was a huge motivation for me to get healthy and lose weight (so i could handle all the climbing).   I want to be careful to not overhype expectations in my mind, but it feels like a bucket list thing for me.

Here's the Google Doc of my rough plan.  I've also preplanned food stops at the General Stores along the way.   

Google Doc Rough Plan link 

In the Google Doc above I linked the Google Drive folder someone put together that has a list of all the state campgrounds, wild camping spots, hipcamps, bed breakfast options, etc. that are along the route.    When I'm in town with cell signal, I can adjust my plans if needed.   The point is to have fun, so if bad weather makes me quit early on a particular day, or if I just get tired and need more time, so be it.   

Next up is my packing list.

Google Sheet link   after opening, be sure you're on the VTXL worksheet tab at bottom, also here's a screenshot.

 

Jacqui and I will be driving up to Brighton State park Monday, and she'll be camping overnight with me.   For sleeping, Jacqui will get the truck camper to herself, and I'll be in the tent I'm using for the bike trip.    The GFC is kind of small for two people, and I don't want to wake Jacqui every time I roll over.    Also, if she has the camper to herself, she'll have room to remove a 2' x 2' floor panel, and hop down to the joolca gottago toilet I keep in the truck bed.    So she won't have to do any middle of the night walks to the nearby bathroom in the campground.    She can stay safe and secure in the truck camper.   We've practiced the maneuvers at home in the driveway, should work well as long as Jacqui remembers how to turn on the lights in the camper if it's the middle of the night.   

I'm hoping she enjoys the outing.    If it goes really well, maybe I'll talk to Jeff about a couples camping outing in Somerset this Fall.   Jacqui is best friends with Jeff's wife Maureen.   Thinking just 1-2 nights, during the week, nothing crazy.    Jacqui and Maureen can hang out while Jeff and I go off hiking/biking during the day.     They can knit/cross stitch, drink wine, eat snacks; and Jeff and I can bugger off biking so they have some peace and quiet.   

Anyway, enough daydreaming.   Back to the VTXL trip.  On the last day when it's time to pick me up, I've warned Jacqui to bring me a set of clean clothes and my Geyser Sponge Shower, so I can clean up in the parking lot in my truck's shower stall before she's trapped in the truck with me for 2 hours on the drive home.    I'll pre-pack a bag for Jacqui to bring me.   If she forgets, I'll probably be a pretty stinky boy by then, so she should be highly motivated to remember.     But like yesterday after my test ride, I like showering before getting in the truck to drive home; far more civilized than smelling my nasty stank in a confined space.

Per my packing list, I am bringing my lightweight, collapsible polyurethane coated fabric bucket and dr bronner's soap,  so I can sponge wash with clean'ish river water along the way.    I'll also pack a clothes line and clips so I can wash my clothes and hang dry them out in the Sun along the way too.   I just have to find a sunny spot with trees close enough together to string up the line midday.   I like using the bucket so I'm not adding soap directly into the river water when cleaning myself up or doing laundry.   The soap I use is sold at camping stores and listed as biodegradable, but it's still soap.    None of it is good for the water supply, especially if someone is filtering the water downstream to drink.

Speaking of gross body stuff people may wonder about but aren't brave enough to ask....   I'll leave you with this last topic.  Pooping in the Woods

I will be wild camping most of the time.     Meaning no bathroom facilities, so I'm bringing my culo clean adapter and a soda bottle.   You shove the https://culoclean.com/ adapter into the top of a 16-20oz soda bottle filled with water.   When you squeeze the bottle, the water spray thoroughly cleans your booty crack after doing your business.   

 

A clean butt is a happy butt, especially when bike touring.    And, you use far less toilet paper, so you don't need to pack as much of it; some people even just bring a rag to dry off after (I'm not that brave).   The culo clean is also good for the occasional butt rinse during the day too, good for hot sweaty days where you can't find a swimming hole and you're feeling sweaty/itchy down there.   

Another tip I have when wild camping is to go off and preemptively find a spot and pre-dig the hole when setting up camp.   Mark the hole by pushing a stick vertically in the ground, so you can find it later.   And of course, always remember to fill it back in before leaving.     But when nature calls the next morning, you'll be happy you don't have to dig, especially if it's raining or something.

Anyhoo, I'll probably carry an extra 12-16oz of unfiltered river water on my bike during the mornings, until I'm sure the #2 urges are done for the day.    I'll be burying my foul deeds using my lightweight, titanium poo shovel in wooded areas,  squatting behind some trees, along the trail.     I'll also pack a couple emergency bags in case I'm near a town or farm fields and can't wait, but I'll do my best to avoid that.     

Here's my super lightweight titanium "deuce of spades" poo trowel.    0.6 ounces, closer to an ounce with my edging add-on.

 

I had some leftover edging from a truck camper project.  I cut a short piece of it and zip tied it to the end of the trowel. GAME CHANGER!!!   Makes it far more comfortable (and safe) to use your palm to push the trowel into the ground.    A lot of people add tape on the end too, but i found that doesn't work as well.   You want edging with u-shaped metal inside it, so you can really push hard on the trowel when digging into rocky/rooty soil.

edging link, https://a.co/d/0ddeLDRT