Aug 22-24: VT Gaps Ride

5th Annual VT Gaps Ride

After missing last year's Gap Ride, I was overjoyed to be at Sugarbush again with a great group of 8 riders. Thanks to Donald Kelley for organizing the 5th Annual VT Gaps. Thanks to Kevin McGoniagle for hosting at Pirate Cove for the 3rd year. Thanks to Ulandt Kim for driving. It's always fun to bike with Rippers Jay Fiske and Darren Garnier. This this year we had the pleasure of riding with newcomers Sunny Stastny and Mike Thompson, who only added to the fun and epic-ness of the weekend.

This summer I have been focused on hiking the 4000-Footers of the White Mountains, so I was surprised that I was able to do all 6 Gaps (instead of the usual 4) for the first time this year. I even set PRs on all of them except Rochester Gap, where I was 30 seconds off my best time. Disclaimer: This was my first time using Strava on Brandon and Middlebury Gap, so they were defacto PRs.

Vanity compels me to add that some of my climbs were faster than shown on Strava. Kevin would get up the mountain first and I would stop when I reached him. Somewhere near the end of the ride, I learned that sometimes the segment ended further up the road, but Kevin would finish and then ride back to a safe stopping place to watch the rest of us finish. So some of my Gap times include standing around chatting.  Doh!

Of course, I suffered on Lincoln Gap, but who doesn't? Now I have to get serious if I want to keep up with the Rippers on the 5 Notches Ride in less than 4 weeks.

For those of you keeping score, the first riders up each gap is no surprise: Kevin, Ulandt, and Jay were always the first ones. I surprised myself by hitting the summit soon after. Mike paced himself and got faster on each climb, blowing past me on a couple and totally killing West Hill Rd. Sunny, Darren, Don were always close behind. The 8 of us all finished within a few minutes of each other, so the waits were barely long enough for me to catch my breath.

My Garmin behaved almost the entire ride, but then MFG's battery died on the last descent. So I switched to Strava on iPhone for the return miles which include Granville Gulf and West Hill Rd.

West Hill Rd is a cruel joke at the end of 136 miles.

Approximate times for our ride (pulled from RideWithGps)

06:00 Breakfast

06:45 Photos

07:00 Ride

07:25 Lincoln Gap start climb

07:44 Lincoln Gap summit

08:04 Lincoln Gap end descent

08:26 App Gap start climb

09:30 App Gap summit

09:55 App Gap end descent

10:13 Roxbury Gap start climb

11:02 Roxbury Gap summit

11:18 Roxbury Gap end descent

12:38 Rochester Gap start climb

13:19 Rochester Gap summit

13:35 Rochester Gap end descent

13:35 Lunch 1hr 17min

14:52 Brandon Gap start climb

15:40 Brandon Gap summit

15:55 Brandon Gap end descent

16:57 Middlebury Gap start climb

17:47 Middlebury Gap summit

??:??  Middlebury Gap end descent (MFG battery died)

18:18 Rte 100 North over Granville Gulf

19:20 West Hill Rd

19:39 Back at Pirate Cove

Pre-Ride

Ulandt picked up Don and me and drove us to Vermont. His only requirement is that we be willing to make a short detour to the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor so he could fill up his growlers for Saturday night's post-ride dinner.

We happily made the sacrifice.

Ulandt was driving, so he just watched as Don and I sampled what Harpoon had on tap.

As is the tradition, we all met at American Flatbread in Waitsfield to carbo load and finalize plans for the next day. E.g., order of the gaps, breakfast time, reminder to lay out kit the night before and do any other prep like pump tires, lube chain, change bottom bracket...

We all wanted to get an early start so the 6 Gappers would make it back before dark. Actually, I should say almost all wanted to get an early start. Sunny opted to sleep in and meet us after the first two gaps.

Gap Morning

Darren and Don got up early and prepared a fortifying breakfast of omelettes, toast, and cereal. We posed for photos and were riding down the road by 7:01 AM, just a minute after the agreed upon start time.

Posing in front of Pirate Cove before the Gap Ride: Jay, Ulandt, Phillip, Darren, Kevin, Mike. Don behind the camera. Sunny still asleep.

 
Another shot adding Don, but still missing Sunny: Ulandt, Mike, Kevin, Don, Darren, Phillip, Jay.

Lincoln Gap

Appalachian Gap

Refueling / pit stop at the bottom of the climb.

After 30 miles, the two hardest Gaps were behind us. I was happy to be 1/3 done, but dismayed to realize we still had 106 miles to go.

Don wasn't feeling it today, and decided to head back. So we lost a rider after 2 Gaps, but with Sunny meeting us for the next 4 Gaps, we kept our number at 7 riders.

Roxbury Gap

Intermezzo

Rochester Gap

No summit photo?

Darren was the photo-meister, and time keeper. He made sure we weren't still slogging up Rte 100 after dark this year.

Jay and Ulandt headed home after Rochester, leaving 5 of us to toil over Brandon and Middlebury.

Brandon Gap

Middlebury Gap

Crazy Canucks

Riding up Middlebury Gap, we saw an alien flying down on a skateboard. He was dressed in green and had a full face helmet. We also saw what looked like a Terminator Motorcycle speeding down the other way.

When we got to the top of the gap, we discovered it was a couple of guys who drove down from Montreal to play in the mountains. The gravity bike was hand built from an upside down BMX frame with handlebars constructed from old bike stems and pegs instead of pedals.

Both the skateboarder and the biker hit top speeds of 92 kph on their descents. According to Strava, my top speed for the day was 88.9967 kph.

Post Ride

Don got photos of some of us returning to Pirate Cove.

More importantly, he met each of us with a pint glass toast. Normally, I drink ales and turn up my nose at lagers, but at the end of 6 Gaps, Sam Adams Boston Lager tasted like the best beer in the world.

Mike and Kevin.

Sunny.

Yay! I did it!

Cheers!

Sunny demonstrating her "top of the gap" face. Sunny was the most enthusiastic climber ever. She also nailed numerous Top Tens on Strava.

Saturday's dinner was fun, but I OD'ed on food, hot sauce, and growlers, and went to bed early.

We had a ton of delicious food. The photo above is of the 3 types of steak tips Mike brought and grilled. He also grilled chicken wings. Plus we had Sunny's lasagna, Kevin's chili, and my calzones. All after consuming cheese, crackers, and dip along with a fine selection of ales. I know people brought other food, but what and who is lost in the fog of my food coma.

As if watching me suffer on the climbs wasn't enough, Sunny says, "I have to say, this is one of my favorite pics.  Ha!  Nice Ulandt!  Sorry, Phil...."

"Like catsup on french fries." That's how much hot sauce I put on Sunny's delicious lasagna before even tasting the lasagna and the Gourmet Gods punished me. This wasn't the Cholula Hot Sauce I am accustomed to; this was The Hottest Fuckin' Sauce, and I suffered mightily. Only drinking a quart of Darren's post-ride recovery chocolate milk helped me recover enough to slink off to bed hours before the rest of the crew.

Recovery Ride

Most of the VT Gaps Ride on Saturday was a blur of pain during the climbs, fear during the descents, and dread riding towards the next climb. So Sunday's recovery ride with Kevin and Sunny was a chance to enjoy the awesome weather and fantastic views.

Don and Ulandt must have had too much coffee for breakfast, because they blew off the Recovery Ride and, instead, rode over Appalachian Gap from both directions.