Group Rides, Kelsey's Rides, Mark's Rides

Carl’s Islands Ride

Posted by Vermont Bicycle Club on

We’ll be riding South Hero, VT Sunday, April 21. Our good friend Carl first introduced us to this great early Spring ride years ago. It’s been in the rotation for our Field Trips ever since. Thanks Carl!

Requirements for this ride:

If you missed the Things You Should Know Before Joining Us page, you should check that out now.
Otherwise, here is an example of some of the things required for joining us:

  • Everyone must wear a helmet.
  • Pack clothes for the weather and have a way to remove those layers and carry them on your bike or person.
  • Carry an emergency contact card or paper with you on your bike.
    https://www.redcross.org/content/dam/redcross/National/m4240194_ECCard.pdf
  • Everyone must follow safe riding guidelines and the laws of the road for bicycles. (If you aren’t sure you can always ask).
  • A bicycle in good working order.
  • Everyone must be able to self sustain the safe working order of their bicycle. We’re friendly and glad to help with many things. We may not have the right tube if you get a flat, we also don’t want to hold the group up and spend an hour fidgeting with some part either. We’re out to enjoy a bike ride, you can always bring your bike to us Tuesday through Saturday for repairs.
  • A rear flashing red light is highly advised.
  • If you need to leave the ride early, or want to turn around and head back we ask that you be able to contact us and a significant other or friend, we like you to do this both when you turn to head back and when you get back to your vehicle/home/the ride start safely.
  • A cautious respect for riding with motorized traffic. We love to find routes with no cars whenever possible, we also love to exercise an abundance of caution when sharing the road with cars. Interacting with motorized vehicle users in any way other than very friendly and positive is strictly prohibited. Obstructing any other users of the road in anyway is strictly prohibited.
  • Leave no trace. Take anything you brought with you home with you, snack wrappers and old tubes and more should all come home with you.
  • A 2024 Vermont Bicycle Club sticker (You get this by signing the 2024 Rider Waiver and then swinging by the shop). You must sign the waiver to ride, if you don’t have a sticker, you can show us your confirmation email for signing the waiver.
  • Transportation for you and your bicycle to South Hero, VT. There will be some car pooling happening. Stop by Vermont Bicycle Shop and we will see if we can find an empty spot in someone’s vehicle for you. If you are carpooling with someone remember the mantra, “Early is one time, on time is late.”

The Schedule:

Sunday, April 21 some of us will gather at the Vermont Bicycle Shop before 9:40.

We will depart 9:45 sharp in order to arrive at the John Guilmette Access Area at 11:00am. There will be lots of public parking. You can choose to meet us at the bike shop or you can meet up with us at the Access Area.

Google Maps link for directions to John Guilmette Access Area

Our goal is to be riding between 11:00 and 11:15.

We expect to be back at the cars between 1:15pm and 2:00pm
After the ride we will break dance fight for 10 minutes before departing South Hero, bring your A-game. Boom boxes will not be provided, The Warriors rules apply, first gang out of South Hero wins.

The Ride(s):

This is a casual pace ride. There are two route options. Both will be a mix of pavement and possibly some smooth gravel roads.
Option 1 is a 21 mile loop with a total of 900 feet elevation gain for the whole ride. There is only one small climb. If you typically go for 20 mile rides at least once a month through out the Summer, then this is the route for you.

Option 2 is a shorter 12.6 mile loop with less than 600 feet elevation gain. If you went on a few rides last year and want to ride more this year, or you’ve been out for one or two 4 or 5 mile rides this year, then this is the ride for you.

Both rides start together and we will ride the first 4 miles (about 25%) of the route together. The longer route will take a bigger loop before joining back up with the shorter loop along the way and both rides are expected to finish close to the same time. Both rides are expected to be a slightly under 2 hours of ride time, not counting for stops.
This is a no drop ride. That means someone will wait at every turn and there will be stops along the ride to regroup.
This will be a party pace ride, no one will be in a hurry. There will be places to stop and take cool photos, there will be sticks to poke frogs with, there will be mud puddles for stomping. Bring cash in case we decide to stop for snacks.
Due to the time commitment of this ride it is a good idea to expect the whole day spent travelling to the ride, enjoying the ride, and driving home. Folks with strict time constraints should skip this one.