6 Gap Recap- Just like Tom Snow

Excellent update Eric, I feel like I was there. The salt stains must have been epic!

I have a 6 Gap of my own I’m working on; this being summer there is a 6 bottle gap of rose in our wine fridge. Filling it wil likely require careful deliberation and many calories spent.

Another great Dan Goldman 6-Gap ride in the books, except I didn’t make it to the last page…We escaped the rain, but it was replaced with hot and humid weather. For those that know me, that’s not a good combo as I sweat a lot and dehydrate easily. Lincoln gap- hated every second of it. App gap, not so bad. Roxbury starting to find my legs and motored up pretty well. Rochester gap-not so bad. Brandon Gap, uh oh, but still feeling “OK.” Start of Middlebury, not so much. by the middle of Middlebury it was clear I was in trouble… I was cramping in every muscle, including my hands.

In the attached photo you can see me on the left at top of Middlebury hanging over my bars. Libby knew I was a goner. I made it another 13 miles or so and called it quits at the Warren country store and texted Libby who came and got me about 3 miles from the finish back at Dan’s. Libby basically took care of me the rest of the day and night- thank you, Libby.

On more exciting news. As the youngest DG 6-gap rider, Mia [we don’t even need to use her last name since she already has rockstar status like Beyonce, Sia, Iggy, Willie, and Prince] completed here first 6-gap ride without any troubles and finished way before me and very strong. She’s one tough athlete. Dad Matthias and brother Fred did the 4-gapper w/o issue. Mia and I spent most of the day together until she dropped me on Middlebury. [I detect a trend of getting dropped toward the end of long rides by faster women…] After 4 gaps I was secretly hoping Mia would want to bag it and need an escort home. No such luck. That is one cool family.

Others that rode were Jake I, Paul W, Libby, Alicia, Audrey, Alicia, Karen Packman, Kent D, and lots of 545 folks. The aforementioned all looked like they just came out of a hot tub rested and looking fresh. Not sure how they did that. I looked and felt like death.

On the funny side, while I was cramping up Middlebury and doing everything I could to stay moving forward, so was Alan McEwen, who ended up hitch-hiking up Middlebury and passing me to the top. Another rider, Adam, forgot to pause Strave and now has the KOM for Middlebury going 55mph UPHILL! I was heads down and never saw a thing. Reminds me of Tom Snow on our first (and maybe second 6-gap ride together- or was it two hitch-hikes in one ride?).

Highly recommended if you have not done a 6-gap ride before. Each year gets harder and slower. I used to do this in 39×25, then x 27, yesterday 28, and it’s just never enough…