2025 Colorado Bike Tour

Background

I'm trying much harder these days to say yes to opportunities, so when Mark asked if I wanted to do this trip, I did say yes.  The idea was to ride from Glenwood Springs back to Fort Collins in 3.5 days, mostly along the sidepath on I-70. The trip would be all motel-camping. 

Summary and Outlook

Point-to-point touring

This trip showed me that the actual commitment to the day has to be a big portion of the return to really enjoy point-to-point touring. I didn't get that return this time. That idea that "I'm here now, and I have to be there later, and failure is not an option" seems to be a necessary part of the point-to-point experience. 

I wonder if I even got the thrill in the past. Maybe I was just more interested in going to the limit. When I was younger I did have the reputation of suckering people into a lot of death marches. 

Aging

It's pretty clear that I'm not young anymore. Given that, I have to either dial back my expectation of what can be accomplished on a ride, or I have to find ways to extract more performance from what ability remains. That leads me to three main ideas: better nutrition, better equipment, and more appropriate rides.  I think I have wrung all the improvements out of the first two, so maybe days with 13 km of 7 % grade at altitude are not in the future. 

Equipment

When I returned to Virginia, always happens on the first ride after some kind of tour, I was astounded at how nice and fast my regular road bike is. My response to aging has become making choices to extract every performance advantage from the bike, so that the rides stay enjoyable. When I have toured on my green Zeus, fifty-mile days have to be the norm.  

But I definitely needed something more than a 36-32 on Loveland Pass. Ninety minutes of 70 rpm was too much. 

Travel

Maybe seven days of one-on-one was too much for me. Mark was certainly a great host, but my anxiety level started creeping up on the last day. 

Climb statistics

• Vail Pass: 17.8 km 648 m 421 VAM 154 bpm average 159 W average 2540 m to 3178 m
• Loveland:  13.0 km 730 m 458 VAM 150 bpm average 156 W average 2876 m to 3602 m 
• Va Canyon: 06.2 km 328 m 328 VAM 141 bpm average 145 W average 2407 m to 2745 m

Gear

Bike setup:

• 2013 Crux with Hed Ardennes wheels with tubeless Maxxis Speed Terrane 33 mm file-tread tires and a 48-34 with 11-32 cassette. The tires were treacherous on the paved descents, and were not necessary for the Virginia Canyon climb. The way the knobs hooked up in high speed turns was unexpectedly unsettling. I would have been better off with 32 mm road tires.
• Lezyne Bar Caddy bag.  https://ride.lezyne.com/products/1-sb-bcaddy-v104 Although it looks like a dry bag, it isn't--not even minimally-- despite the description of "highly water resistant." But I just used it for my rain and cold gear. It came with two male buckles on one side, but it  worked OK once I fixed it.  Its size was perfect for drop-bar setups. 
• Ortlieb 16.5 l seat bag: https://us.ortlieb.com/products/seat-pack Its comically huge size makes it really difficult to climb out of the saddle--it's always 180 degrees out of phase. 
• Revelate Tangle frame bag. https://revelatedesigns.com/product/tangleframebag/ Didn't hit my knees on it on this trip. 

Clothing: I opted for minimalist, because I feared hauling extra gear over a 4000-meter pass.

I prepared by assuming that we would get rained on, and it would be very cold. 

Mark's gear:

Although I felt a little like a cycling re-enactor, with my 13-year-old CX bike with QR, Mark put me to shame. He was riding the same frame he used during our 1979 three-week trip around Lake Michigan. His only concession to modernity was the 1990s-era drivetrain. 

Day 1: Glenwood Springs to Eagle

Map: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19684930964

Distance: 60km

We took the Bustang from Fort Collins to Glenwoods springs, which took about five hours including a transfer in Denver. The regional bus system in Colorado is nothing short of amazing. Both bikes rode on the bike rack on the front of the bus, though on Ft Collins to Denver, mine rode in the luggage compartment. 

The long bus ride meant that we were not even kitting up until almost 2:30. Amusingly, despite four engineering degrees between us, neither of us could discern that the bathroom door on the bus opened inward rather than outward, so the portajohn at the bus stop in Glenwood Springs was a welcome relief. We had to make a brief detour to the Target so I could get a replacement phone charger. Ugh

The first 30 km of the ride through Glenwood Canyon were spectacular, but hot. Even though you are often right under I-70, the highway noise is minimal. We even got to see the train we had originally planned to take. 

Day 2: Eagle to Frisco

Map: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19694143433

Distance: 96km

We started pretty early, and immediately ran into the situation the plagues any kind of group ride: someone is fast, and someone is less fast. The faster person tries to go slower, but inevitably tortures the less fast person. 

We had to navigate a lot of bike path in Vail, dodging pedestrians. But then it was on to the feature of the day: Vail Pass. I went out too hard, after I got passed by a gentleman of similar age but riding an e-bike. Although the scenery on the climb was spectacular, the actual pass was pretty mundane. It was just a dirt parking lot next to the interstate. But the climb was all bike path/abandoned road. I ended up waiting for Mark for almost an hour at the top. How he made it to the top with gear and a 39-28 is beyond me. I spent most of the climb in the 34-32 barely turning it over at 70rpm. 

While waiting, a big tour van disgorged 25 young women, all dressed identically in dark shirts and black, calf-length dresses.  They were all prepped to coast back to Copper Mountain, as far as I could tell, completely without adult supervision. One of them crashed almost immediately. 

After Copper Mountain we spotted a moose and calf off to the side of the path, and then it was on to Frisco.  Mark went off to look for liquids, and I explored the Frisco Historic Park and Museum, which is a collection of buildings that have been relocated from other sites around Frisco. I love local history museums, and this one really succeeds at encapsulating the history of Frisco. As always, I wish it had more maps. 

Our grade-school friend, Betsey Foley, drove all the way over from Vail to meet us for dinner. I had not seen her since 1980. 

Looking back westward on Vail Pass. The real climbing hasn't even started yet.

Waiting for Mark at the top of Vail Pass. Some kind of girls summer camp (fundamentalist? Orthodox?) 

Mark, Betsey, and I in Frisco

Links: Frisco Historic Park: https://www.townoffrisco.com/things-to-do/frisco-historic-park-museum/

Day 3: Frisco to Blackhawk

Map: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19703846727

Distance: 98 km

At breakfast, Mark confirmed what he had hinted at the day before. He opted to take the bus from Frisco and meet me in Idaho Springs, which left me to attack Loveland Pass alone.  He graciously took my seatbag to lighten the load. 

I got lost a half dozen times before I got out of Frisco's seemingly limitless warren of bike paths, and had to use my phone to navigate to the base of the first climb.

Loveland Pass, which is the original road that the current I-70 tunnel bypassed in 1973,  climbs 730 m in 13 km to 3660 m at just under 7 %. The traffic was almost non-existent; much of it was tanker trucks that are banned from the tunnel. To be honest, it was not fun. Instead it was just a 1:45 slog, where I mostly thought "Let's get this over with." The switchbacks that start after the Arapahoe Basin ski area helped break up the monotony. 

I'm smiling in the picture at the saddle of the pass, but I didn't a sense of accomplishment like I once did. Instead it was just more relief that the climb hadn't killed me. 

At the highest point on Loveland Pass

The tires did not inspire confidence on the descent, which was further spoiled by a pickup truck that refused to exceed 35 mph--just fast enough for me to have to ride the brakes, but too fast to get around. 

View from the descent overlooking the I-70 tunnel

By the time I started descending, Mark had texted me his location in Idaho Springs. I felt like I had to move it along, so the next ninety minutes were another time trial, mostly on the I-70 frontage road. The first and best part was on a dedicated paved bike trail along US6, which I assume is the right-of-way of an abandoned railroad. 

The frontage road scenery wasn't great, but Silver Plume, Georgetown, and Idaho Springs looked like neat places to do more exploring, including the Georgetown Loop Railroad.

Amusingly, in Silver Plume I ran into two Kelley Benefits alumni on their way to the top of the pass. Oh to be in my early 20s again. I'm sure they were concerned when this rando old dude was yelling "Hey KBS!" at them. 

In Idaho Springs I rejoined Mark, and we set off up Virginia Canyon Road, an excellent 6-km, 330 m dirt climb. It passes quite a few active mines. 

Looking back toward Idaho Springs.

My dad said that he and friends had driven down this road at dusk from Blackhawk in the 1980s. I thought it looked pretty tame, but perhaps its wider than it was forty years ago. 

I found an unopened Gu at the base of the climb, which I consumed the next day!

Our lodgings were at the Lady Luck Casino in Blackhawk. 

Links:

• Background on Loveland Pass: wikipedia-Loveland Pass
  
• History of the I-70 tunnel: Colorado DoT History of Loveland Pass Tunnel
  

Day 4: Blackhawk to Fort Collins

Route: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19714516716

Distance: 144 km

Day 3 route

Mark took us on a gravel side excursion that turned out to just go directly up the fall line: hard, but it was early in the day. The first 30 miles were on the Peak-to-Peak highway. At one point, while looking at my Garmin, I apparently drifted over the white line on the shoulder and scared some dude in an SUV, who pulled over to let me have it. Surprisingly, I think Mark was more worried than I was that he was going to shoot me. I just apologized. 

After Nederland, we blundered onto the "Ned Gravel" course. Because we were riding against the direction of the race, I really had to pay attention to figure out which line to avoid. Fortunately, we were off the downhill section of the course after only a few miles, though we followed the route for about 10 miles in total. The section of Gold Hill road that we descended looked exceptionally brutal for the racers going the opposite direction. 

On the Ned Gravel course.

We lunched at the Gold Hill Store, a famous Boulder area ride destination. I had a coffee and a delicious grilled cheese and bacon sandwich. 

Rejuvenating grilled cheese at the Gold Hill Store.

The descent to Lefthand Canyon Rd on Lickskillet Rd took my brakes to the limit. But then we were on the pavement. Weirdly, a triathlete and a road guy both took some risks to get around me, but then sat up and forced me to pass them back. How they couldn't outdescend a guy with 35mm gravel tires is beyond me.

In Hygiene, Mark opted to call Mitch for a car service back to Fort Collins. Once again he took my seatbag and handlebar bag, and I rode the last 35 miles alone. I wasn't so much on fumes as just unable to go past 135bpm, though I felt like I could have done that for hours.  As usual, I got lost on the bike path in Loveland, and then hit a million cross streets on the bike path in Fort Collins. 

Day 5: Hermit Park Limber Pine Trail

Route: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19724468326

We had planned a day of mountain biking, but I accidently added an extra day on the say, so we ended up with two days. Day 1 was on the Limber Pine trail at Hermit Park, a former Hewlett-Packard company recreation site. 

Mark let me use his twenty-year-old Titus Racer-X full-suspension MTB, which was pretty high-tech and high-zoot when it was new. It included a swanky Chris King headset! And it was set up like my Stumpjumper with narrow bars.

More re-enactor mode on the Racer-X. 

The guide I consulted after the ride described the route as "fast and flowing," but that description obviously did not take me into account. It was close to the limit of my anemic MTB abilities. It didn't help that I was still figuring out the bike. I got better on the return leg, but I still bashed my shins up figuring out that I could ride over stuff. 

We went for pie afterwards, and I got the strawberry-rhubarb, because Sandra wasn't around. It reminded me of my childhood, where rhubarb was on the menu every day in the summer. 

Links

Limber Pine/Hermit Park https://www.visitestespark.com/blog/post/guide-to-exploring-hermit-park/

Day 6: Switzerland Trail

Route: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19734519513

The second mountain bike day was on the Switzerland Trail, an abandoned railroad bed built to serve the mining industry and failed about one hundred years ago. That meant that the gradients were not steep, and I didn't have to contend with any rock gardens. It was technically unchallenging, but probably not much fun on a gravel bike. 

Plus the scenery was amazing.

On the Switzerland loop off the Peak-to-Peak highway. 

Switzerland trail

Links

• History of the Switzerland Trail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland_Trail
  
• More history https://www.historycolorado.org/location/denver-boulder-western-railway-switzerland-trail-america

Utility Use Deep Dive

1. Introduction

About five years ago, I noticed that our water bill seemed to be increasing beyond what I thought that the rate of inflation was. This observation led me to do a deep dive into our utility consumption.

This deep dive was possible because, as a hoarder, I had saved almost every utility bill we've ever received at 7316 Allan. 

The deep dive comprises three sections: Water, Gas, and Electricity. Within each section, plots show the total cost in both absolute and inflation-adjusted dollars. Each section attempts to determine the major sources of the usage and cost, and provides recommendations for reducing usage. 

2. Water

2.1 Usage

2.1.1 General usage notes

Values of usage for appliances come from the manufacturer specification. For toilet use I tracked the number of flushes over a three-week period and effectively doubled them, because we have two toilets. I estimated the length of the shower, but measured the flow rate of our low-flow shower head. 

Activity	Use	Frequency
	gal/day	per day
Bill showers	5	0.57
Sandra showers	17	0.57
Bill toilet	4.5	3.53
Sandra toilet	2.6	2.02
Dishwasher	3.4	0.57
Clothes washer	11	1.00
Total	43.6

Figure 1 below shows the daily water consumption since 1992. Colors and symbols identify the season. The annotations indicate major life changes and installation and use dates of water-consuming appliances. 

Over the past thirty years, Sandra spent 2 years living full-time in Albany, and has stayed in Baltimore first four or five days a week, but since 2023, three days per week. 

Figure 1. Water usage since 1992

2.1.2 Findings

• Our water use has generally decreased from about 80 gal/day to the present 40 gal/day from the 1990s to present.
• None of the high-usage quarters (Usage>100 gal/day) were in the winter quarter. 
• Note the general drop in usage 2005—2007 when Sandra lived in Albany.
• The largest drop in usage correlates with the replacement of the old toilet in 2017. 
• Despite Luecke post-retirement, usage remains low. 

2.1.3 Conclusions and Inferences

• The new washer (11 gal/wash vs. 35 gal/wash) canceled out by Luecke retirement.
• Heavy usage in the 1990s could be due extensive lawn watering.

2.1.4 Recommendations

• Very little extra efficiency on water use is possible. 

2.2 Cost

2.2.1 Background

• Water bill is issued quarterly, includes charges for both supply and sewer. 
• Water is billed in units of 1000 gallons. 
• In 2014, the Virginia supreme court mandated that Falls Church City sell its water system, which supplied much of Northern Virginia inside the beltway, to Fairfax Water Authority. 
• Our sewage is handled by the AlexRenew plan on Cameron Run in Alexandria. 

2.2.2 Rate and Total Cost

Figure 2 shows the absolute and inflation-adjusted cost of water. Annotations denote the periods in the change in ownership of the water company (see links below). Initially, I had thought that the increase in water rate was due to the supreme court-mandated sale of Falls Church Water to  Fairfax Water Authority. 

Figure 2. Absolute and inflation-adjusted water rate 

Figure 3 shows the actual billed cost of water. 

Figure 3. Absolute and Inflation-adjusted quarterly water cost. 

2.2.3 Findings

• Sewage disposal is main driver of cost after 2008.
• Sewage disposal costs have outstripped the rate of inflation by 4x since 2008.
• Inflation-adjusted Water supply costs have not changed in thirty years. 

2.2.4 Conclusions and Inferences

• The payback time on a 2 gal.flush toilet over a 4 gal/flush toilet, assuming that the toilet cost is $200 and you install it yourself is only 470 days: $150/((7.1 flushes/day * 2 gal/ flush) * $0.03/gal). Paying a plumber $300 for the installation drives the payback time to about 3.2 years, which is still a rapid return on investment 
• Despite our roughly 2/3 reduction in water use, our water bill has doubled since 1995. 
• It seems reasonable that sewage costs have increased, presumably due to reduced tolerance for dumping raw sewage into the Potomac River. 
• I had originally thought that the court-ordered sale of the water company to FC drove the price   increase, but the sewage price increases, which had always been controlled a different authority, started in six years before the sale. 

2.2.5 Links

This website http://www.virginiaplaces.org/watersheds/fairfax-fallschurch.html  summarizes the history of the Fairfax Water Authority/Falls Church Water Company battle. 

Sewage from our neighborhood goes to the AlexRenew treatment plan in Alexandria. Maps here: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/wastewater/wastewater-treatment

3. Gas

3.1 Introduction

We use three gas-fired appliances:  a stove, a water heater, and a 90% efficient furnace, which was installed in 1995. 

3.1 Climate change in Northern Virginia

3.1.1 Summary plots

For a day, the heating degree days, HDD is defined as

HDD = 65 ℉- (Tmax+Tmin)/2 

If the average temperature is above 65 ℉, HDD=0.

Typically, HDD is a measure of the heating requirements in a given location. 

Figure 4: Heating degree days per year since 1999. 

3.1.2 Findings

• The number of heating degree days, HDD per year  has decreased about 20% since 2000. 

3.2 Gas Usage

Figure 5: Gas use in therms in months where it is likely that the furnace is off.

3.2.1 Findings for gas use

• Figure 5 shows that installation of a new water heater only partially reduced cut the gas use during months with no heat from about 6 therms/month to 4 therms/month. 
• Gas, presumably for water heating, rose during the COVID-19 work-from-home era.
• Gas use has remained at about 4 therms/month even though Sandra is only working and staying 3 days /2 nights per week in Baltimore, and William is retired. 
• I have no explanation for high usage 2008-2014, although that era was near the end of life of our original water heater, which came with the house in 1992. 

3.3 Gas Cost

3.3.1 Summary Plots

Figure 6 shows the yearly total gas cost (heating+hot water+cooking) in both absolute and inflation-adjusted dollars

Figure 6: Yearly gas cost

3.3.2  Findings

• In absolute terms, the cost for gas has remained effectively unchanged for the last 25 years.
• In inflation-adjusted terms, the cost for gas has decreased almost 50%, partially due to the reduction in heating demand.

3.3.3 Discussion and Inferences

• Of the $750 total per year charge for gas, $70 is cooking and hot water (4 therms * $1.5/therm) and  $680 is for heat.
• In 2025 dollars, the total charge for heat over a 20 year expected life of a HVAC system is $14K. That makes it hard to justify significant extra costs for energy efficiency on a new HVAC system.

3.4 Gas Rate

3.4.1 Summary Plots

Figure 7: Gas cost rate since 2000. 

3.4.2 Findings

• Gas actually costs about 20% less in 2025 than in 2010 in inflation-adjusted dollars. 

3.5 Notes 

• I cannot locate any gas bills before 1999. 
• Question. What is the base load of the water heater if you never  draw any water out of it?
• The rate plots include the monthly "system charge" $12.40. Electricity and Water build this charge into the rate. 

4. Electricity

4.1 Usage

Figure 8 shows electricity usage per month since 1992. Yellow bands denote summer months (June 21-Sept 21). Annotations describe major electric appliance installation and use periods. 

Notes

• Until 2003 we used the dryer that came with the house in 1992. To hold the door shut we used a horseshoe magnet. 
• After replacing the refrigerator during the 1999 kitchen rebuild we moved the original pre-1992 refrigerator to the basement. Neither WL or SH can remember when we got rid of it, though.

Figure 8: Electricity used since 1992.

4.1.1 Findings

• General trend: 2X current energy use during 1997 - 2004. 
• The current energy use is  (300 < E < 400)   kWh/mo
• Most high-use months occur in the summer, presumably correlated with A/C use. 

4.1.2 Analysis

4.1.2.1 Lighting 

Various internet sources indicate that in 2002,  85 % of bulbs in use were incandescent.  I estimate the bulb distribution and duty cycle for two eras.

- 1992 usage: 390 kWh/mo from 27 incandescent + 4 T12 

- 2025 usage: 150 kWh/mo from 33 LED,  3CFL, 4 T12,  8 T8, and  6 48in LED 

Energy use estimated that the lights are on 1/4 of the time. 

The longer we have lived here, the more lamps we have installed. 

4.1.2.2 Other Electrical use

I estimate the following usage from manufacturer specification sheets

• 50 kWh/mo Refrigerator 50kWh/mo = 0.07 kWh/hour
• 25 kWh/mo Dryer 
• 36 kWh/mo Cable modem/Wifi/DVR
• A/C 3kW running = 35kWh/day running 12 h/day, 5 days month = 170kWh/mo

4.1.2.2.1 Notes

• Wifi/cable modem consumes 50W 24 h/day (measured)
• Dryer use estimated from 13 months of hourly electric usage. The dryer signal is a 1 hour spike at 3.2kW, which occurred 88 times. WEL air-dries most of his clothing already. 
• Nighttime energy usage  is 0.1 kWh per half hour = 0.2 kwH/h =  200 W   4.8kWh/day = 144 kWh/month.

4.1.2.2 Usage Patterns

Figure 9 shows the energy used during selected months where no A/C use would have occurred. 

•  The minimum power use is in May and November, when lighting use would be low.

Figure 9: Energy use during months where no A/C was used. 

Figure 10 shows a snapshot of the hourly energy consumption for one week in 20204.

• The nighttime base load is 0.2 kwH/h = 200W, which presumably includes the refrigerator consumption of 0.07kwH/h per hour.

Figure 10: Energy use during the week of 2024-04-28. 

 

4.1.3 Inferences and Conclusions

• Finishing the replacement of T8 and T12 fluorescent bulbs with LED bulbs would reduce the power need about 200 W and the use about 40 kWh/mo, which is 10% of the total. 
• Very few other approaches to reducing electricity consumption appear to exist, beyond being more disciplined about shutting off lights. 

4.2 Cost

Figure 11 shows the absolute and inflation-adjusted cost of electricity since 1992

Figure 11. Electricity cost per month.

4.3.1 Findings

• Because of energy efficiency, electric bill in absolute dollars hasn't change in thirty years. 

4.3 Rate

Figure 12 shows the cost rate of electricity since 1992. 

•  The inflation-adjusted rate has decreased (!) since 1992 from $0.10/kwH to $0.075/kWh.

Figure 12: Electricity Rate since 1992. 

-

* Insurance

DIY carbon repair

Backstory

In 2016 I crashed my 2013 Sworks with 2km to go at Masters 50+ Nationals when someone slid up between me and another rider and took my rear derailleur off. The major problem from that incident was tremendous sciatica, which turned me in to "The Falls Church Night Weirdo" for the entire summer. But in addition to my piriformis muscle , the seat stay was also damaged. The drive-side seatstay crack had been growing for years, while I  monitored it. By Spring 2021 it was large enough to affect the shifting, and I retired the bike. I had already had it repaired once before in 2015, after an Artemis guy chopped me at the Tour of Page Valley, and either my heel or the heel of the guy I fell on cracked the chainstay. 

The crack in the seat stay extended about 2/3 of the way around.

Since the frame was a writeoff at this point, a repair attempt seemed like an entertaining retirement project. As everyone does, I watched about twenty youtube videos on DIY carbon-fiber repair. I ended up buying a kit from Predator Carbon: https://predatorcycling.com/products/carbon-repair-kit , mostly because their videos had seemed useful. I actually bought the individual components instead of their pre-packaged kit, because it was only 3/4 the cost. 

All the repair kits I have seen from various sources are similar. Mine had three components:

1. a strip of 2x2 twill-weave carbon fiber 150 mm x 1300 mm,
2. 75 ml of resin with catalyst, and 
3. 2 m of industrial heat-shrink tape.

The third component is the "secret sauce" that makes the whole process work for the neophyte end user. The heat-shrink tape provides the compression over the fiber layup to squeeze  out the excess resin and compact the layers.

The kits represent a big markup over the marginal cost of materials, but most carbon fiber suppliers only sell in much larger, and ultimately wasteful, volumes. My experience was that the 75 ml of resin is sufficient for four or five repairs. And it has a very finite shelf life, so buying a 4 liters just means that 3.9 liters will go to the solid waste transfer station.

I practiced once using Marc Klein's Cannondale that Pete Lindeman had given me. I smashed the top tube on the concrete steps and then patched it.  After the resin had cured, I sawed a section of the tube out from the repair and verified that the patched area didn't contain unconsolidated fiber/resin. 

For the Sworks Chainstay repair, I opted for a simple three-layer overwrap, instead of attempting to create a scarf joint. The resulting repair will be a bulge like a recently healed broken leg, but more layers seem safer than a more attractive repair. 

The Repair

First I removed the clearcoat by hand sanding 5 cm on either side of the crack. 

The crack with the clear coat removed, and prepped for an overwrap. 

Mixing the resin and catalyst is straightforward by weight: 3.5:1 . I used the triple-beam balance that I rescued off the loading dock of Bard Hall 35 years ago. 

The twill-weave carbon fiber cut to size, and the components ready to weigh out. I mixed them with a recycled Trader Joe's popsicle stick in a used a carry-out sauce container . 

I masked the area of the seat stay with painters tape and electrical tape, and I wrapped the entire frame in newspaper and garbage bags, which is important, because the resin runs out and drips everywhere.  One of the videos suggested tacking the end of the carbon fiber sheet in place using partially cured (40 minutes) resin, so I did that.  

Before wrapping, I staged the the correct length of heat shrink tape by taping it to one size of the repair area, so it would be quick to just wrap it around. 

With the resin and catalyst mixed, I painted the whole exposed section of the seat stay with resin using a plumber's acid brush and started wrapping the carbon fiber sheet, while simultaneously painting more resin onto the new layer. The entire repair was three layers of sheet, which makes a repair about 1.0 mm thick.

With everything in place, I spiral wrapped the heat-shrink tape like a handlebar, overlapping about 50 % of the tape on each wrap. Then I taped the end with electrical tape and hit the whole area with the heat gun for about 90 s. As the tape shrunk, it squeezed out the excess resin, which I (mostly) wiped up with a shop towel. Some dripped on the floor, unfortunately. 

The repair after the tape had shrunk

I let the resin cure for 48 hours before stripping the heat-shrink tape and then lightly sanding it with 320 grit paper. I plan to just clear coat the repair with automotive clear coat, because the resin is known to be UV sensitive. 

The completed repair before clear coating. 

Postscript

Of course, the proof will be whether it survives being ridden..

2023 Vermont bike tour

Overall impressions

Very few breathtaking views presented themselves, but almost every minute of every day was tremendously scenic. Or maybe everything Vermont was just so green and beautiful that no low points existed to make beautiful parts seem spectacular.

The parade of tiny towns represented a dramatic contrast to Northern Virginia, with its year-on-year and fill-in development. Some population and geographic data really illustrate this conclusion. Essex County has fewer residents than my neighborhood in an area 1.5 times the size of all of Fairfax county.

No real low points really occurred. Day four was tiring, but not anywhere near the despair level. 

Population changes 1972-2021

County/State	Area	Population	Population
	mi^2	1972	2021
Vermont	9616	460K	646K
Fairfax County	406	454K	1.14M
Caledonia County	658	24K	30.5K
Essex County	675	5600	5900

Essex county peaked at 6500 in 2002

The Crew

Left to Right: Bill Erickson, Bill Luecke ("green bill"), Gil Menda, Vanessa McCaffery, Bob Nunnink, Ernie Bayles.

Tech

Bike

I used the same 40+ year-old racing frame with cantilever brakes that I have used on trips for the last decade. I was the only participant on cantilevers. Loaded, the bike was almost 50 lbs. 

I splurged for some "gravel-specific" Ortlieb Gravel-Pack front panniers so that I didn't have to pack everything waterproof bags. The front rack was also a new low-rider Axiom Journey DLX. The old rack made the panniers hit the arms of the cantilever brakes.

Gearing was  26-38-48 with an 8-speed 13-30. I used the 26/30 frequently. Because 8 and 9-speed cassettes are the same, a useful upgrade would be to go to 9-speed, which the 90's-vintage bar-end shifters could still handle it. For this trip, I removed the drop-out adjusting screws, which allowed me to squeeze in a 38 mm Specialized Trigger sport tire, albeit with only about 3-mm clearance to the chainstays. Broken spokes would be an existential threat.

• Rack: Axiom journey DLX https://www.axiomgear.com/products/racks/low-rider-racks/journey-dlx-lowrider/
• Panniers: Ortlieb Gravel pack https://www.ortlieb.com/en_us/gravel-pack+F9982

Equipment upgrades for the future

• Switch to a 9-speed 11-34 cassette.
• Retape bars with double tape or silicone padding. 

Gear

Not including the bags, the gear plus Clif bars and Gu weighed about  18 lbs. I can't think of any way to reduce the weight without sacrificing important equipment. Fully loaded the bike came in at 50 lbs.

This time I remembered to bring a two-port charger.

I used every piece of gear I had in the bags.

I replaced my stinky, crusty moccasins with some ultralight Xero Z-trail sandals. They only weigh 284 g/pair, and they seem like you could walk some distance in them. The tread tended to pick up mud, though.

Link: https://xeroshoes.com/shop/sandals/ztrail-men/

Gear limitations and replacements

Some gear should be added or replaced, including

• a proper, consumer-grade, battery backup. The freebie I stole from Sandra would not charge my phone,
• a free-standing tent with a proper fly. The amount of condensate on the flyless Sierra Design tent did not fill me with confidence that it would function in the rain,
• a lightweight down jacket for mornings and evenings. The gray fleece I added at the last minute was barely enough.

Performance

The day-to-day performance degradation was not as severe as on the 2021 Catskills trip, but every day the maximum HR decreased. What would happen on a ten-day trip? I might be dead at the end...

Day	HRmax	Vmax	Distance	Elevation
	bpm	km/h	km	m
0	162	73.2	53.7	724
1	159	73.8	105.4	1084
2	156	68.2	93.4	1392
3	152	68.3	107.4	1325
4	146	67.8	115.6	1561
5	142	61	49.1	981

The camera doesn't lie: I've developed quite a beer gut this year...

Day-by-Day Reports

Day 0: Poultney, Vt to Poultney, Vt

After lunch we stopped at Poultney High School for a shakedown ride that was primarily characterized by map checks and wrong turns. After one long and wrong descent, we found Ames Hollow Rd,  our first Class 4 road. 

Vermont defines a Class 4 road as one that is not maintained by the town. This one was pretty much all rideable.  

We stayed at the Greensboro camp of Ernie's sister Jenny, which the family had built starting in about 1964, and now comprises several A-frames and a two-story house. 

Link: Day 0 Route

Day 1 Greensboro to Lake Carmi

We followed the Revolutionary-war Bayley-Hazen Road for much of the day, including a trip over Hazen's notch. The Bayley-Hazen road was the first road in northern Vermont. The route over the notch follows Vermont Rt 58, which is a dirt road. Amusingly, while I was waiting at the top, I chatted with a driver with New York license plates who stopped to complain that "How is this a dirt road!?" 

After Montgomery, we had a bit of dissent at the Longley bridge, and we bypassed the dirt road for a straight shot to the Missisquoi rail trail, the former Central Vermont RR,  in East Berkshire.

Dinner was at a food truck in Enosburg Falls.

I never felt terrible during the ride but I also never felt great. 

Campsite: Lake Carmi site 11 on the lake. 

Fun fact. Sometime between 1922 and 1926 Lake Carmi was upgraded from being named "Franklin Pond." 

Day 1 Route

Day 2 Lake Carmi to Newport

The US/Canada monument on Richford Slide Rd. We're in Canada now!

We headed out north from Lake Carmi, and then along the US/Canada border for most of the day. Some fraction of all the traffic we encountered comprised US Customs and Border Protection jeeps. We stopped for lunch in Richford, and then spent the next 1/2 hour riding back and forth on the two roads in Richford trying to find the proposed route. One consolation was the road fingernail clipper (#3 of 2023) I spotted on the second pass, although Vanessa got the quarter I passed twice.  In the end, we went down Corliss Rd, which unfortunately did not connect and had not connected for at fifty years. So it was back to Richford for the third time. 

On Richford Slide Rd we made a 300-yard detour into Canada when the road crossed the border and then reentered the US. The only indication was a 3-foot granite monument inscribed with Canada and United States. Apparently the border was a lot more chill in the past.

I perked up on the climb over the pass north of Jay Peak. Ice cream in North Troy also helped, but I was still glad to get to get to the Prouty Beach campground in Newport. Weirdly, we traded our reserved, expensive, not-ideal bare site with lake view for a less-expensive wooded site.

Dinner was at the only open restaurant in Newport. 

Day 2 Route

Day 3 Newport to John McGill's cabin in Victory

The Border Station in Beebe Plain (photo credit Bob Nunnink)

Our gracious host, John McGill ready to ride on Day 4

John's primitive cabin

Back in July, I had reached out to John McGill about routes in the NE kingdom. John and I had met twenty years before, mostly racing at Greenbelt Park in the middle of the week. He offered the use of his primitive cabin at his camp on Victory Hill. It was a bit of an unknown--we only had some interior photos to judge. John created and administers a private foundation mountain bike trail system, which was just adjacent to his cabin. He also suggested some routes to the east of Victory Hill. 

The day started with a bit of chaos, as some wanted to stop at the Wendy's for breakfast sausage and more coffee. Apparently only the drive-through was open, but that situation was not obvious for almost twenty minutes. Only Bill E. and Gil managed to activate the sensor and order. I just jammed down a Clif bar. I suppose that this staffing problem is part of the "great resignation." None of the delay really bothered me, which I think is a good sign of my much-more-chill outlook on time and dates.

We rode north out of Newport on the Newport-Derby rail trail that was part of the Boston and Maine RR, to Derby.

I didn't realize that once we left the trail for the road that we were only a few hundred yards from the Canadian border. and the

border station. 

The border station in Beebe Plain  was also curious. Getting in to the US was like going through the Wendy's drive-through, but the way out of the US was blocked by a drop-down metal security barricade. I wanted to take some pictures, but thought that it would just get me in trouble. The postoffice lady yelled at me for blocking the ramp, as if I couldn't figure out how to get out of the way.  A post-ride map check showed that all the houses whose driveway onto  "Rue Canusa" in Canada are all actually in the US, and the border goes down the middle of the road, but on the other side of the border station.

On Derby Line Rd I managed to run into Bob while trying to steer around him.  Shortly after Bob and Vanessa took the Vt highway 111 route to Morgan, and the rest of us took the dirt Town highway 38. they saw a bear. We saw a lot of Vermont dirt road. We resupplied at the Morgan Country Store, where Fox news was playing, and the cashier seemed a bit surly. Found $0.01 in the parking lot!

Lunch was in Island Pond from the supermarket. Because we were unsure about the exact situation at John McGill's cabin, we stocked up assuming that there would be no resupply until Thursday night. The planned route included a climb up Radar Rd followed by a descent to Gallup Mills. The Radar Rd, which we would briefly use the next day, goes to an abandoned Cold-Ware distant-early-warning radar site on the top of East Mountain. We chose to stick to the paved road, because the climb on Victory Rd

was only 300 m (vs. 400 m) in about 1.5 km less. And Victory Rd was challenging enough. 

The last ten miles on River Rd was quite scenic, with views of Umpire and Burke Mountains, and the wetlands along the river. After a short climb up Victory Hill Rd, I sorted out where to find John's caretaker, who said "Oh, he's there, just go to the end of the road and through the gate." I found John's car, complete with bikes, but no sign of him. He arrived later, on his mountain bike with a brush lopper in his backpack--trail maintenance. He had also dropped off some corn and bread, and provided burgers as well! 

Links: 

Victory Hill Trail Club: https://victoryhillmtb.com/

Radar station: https://vtdigger.org/2013/08/08/a-cold-war-relic-the-east-haven-radar-station-closed-50-years-ago/

Day 3 Route

Day 4 Victory Hill to Victory Hill to Lyndonville

The Ithaca contingent's friend Cory Baclawski, would would be hosting us at his house at the end of the day, came to ride with us. He brought his friend Ben Deede, who had taken the day off work joined us. Ben actually knew the route and provided expert guide services.  John McGill rode with us until we reached Paul Stream Rd route through the logging area by Mitchell Mountain.

We cached the bags at the start, and would return to collect them later. 

We backtracked the end of the day before, north on River Rd, and then took the Radar Rd north before turning off onto a side ride. The west-to-east transit of the logging area was on absolutely pristine roads. It was hard to understand how they stayed so perfect--the brush was all pushed back, indicating that they were routinely used, but the clay surface was smoother than pavement.

I was fading by the lunch stop, and the 1-km bushwhacking on Hall Rd made me nervous--nothing in the tank. We turned west off North Rd and went through two gates onto a two-track that wound through the bogs. I was really confused about our location, and was really flagging, even though I had strictly stuck to eating something every hour. A push on a recently regraded and repair stretch of Paul Stream Rd really demoralized me. But shortly after I found a second wind, and got rolling again. We recovered the bags at John's cabin, and recovered Ernie, who had inexplicably turned on Masten Rd instead of following the road back to the cabin. Cory took all the gear in his van, so we had the whole day unloaded. 

The ride over Kirby Mtn Road was steep and hard, but I felt fine. On the descent I foolishly tried to follow Vanessa, who had a head start, but I took two serious hits in a row, which shook my confidence, so I backed off. I was completely dead by the time we got to the end at Cory and Lisa's house. Two beers didn't really help the alertness, but were very welcome anyway. I nearly fell off Cory's deck when I leaned against the railing and it cracked. Much bouncing of small children occurred. Their oldest, Silas,  and I spent some time trying to re-sort his rock collection, which tickled all of my organization needs. It seemed very similar to one that I had 55 years ago, though his had twice as many specimens. 

Sleeping indoors got us out of the overnight rain.

Day 4 Route

Day 5 Lyndonville to Greensboro

Staging in the drizzle. Photo credit Bill Erickson

Walden Mtn Rd. Impassible without pushing.

Top of the Mountain Farm Stand. Breakfast sandwiches in the clouds.

The forecast was for 60F and rain, and we left in the rain. We passed "Vermont's largest corn maze" on Burroughs Rd. The thin, wet layer of mud really sucked at the wheels, and I was glad that we were chopping off the southern half of the planned ride. On Walden Mountain Rd, Ernie chatted up a crusty old local (COL) for intel on the pass. He opined that we would be pushing, which just sounded like

a challenge to me. But COL was correct, and about ten minutes of pushing followed, on a class 4 road that had been destroyed in the flooding in June--it was basically a stream.

After a rolling bit on a barely drivable road, Top of the Mountain Vegetable Farm appeared out of the cloud: coffee, sandwiches, pet goats.

After that it was a quick run through Greensboro Bend and on to Greensboro, where Jenny treated us to killer tacos and wine.

Link: Day 5 Route

Sandwich report

Our 2021 Catskills trip included some  of the best sandwiches I have eaten. This trip was notable for my poor choices. I should have followed the lead of Bob "The Sandwich Whisperer" Nunnink, who apparently enjoyed his.

• Day 0 Mandy's Pizza and subs, Hudson Falls, NY: uninspired meatball parm
• Day 1 Parkside Grill (Food truck) in Enosburg Falls: two hotdogs that had still be in the fryer, even though I wasn't excited about that
• Day 2 Italian sub Main St. market in Richford. High point, but really only acceptable. 
• Day 3-5 No sandwiches.