Ben and Jerry's?

[drinkingmymilk]

Hey guys, I'm planning a group ride up to Ben and Jerry's the start of July. Details here Any words of advice on places to stay? Roads to use? etc.

Obviously, you're all welcome to meet up with us.

[barrypz]

If you mean in Waterbury VT, Alchemist brew pub is on the main street in town. Good food, GREAT beer.

[drinkingmymilk]

Yes sir.

I lead an ice cream ride every Tuesday night out of Middletown Ct. We average 15 bikes so we decided to try doing the ultimate ice cream ride up to the mother land.

Any suggestions on hotels in the area? We'd love a pool to relax after riding so long.

[ranette]

Well, I'm a bit prejudiced, but I've heard this is a decent place to stay,
http://www.gablesinn.com

Full disclosure, my wife and I are the owners, send me a PM if you're interested and I'm sure we can come up with a NESR rate.

Randy

[korndogg]

You should go over route 17 on your way up.
Waterbury isn't far from me at all.
There are lots of hotels to choose from. There's got to be a lot of places to stay in stowe also. I can't recommend any though as I always have a place to stay around here. hah

Edit: Randy beat me with a good option

[drinkingmymilk]

As much as I would love to support a local member owned inn. I don't think a B&B is the place for 10 or so, 20-30 year olds. I wouldn't want to cause any drama with other guests but thank you for the offer.

[Drewski]

Duffy and I are in. Keep us posted please.

[Folkgirl]

keep on heading north through Stowe and run Smuggler's Notch

[tonyd]

checked out your map. I would highly suggest switching from rt7 to rt100 for at least one way of your trip. rt7 thru VT is scenic but pretty boring riding.

[kbroderick]

checked out your map. I would highly suggest switching from rt7 to rt100 for at least one way of your trip. rt7 thru VT is scenic but pretty boring riding.

I would go as far as to say that Rt. 7 from Rutland north sucks for riding. I'd definitely consider alternate routes; 30 and 22a both suck somewhat less, and 100 is a classic Vermont state highway (although the pavement in places leaves something to be desired). Rt. 7 south of Rutland has more limited-access sections and you're a bit less likely to get stuck behind slow-moving traffic (it also has some decent scenery), but it doesn't have a lot of corners.

Speaking of pavement that leaves something to be desired, 17 is...interesting. If you've never ridden it before, it may be worth checking out for the sake of checking out, but the pavement is sucky. As Mark noted, pushing it through the corners is now somewhere between dangerous and dumb.

On the other hand, 125 should be in pretty good shape, and 73 isn't a bad road, either; I'd certainly suggest considering those for crossing the mountains (125 is Middlebury Gap, 73 is Brandon Gap; 73 west of 7 may be closed again, but I'm not sure).

Oh, and check the Vermont 511 site for info on road closures if you plan to visit any low-lying areas, particularly those near lake Champlain.

[Trouble]

I'd recommend heading over Brandon Gap (Rt 73) and coming up Rt 100 instead of crossing at the Ap Gap (Rt 17). Middlebury Gap (Rt 125) is another pretty good east-west gap with fresh pavement on the east side but west side is still a bit rough. The Ap Gap will knock your tonsils out. http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...7-app-gap.html It has a nice view at the top but between the long winter and incredible amounts of rain this spring it's very treacherous.

[Trouble]

Damn you Kevin! I agree with everything you said though...

[korndogg]

I just went through route 17 on sunday (my first time ever), and rode pretty aggressively with a few others. I didn't think it was that bad. *shrug*

[dipthat]

Let's all ride to Japan for Sushi!!

[drinkingmymilk]

Thanks a bunch guys. I was riding with TimmyDuck tonight and he told me we may be best shooting up 100 due to time on the way up. We're planning a trip up graylock, it will be the first time for many of us since a good friend past on the climb so I am sure we will be spending a good amount of time there and we want to be sure to make ben and jerry's before close.

Well, I'm a bit prejudiced, but I've heard this is a decent place to stay,
http://www.gablesinn.com

Full disclosure, my wife and I are the owners, send me a PM if you're interested and I'm sure we can come up with a NESR rate.

Randy

He also said we'd be fine in your hotel and that there is a brewery within walking distance.

I'll give you guys a call this week.

Let's all ride to Japan for Sushi!!

To much radiation.

[Stromper]

We I can route you the whole way except we don't have specifics

Where do you want to start

How long do you want to ride and or how many miles

Are small roads wanted like 8A ? I assume you want to avoid dirt

Avoid expressways or zip to 116 or VT on 91 and spend more time in Vt proper.

Estimate average miles per hour for group


There are more than enough roads for 2 days etc. but we need parameters

If you have routable garmin GPS a route can be knocked out

[ranette]

He also said we'd be fine in your hotel and that there is a brewery within walking distance.

True and True.

Thanks for thinking of us Mr. Duck.

[drinkingmymilk]

We I can route you the whole way except we don't have specifics

Where do you want to start

How long do you want to ride and or how many miles

Are small roads wanted like 8A ? I assume you want to avoid dirt

Avoid expressways or zip to 116 or VT on 91 and spend more time in Vt proper.

Estimate average miles per hour for group


There are more than enough roads for 2 days etc. but we need parameters

If you have routable garmin GPS a route can be knocked out

Rich, Start points and end points are in the thread on Born. Leave Waterbury CT. about 6:45 am. Heading up Rt. 8. The only promised stop is Graylock which will be nice for the few of us that were good friends with Matt.

Ben and Jerry's closes at 9pm, there last tour is 8pm. I would love to take the tour but if we can't make it in time, that's not a big deal. If this means going straight there, fine, if we can go to the hotel, check in, drop our bags and head back out. Awesome, that's what we'll do. Once the route is down, we'll have a better idea for times. I created this thread because I don't know anything about routes in VT. every time I am up there I follow Rob and we're going to fast for me to notice signs.

Average speed... Ride it like you'd drive it. 10-20 over, safe passing pending the group size.

I don't have a GPS. I know you're very familiar with the area though and I'd love it if you could help out and lead.

True and True.

Thanks for thinking of us Mr. Duck.

Like I said in my first post.. Looking at your website, we would just piss off other customers. Timmy explained a little about your layout and such, sounds like it will work out fine so long as that pool and bar are open

[drinkingmymilk]

update.

This is posted on 3 sites. So I am just quoting the lists. Feel free to post this on other sites. Just have them log in here to give us a acurate count. Lets make this happen peoples. Rain or shine, if it's raining the Mrs. and I will just hop in the car.

In for sure.
Drinkingmymilk- rooming w/ stitch --born/ctshift/nesr
Stitch- rooming w/ drinkingmymilk --born/ctshift
JHawley --born/ctshift/nesr
dynamite196 --born/ctshift/nesr
01XJ --born/nesr
yev --born/ctshift
MFChop --born
drewski --nesr

People who will wish they came if they don't
kawgirl/kimbo.str --born/ctshift
mellowyellow --born/nesr
fasYankee --born
zx6r --born
GixerJockey--born/nesr
SVnunook --born/nesr/ctshift
gixxer84 --born
monstermiro --born
lucky6600 --born/ctshift
chsxfireems --ctshift
1055 --ctshift
thuglife --ctshift
wickedxj --ctshift
Techn][ne --ctshift

Please update as you commit so we can start to figure out hotel rooms and such.

We'll be staying http://www.gablesinn.com/ 10 miles from Ben and Jerry's (lets us de-gear then head for ice cream) Pool, Hot tub, Pool Table - lounge area, Good reviews on Trip Advisor http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...t.html#REVIEWS it's cheap and is owned by a member of NESR so they know what they are in for. This is the Restaurant & Brewery with in walking distance. http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-shed-res...-brewery-stowe

If any one's significant other would like to come but only wants to drive and you want to take a bike. That's fine, we can set up a car pool if they wish and so they have company.

[mbandit14]

Rt 140 is awesome. Zig zag up the Green Mtns using any of the pass roads.

[drinkingmymilk]

Rt 140 is awesome. Zig zag up the Green Mtns using any of the pass roads.

I'm thinking we'll zig zag on the way home Sunday. Doing it on the way up will make 8 hours of seat time. If we do it on Sunday, heading back down towards CT and then cutting over at 116 in MA it will cut time and be a change vs. the ride up.

[drinkingmymilk]

Drewski, do you still want to take part? We're going to be meeting up with 01xj and his better half at the end of Rt. 8 if you'd like to link up with us.

All details can be found here.

http://www.ctshift.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=632