September 9
Dismal motel breakfast, then good breakfast at North Canaan. Nice lunch stop in Colebrook, at a general store that had sit-down cafe meals and was due to close about an hour after I arrived. This in an area that is scenic, but has few eating places. Today I mostly rode a route that in 2013 I rode in the opposite direction, headed then to a high school reunion in DC. Some sights and roadways felt familiar, but going in the opposite direction makes a difference. Today's section I remembered as the easier of the two days in Connecticut, and today was hilly so I expect tomorrow to be merciless. As I recall, tomorrow's section had in particular some sustained very steep sections, although that could be different in the northbound direction. But I am ready for the climbs; I have lower gears than five years ago, fatter tires, shoes that are better for walking, and today I unexpectedly figured out how to fix the shifting problems that the bike shop yesterday created by accident. (Shop had loosened front derailleur band and rotated derailleur so it was no longer parallel to the chainrings, then tightened it down again. Still to be determined is why they did that).