marcum@sun.uucp (Alan Marcum) (10/25/85)
Recently returned from a vacation back East, which included a week-long
bicycle tour with VBT (Vermont Bicycle Touring). The trip was their
"Weathersfield Wanderer," a 5-day, medium-difficulty, fully-sagged
tour in southeastern Vermont, near Springfield. We (my S.O. and I) had
a MARVELOUS time.
Included in the tour are directions, breakfasts, dinners, and lodging.
You can rent a bicycle from VBT if you want, or bring your own (my S.O.
rented a bike; I schlepped mine out from California). The rentals are
reasonable Schwinns (LaTour DeLuxe?), reworked by VBT: repacked wheel
bearings, Avocet saddles, wide-range 12-speed gearing (with a 30"-33"
low gear), toe-clips if desiered, cheater levers on the brakes, stem-
mounted shifters (the good with the bad, eh?). (The bike I took was
my Trek, a ~6 year old 726 with recently re-done gearing to give me
a 1/2-step w/granny and a 20.6" [!!] low gear.)
Accompanying each ride is a van, with a cute little bell they ring as
they're about to pass you, to let you know they're there. If you're
renting one of their bikes, and it breaks, they take care of any maintenance
required; if you bring your own, they have tools available, and various
parts for sale. There was never any problem borrowing any of their
tools when someone needed something.
The riding each day generally presented two or three choices, ranging
between about 25 and about 45 miles. There were, indeed, the occasional
hill (short-and-steep [1/2 mile of ~15%], the long-and-steady [5 or 6
miles into a headwind]) and the marvelous downhills that accompany them!
The scenery that time of year (6-11 October) was magnificent, and was
every bit as good as I'd remembered it from college days in New England!
Each night, we stayed at a country inn; dinner and breakfast were both
feasts. For lunch, the tour guides had a voluntary lunch pool: $22 per
person for the week, and they took care of providing a scrumptious picnic
lunch.
Weather: 1 hour of rain the entire week. Most days sunny and crisp, very
nice for bicycling.
The tour guides were wonderful people. Betsy has been with VBT for ten
years, and ridden 30,000 miles with them. She really knew the ropes, was
lots of fun, and quite helpful. Tom is in his first year with VBT,
equally fun and helpful. They made a good pair, and got along well with
everyone on the tour.
There were a couple of minor room screw-ups, because of some overbooking
at two of the inns and lack of communications between the VBT office and
the inns. Apparently, this is extremely unusual for VBT.
On the whole, we had a wonderful time. The rides were fun and scenic,
the people, great, and the food, wonderful. If you're thinking of
taking a vacation in New England, and want to do some bicycling, I
can highly recommend VBT (next season!).
--
Alan M. Marcum Sun Microsystems, Technical Consulting
...!{dual,ihnp4}!sun!nescorna!marcum Mountain View, California