Wow! That was a big day. Lots of climbing and long miles for the penultimate day of the trip.
Yesterday was the Green Mountains, today it was the White Mountains. It was cold again, upper 30s and foggy at the start, but luckily not quite cold enough to actually make the mountains white. The vast majority of our elevation gain came from two very solid climbs. The first, while shorter was definitely harder due to the steeper grade. It was also rather disappointing that the descent had a crummy road surface. When I put that much effort into the up, I really look forward to a good down. The second climb was more than 9 miles, but at a very manageable average grade of 5% and it didn't kick up until the last 3/4 of a mile. It also had a beautiful view at the top with excellent foliage and a great descent.
Overall it was a good day. We had fun. And the ride gave us an opportunity to reflect on how our perspective has changed. When I went into this trip a 100 mile ride was a long ride and now it's just a ride, 7000 ft of climbing was epic and now I just do it, an 8% grade hurt and now its very manageable, a 10 minute pull at the front killed me and now I routinely pull for 10 miles.
This journey has been amazing. It's hard to believe that we are a single easy 75 mile ride from completion. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's ride, and even more so to seeing Steph, E&C, Bridie, Jay, and M at the finish.
Day 45 stats:
distance: 98.3 miles
elevation gain: 7133 ft
nutrition:
breakfast: eggs, potatoes, yogurt, large muffin, NuGo protein bar
lunch: veggie dog, blueberry pie, 1 small coke
post-ride: 1 recovery drink, Kate's chocolate mint bar, 1 small coke, 1 La Croix
gels: 4
bloks: 1
52 oz skratch superfuel, 26 oz water
Day 46 details - North Conway, NH to Portland, ME
planned distance: 75 miles
planned elevation gain: 2572 ft