Euphoric mother greets less than euphoric daughter

Photo: Jim Evans

Leigh Chinitz (Rider #11)

(He has the 2004 map, our route was different)

See if you know:

• Who beat anorexia?
• Who is the sadistic woman at rest stop 3 on day 4?
• What’s on TV?
• How wonderful is Faith?

If you have GPS data or anything else you’d like posted, write to admin.

First and foremost, thank you to all the sponsors. Your donations are what this is all about. On behalf of the 24 million Americans with diabetes, thank you for your support and commitment.

Thanks to the riders. It was tough, it was fun. It was a swell week.

Thanks to the volunteers. It can’t be done without you.

Thanks to Bob and Erik, our mechanics who really went above and beyond the call to keep us all going.

Thanks to Bill Lacy who organized this whole thing for, like, what? 120 years in a row now? It runs like clockwork.

Thanks to the organizing committee members who divide up the chores to make it all a bit easier for everyone

Thanks to the route markers who keep us from getting lost.

Thanks to the cities and towns we pass through for granting us permits.

Thanks to the staff of the American Diabetes Association, especially Faith Linsky, for putting together another spectacular event.

And, from all of us - the riders, volunteers, and persons living with diabetes - thanks to the American Diabetes Association for taking the lead in fighting this disease.

It’s a very warm day. Very warm. And sunny. We left the Franklin Pierce campus and were greeted almost immediately by several New Hampshire style uphills. The kind that aren’t terribly steep (at least by White and Green Mountain standards) but they go on forever. A few of those, then back to Massachusetts where the riders can smell the barn. Quick rest stops. Long pace lines. Nothing stands in the way of getting back. Because as much as we all love the ride, it’s been seven long, hard days on the road and the site of one’s own home and hearth is most welcome.

So we’re all in. And all on our way back to where ever it is we came from.

See  you next year.

Join us July 11 - 17, 2009 for the 2009 New England Classic.

Speaking personally, the first part of the day, up the first rest stop is arguably the prettiest part of the trip. Idylic pastoral scenery right out of a picture postcard, courtesy of the Vermont tourist board. Plus, they recently repaved the road, so it was actually easy to navigate. (Vermont has terrible roads, and some pretty vicious drivers as well.)

The route follows the river and eventually crosses the Connecticut River back into New Hampshire where we head for some more significant hills. These hills, though, are of a different style than those in the White or Green Mountains. In those, roads tend to go up, then they come down. In the Monadnocks, the roads are not as steep, but they can go for miles. Miles and miles and miles.

From Keene, to where we end at Franklin Pierce College, there are endless very high grades. But now were at the college where they have one of the better cafeterias of the week. Tonight will be presentations, and saying good bye in preparation for the final day back to Woburn tomorrow.

People should start arriving on Woburn (at Chomerics, 77 Dragon Ct) somewhere around noon.

But since it’s a short day, most people eat lunch at a deli type place in Pittsfield, VT, or maybe visit the restaurant next to the lodge. There’s a pool and a spectacular view of the mountain.

Tonight is Norwich College in Northfield Vermont, and everyone was thrilled they finally have their new cafeteria finished. For the last two years, it’s been a makeshift cafeteria in the cellar under the gym. TOP TIP: Never get between a cycling and food.

But it really is a very tough day. Estimates are roughly about 5000 According to a GPS, there was 8200 feet of climbing, with most of it coming towards the end of the day (Crawford Notch notwithstanding). The climb into Orange, VT is particularly memorable.

Tomorrow is shorter.

We got rained on pretty hard earlier in the morning, but it dried out and turned into a very nice day. There were lots of flats, as happens whenever it rains (the rain washed all the crap to the side of the road, right in a bike’s path, so we tend to pick up all the crash debris, glass, and other things that cause an immediate flat).

We all arrived safely, if a bit sunburned. The place is hopping and we’re having a family style meal together tonight at 6:30.

We left Saturday morning around 8:45 and it was a picture postcard of a day. No incidents to speak of, and everyone made it to Durham just fine.

Tonight, in Biddeford, ME, we said goodbye to the two-day riders. So sad. They should be back in Woburn in about and hour and a half.

Bye guys!

Looks like we might be in for some rain tomorrow on the way to Bartlett, NH. Saco, ME, North Conway, NH, and Bartlett, NH, all expect rain. Bummer. But the rest of the week looks good.