Vermont Sports Magazine, August 2020

THE PADDLE GURU | THE OTHER OLYMPIC MTBER | SUMMER GEAR ROUNDUP

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Keeping you on the trail Keld Alstrup resolved his knee pain and returned to hiking with the help of SVMC Orthopedics. They use a team-based approach to provide a full range of surgical and non-surgical services and customized virtual rehabilitation programs that resolve pain and re-expand their patients’ horizons. Their goal is to get you back to “peak performance” as quickly— and painlessly—as possible.

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NEW ENGLAND’S OUTDOOR MAGAZINE ON THE COVER: Mirna Valerio training for her next adventure, the Farm to Fork Fondo.

Photo courtesy Mirna Valerio

PUBLISHER

Angelo Lynn - publisher@vtsports.com

EDITOR/CO-PUBLISHER

Lisa Lynn - editor@vtsports.com

AWESOME INTERNS

Sophie Hiland, Eliza Roberts, Luke Zarzecki

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Shawn Braley

MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. Nathan Endres, Dr. David Lisle, Dr. James Slauterbeck —University of Vermont Robert Larner College of Medicine; Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation; Jamie Sheahan, M.S., R.D.

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If you wonder why Caitrin Maloney and her partner Hardy Avery moved their home and Sustainable Trailworks business from Lamoille County to Slate Valley, this photo should provide a clue. To read about their favorite backyard gravel loop —and 11 others picked by pros from around Vermont—see p. 14. Photo courtesy C.

Maloney.

5 The Start

11 Feature

25

Why Mirna Valerio should inspire us all.

This Adirondack gravel route will take you back in time.

If the outdoors really is for everyone, then Vermont has work to do.

Lessons in Perseverence

Back Roads in the ADK

7 News

14

The new epic ride? Try 250 miles or more in a day. These guys did.

We asked pros from around the state to share their favorite backyard gravel loops. Here are the 12 best.

Epic DIY Rides

9 News

Manthattan First, The Channel Next

At 16 Vera Rivard is ticking off her swim bucket list, fast.

Feature Vermont's Best Gravel Rides

20

Feature

The New Face of Fitness: The Mirnavator

She's big, she's Black and she's a kick-ass ultrarunner with a sponsor list to envy.

Feature Whose Woods Are These?

29 Featured Athlete The Constant Paddler

At 85, Larry McIntosh is still paddling strong.

30

Calendar Race & Event Guide

34 Endgame

Ode to the Perpetual Amateur Maybe "experience" in the outdoors is worth no more than a hill of beans.

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Back Roads in the

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RIDING THE GRAVEL PATHS OF THE ADIRONDACKS CAN TAKE YOU BACK IN TIME.

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The Ididaride route follows the Hudson on the approach to the town of North Creek. Bottom, in past years this has been a popular group ride.

Photo top by Sue Halpern, bottom by Ben Brousseau

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AUGUST 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 13

12

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The Woodstock loop will take you by four classic general stores, four village centers, and — of course— a covered bridge.

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Joe Cruz has bikepacked in Tibet, Peru and Pakistan, among other places. But his favorite backyard loop is a ride that takes him past fields of Holsteins near his home in Pownal, Vt. Photo courtesy Joe Cruz

16 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2020

Hardy Avery cruises one or the quiet backroads of Slate Valley. Slate Valley Trails has a series of mapped routes you can explore.

Fall riding near Montgomery gives you first-class foliage without leaf peeper traffic.

Photo by Caitrin Maloney

Photo by Daniel Jackson

AUGUST 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 17

Kris Dennan's favorite ride crosses the farmland of Addison County.

An easy loop near Burlington takes you to Huntington Gorge and blueberry picking at Owl Farm.

18 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2020

Photo by Daniel Jordan

As former Tour de France pro Ian Boswell will tell you, it's not a great ride unless you stop for a creemee.

Photo by Gretchen Boswell

Lake Willoughby is one of two lakes you pass by on Heidi Myers' favorite NEK look.

AUGUST 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 19

Above, exploring the winter trails in Stowe's Weissner woods and below, on the Long Trail in June. “So grateful for this body and all it’s able to do,” says Mirna. Photos courtesy Valerioo

22 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2020

“I am honored to be in a space where I can show people what’s possible,” Mirna says, about inspiring her son, Rashid, and others, to get outside and get moving. Here, the two at a trail running camp in Mexico's Copper Canyon. Photo courtesy Valerio.

AUGUST 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 23

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Whose Woods Are These?

IF “THE OUTDOORS IS FOR EVERYONE,” THEN THERE’S WORK TO DO TO MAKE OUTDOOR SPACES MORE WELCOMING TO PEOPLE OF COLOR.

BY LUKE ZARZECKI

O

n July 22nd, Michael Brune, the executive director of the Sierra Club, came out with an apology: “It’s time to take down some of our own monuments, starting with some truthtelling about the Sierra Club’s early history,” Brune wrote in an open letter.

Brune described John Muir, the ‘father of the National Parks’, as prone to racist comments and early Sierra Club leaders Joseph LeConte and David Starr Jordan as white supremacists.

“For all the harms the Sierra Club has caused, and continues to cause, to Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color, I am deeply sorry,” Brune wrote. He then pledged $5 million

to invest in greater diversity among the staff and to build racial justice into their environmental work.

It was a long-overdue admission about Muir who has been a patron saint of sorts for nature-lovers and icon of the American West.

And it prompted The Washington Post to write about how other organizations in the environmental and conservation arenas are rethinking where they stand on diversity and racial justice.

"That story is huge, everyone's talking about it now," said Carolyn Finney, speaking from her apartment in Burlington on July 23 about both the

Sierra Club apology and The Washington Post’s follow up story. “With all that’s gone on, this has been a challenging year. This is exciting and exhausting and depressing and rage-inducing and promising – I feel so many different things about the moment,” she said.

Finney has become one of the thought leaders at the intersection of the environmental and racial justice movements.

Her path there, though, has been roundabout. She worked as an actor for 11 years, lived in Nepal and did five years of backpacking trips in Africa and Asia, before going back to school to study gender, race and environmentalism and

earn her Ph.D. She is also the author of Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors and a former member of the National Parks Advisory Board (a position she—and the rest of the board—resigned from in 2018, following Ryan Zinke’s appointment as U.S. Secretary of the Interior).

Finney describes herself as a “storyteller, author and a cultural geographer [who is] deeply interested in issues related to identity, difference, creativity, and resilience.”

She moved to Vermont in September 2019 for a two-year residency in the

AUGUST 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 25

Franklin Environmental Center at Middlebury College.

“Because of Covid-19, this is the longest I’ve stayed in one place” said Finney. When asked if she’s done much hiking here, she responds: “I take walks down to Lake Champlain and I know Vermont well from facilitating workshops at the Center for Whole Communities in the Mad River Valley, but I’ve barely had time to explore much.”

Plus, she said, “I would not go for a hike alone in the woods in Vermont.

First of all, I’m a woman, so that adds the gender issue. And I don’t know this place well enough to do that.”

Finney is no stranger to racism within outdoor recreation and academia’s environmental field.

“It doesn’t have to be that someone called you the 'N' word,” she explained.

“It could be that someone just gives you a funny look. I get stared at a lot, I have stories throughout my life of people just stopping me on a hike and wanting to talk about my hair and ask me really personal questions or ask me if I’m mixed. And it’s always white people who ask me.”

She noted that it is hard for her, and many other folks of color, to be an individual in the outdoors.

“It doesn’t matter how rich you are, how educated you are, as a Black person.

Every Black person in this country has to pay the Black tax. And part of the Black tax is that we are never allowed to be individuals, we always represent the race. So, in a country that promotes individualism, one of those things about individualism is that you can go hiking by yourself and climb the mountain and be yourself. But as an African-American person, you don’t have that same freedom. You get challenged in multiple ways.”

Finney is encouraged as she sees the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations begin to address a history of racism. And she believes Vermonters, in general, are working at combatting racism as well. “I think you’ve got people here who are ready. They want to do something about it, and it’s genuine.

The real gift of people in Vermont is this sense of community.”

BUILDING SPACES Mariah Rivera, a rising senior at the University of Vermont, is one of those trying to change how people of color experience the outdoors in Vermont.

She is a leader with People of Color Outdoors (POCO), a UVM group similar to the university’s Outing Club, that focuses on getting people of color into the backcountry and making outdoor recreation more inclusive.

“When I came to Vermont, I got

26 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2020

“It could be that someone just gives you a funny look. I get stared at a lot, I have stories throughout my life of people just stopping me on a hike and wanting to talk about my hair and ask me really personal questions or ask me if I’m mixed.

It’s white people who ask me.”— Carolyn Finney Finney, hiking in Nepal in 2007

Photo courtesy Carolyn Finney

involved with (POCO) and that really exposed me to the world of outdoor recreation and all these different things you can do,” Rivera said, explaining that she didn’t have those opportunities as a child. “Growing up in a Bridgeport, Ct., I didn’t have much access except through a neighborhood park.”

Now a wildlife biology major at UVM’s Rubenstein School of Natural Resources, she spends her time kayaking, canoeing and watching wildlife.

Rivera decided to study conservation after volunteering at Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo. There, she took trips to do conservation work and discovered a deep appreciation for nature. Today, in addition to leading POCO’s trips, she strives to share her passion for the outdoors and nature with others. “(POCO) focuses on building community within the POC community at UVM, while creating a safe space for POCs who don’t feel comfortable being in these new outdoor spaces or on the regular Outing Club trips on their own,” Rivera said.

“I think (these spaces) are really important because looking at outdoor recreation, access is an issue.

Historically, the outdoors did push Black and brown folk and other people of color out of those spaces,” she says.

“For example, John Muir spoke poorly of Native Americans on multiple occasions.

In "Our National Parks," a 1901 essay collection written to promote tourism to the parks, Muir wrote, ‘As to Indians, most of them are dead or civilized into useless innocence.’ Theodore Roosevelt was a notorious white supremacist who supported eugenics. His conservation efforts came at the expense of some Native American tribes.”

Today, she adds, “There are individuals who might fear going back into the outdoors totally on their own and being that outlier who wants to explore nature,” Rivera said. “Creating these groups and creating these spaces gives POC the support to explore that interest.”

UVM, like most institutions founded in the 1800s, has a racist past as well.

According to the UVM's newspaper, The Vermont Cynic, for 73 years, fraternity members at the university would dance in black face during the winter carnival.

Over 8,000 seats would fill to watch the annual show, known as the Kake

Walk. In 1969 the event was finally cancelled, despite earlier protests from Black athletes at the time such as LeRoy Williams, Jr. ’57, who captained the football team. Even as recently as 2017, some of the spectators at a UVM/St. Michael’s College men’s basketball game reportedly jeered as a group of St. Mike’s players and their white coach knelt for the national anthem in protest of racial injustice.

"UVM has put a lot of work in, but there is still a lot to be done," said Miguel Reda, a 2017 graduate who helped to lead trips with ALANA GEAR (the group that became POCO). "I had experience camping and paddling and backpacking so I started out with the Outing Club, but I soon realized that many people of color weren't comfortable there.”

Today, Reda heads up the men's clothing division at Outdoor Gear Exchange and has worked with the company to help make outdoor experiences more accessible to both people of color and the LGBTQ community.

"We've partnered with Petra Cliffs to do Pride Climb Nights once a month, and it was really cool to get the Brotherhood

of Climbers here to do a session one day.

Just having all these climbers of color in one place felt really good," says Reda, who was born in Guatemela, grew up in western Massachusetts and got into hiking, camping and climbing on family trips to the Adirondacks.

As Reda acknowledges, "Unless your family takes you skiing or hiking or climbing or sailing, you probably are not going to take up one of these technical sports unless you are introduced to them at college."

And that's why he sees college programs as being key to helping diversify both Vermont and outdoor recreation.

SAFE PLACES In addition to groups such as the Brotherhood of Skiers and the Brotherhood of Climbers, organizations across the country are working to make outdoor spaces more accessible and inclusive to those who are Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC).

Afro Outdoors, which is active in 30 states around the country (though not Vermont), aims to connect people of color to the outdoors. Latino Outdoors introduces Latino communities to natural spaces.

Anahí Naranjo, 25, the Latino Outdoors program coordinator for New York City, graduated from Middlebury College a couple of years ago. While at Middlebury, she sampled Vermont’s trails, but felt excluded from them.

“We had a trail right at the back of campus, but I felt like a lot of people of color, people who grew up in a place like New York City—often without a car, often not knowing where trails were— felt like they didn’t have access. They might have felt like they didn’t have the right gear. Or, they just didn’t feel safe going there. I felt that as well,” she said.

Naranjo was born in Quito, Ecuador, but moved to New York City in 2002.

In Quito, the mountains and outdoor spaces gave her a sense of comfort that she looked for in Vermont.

At college, she pushed for more diversity and inclusion within the Middlebury Mountain Club, but never felt fully included. Naranjo noted that many of the programs coming out of the Mountain Club were mostly for students with experience, and the meetings were predominantly white.

Instead, she set up trips led by people of color for people of color, regardless of their experience or skill level. Events included a hike up Snake Mountain, a canoe trip on Lake Dunmore, a hike at Rattlesnake Cliffs, snowshoeing and a climbing wall night on campus.

After Middlebury, Naranjo volunteered with Latino Outdoors and came back to campus to continue the

“Looking at outdoor recreation, access is an issue. Historically, the outdoors did push Black and brown folk and other people of color out.”—Mariah Rivera Now, a wildlife biology major at UVM, Mariah Rivera's early contatct with the outdoors was a park near her home in Bridgeport, Ct.

work she started. Working with Doug Connelly, the Director of Outdoor Programs and Club Sports and through Middlebury’s Anderson Freeman Resource Center (which “works to promote an inclusive and welcoming learning environment for the Middlebury community”), they organized trips for POC that were beginner-friendly—no experience required. Transportation and meals were also provided.

Sabian Edouard, a rising senior at Middlebury, has participated in a few of the activities organized by Connelly and Naranjo.

Edouard is a Chicago native who came to Vermont on a full-tuition scholarship through the Posse Foundation. Edouard did not have much experience in the outdoors. His first trip was canoeing on Lake Dunmore with 12 people. After, he went backpacking and even became wilderness first aid certified. While appreciative of the college’s programs, he thinks the Center still needs to do more outreach.

"They need to make more people aware that these things are going on,” he said. “I feel like there has to be more responsibility on the students and administration to show that they are actively trying to include students in these spaces.”

BEYOND RACE Though affinity groups like these are helping make Vermont’s outdoor spaces more inclusive, race is only one layer of the conversation. Income, skill level, access and knowledge are all factors into why or how someone gets into the outdoors…or doesn’t.

Groups such as The Chill Foundation and RunVermont work to get kids into outdoor sports who might not otherwise have access. And shops such as Skirack and Outdoor Gear Exchange have often provided the gear they need to do so. But fewer organizations work with adults.

“I struggle with the binary conversation with people of color versus white people being outdoors because there are other dynamics,” says Marie Vea, the Assistant Dean for Student Services and Staff Development at UVM's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. “There is previous experience and income. If you’re not an avid skier, why drop $300 on skiing equipment?” Vea asks. “There is no easy way to do it.”

Vea, who identifies as a cisgendered, Asian-American, middleaged woman, also recognizes the issue of representation in Vermont’s outdoors.

She hails from San Francisco, where she sees other people who look like her in

Photo courtesy Mariah Rivera

outdoor spaces. Most of the people she runs into in Vermont appear to be white, which can factor into which sports she participates in, and which she doesn’t.

“I don’t see a lot of people like me out there. I personally have never felt animosity being outside, but I’m usually the only one (or one of a few people) of color on a bike or on skis or in a kayak.

So therefore, I must be from out of town,” she says.

“I think (the outdoors) is passively exclusive because you need particular knowledge and particular equipment to engage. You have to have a certain privilege to engage in the outdoors,” she says. “Like most things, it’s an afterthought to be inclusive. It’s sometimes mandated to make trails accessible to people with physical disabilities, but it’s not mandated to make trails accessible to people of color because we haven’t asked those questions.”

The questions Vea thinks people should be asking are: “Are any BIPOC included among the decision makers or the people who are planning trail systems and outreach? What is the heritage of the natural area? Are the indigenous or native people included in the natural history and outreach?

Has anyone surveyed the people who

AUGUST 2020 | VTSPORTS.COM 27

are accessing the trails and those who are not, and asking why? In this current moment, what safety measures are being put in place?”

GREEN MOUNTAINS, WHITE STATE According to the U.S. Census, Vermont is 94.2% white, 1.4% Black, 1.9% Asian and 2.0% Hispanic or Latino.

As Jessica Savage, the recreation program manager for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, says: “People who recreate in Vermont are a reflection of the demographics here, and I think that even gets localized to population centers.”

Measuring demographics of outdoor recreation is difficult. Generalizations can be made based on observing the trails and other outdoor areas, but those observations cannot accurately identify age, wealth, race and gender. Efforts to collect data are also put into surveys, but they are voluntary and not always representative.

“We know that people who participate in outdoor recreation in America are generally older, wealthier and whiter than the national average, and that certainly feels true in Vermont,” she says. “I don’t have the data—I wish I did—but frankly that is something we are working on in the department.”

Savage says much of that work starts within the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. “How can we make sure that the folks who work for our agency understand what inclusion and belonging and welcoming really means to people?” she said.

“We can’t skip the important, hard work of becoming an antiracist organization and becoming an agency that really understands what it means to welcome people to our lands.”

28 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2020

Anahi Naranjo (far right, above and in pink, below) volunteers with Latino Outdoors. She has helped organize trips at Middlebury College like this one (below) to Rattlesnake Cliffs, above Lake Dunmore, to engage more minorities and people of color in the outdoors. Photos courtesy Anahi Narango.

The public’s attitudes in Vermont must be addressed as well. Savage pointed to an incident in 2018 when campers and counselors of color attended a week-long event in Stowe run

by Pact Family Camp, an organization

that supports programs for children of color that were adopted by white parents. The attendees were targeted with racial slurs.

Savage said that it was one of many instances where people of color trying to experience the outdoors are seen as outsiders.

To make Vermont a more diverse and inclusive state, the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity teamed up with Vermont’s Department of Tourism and Marketing to get people of color excited about coming to Vermont.

Their goals are to market the state to a more diverse demographic, work with law enforcement to make Vermont safer for people of color, and hold conferences with those who have been successful in promoting equity and inclusion in various sectors.

As Vea notes, “There's also the

question: Are we dismissing other forms of recreation and other forms of connecting with the outdoors? Why do we say the only way to connect with the outdoors is if we swim a marathon in the Northeast Kingdom or go skiing every weekend? Could connecting to the outdoors also be going to North Beach because that's the most accessible?”

A NEW CURRICULUM Vea also thinks education surrounding the environment needs to change.

People of color have made large impacts in the environmental field, but are often left overlooked in academic studies.

"We always talk about Aldo Leopold and John Muir, we don’t talk about folks like John Francis and Carolyn Finney and others who have been doing outdoor environmental work for years,” Vea said.

“We need to expand our curriculum.

I also think we need to improve our facilitation skills among faculty and white folks in how to talk about difference and race and how it connects to the environment and outdoor sports.”

Francis and Finney have both made big strides in the environmental field. Francis holds a Ph.D. in land resources, wrote oil spill regulations for the U.S. Coast Guard, served as a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Environmental Program and is a dedicated activist. He gave up all motorized transportation and for 22 years and walked everywhere—so much so that he refused to take an ambulance to the hospital after being hit by a car.

As for what white people can do to change? Vea gives this advice: “Don’t look at me funny because I happen to be on the trail with you, don’t ask me questions about where I’m from, don’t ask me questions about how long I’ve been skiing. Instead ask me if I’m having fun,” she said. “Don’t assume I don’t belong on the trail when I do.”

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BERKSHIRE OUTFITTERS

RR 8, 169 Grove St., Adams, MA 413-743-5900 | berkout@bcn.net We are a full-service bike shop at the base of the Mt. Greylock State Reservation. We also border a beautiful 12-mile paved rail trail. We carry Jamis, Rocky Mountain and G.T. We offer sales, repairs and hybrid bike rentals for the rail trail.

WHY BUY LOCAL? These days, more than ever, it's important to support you local, independently-owned bike shops.

Here's why:

1. Trust: When you shop locally, you know if something goes wrong, they're ready to help.

2) Fit: there are few wrong bikes, just wrong fits.

3) Local knowledge. Want to know where to ride. Here's where you'll get your local beta.

4) Group rides: What's more fun than joining a small group for a great ride?

5) They make it happen: these are the shops that help build trails and volunteer their support at local charity rides. Do right. Support them.

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DID YOUR SHOP GET DROPPED? TO JOIN THE BIKESHOP DIRECTORY, CALL 802-388-4944 OR EMAIL US AT ADS@VTSPORTS.COM

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BOOTLEGGER BIKES

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A full-service shop near Smugglers' Notch. We offer new, used and custom bikes as well as custom-built wheel builds for mountain, road, gravel, fat bikes, bikepacking and touring. Rentals offered at our Cambridge Junction shop on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Bikes are a passion here. We carry Salsa, Orbea, Surly, Kona, Rocky Mountain, Civia and more.

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BRADLEY’S PRO SHOP SKI & SPORT

2012 Depot St. Manchester Center, VT 05255 802-367-3118 | bradleysproski.com Bradley’s Pro Shop Ski & Bike is the premier bike shop in Southern Vermont!

We are located in Manchester Center.

Always known as your go-to ski shop we are now your go-to bike shop. We have one of the best bike mechanics in Vermont on staff, Dan Rhodes. Many of you know of his reputation as a master bike mechanic.

Dan runs all aspects of our bicycle operations. We carry the full lineup of Cannondale and GT bikes—mountain bikes, gravel, e-bikes, BMX and hybrids. We are a full-service operation with sales, service, accessories and rentals including e-bikes.

We always offer a great bike tune-up price

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60 Main Street Jeffersonville, VT 802-644-8370 | bootleggerbikes.com

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BATTENKILL BICYCLES

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AROUND THE REGION advertising section

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CHUCK’S BIKES

45 Bridge St. Morrisville, VT 802-888-7642 | chucksbikes802.com Putting smiles on people's faces for over 35 years. Bikes by Jamis, Transition, Norco, KHS, Davinci, Raleigh, Marin and Diamondback. Hours: Mon - Wed and Fri 10-5, Sat and Thurs 10-2. Be well by being smart.

EARL’S CYCLERY & FITNESS

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2069 Williston Rd., South Burlington, VT 802-864-9197 | earlsbikes.com Earl’s Cyclery has been serving Vermont's cycling and fitness needs for more than 65 years. With over 12,000 square feet at the new location, Earl’s has the largest selection of bikes from Trek, Giant, Scott, Bianchi, Electra, Haro, and more. The service center at Earl’s has professionally trained technicians who are certified to work on all makes and models of bicycles, not just the ones we sell. Whether

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EAST BURKE SPORTS

439 Route 114 East Burke VT 802-626-3215 | eastburkesports.com We are the original home to Kingdom Trails. Located in the heart of town, we pride ourselves in expert knowledge while providing friendly customer service. A fullservice shop awaits you and your repair needs. We have 100 rental bikes with an enormous selection of clothing, parts, and accessories. Hours: 9 - 6 every day

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74 Main St., Middlebury, VT 802-388-6666 | froghollow bikes.com Take advantage of the most advanced and courteous service in our region, with quick turn-around time in our service shop downstairs. Upstairs in the sales room, we offer the best in new and used road, mountain, lifestyle, and children’s bikes and new gear. We carry brands that offer superior products that balance innovation and performance with reliability and value.

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THE GEAR HOUSE

16 Pleasant St., Randolph 802-565-8139 gearhouse.com As Vermont's newest full service shop, The Gear House brings fresh energy and excitement to the state's cycling scene. Randolph has newlyrevived MTB access that mixes classic oldschool singletrack with some machinebuilt zones. Start the 12/12a loop from the shop for 38 miles of smooth, safe road miles. Or map out a day ride entirely on the gravel. The shop is also home to R.A.S.T.A.'s outdoor trail hub with a state map including every VMBA chapter, as well as 3D topographical maps with epic rides. Park in the municipal lot next to the shop and say hi before exploring the area!

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GREEN MOUNTAIN BIKES

105 N. Main Rochester VT 800-767-7882 | greenmountain bikes.com

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Located in the center of Vermont, in the heart of the Green Mountains, we are surrounded by terrain that calls to mountain and road bikers alike. Whether you ride twisting trails or back to back gaps, we service, sell, and rent all styles of bicycles, featuring Kona, Jamis, Juliana, Raleigh, Santa Cruz, Transition, and Hinderyckx bikes - hand crafted by our own Rochester boy Zak Hinderyckx. So STOP READING and RIDE YOUR BIKE! Hours: 7 days a week, 10 – 6.

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HIGH PEAKS CYCLERY & MOUNTAIN GUIDES

2733 Main St., Lake Placid, NY 518-523-3764 | highpeakscyclery.com Adirondack's source for bicycling and outdoor gear since 1983!

Sales, service, rentals, demos, and tours. Salsa, Giant, Yeti, and more. Your adventure center for mountain biking, gravel and road riding. Dirt, gravel, road, e-bike tours, Basecamp Lodge, and dirt camps!

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MALLETTS BAY BICYCLE & SKI

794 W. Lakeshore Dr. Colchester, VT 802-863-2453 | mbbicyle.com

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Bicycle & Ski

Service, rentals and sales. Located on the shores of beautiful Malletts Bay, our shop offers expert repairs, top quality rentals, a fine complement of accessories and new bicycles from KHS, Swix, Intense and Reid.

Rent a bike from our Airport Park location and be out on the Colchester Causeway, the ‘Jewel of the Island Line Trail,” in minutes!

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MOUNTAINOPS

4081 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 802-253-4531 mountainopsvt. com

We offer bike sales and service, fast and friendly with no attitude. We sell a full like of Rocky Mountain bikes for all abilities and riding styles. You’ll find tons of clothing and accessories in our converted 1893 barn.

Our techs have decades of experience with all types of bikes and our knowledge of local trails is awesome. We rent cruisers and performance mountain bikes for Stowe’s sweet collection of trails and are a Scott Demo Center!

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OLD SPOKES HOME

331 North Winooski Ave., Burlington, VT 802-863-4475 | oldspokeshome.com Vermont’s best selection of professionally refurbished used bikes and new bikes for touring, bike packing, commuting, fat biking, and simply getting around town. Named one of the country’s best bike shops for it’s “plain-talk advice and no-nonsense service.” A non-profit as of January 2015, Old Spokes Home uses 100% of its revenue to run programs creating access to bikes in the community. And don’t miss their famous antique bicycle museum!

Hours: Mon. – Sat. 10 - 6, Sun. 12 - 5.

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OMER & BOB’S

20 Hanover St. Lebanon, NH603448-3522 | omerandbobs.com The Upper Valley’s bike shop since 1964.

We carry road bikes, mountain bikes and kids bikes from brands including Trek, Specialized and Colnago.

Featuring a full service department offering bike fitting, bike rentals and a kids’ trade-in, trade-up program. Hours: Mon. – Fri. 9 – 6, Sat. 9 – 5.

ONION RIVER OUTDOORS 20 Langdon St. Montpelier, VT 802-225-6736 | onionriver.com

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ORO is Central Vermont's premier bike, car rack, and outdoor gear shop. Friendly and knowledgeable sales and service. We carry Specialized, Niner, Rocky Mountain, Salsa, Surly, and Yuba, and a large variety of clothing and accessories, including Giro, Smith, Club Ride, Patagonia, and more.

GEAR 17 OUTDOOR EXCHANGE 37 Church St., Burlington, VT 802-860-0190 | gearx.com OGE offers riders a premier bike shop with a knowledgeable, friendly, and honest staff. We have commuters and gravel grinders from Marin and KHS, mountain bikes from Pivot, Transition, Rocky Mountain and Yeti and a wide consignment selection as well as a demo fleet so you can try it before you buy it.

Our service department is capable of everything from tuning your vintage road bike to servicing your new mountain bike and offers full Fox shock service. Come see us on Church Street! Hours: Mon. – Thurs.

10 – 8, Fri. – Sat. 10 – 9, Sun. 10 – 6.

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POWERPLAY SPORTS

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TYGART MOUNTAIN SPORTS

35 Portland St. Morrisville, VT 802-888-6557 powerplaysports.com

57 Pond St. STE 1, Ludlow, VT (802) 228-5440 Info@tygartmountainsports.com, Tygartmountainsports.com

North Central Vermont's Trek and Giant Dealer nestled in the heart of bike country.

Selling new and used bikes for every budget and every type of rider from beginner to expert. We service all manner of bike and sell tons of accessories and apparel. Bike rentals for the Lamoille Valley

We are a full service bicycle sales and service center. We carry a wide selection of Scott and Kona bikes and a variety of accessories from Scott, Giro, Louis Garneau, Blackburn, Park Tools and others. We offer service and repairs on all makes and models including inhouse suspension service, wheel building, and full bike build-outs.

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RANCH CAMP

311 Mountain Road, Stowe, VT 802-253-2753 | ranchcampvt.com Ranch Camp is Stowe’s mountain bike base lodge, and your hub for bikes, gear, and culture! Ranch Camp offers a full-service mountain bike shop, tap room, and fast casual eatery, featuring sales and demo bikes from Specialized, Evil, Yeti, Rocky Mountain and Ibis. Looking for top of the line mountain bikes and components? Got ‘em. How about local brews from New England's finest purveyors of craft libations? You bet. And if you need a thoughtfully crafted graband-go meal for your ride, or a place to sit down and refuel afterwards, Ranch Camp has you covered. Best of all, Ranch Camp is situated trailside with its very own public access entrance into Stowe’s iconic Cady Hill trail network.

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SKIRACK

85 Main St. Burlington 802-658-3313 skirack.com

Locally-owned since 1969, Skirack provides gear, clothing, expert fitting and accessories for all cyclists, with full service tuning and repairs...plus complete bike suspension service on most forks and rear shocks.

Designated one of America’s Best Bike Shops, Skirack is blocks from Lake Champlain. Open seven days a week. Visit www.skirack.com for up-to-date hours and online shopping.

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STARK MOUNTAIN

9 RTE 17, unit b Waitsfield, VT 802-496-4800 Find us on Facebook

Located at the lowest spot in the Mad River Valley so you can coast in when you break your bike on a ride! 21 years of advise,directions and fixing anything that pedals. Thinking about a Yeti? Come ride one of ours,we have been selling Yeti since 2006! Hours: Tues-Fri 9-6*, Sat 9-4, and Sunday 10-2. *Close at 5 on Thursdays for the Shop Ride.

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VILLAGE SPORT SHOP

511 Broad St. Lyndonville, VT 802-626-8448| villagesport shop.com

Established in 1978, we are a family-owned, passiondriven sporting goods store serving customers for four seasons of adventure.

Strongly focused on bike and ski, we have highly skilled knowledgeable technicians and sales staff to assist in all needs of purchase, rental and service. With two locations, one nestled trailside on the world-renowned Kingdom Trails, and the other in downtown Lyndonville, we’re here to make your adventures happen!

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WATERBURY SPORTS

46 South Main Street, Waterbury, VT

802-882-8595 | waterburysportsvt.com A full service bike shop selling Trek and Giant bikes in one of Vermont's most convenient locations. Nestled in downtown Waterbury a short distance from the Perry Hill MTB trails, WBS services all bikes and can handle any repair you might have. We also have a fleet of demo bikes and and an excellent selection of parts and accessories.

Open 7 days a week!

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WEST HILL SHOP

49 Brickyard Lane, Putney, 802-387-5718

westhillshop com Since 1971, West Hill Shop has been a lowkey, friendly source for bikes ‘n gear, service and rare wisdom. We are known regionally as the go-to place for problem-solving technicians. Our bike fitters specialize in comfort without sacrificing efficiency.

Recently, we’ve focused on stocking gravel road bikes, with awesome dirt road riding out our door. Join our West Hill Grinder in September, a rural adventure on scenic gravel roads or wily trails. Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10-6, Sat. 10-5.

ENDGAME

ADVENTURE DOG CONTEST VERMONT SPORTS' 2020

SEND US YOUR BEST:

action shots face shots adventure shots, dog stories or video!

GET YOUR DOG ON OUR COVER.

WIN PRIZES. MAKE YOUR BUDDY FAMOUS. All entries due by September 7. Readers’ Choice to be judged on our social media (Facebook and Instagram) in September. Grand prize winner and finalists to be featured in the October issue of Vermont Sports.

SEE PRIZES & ENTER at vtsports.com/2020-dog-contest/