kurtrules
Well-known member
I was desperately looking to ride. I had Thursday and Friday, with a half day at the office on Thursday. So the plan was ride as far as I could on Thursday afternoon, and spend all of Friday on the roads I had been looking to traverse for a while now. I had driven through the Adirondacks to Lake Placid with my family 2 years ago and looking at those roads from a car seat I knew I had to come back on my V-Strom.
The original idea had been New Hampshire, the Kancamagus and Mount Washington, but two days out the forecast there turned to rain for both days so I dropped the idea.
Thursday.
There is nothing to say about that day. Slab all the way till the Fairfield inn at Malta. This put me in close proximity to Vermont.
Friday
I left Malta around 7 and took NY-313 east through Cambridge and Arlington into Vermont, and joined Route 100 at Londonderry.
From there I rode it north the whole way through Ludlow - Killington and beyond. About 2 hours of continuous corners up a river valley, with the colour at peak from one end to the other.
At Hancock I turned west onto Route 125 over Middlebury Gap, and it started rain. Heavily!
The rain stayed with me for about an hour after the gap, down through Ripton and across the farmlands to the Lake Champlain Bridge. By the time I crossed into New York it was easing off.
Lake Champlain Bridge
The second half of the day was the Adirondacks. From the bridge I followed NY-9 up the lake to Port Henry and turned inland through Mineville onto Tracy Road, which I picked up from @shanekingsley's travelogue. The best road thus far! It is about 13 km of switchbacks, one after another, on tarmac as good as anything I have ever ridden on here in ON. And I did not see another vehicle on it.
It drops you onto US-9 near the Northway, and from there it was full throttle across Keene Valley into Lake Placid
Somewhere in Keene Valley
I didn’t stop much after that. A couple of fuel stops later I crossed the border at the Thousand Islands around 5, and then it was the 401 slab home, most of it in the dark. I was back in Burlington around 10.
The route back
This ride meant more to me than the roads. Last year I had suffered a disc herniation between L3/L4, and it took me out for most of the season. For a long stretch the question was not when I would ride again but whether I would, and for how long at a time.
All the physio, all the boring stretches, the exercises and the precaution seem to be paying off. I hope it continues.
The original idea had been New Hampshire, the Kancamagus and Mount Washington, but two days out the forecast there turned to rain for both days so I dropped the idea.
Thursday.
There is nothing to say about that day. Slab all the way till the Fairfield inn at Malta. This put me in close proximity to Vermont.
Friday
I left Malta around 7 and took NY-313 east through Cambridge and Arlington into Vermont, and joined Route 100 at Londonderry.
From there I rode it north the whole way through Ludlow - Killington and beyond. About 2 hours of continuous corners up a river valley, with the colour at peak from one end to the other.
At Hancock I turned west onto Route 125 over Middlebury Gap, and it started rain. Heavily!
The rain stayed with me for about an hour after the gap, down through Ripton and across the farmlands to the Lake Champlain Bridge. By the time I crossed into New York it was easing off.
Lake Champlain Bridge
The second half of the day was the Adirondacks. From the bridge I followed NY-9 up the lake to Port Henry and turned inland through Mineville onto Tracy Road, which I picked up from @shanekingsley's travelogue. The best road thus far! It is about 13 km of switchbacks, one after another, on tarmac as good as anything I have ever ridden on here in ON. And I did not see another vehicle on it.
It drops you onto US-9 near the Northway, and from there it was full throttle across Keene Valley into Lake Placid
Somewhere in Keene Valley
I didn’t stop much after that. A couple of fuel stops later I crossed the border at the Thousand Islands around 5, and then it was the 401 slab home, most of it in the dark. I was back in Burlington around 10.
The route back
This ride meant more to me than the roads. Last year I had suffered a disc herniation between L3/L4, and it took me out for most of the season. For a long stretch the question was not when I would ride again but whether I would, and for how long at a time.
All the physio, all the boring stretches, the exercises and the precaution seem to be paying off. I hope it continues.
