The average temperature of Vermont in the summer is a nice, breezy 78º. When I went, it was 90º the entire time. It was, in fact, the hottest summer Vermont had ever seen. And for two weeks, I biked through that heat, all the way from the bottom of the state up to Montréal. Even though I was still on the east coast of the United States, not very far from where I live, it was a different world. Coming from the suburbs of Washington DC to the miles and miles of rolling hills, I was transported somewhere completely new.

 

I don’t think more could’ve gone wrong on the trip. Here’s an abbreviated list:

• I left my bug spray in my suitcase and had to pick it up at a mail stop half way through the trip.

• There were mosquitos everywhere, the whole time.

• I am severely allergic to mosquitos.

• Mosquitos love me.

• I had mosquito bites literally on top of other mosquito bites.

• I packed a very heavy sleeping bag, thinking the weather would be normal Vermont weather.

• It was not normal Vermont weather, as you already know.

• My bike chain broke halfway up a hill.

• I had to take my bike to a rural bike-repair man.

• I had to catch up with everyone else.

• I’ll stop complaining now.

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The reason I mention all of these mishaps along the way is because, even with them, my time biking through Vermont was one of the most exciting and transformative experiences of my life.

 

Rather than a specific list of directions to follow, our trip leaders received a general itinerary with instructions like “at the two-story red house, turn right” or “you’ll see a boulder between two trees, this may be a good place to stop for lunch.” Also included were approximate mileages and, most important to any biker, how hilly each day was supposed to be. That last part was consistently inaccurate. “Today is relatively flat” really meant “you won’t be able to feel your legs by the end of the day because there are so many damn hills.”

 

Reaching the top of every hill was brutal, but the bliss of flying back down at 10 times the speed made up for it every single time. Surrounded by the vibrant greens of Vermont’s rolling hills dotted red with equally vibrant farmhouses and underneath a never-ending bright blue sky, I felt like a bird.

 

In this video, I tried to capture that feeling.