Start Location: Red Hen Bakery, Middlesex, VT (For auto parking see below)
Start Time: 07:00
Ride Leader: David Cain
Lights: Recommended
Distance: 200k
Time Limit: 13 Hours 30 Minutes
Sanctioning: ACP & RUSA
Printed Cue Sheets are available when requested during registration:
Online Map/GPS: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27305149 (Confirmed from pre-ride volunteer 5/3/2023)Registration: BikeReg (Please note registration closes on Thursday before the ride!)
Green Mountain 200k 2023:
Known as “The Bakery Brevet” where you can eat breakfast all day long, this ride aims to mix stunning scenery and varied terrain with some enjoyable control stops along the way. Include ~25% good quality dirt roads. These are Vermont automotive roads, not trails, but wider tires are recommended. Mud season is also not officially over yet so typical springtime washboard and potholes on the dirt road is to be expected. Choose your gear accordingly.
Ride Start Info:
The rides starts at 7:00AM at the Red Hen Bakery, 961 US Rt. 2, Middlesex, VT. Please note that parking is not available at the start location, but IS available a mere 2/10’s of a mile north at the Middlesex park and ride, just off the I-89 exit 9. (Google map of Park & Ride lot)
Route Description:
The route takes riders through the heart of the Green Mountains. Starting from the Red Hen Bakery and traveling south, riders will pass through the Mad River Valley up to the broad views of East Warren. From there the ride passes through the gorgeous and wild Granville Gulf (don’t miss the waterfall!) before reaching the first control at Rochester, the recommend business to visit is Sandy’s Books & Café if you want a rest before climbing Brandon Gap but adjacent faster accommodation is accepted. Riders then head west past Mt. Horrid and over the Brandon Gap (one of the more forgiving gap climbs from E to W in the area) to enter into the eastern flank of the Champlain Valley. After a stop in downtown Brandon, the route begins its journey northward along Lake Dunmore and through East Middlebury and through Bristol. Open rolling farmland unfolds before reaching the control in Huntington. Look for Gillett Pond as you pass over to join the Winooski River on the final stretch back to Middlesex under the shadow of Camel’s Hump.
Controls: Open Control at Downtown Rochester, VT; Open Control at Downtown Brandon; Beaudry’s Store in Huntington, VT
Recommended Control Options at Rochester VT are Sandy’s Book and Cafe (30 N Main St.), The Rochester Cafe and Country Store (55 N Main St.), Green Mountain Bikes (105 N Main St.), and Rochester Public Library (22 S Main St.)
Recommended Control Options at Downtown Brandon VT are Brandon Free Public Library (4 Franklin St.), Gourmet Provence (37 Center St.), Cafe Provence (11 Center St.), and Foley Taco and Beans (22 Park St.)
Read ride leader David Cain’s ride report from the 2012 version. (Note: 2012 had a different route.)
