Tour De Creemee
E. Montpelier, Calais, Woodbury, Middlesex, Montpelier
June 30, 2024
Also known as the Original Gravel Grinder!
Chris and I are lucky to be able to bike this ride as volunteer bike patrollers with the Green Mountain Bike Patrol, thus the red shirts. Chris has been bike patrolling this ride since its inception.
There is a lot to know about this ride, not the least of which is that there are three distances to choose from, registration is easy, there are excellent aid stations with really nice folks staffing them, and every participant gets a free Creamee at the end (show your race number).
This is one LONG tough ride – don’t underestimate it. Chris and I have done this ride together three times. It is 59 miles long with almost 5,900 feet of elevation, but if you can muster it, the Cross Vermont Tour is not to be missed. There are three lengths and even some shortcuts you can take that make this ride accessible to all (like taking County Road back to the finish).
Quoting their informational website from the crossvt.orgcvct site:
“Tour maps. Choose from 3 – designed by Olympic cyclist Pavel Cherkasov – inviting all exuberances to flourish. Each map includes also cue sheet, elevation profile and rest stop schedule.Short Tour Map; 13.6 miles, gentle terrain, family friendly. Medium Tour Map; 33.75 miles, ponds and pastures, fun for all. (Also available: Medium Tour Garmin Course file.)Long Tour Map; 59.0 miles gravel grinder route with over 6000 feet of elevation gain, to challenge. (Also available: Long Tour Garmin Course file.) You can also Check out past non-competitive timed results.“
It is a completely non-competative ride, and describe the “sign-in and start riding times as anytime between 7:30 and 9:30. All riders can begin at the time that works best for them, between opening of registration at 7:30 AM and the closing of registration at 9:30 AM.”
This well-organized ride starts off heading north on the County Road. County Road runs like the backbone of of this ride, btw. You very quickly turn right onto a beautiful misty morning gravel highway, and you stay on gravel for the majority of the rest of this 50 mile plus ride. There are some quick asphalt connections, but this is really all the gorgeous gravel you could ever hope for.
This is photogenic territory, with one gorgeous picture after another at every turn. There are acres of tree lined fields, old majestic churches, honking-big barns, rows of maple trees with an abundance of daylilies at the height of their season. There are rolling green mountains everywhere you look.
I don’t know who Olympic cyclist Pavel Cherkasov is, but he put together a truly beautiful ride. There are dozens of twists and turns that climb and then glide down and then climb again. I won’t go into directional detail (see map link above), but suffice it to say that this is some of the prettiest VT riding we have ever done (and we have done a lot!).
Chris was patiently wiating for me as I was stopping over and over again to take pictures, and then he ended up taking more pictures than me.
Don’t let all the flat roads in the photo’s fool you. There is a tremendous amount of climbing on this ride. The weather was almost perfect on this day. The recent rains moistening the gravel and the abundance of clouds and trees kept us mostly in the shade for the whole time.
This ride has food stations staffed by local folks who sit there all day just to cheer on the bikers. They make you feel like a hero – when they are the heros! In years past you could stop in for electrolights, pb and j, cookies, cheese, crackers, citrus and kiwi, grapes and pickle juice! There was even a professional bike mechanic at one station.
The course marker arrows were were really clear and color coded, and course maps were also provided at the start.
And at the end, they provide you with a delicious feast and free maple creemee. Fantastic event