The Ride

The Pure Water Ride for 2009 is about 300 miles along the back roads of Vermont from Massachusetts to Canada. The ride starts at the Northfield Mt. Hermon School in Northfield, MA. This is a first class prep school founded by evangelist Dwight L. Moody in 1879 to provide an education to young men and women who’d been denied that opportunity, usually due to financial hardship. The school still offers a values-oriented environment that challenges students to develop a sense of community responsibility. Every student participates in the school's work program four hours per week, and 200 students volunteer each semester in outreach activities. You can read more about this great school at http://www.nmhschool.org/.

The route then heads west to Colrain, MA before turning north to Vermont, entering at the town of Halifax. The next 300 miles to the Canadian Border are, as much as possible, along unimproved roads through central Vermont. Along the way we’ll make some interesting stops. I hope you’ll enjoy reading my postings throughout the summer as I report on progress.

It will take at least six days to complete this ride. Because I ride very slowly? Well maybe, but besides that, the condition of these roads can be quite bad, and then there is an average of about 1 turn per mile, with frequent stops to check the maps. A hundred miles a day is a pretty good pace for this type of ride, but only half of that will be forward progress as I have to return to the truck each evening to load up and head home, since I'll only be riding a day at a time scattered throughout the summer and fall.

In case you’re wondering, 100% of all contributions given to the Pure Water Ride will go to charity. All costs of the trip itself are paid with my own money.