John and I love riding the hard pack dirt roads of Vermont. For years, we have taken alternate dirt road routes on TOSRV, the annual Tour of Scenic Rural Vermont. In 2008, we only criss-crossed the offcial route, as we put together as many dirt roads as we could. We finally decided we should create our own trip and just go for the dirt roads. We shaelessly used the same starting and ending points, but DROVES is a very different ride. 70% dirt, 100 feet of climbing per mile and loads of scenery. We start in Ludlow Vermont and head up the west side of the valley that Rt 100 follows, climbing the gaps in the non-traditional way.

We did enough recce before had, so we would not encounter signs like this! No fear. We aren't going that way.

Bruce didn't think the ride itself was challenging enough, so he brought this little contraption

Dan and Janet dropped in on their way back to Oregon from Italy. Their tour in Italy served as great preparation for DROVES.

Todd found some repair work to do, while Jake fixed a puncture.

John went looking for roads for next year.

We had a little weigh-in and lunch.