Camping at the Battenkill 2009

Well, it was off to the annual Camping on the Battenkill trip early Friday morning with the Jassen clan. Trips with the Jassens go a little something like this: Get up, have breakfast, do activities until lunch, eat, go back out and do something else, meet at ~5 for "cocktail hour", eat your face off, and fall asleep in chair next to campfire. Well, at least that's how it usually happens for me- falling asleep by the fire, that is. We decided to bring both mtbs and road bikes so Em's car soon had the makings of belonging to an "elite" cycling team. (Side note: We overuse the word "elite".)

It's a real nice drive up to Arlington, VT. Rte. 7 heads due North through the Berkshires passing the lovely towns of Great Barrington, Stockbridge, and Williamstown along the way. I wish I could say the same for Pittsfield. It was raining intermittently on the way up and I began thinking of how much it would suck setting up the tent in the rain. Luckily, by the time we crossed the VT border, it remained just slightly overcast.

This was to be my 2nd trip up here. Last year I did a very boring loop out on 313 into NY and so I emailed hilljunkie to see if there was anything of note worth riding in the area. I had notions of climbing Mt. Equinox but he said that the road that the hillclimb is run on is privately owned. Oh well. He suggested I tackle Kelly Stand Rd., apparently the southernmost of the VT Gaps. You gain 2200' of vertical- almost all on dirt. Mmmm, sounded tasty. That would be on tap for Saturday morning.

In the meantime, Em and I threw up our tent quick, got changed, and decided to tool around on the dirt roads on our mtbs. By the time we left, the skies had cleared and temps were in the upper 60's. Nice. Off one dirt road, we decided to explore a fire road that was probably pushing 30% gradient at points. Of course, I just had to clean these sections and if I didn't, it was back down I went until I did. This went on at least a half dozen times and I was starting to think how stupid this was considering Kelly Stand Rd. was looming.


It's funny how the camera never does the grade justice.













I decided to chill out for a while until I had the bright idea to see if I could get my mtb up to 30 mph on flat pavement. I was pleasantly surprised I was able to do this but the legs were starting to fatigue big time. The hammerfest group ride the night before I'm sure didn't help my cause.















What's not to love about Vermont's covered bridges?

Just before I took this pic of Em, I ran into a guy on a road bike that lives just 2 houses past this bridge. I told Dave, a Battenkill United rider, that I was intending to ride over Kelly Stand the following day. He said that the road was rough and climbed forever. And to top it off he said that there was zero cell phone coverage so if something happens you are S.O.L. Now, I'm green to all this solo mountain climbing stuff so I was already a little nervous before running into Dave. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy riding with people but there's something to taking on big rides solo. I sort of go into this adventure survival mode where all my senses become heightened. Toss in a 2000+ ft. dirt climb into the middle of nowhere with potential for run-ins with rednecks and/or wild animals and you can see what I was feeling. Thankfully, I don't think Em heard the "zero cell phone coverage" comment.

I awoke at about 8 am Saturday morning after a night of rain. Sadly, Betty got wet because I don't think bringing her into the tent with Em and I would have went over too well. I wiped her down, drilled a couple cups of coffee with breakfast, gave my living will to Em, and I was on the road by 9:30. The route I had planned was a counterclockwise loop over Kelly Stand to Rte. 30 through Stratton to Rte. 11 and back south via 7A. I shortened it to 52 miles so I wouldn't be gone all day and I'd have something left for an afternoon road ride with Em.












Starting up the ridge on Kansas.







Here she is.








































Despite numerous chances to turn back, I forged ahead.

Kelly Stand turns to dirt 100 feet in. I was worried the rain the night before would make for soft, sloggy conditions (not to mention potential snow melt) but to my surprise, the road was like pavement. If only the Mountain Road descent at the Tour of the Battenkill was this nice.













I'll chalk it up to good drainage into the river that runs along the side of the road:













The river had a soothing, meditative effect as the road snaked upward. Of course, this serenity was interrupted when a damn pheasant flew up from the side of the road and scared the shit out of me. The pitch of the climb wasn't bad at all as I comfortably spun my 34x22 at 90 rpms up what was a seemingly endless 6-8% gradient into the Green Mountain Forest. There were a couple of houses initially and then after a few miles, nothing- just the road, the river, and woods. I was passed by 2 cars, one from the opposite direction, and I thought to myself that that was encouraging as far as the road quality further up the mountain was concerned.

About 6 miles into the climb, as I crossed one of the last bridges over the river, I came across a bunch of trucks lining both sides of the road. There were a bunch of tents with a smoking campfire along the river and my immediate thought was that I've just entered a scene from Deliverance. Each vehicle I saw was replete with NRA and Semper Fi bumper stickers along with the requisite rear window gun rack. So as to not do my best Ned Beatty, I kept my eyes down on the road and kicked up the pace. I was pleasantly suprised to get a "Good Morning" from the camp as I rolled through. Maybe they didn't start hitting the bottle yet or something. That's the only problem with these backcountry rides- backcountry people that really don't like spandex-clad guys riding through their camps.

The road continued onward and upward and when I reached about 2500' in elevation, there was a marked decrease in road quality. Though there were a few soft sections, the road was still easily passable, even with 23mm tires. I'm guessing this was due to the last remnants of snow. The road kicks up above 10% in spots as you make your way up the last couple hundred feet to the summit:














Summit at just shy of 2800'. Not sure what the peak is in the distance. It was probably about 40 degrees up there.











Last remnants of snow coming over the top.

The descent was really a blur. I remember when I finally hit pavement on Stratton-Arlington Rd. It was in awesome shape so I bombed it at a decent clip. Man, descending mountains is a whole new experience.

















This went on for miles. I went through Stratton ski area and was surprised to see how much snow was still up there:










I suppose it being another 1200' higher has something to do with it.

I found Mountain Road to be a bitch. There were a couple of sections above 10%, with one near 15. I had never been through Stratton before and I was surprised to see how developed it was as far as ski resorts go. I missed the turn for Lower Taylor Hill Rd. that would have put me out a couple miles further north on Rte. 30.







The wind became what would be a continual nuisance while riding through Stratton.




I'm heading southeast at this point with 20-25 mph winds in my face.

Taking the left onto Rte. 30 I had a couple 4-500' kickers to deal with, not to mention Mr. Wind, which was now blowing OUT of the southeast.











Further photographic evidence of headwind.



Taking the left onto Rte. 11, now heading WSW, you have a nearly 6 mile, 1300' descent to Manchester. This would have been fun if, you guessed it, the wind wasn't in my grill yet again. WTF? I remember I was in my 50x11 pedaling down Rte. 11 and I couldn't brake 40 mph. Ah, I'm sure the wind will be at my back when I head south on 7A.













Nope.

I concluded that there must have been some sort of clockwise-turning vortex in southern VT Saturday morning. How else can headwinds in virtually EVERY direction be explained? Anyway, I made it back to the campground in one piece with 52 miles/5700' of climbing for 3:24 ride time. I was a little blown from all the climbing and 30+ miles of headwinds, but I managed to pull myself together (with the help of a couple of Cokes) and headed out with Em for what would arguably be 30 of the most scenic miles I've ever ridden. Great weekend!