Day 49 journal Brattleboro, VT to Manchester, NH

I biked 87.16 HILLY, HILLY, HILLY miles today. A glorious day to be out there on a bicycle. Weather was again the very best. Welcome to New Hampshire. One heck of a hilly terrain. If we weren’t going up we were going down. We biked just about 5,900 vertical feet, total climbing today. Joe English Rd is one of the thrills of the day. But two other longer climbs were just as steep – and longer. Going between 13% to 14% grade. At route rap last night Andy said today is known as the second hardest day of the trip (second to going over the Grand Teton Mountain Pass, in WY). And I remember in 2001 I thought I would about die before getting to this motel. But this time, it was fun, challenging and very do-able. What a difference four additional summers of bicycling had done for me. Along with a lighter bicycle, and good bike fit, I never hurt all day. I just kept a steady pace and climbed away, and pretty soon Manchester, NH and the Comfort Inn were right before me! Right after leaving Brattleboro this morning we passed the state line into our last state, New Hampshire. It was a chilly morning, reminding us of the mornings around Mount Hood, Oregon. It was 55 degrees when we started out at 6:50 AM. It is hard to express the feelings I have knowing tomorrow will be our last day together. I am both sad to see it ending, and thrilled at the thought of what lies ahead: Seeing the Atlantic Ocean. Oh what a dream come true. I’ll keep you posted. I’m going to get Peg to give me her camera disk and get some of today’s photos and post them here later.