• Plan to be at the North Troy border station at 5:00 am Saturday, June 19th for a 5:30 am start. Sunrise is at 5:02, civil twilight begins at 4:25, if the sky is clear. Sunset is at 8:39 pm and it will be really dark at 9:16 pm, giving us a good 15 1/2 hours of daylight to complete the ride. The old border station is just south of the new station. There are no public rest rooms or facilities at the border, so plan accordingly. Due to recently enacted regulations, enhanced ID is necessary to cross the US border. If you wander north of the new border station and try to return without approved ID, you may find yourself sitting inside while the rest of the group is many, many miles down the road!
• Riders provide own rides to start and from finish. Typically, this means finding a couple other people to ride with and someone to drive a sag vehicle. If you want to ride, but have no support, let us know and we'll do what we can to find someone with extra space. If you know you will have extra space, please let us know that too!
• Riders provide own support. We will not be collecting any funds for pooled supplies. There are plenty of stores on the route and support vehicles are expected to share water with all riders. Bring extra jugs.
• There are several relatively inexpensive B&Bs ($30 - $40 per person) near the start where riders can stay the night before the ride. There are also a number of motels in Newport, which is about 30 minutes away. Staying near the border is highly recommended. It shortens what is already a very long day, makes it a lot easier on those driving sag, and goes a long way to getting everyone to the start on time.
• The intent is to ride together as a group. If enough people ride, groups of varying abilities will form. Groups larger than 15 riders are generally considered unsafe. Within reason, a group will alter its pace to keep together. However, if you cannot ride long distances over hilly terrain at 15 mph, or if you think that any pace under 20 mph is too slow, please pick some other time or place to ride! Speed demons disappear at the start, never to be seen again, and slow riders make things miserable for support people. To paraphrase Vermont cyclist John Orlando, "It won't be Paris-Roubaix, but neither is it Oprah on a hybrid." The goal is to finish during daylight without killing ourselves, if that's possible! As a guideline, you should be able to maintain a solo pace of 20 mph over flat terrain with no wind.
• The actual ride time is typically 12-13 hours plus breaks, allowing riders to finish during daylight. We've found it best to keep breaks short and relatively frequent, every 25-30 miles after the first 100. Breaks longer than 20 minutes leave you stiff and sore. Riders who skip breaks can get ahead of support vehicles.
• Most of the route lacks reliable cell phone coverage.
• An approach that can make the ride easier for both a rider and the support driver is to split the ride, with the rider switching with the driver at the Rochester break. Keep in mind that the second half of the ride is tougher than the first.
• The event is rain or shine. We reserve the right to bail out before the end if things get really miserable.

A Final Note

You might be thinking to yourself, “This is a strange ride. What are these people really offering?” There are all kinds of rides, from fully supported tours where a positive experience is guaranteed, to fleches, where only the destination, date, and a few arcane rules are established. This ride is somewhere on that continuum. We are not guaranteeing you anything, other than we plan to be at the Canadian border at 5 am, June 21st. We'll do what we can to organize the support vehicles, which mostly consists of keeping track of who is riding with who and coordinating breaks. We are not renting vans, setting up tents, providing food or support, reserving lodging, paying traffic tickets, or taking responsibility for your equipment. We would like you to wear a helmet, because we think you are valuable and don't want you to get hurt, unnecessarily. There are no fees for this ride, no special insurance policies, no sanctioning by any organization and no rules. All we can guarantee is a ride you will talk about for the rest of your life.

Morning sky outside North Troy

Crosby was first to the top of the Mt. Snow climb in 2009

Classic New England church in Weston

The Deerfield River at Readsboro