October 20, 2026 - Albany, NY, to Bennington, VT

Start: Albany, NY
End: Bennington, VT
Miles: 48.1
Feet climbing per mile: 76
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/421378799

I planned this trip to be similar to September 22-24, 2026 - Amsterdam and Cobleskill, NY. That trip was a three-day loop to the west of Albany, while this trip would be a three-day loop to the east of Albany.

I was up at 6:00, on the road at 6:30. I wore shorts despite the temperature being a chilly 50 degrees because I knew it would warm up throughout the day. I arrived at Penn Station at 6:37 in order to catch the 7:15 AMTRAK train to Albany-Rensselaer. I was helped by a red cap to board early. He even sent me to the platform on my own before he brought down others with bags! By 6:58 I had hung my bike and was in the seat across the aisle before any of the crowd had entered the train. I've got this down!

The train arrived at the Albany-Rensselaer station shortly before 10:00. After reassembling my bike I started riding at 10:06. At mile 7.9 I needed to walk a short distance when the grade went up to 11%.

As you can see in the picture below the day started beautiful. It would continue that way throughout this entire trip.

The fall colors were intense.

At mile 13.8 I stopped at a Stewart's to enjoy a Monster zero sugar. I had not known about this Stewart's until I saw it so it was a pleasant surprise.

A further pleasant surprise was that Stewart's returned my 5-cent deposit when I returned the empty can. That was the first time I've ever had the deposit returned when on a bike trip.

It was too cold to put my feet in the Tomhannock reservoir (sorry, Mike Guadagno). This reservoir is not one of the several that supply New York City. 

Did I tell you the fall colors were intense?

At mile 34.5 I needed to walk a short distance when the grade went up to 10%.

At mile 37.3 I crossed the Hoosick River.

In the town of Hoosick I again discovered a Stewart's and had a second Monster zero sugar. Once more I recovered the 5-cent deposit when I returned the empty can.

At mile 43.8 I entered Vermont, the first time I had done so on my bike.

As I approached Old Bennington I saw a monument that aroused my curiosity.

In Old Bennington, at the intersection of West Road and West Main Street. I passed a house that has seen better days.

At 5:00 I arrived at the Hotel Vervana. The person who checked me in told me the monument was the Bennington Battle Monument, and that the Battle of Bennington had been fought at Walloomsac, New York, about 10 miles northwest of Bennington, by residents of Bennington. He told me that I could ride up to the monument.

The person who checked me in was not able to tell me anything about the house in disrepair. I emailed info@benningtonvt.org asking about the house and was told that it is the Walloomsac Inn, the oldest lodging establishment in Vermont, built in 1771 by prominent Bennington resident and Revolutionary War Captain Elijah Dewey. And it's going to be restored and opened to the public!

For dinner I walked to the Madison Brewing Company where I enjoyed a bowl of gorgonzola mushroom soup, followed by their cranberry bog salad (mixed greens, chopped walnuts, sun-dried cranberries, shredded cheddar cheese, and grape tomatoes, with balsamic vinaigrette), and then a hamburger with tomato, pickle, onions, lettuce, steak sauce, accompanied by green beans. The dinner was delicious but gave me a glucose spike of 108 (from 71 to 179), probably because of the bog's worth of dried cranberries. Before ordering the salad I googled "keto cranberries" and read that because they are low in sugar and high in fiber, fresh and frozen cranberries are keto-friendly in moderate portions (but a bog's worth of cranberries is not a moderate portion), but I missed reading that dried cranberries and not keto-friendly because they are heavily sweetened with added sugar. OOPS!

Near my table was a piano with a picture of Marilyn Monroe.

This reminded me of Marilyn Monroe's picture on the building where I used to have my hair cut in Washington, D.C., by Roi Barnard at Salon Roi.

I felt a slight swelling in my right knee starting at about 25 miles. After the ride the feeling of swelling was much less.

On one of my fast descents when I was riding in the middle of the lane, I heard honking from a car behind me, and then from the same car after it passed me following the descent. I assumed the driver was being an asshole, but maybe he was cheering me on. What do you think?

This day I made sure to drink plenty of water with electrolyte, drinking a water bottle on the train, two bottles during the ride, and two bottles after the ride, and one bottle through the night. In order to avoid leg cramps through the night I took an extra 100mg of magnesium before going to bed

Next day: October 22, 2026 - Pittsfield, MA, to Albany, NY

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