Day 4: Mountains.

We found the mountains.

Progress

Another state crossed! 3 down 11ish to go. (If you’re wondering about the “ish”, I haven’t decided whether I’ll go into Alberta, Canada yet (yes, provinces are states too for this metric))

Out of Southern New England

After having a less than fun ride through the main road in Pittsfield yesterday, we decided to go around it on our way north. Between that and a very fuzzy sense of Google Maps vs US Bike Route maps, my estimate for today’s mileage ended up off by a bit over 10 miles. And quite a few hundred feet of climbing. Lesson learned.

Peter and Jerri sent us off with a hearty breakfast as an encore to a delicious dinner last night. We were well fed to start the day.

The morning was at a relatively quick pace as we were on the downhill side of a rail trail for about 10 miles. Rail trails have a max grade of about 2%, which makes for very pleasant riding in any direction. There were some families of geese with the goslings being ferried around by the adults, which, despite the many geese I see at home, I’d never seen before.

We had a hearty lunch at a classic drive in in Adams, MA before we hit the bulk of the day’s climbing. North Adams and Williamstown were also relatively easy riding, and then we turned up into the Green Mountains.

Much of the route was very scenic, especially up in the backroads of Vermont. The mountain tops surrounded us in all directions when we reached a peak. There were lots of forests and farmland to admire.

Rest

We made it to Peter’s house in Arlington and are going to spend a rest day here. After four days on the road with a fair bit more climbing than we’re used to, our bodies are very ready to do nothing and recover for a bit.