5 days in VT

5 days in Vermont! I was supposed to be completing the VTXL but in the 5th day, at mile 235 out of 300, I experienced braking issues which resulted in a slide out and more mechanical issues that made an early ending to my trip. Disappointed but I had an amazing 5 days! All in all, if I was to do it again, I would do it exactly the same! Same miles, same campsites, same amount of food brought. Maybe pack a few less items but ehhh, it was fine!

Day 1: mile 0-mile 40. Parked car at Spoke bike shop (asked for permission before) in Williamstown and camped at Grout Pond! Nice site, simple sites. Enjoyed the quiet and ate a freeze dried meal. Definitely bring enough water, no guaranteed water access. I went to the water pump but couldn’t get water out. Possible user error but luckily I factored that into my planning and brought enough for freeze dried meal, oatmeal, and coffee. Great day of riding, the climb to Grout was pretty manageable and just kept it slow and steady. 53 miles, 5800elevation.

Day 2: Mile 40 to mile 90. Left from Grout Pond and rode to Caton campground. Super friendly campground and right on the trail! I learned a tough lesson with RideWithGps. I was having a bit of a hard time looking at all 300miles when I just wanted to focus on 20miles or so. I clicked in ‘route to here’ for Caton campground thinking it would only focus on the navigation to that spot. Unbeknownst to me, the GPS went off course. It was until it took me down some riverbed that I’m bushwhacking my absurdly packed bike down some riverbed, carrying it over logs, probably contracting every form of Lyme and Tick disease, gaslighting myself that it was the ‘hike a bike section’. I finally tapped out after about 100meters and then realized that RideWithGPS completely changed course and idk why it brought me that way. Went back to the regular navigation and arrived to Caton Campground without further issue. Big shot out to Lovejoy Brook Road! Campground was nice, friendly, and ate at Singleton General Store before arriving.

59 miles, 4800 elevation. Added miles due to off course shenanigans.

Day 3: Mile 90 to mile 150. Lovely day! Miles felt easy, views were beautiful. Big shoutout to Rush Meadow road. Ate lunch in Woodstock and Camped at Dome Meadows in Turnbridge. Little off course but just had to climb the hills to return back to mile 150. Very expensive campsite but it was comfortable and convenient. Plus it had a hammock near a river and I felt super relaxed! Ate at Turnbridge General Store for dinner.

56 miles, 4800 elevation. Slight detour to campsite took a few miles off.

Day 4: mile 150 to Mile 201. Woof!! Toughie but a beautie. This section definitely had the most ATV and stage 4 roads. It felt like it was only super slow uphills and downhills. There were plenty of times I was walking my bike down. Overall though, lovely day still! Definitely make sure you have plenty of water for miles for this section. At Mile 185, Gramps Country store was the only store I encountered during the day. The worker was a very nice lady who immediately offered water, bathroom, and WIFI. Continued the last 20 miles and more very steep ATV roads! Camped at Pleasant Valley, ate freeze dried meal. Nice campsite, super friendly staff and campers and with coyotes cries all night!

56 miles, 8000ft elevation.

Day 5: I woke up feeling great and excited the for 65 miles to my last campsite, Brighton State Parm. Adjust brake cable before I left because I wore down a decent amount. It started off beautiful (big shot out to Thaddeus Steven’s and his road) That’s when braking problems happened. First overheated on a downhill but I wasn’t terribly shocked so I made a mental note to be more conservative with braking to prevent more wear and overheating. And then I’m not certain what happened but at around mile 235, I lost brakes downhill and ended up sliding out. Not a bad crash, just some scrapes on me and bike just had stem/handlebar become misaligned. Still no brakes though and the rotor wasn’t hot from overheating. The pads were new before the trip so maybe I just underestimated how much wear the hills + my heavy packing did to the brake pads. Made the tough call to tap out, shed a few tears of disappointment but was super happy with my trip! The route has lovely roads, challenging climbing, and it was a great 5 days!!

35 miles, 3700ft elevation.