Tour de Burlington: Our Biking Odyssey to the end of the Lake Champlain Causeway

Inspired by an article in the Washington Post, Billy and I decided to go for a scenic bike tour of Burlington/Lake Champlain. There's a great bike path that starts down town at Local Motion, a bike rental place, that continues all the way out to the end of the causeway across Lake Champlain.

Despite my bike riding experience being limited to riding around the neighborhood as a child, I was 100% certain this would be a fabulous idea. And it was. Until we hit the end of the causeway and I realized I had to bike ten miles back. Yes, that's correct, I elected to go on a 20 mile bike ride. Keep in mind I haven't been riding and have barely been running while in Vermont, so it's safe to say I'm not at my peak performance level.

I was riding high the entire way out, thinking to myself I was in such great shape and mentally patting myself on the back for being such a pro biker. This all changed once we hit the causeway. After getting all the way out there, I wasn't about to turn around before actually reaching the designated end point, so I churned my way out to the end. What I hadn't thought about was the fact that I had to immediately do that all over again plus the rest of the bike home. 

As we turned around, naturally the wind kicked up. At this point, my quads were on fire and my rear end was begging for mercy from my not-so-padded seat. Not surprisingly, Billy was fairing much better than I was. I'm not sure how he manages to constantly stay in such fantastic shape, but I am very envious.

The trip back

 We then began the trek back to Local Motion but my body was not cooperating. Billy, the saint that he is, stopped with me a least five times before we even got off the causeway. This turtle pace continued with Billy shouting encouragement from behind me while I silently cursed myself for ever going on this bike ride.

As anyone who has ever spent any time with me can tell you, sometimes I can be a little bit stubborn. At one point, Billy started suggesting that we call it a day, he would keep going and get the car and then come and pick me up. I was having none of it, especially because I didn't want to have to blog about the time I went on a bike ride and quit 3/4 through. If I had suffered this much, I wanted to say I at least did the whole ride!

Many hours later, we finally made it back to Local Motion. I have never been happier to see a local bike store in my life. While I definitely suffered through the second half of the bike ride, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment when we got back that I had pushed through and done it! 

My butt was hurting and my legs were shot, but I staggered after Billy to the nearest ice cream stand for a famous Vermont maple creamee. This may sound disgusting, but it is actually the tastiest thing you may ever experience (if you're lucky enough to do so!). It's vanilla soft serve flavored (subtly!) with Vermont maple syrup. It's AMAZING.

Thank god we're back!!

We'd taken so long to get back thanks to my struggle that we were now running late for our dinner date with my aunt and uncle, who were vacationing in Manchester for the weekend. We quickly grabbed a bite to eat in Burlington and headed back south to meet up with them for dinner.

After showering, downing ibuprofen, and rubbing arthritis cream on my knees, we met my aunt and uncle at their gorgeous room at the Palmer House. I hadn't seen my Aunt Sue and Uncle Randy for almost a year, since our family vacation last August in Cape Cod. I try to catch up with them via email and Facebook, but it's so much better to be able to see them in person! They have been coming to Manchester for a long time and my uncle is a big history buff, so they had lots of cool stories to share with us and good advice on where else to go before we left.

We had a delicious dinner at the Barrows House in Dorset before heading up to the Equinox Resort for a nightcap. The Equinox has a fire pit/bar that you can sit around on a huge deck. It was a beautiful night and we really enjoyed getting some extra time with my aunt and uncle and enjoying the ambiance of the fire pit (and pretending we were guests of the Equinox!).

It was a great visit that ended too soon, but we'll be stopping by Connecticut on our way home from Vermont to see them again. We can't wait!