Vermont Sports May 2022 Issue

BREATHE BETTER, GO FASTER | WHY WE NEED PARKS | NEW RACES TO RUN

VERMONT

FREE MAY 2022

SPORTS

New England’s Outdoor Magazine SIGN UP AT VTSPORTS.COM

HOW BEN TRUE UPPED HIS

MARATHON TRAINING

Special Section

New places to explore

11

AND WHAT THE $5 MILLION IN VOREC GRANTS WILL DO FOR OUTDOOR RECREATION

Ben True, one of America's top marathon runners, training near Woodstock, Vt.

SOUTHWESTERN VERMONT MEDICAL CENTER ORTHOPEDICS

RESTORING

ACTIVE +

LIFESTYLES

Deborah Slaner Larkin lives tennis.

When she broke her wrist training for a national tournament, she wanted the best care possible and found it locally. She turned to the boardcertified, fellowship-trained physicians at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) Orthopedics to fix her fracture. She saw Orthopedic Surgeon Suk Namkoong, MD. Together with the physical therapy experts at SVMC Outpatient Therapy, she’s back at the top of her game.

Suk Namkoong, MD

svhealthcare.org/ortho | 802-442-6314 Sports Injuries | Fracture Care | Hand, Wrist, Shoulder, and Reconstructive Surgery Total Hip and Knee Replacements, including Same-Day Surgery

SVMC Orthopedics PA R T N E R S H I P I S P O W E R F U L M E D I C I N E

TM

332 Dewey Street | Bennington, VT 375 Main Street | Williamstown , MA

VERMONT

SPORTS

4 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

www.westhillshop.com

THE START

BUILDING THE OUTDOOR COMMUNITY

E STA B L I S H E D 1 9 7 1

WEST HILL SHOP PUTNEY • VERMONT

OUTDOOR RECREATION IS WHAT FEEDS OUR SOULS, AND CONNECTS OUR COMMUNITIES.

The start of a fun run on the trails near Montpelier. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

R

achel Carson. Aldo Leopold.

Peter Matthiessen. John McPhee.

Those are all authors who have won the John Burroughs Medal, an award for nature writing.

A few Vermont writers have made the elite list as well, namely former University of Vermont professor Bernd Heinrich and author Ted Levins.

In April, Middlebury editor Carolyn Kuebler learned that an essay she had originally written for the Massachusetts Review was the winner of the 2021 John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing. In this issue, she kindly shares it with us.

That essay, published here as “The Wild Place,” is more than 7,000 words long and 8 pages.

And you should read every mindblowing word of it.

In it, Kuebler takes us on her strolls through Middlebury’s Wright Park. More than that, she gets at the heart of why we need wild places near us, and what that contact with nature and escape from “civilization” does for our minds and soul.

As she writes: “One day I discovered if I put on music, and ran instead of walked, stepping lightly over rocks and roots, huffing up inclines, my whole being— my fraught relation to myself and to the present state of things — would change.”

As I was reading it, I couldn’t help but give a silent cheer for the work that Gov. Scott and the team at the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative have done to promote projects that enhance outdoor recreation around Vermont. In this issue, we publish a special section covering just some of the places and organizations that received some of the nearly $5 million in VOREC grants that were awarded this year.

There are some big projects in there: bridges, skateparks, new trails. And some small ones. Taken individually, things like kiosks at trail heads, better

signage, or a short connector trail may seem like small potatoes. But looking at them through the prism of Carolyn Kuebler’s essay, you can see the lasting impact and importance they have in connecting people who live in Vermont’s towns and cities (and those who come to visit) to the outdoors.

And they play a key role in creating a an outdoor community.

“Community is what got us into running,” is how elite runner Ben True introduces his new elite running team Northwoods Athletics. True and his wife, Olympic triathlete Sarah True, chose to make the Upper Valley region their home. Not Boulder, Colo., nor Flagstaff, Ariz. where many elite athletes live and train.

For many years, True ran on his own. He was still able to turn in worldclass performances. He holds the American road record for a 5K and he was seventh in the 2021 New York City Marathon. Rather than move West to join a training team, he decided to invite other runners to join him here in northern New England. And not just elite runners.

As our story, “How Ben True Built a Community of Long Distance Runners,” details, he’s also started a weekly “Tour de Woodstock” run that’s open to any and all. And he’s serious: go run with him.

If you need any other motivation to run, consider our list of “10 Fall Marathons to Train for Now.” Better yet, heed Carolyn Kuebler’s words: “I am in awe of my own feet with their hundreds of bones, landing right, every time…. Joy, the leavener, the motivator, the sharpened spade that loosens the soil, letting air and water in. Undeserved, but there it is.”

—Lisa Lynn, Editor

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 5

NEWS

10 FALL MARATHONS TO TRAIN FOR NOW

IF YOU WERE WISHING YOU ENTERED BURLINGTON’S QUEEN CITY MARATHON, DON’T DESPAIR. START TRAINING NOW FOR THESE FALL RACES.

A runner on Fly-to-Pie’s marathon from Newport to Glover, where pizza awaits. Photo courtesy Kingdom Games

M

issed out on training for the spring marathons and half-marathons? Start now for the fall. Here are 10 gorgeous runs that take place in every corner of Vermont — including some new ones — each with a unique twist and in every corner of the state.

Sept. 9-10: RAGNAR, West Windsor This one’s a little different: The idea of this national series is you get a team of runners, set up camp for the weekend and run…and run…and run.

After a two-year hiatus. RAGNAR returns this year to the beautiful trails of the Ascutney Outdoor Center.

Runners complete loops on three trails, ranging from 3.1 to 7.2 miles in a relay format, with a total of 15 miles per runner with the race running through the night and a tent village at the base. Runragnar.com Sept. 10: Covered Bridge Half Marathon, Charlotte There is nothing more Vermont than running under a covered bridge.

Charlotte’s course (run a half, 10K or 5K, takes you under at one, past open farm fields with bales of hay, and along the shores of Lake Champlain.

Racevermont.com

6 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

Sept. 10: Manchester Maple Leaf Half Marathon, Manchester Starting in the village of Manchester, this 13.1 mile course loops out through rural villages and farm fields showcasing some of the prettiest roads in southwestern Vermont. Last year’s record-setting time of 1:11:21 is the time to beat.

Manchestervtmapleleaf.com Sept. 17: Northeast Kingdom Marathon, Island Pond What’s truly unique about this newer race? Entry is free. The USATF certified self-supported half/full marathon was started recently as a way to support Island Pond – a small, former railroad town nestled deep within the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Following the lead of the innovative Millinocket Marathon – runners who participate are asked to be generous and support the Island Pond community and surrounding region in every way possible. brightonrecreationvt. org Oct. 1: Fly to Pie, Newport to West Glover There is so much to love about this marathon (with shorter distance options, too) but let’s start with the fact that it’s a one-way, 26.2 mile run through gorgeous (and hilly) Northeast Kingdom country.

And it ends at one of our favorite pizza

places, Parker Pie, in Glover. That’s a good incentive to keep running, right?

Kingdomgames.com Oct. 2: Middlebury Maple Run, Middlebury This half-marathon through the village of Middlebury and its college campus was moved from spring to fall this year. But the gorgeous course (with the option to do a two-person relay) is the same and covers both dirt roads and pavement, passing sheep and horse farms with a covered bridge crossing.

The best part? Top finishers get a jar of maple syrup and a pancake breakfast is optional. Middleburymaplerun.com Oct. 2: Leaf Peepers Half Marathon, Waterbury One of the most popular half-marathons in the state, the Leaf Peepers makes a loop through town before heading out on the packed dirt of River Road, which parallels the Winooski River. leafpeepershalfmarathon.org Oct. 16: GMAA Green Mountain Marathon, South Hero Perhaps the flattest and one of the fastest in Vermont, this marathon covers the back roads of the Champlain Islands and is a Boston Marathon qualifier. Both the marathon and half

marathon option start and end near the house in South Hero where Clarence H. DeMar, seven-time Boston Marathon Winner, once lived. The half-marathon course is out and back on the west shores of South Hero and Grand Isle; a land of farms, apple orchards, and summer cottages. Gmaa.run Oct. 16: Trapp Mountain Marathon, Stowe The hills and trails of the Trapp Family Lodge come alive for this stunning fall race (a full or a half marathon) that’s run exclusively on trails. The Trapp Family Lodge owns 2,500 acres and the trails wind up to the Slayton Pasture cabin and down through open meadows, orchards, pastures where Highland cattle graze and big views. Be ready for big elevation gains.

Ironwoodadventureworks.com Oct. 29: Field House Fall Half Marathon, Shelburne End the marathon season with a run past Lake Champlain, apple orchards and parts of scenic vistas. In addition to the half-marathon, there are 5K and 10K options and a post-race meal catered by local favorite, Barkeaters restaurant. Racevermont.com

PRESENTS

THE VERMONT MOUNTAIN BIKE FESTIVAL

ASCUTNEY, VERMONT FRIDAY, JULY 29 - SUNDAY, JULY 31

DEMOS & CLINICS • LIVE MUSIC (SOULE MONDE & BRETT HUGHES) • BEER GARDEN FOOD TRUCKS • ON-SITE CAMPING & LODGING • HUGE RAFFLE • FAMILY GAMES & FUN

FLOWSTATEMTBFESTIVAL.COM MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 7

NUTRITION

A

sk any athlete about their approach to diet and nutrition and you better settle in for a lengthy lecture. That’s because few other populations put as much thought, time, and effort into what they eat to improve their health and performance.

Many are willing to invest a significant amount into filling their plate with the best foods to fuel them, and you better believe the food industry has taken notice.

Grocery store shelves are increasingly filled with sports-focused products designed to enhance athletic performance or reduce recovery time.

And this is no passing fad. In fact, the market share of sports nutrition products is expected to grow nearly 8% over the next ten years. While this might sound like great news for those looking for more ways to get an edge on the competition or take their workouts to the next level it’s a bit of a doubleedge sword for consumers.

Let’s be clear: sports nutrition products are no substitute for a healthy diet. That said, there are products that could potentially help you achieve your performance goals depending on the type and intensity of your activity.

Deciphering which products can deliver on their performance promises can be a bit of a nightmare unless you know what to look for. Although some ingredients can help, many are largely ineffective and some even downright dangerous. Here's the full breakdown of which ingredients can up your game and which to steer clear of.

Antioxidants: All of that huffing and puffing you do during intense exercise results in the formation of free radicals; molecules that can damage cells and delay recovery time. Sure, exercise is good for us, but particularly intense or long-duration exercise can produce more of these free radicals than our body can handle. That’s where antioxidants come in. In theory, giving yourself a mega-dose of antioxidants, like vitamin C and vitamin E as well as coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), will neutralize these free radicals. Our bodies are then able to recover faster and thus get back to exercising pain-free.

Great in theory, but research suggests the production of free radicals

8 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

HEY, WHAT'S IN THE THAT SPORTS DRINK/BAR/GEL?

ENERGY PRODUCTS ARE BOOMING, BUT WHICH INGREDIENTS ACTUALLY HELP YOUR PERFORMANCE? BY JAMIE SHEAHAN, M.S., R.D. touting this ingredient without specific recommendations for consumption.

Before you buy that energy drink or sports bar, read the label and know what's in it.

is actually an important component in muscle growth. That’s right, those muscle aches and pains might be inconvenient, but they are a sign your workouts are actually working.

Interfering with this process by consuming products with large doses of antioxidants can actually hinder athletic performance. You really can have too much of a good thing!

But before you swear off antioxidants completely, you should know that it is important to get adequate amounts of antioxidants. Fortunately, antioxidant needs can easily be met by consuming fruits and vegetables which also happen to deliver on other nutrients that can aid in recovery.

Beetroot/beet juice: Talk about an ingredient that can help you “beet” the competition. Beetroot and beet juice are emerging as a must-have ingredient in every athlete’s diet because they serve as an excellent source of nitrate. This nitrate is converted into nitric oxide in the body, which expands blood vessels and thus allows for increased delivery of oxygen and nutrients as well as the removal of fatigue-inducing waste products from working muscles during exercise.

This isn’t all speculation either.

Research has shown that drinking two cups of beet juice three hours

Photo Adobe Stock.

prior to aerobic exercise can improve endurance. For many, downing two cups of beet juice isn’t that appealing so you’ll often find that beverages include smaller amounts, which means the taste may be more appealing, but the actual ergogenic benefit is negated. If you think that the beetroot you see listed as an ingredient is a better alternative than the not-so- tasty juice, think again.

The dosage and efficacy of beetroot is still a bit of a question mark so as much as it might pain you to do it, stick with two cups of straight beet juice.

Beta-alanine: Meat, poultry, and fish all contain high levels of this amino acid which is used to make carnosine in muscles. Considering that carnosine reduces the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles it only stands to reason that beta-alanine should help prevent or delay the muscle fatigue associated with lactic acid.

However, studies are a bit mixed when it comes to how effective it actually is in doing so. In fact, performance benefits are likely small and only applicable to sports that require spurts of high-intensity activity followed by periods of rest, like football or lacrosse.

The timing and dosage of betaalanine supplementation is very specific so be leery of any products

Branch-chain amino acids (BCAAs): Leucine, isoleucine, and valine are categorized as BCAAs due to their chemical structure and these days they are appearing in everything from protein-enhanced beverages to sports gels. What makes these amino acids so special? BCAAs are processed differently in the body than other amino acids and, as a result, can provide energy directly to muscles during exercise. However, research shows that the inclusion of BCAAs in products geared towards endurance exercise has yet to show a performance benefit.

Athletes aiming to increase their strength may want to hold off on skipping BCAAs entirely though. There is some research to suggest that leucine is effective in increasing muscle mass and strength. However, the amount of leucine needed to do so can just as easily be obtained from eating proteinrich whole foods instead of resorting to more expensive products with added BCAAs. Caffeine: There's a reason you feel like you can tackle whatever the day throws at you after your morning cup of coffee. Studies have shown that 2 to 6 mg of caffeine per kilogram of body weight prior to exercise can enhance performance in endurance exercise as well in as sports like soccer that require short periods of high-intensity exercise.

Keep in mind not everyone experiences the same boost from caffeine, especially those who consume large amounts regularly. Many products advertise added caffeine, but be wary of those that don’t provide the actual amount. Chances are it’s less than what is required to truly provide any benefit.

That being said, more is not always better. Consuming more than 500 mg per day can lead to negative consequences like difficulty sleeping, restlessness, anxiety, and irritability.

Not exactly ideal side effects during exercise.

Be sure to experiment with any caffeinated products during training to determine how much is needed to super charge you without throwing you off your game.

Electrolytes: Long gone are the days when athletes had to rely on water alone to meet their hydration needs. Beverages advertising “added electrolytes” make it seem like any drink that doesn’t include these electrically-charged minerals is far inferior. When making performance beverages, companies often add the primary electrolytes lost in sweat, sodium and chloride — along with other electrolytes like potassium and magnesium— to help athletes maintain proper fluid balance.

The benefit of adding electrolytes to beverages for hydration is not so clear cut though. When and how much we need to replenish the electrolytes we lose in sweat is a bit of a gray area because everyone has different sweat rates. Just think of the last time you exercised in the heat with a group.

Some individuals were likely dripping sweat whereas others had only a slight hint of sweat glistening on their brows.

Similarly, the concentration of electrolytes lost in sweat is highly individualized. “Salty sweaters” will see a white grainy residue on their clothes or even caked on their skin when their sweat dries making them much more likely to have complications from

hyponatremia, a condition where the blood is low in sodium. Fortunately, the average diet supplies more than enough sodium, and likely more than what is needed for electrolytes. Unless you are exercising in high-heat conditions for more than an hour or you are a “salty sweater” skip the fancy sports drinks and stick with water.

Ginseng: Claims of boundless energy associated with this herb make it an appealing option for athletes, which is why you see it appear in many beverages, supplements, gels, and the like. Regardless of what form it comes in, research has not found strong evidence to support the use of ginseng for increasing energy levels or improving athletic performance. That energy boost you may feel after consuming a product with ginseng is most likely coming from the other ingredient it is typically paired with; caffeine. There’s also a good chance that products touting ginseng as an ingredient contain little to no real ginseng at all.

Ginseng root is very expensive so most products use negligeable amounts or use a different form that has not been as widely studied.

Plant-Based Proteins: Plant-based diets are all the rage these days. Brown rice, peas, soy, and other plant sources are popping up in bars, beverages, and as stand-alone powders just about everywhere. Athletes who recognize the importance of getting enough protein to build muscle are increasingly looking to these products as a healthy way to do just that. It is true that many athletes require more protein than sedentary individuals. The actual amount of protein recommended is contingent upon a number of factors including an individual’s body size and the amount and type of exercise they engage in.

Many assume products with added protein are a must for athletes with higher protein needs, especially those who follow a plant-based diet. But even athletes who require more protein can meet their needs by being purposeful with their food choices, plant-based or not, and including high-quality proteins in all of their meals and snacks. Ultimately these products are more about convenience than necessity, because most plant-based protein sources lack all of the essential amino acids. If you choose plant-based

protein products opt for those that provide a variety of protein sources.

Also be aware that many protein-infused bars and beverages are highly processed and contain added sugar and artificial ingredients.

Whey Protein: As with plant-based protein products, foods and beverages packed with whey protein are designed to give athletes an easy on-the-go source of protein. The biggest difference between the two is the amino acid profile. Whey protein contains all of the essential amino acids and therefore does not need to be paired with another protein source. Different forms of whey are used in products, primarily whey protein concentrate and whey protein isolate.

People who are lactose-intolerant should limit or avoid whey protein concentrate, but will be fine with whey protein isolate thanks to a lower lactose load. Just as with plant-based protein products, avoid the more highly processed options.

A good rule of thumb is to scan the ingredient list. If you see ingredients listed with names that you can’t pronounce skip it.

© 2022 Eagles Nest Outfitters, Inc.

ALL-IN-ONE

ULTRALIGHT

HAMMOCK

SYSTEM The all-inclusive ENO SubLink Hammock System lets you shave weight while not compromising comfort. Hit the trail with everything you need, and nothing you don’t.

enonation.com

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 9

gear • apparel • events your door to the outdoors

20 Langdon St. Montpelier, VT • onionriver.com • (802) 225-6736

Adventuring Daily in the Woodstock Outdoors!

Woodstock, Vermont is rich in recreation.

Discover local adventures at our Activity Center.

Orvis® Endorsed Fly-Fishing Golf • Tennis • Hiking Billings Farm • Falconry Orvis® Authorized Dealer

802-457-5530 Woodstock, VT www.woodstockinn.com

HEALTH

W

hat’s the most elemental superpower we humans possess? Breathing.

Or rather, “conscious strategic breathwork.”

Curious to hear something strange?

It took me 40 years of running before I learned that how I breathe is pivotal to life optimization. Odd, right?

In his new best-selling book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, journalist James Nestor observes that humans are the only species who can cultivate conscious awareness of our breathing. However, modern humans are also the animal kingdom’s worst breathers. Our 21st century lifestyles – sedentary and ever-more digitally disembodied – lead us away from breathing, our most elemental strategic tool to enhance human wellness.

In fact, we are “dis-evolving,” as Harvard University paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman writes in The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease.

The good news? We breathe 25,000 times daily, and each breath represents an opportunity to optimize mind, body and spirit – including our running prowess.

For 40 years I’ve run thousands of miles, and competed in races from 4 x 400 indoor relays in high school track meets; to marathons (Boston, Honolulu, and Vermont’s Champlain Islands); to epic long-distance events like the RAGNAR Relay’s Miami-to-Key West race.

For training, I’ve explored dozens of techniques to invigorate my running, from Heavy Hands (remember those?), to cross training (swimming and yoga), to weight lifting, “chi running,” and high-altitude trekking in the Himalaya.

But “breathwork”? No one taught me that.

I discovered the Wim Hof Method four years ago, standing in the snow one morning in bare feet, breathing quietly in Vermont’s pre-dawn crispness, wondering why the cold felt so good. I later found out while reading Scott Carney’s book on Wim Hof, What Doesn’t Kill Us. “Hoffing” opened my eyes to breathing’s unique power, and Dutch super athlete Wim Hof’s “method” involves a potent trio of protocols combining a daily ice, breath, and a mind-set/commitment regimen.

During Covid, I immersed myself in studying breathwork, obtaining instructor certifications in the Wim Hof

HARNESS YOUR SUPERPOWER

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR PERFORMANCE AS AN ATHLETE? IT’S AS SIMPLE AS BREATHWORK SAY THESE EXPERTS. BY ROB WILLIAMS

Rob Williams, co-founder of Peak Flow, demonstrates LSD (light, slow, deep, diaphragmatic) breathwork techniques during one of his Peak Flow clinics.

Method, Oxygen Advantage (for sport), and the Buteyko Method (for health).

Like many athletes, I began using my body as a respiratory lab, experimenting with how different breathing protocols enhanced my running.

As a lifelong runner, I’ve now become a “pulmonaut,” regularly tinkering with strategic breathwork and in 2021, I cofounded a community-supported breathwork (CSB) company called Peak Flow with fellow breathworker and California big wave surfer Lindsey Trubia, whom I met at a Wim Hof instructor certification clinic.

Studying strategic breathing also changed Trubia’s life. After a neardeath experience surfing in Hawaii in 2011, she got into breathwork to help her free-diving and big wave surfing.

"I had no idea I was signing up for a transformational experience in mind, body, and emotional health,” she says. “You learn how to control your nervous system and build mental resilience organically. Using strategic breathwork to improve CO2 tolerance is a huge competitive edge. In surfing for example, I use specific breath practices before paddling out, prepping for the hold down and improving recovery times. It’s one of those things I simply can’t live without. Even as a NCAA division 1 soccer player athlete, we were never taught how to breathe.”

THE BASICS OF BREATHWORK Here’s what Lindsey and I have learned about breathing.

First, consider a basic biological concept known as “hormesis” –

individuals regularly applying titrated doses of voluntary positive stress (“eustress”) to build resilience.

Hormetic questing is why we pursue daily exercise, from meditation to mountain climbing. All of us suffer from bouts of chronic stress, driven by events beyond our immediate control.

“Eustress,” on the other hand, is us leaning into stress as a positive force for human optimization, beginning with our breathwork.

Science is beginning to confirm breathwork’s myriad benefits for athletes, including runners. A 2018 clinical study conducted by Dr. George Dallam, a Colorado State University Professor of Exercise Science and Olympic triathlon coach, followed both male and female recreational runners over a six-month period, measuring comparative results from “nose only” versus “mouth only” breathing.

Runners shifting from mouth to nose breathing saw significant increases in their performance: slower “breaths per minute” respiratory rates (39.2 bpm for nose vs. 49.4 bpm for mouth); higher end-tidal carbon dioxide (CO2 is our body’s “trigger” to breathe); reduced ventilation (“volume of breathing”) during running; and more efficient oxygen deployment from lungs to red blood cells while exercising.

One year later, in a Pulmonology and Respiratory Medicine journal article, St. Joseph’s College Professor of Healthcare Management Michael Flannell made a clinical case for “The Athlete’s Secret Ingredient,” concluding that “nasal breathing is the

secret to improve health and athletic performance and recovery.”

Speaking personally, breathwork has enhanced my daily running experience by catalyzing a deeper focus on mind, body and spirit connections while flowing across the landscape.

At Peak Flow, we teach a “breathwork ecosystem,” comprised of three parallel overlapping breathwork strategies: LSD (based on the Buteyko Method), IHHT (from the Oxygen Advantage program), and CHHB (derived from ancient monks and now the Wim Hof Method). Here’s a quick jog through each.

LSD: THE FOUNDATION OF BREATHWORK OPTIMIZATION Despite the provocative acronym, LSD breathing is the most fundamental of our three breathwork approaches – Light, Slow, Deep, and Diaphragmatic.

Most 21st century humans (including many runners) are shallow “mouth to chest” breathers, overbreathing their way through the world in a daily state of chronic stress and anxiety.

Learning to shift away from mouth breathing to LSD breathing brings us into a more overall state of calm and relaxed alertness, providing a healthy foundation for all activity, from sleeping to running. Many coaches, athletes, and health practitioners are discovering and now using this too.

“With the women’s soccer team, we started doing two-minute breathing exercises before practices and games this year,” says Saint Michael’s College

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 11

women’s soccer head coach Wendy Elles. “The regular breathwork seemed to get players calm and in the right mindset.”

“I use breathwork with my clients by noticing how they breathe - in conjunction with their mental health concerns,” says NEK-based psychologist Lynton Moore. “I then offer them a variety of breathing techniques which assist in reducing the severity of their symptoms.”

“When training for optimal performance or peak flow we must control our thinking,” says Norwich University Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach and Assistant Athletic Director Neal Anderson. "Becoming aware of and then finding space beyond our thoughts is related to our ability to turn down our sympathetic nervous system and activate our parasympathetic — we find this ANS switch through the quality of our breathing."

How we breathe influences our autonomic nervous system (ANS) - longer exhales over inhales move us into a more relaxed and calm parasympathetic (PNS) state, while longer inhales over exhales move us into a more alert and energetic sympathetic (SNS) state. With running, nasal diaphragmatic breathing sync’ed up to our steps keeps us calm, alert, and maximizing oxygen and muscle efficiency as we run.

So how do we shift to strategic breathwork? Start with your nose, a remarkable organ, efficiently funneling, warming, humidifying, and cleaning millions of air molecules that enter our bodies before transferring oxygen to our lungs via millions of alveoli (tiny air sacs), and then on into hemoglobinsaturated red blood cells circulating energy-rich oxygen throughout our bodies. Nose breathing also generates nitric oxide, a magic molecule which vasodilates (opens up) our respiratory and circulatory systems to optimize our running, step by step.

So why LSD breathwork for running?

(L): Light breathing refers to optimizing nose-to-belly inhales and exhales via the power of our diaphragm, our body’s most important respiratory muscle.

Like any other muscle, our diaphragm is strengthened via regular breathwork, leading to myriad benefits, like stabilizing core functional movement with every step we run. Biochemically, breathing light optimizes respiratory gases — oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitric oxide — within our respiratory and circulatory systems.

Remarkably, we find 100 times more carbon dioxide than oxygen

12 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

focusing the mind, strengthening the diaphragm, increasing CO2 tolerance, reducing blood acidity, and delaying fatigue by increasing both aerobic and anaerobic capacity through repeated practice.

Try breath holding while running gradually. If you’re serious, use a pulse oximeter to measure IHHT in action when your oxygen saturation level drops to 80 to 87%.

CHHB: CONTROLLED HYPOXIC HYPOCAPNIC BREATHWORK

The Buteyko Method teaches slow, gentle and deep nasal breathing, as Williams demonstrates.

in our bodies, and CO2’s presence “triggers” our bodies to breathe via the “Bohr Effect,” our body’s more efficient release of oxygen from our red blood cells in the presence of carbon dioxide.

and notice how geography – running uphill versus downhill versus flats – changes your “breathing to step” ratio.

(S): Slow breathing refers to “down shifting” our breathing’s cadence or tempo. At rest, 12-18 breaths per minute is optimal. While running, shifting from mouth to nose breathing, while challenging at first, soon brings more optimal air exchange with every inhale and exhale as “air hunger” gives way to greater “CO2 tolerance.” Syncing up nasal-diaphragmatic breathing while running, step by step, also allows closer monitoring of our energy output, as breathing awareness “cues” our physical effort – speed, cadence, distance - as we run.

Popularized by Oxygen Advantage founder and Irish breathwork pioneer Patrick McKeown, IHHT incorporates regular breath holds while running or doing any aerobic activity. This simulates high altitude training and increases the efficient release of oxygen from our red blood cells into our cells and tissues. Sounds crazy?

“Breath holding ups the fitness ante for our men’s lax players,” says Saint Michael’s College assistant lacrosse coach Martin Bowes, who is also a certified Oxygen Advantage coach. “Beyond competition, we’ve baked breathwork into our team’s regular practices, and found that doing consistent team breathing exercises increases trust, vulnerability, camaraderie, and team bonding among our players – it’s a game changer.”

To try it, start low and go slow.

Hold your breath only after you get comfortable with nasal-diaphragmatic LSD breathing practice while running.

After a mile run to warm up, breathe in and out through your nose, and at the bottom of your exhale, pinch your nose and hold while in motion and let CO2 build up in your nasal cavity.

Release after 10-20 seconds (running all the while), and then nasal breathe as normally as possible. After a reasonable recovery – consistently counting breaths or steps – repeat again and again. Reminder: Start low and go slow.

Holding your breath while running stimulates “air hunger.” It extracts additional oxygen from cells (hypoxia), and holds additional carbon dioxide in our bodies (hypercapnia), resulting in myriad hormetic benefits. These include

D): Deep and diaphragmatic breathing brings oxygen deep into the lower third of our lungs, the home of many of our parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) receptors, maximizing every breath’s efficiency and keeping us relaxed and alert, even while running at top speed.

Watch elite sprinters or marathon runners – those who appear most “zen” are those who shut their mouths and breathe through their noses.

How to incorporate LSD breathing into your regular running? First, simply practice LSD breath-work daily so it becomes your normal default breathing practice. Start with shifting from mouth to nose breathing at night while sleeping – using a piece of mouth tape to ensure consistency. Within a week or two, you’ll notice better quality sleep. \ Second, shut your mouth while running and breathe through your nose.

If you are a habitual mouth breather, this will feel difficult at first. Be patient and stick with it. Third, consciously sync up your breath with your steps,

IHHT: INTERMITTENT HYPOXIC HYPERCAPNIC TRAINING

Building on LSD and IHHT protocols, you can light your inner fire through ancient Tibetan mo-nastic “tummo” (“inner fire”) breathwork, popularized

by Dutch superathlete Wim Hof. Hof used tummo breathing training to run marathons in the high Himalaya and Africa’s Namib desert with barely any water.

Technically speaking, tummo breathing is a form of controlled hypoxic hypocapnic breathwork (CHHB), as “inner fire” involves hormetic respiration (always lying down, in a safe, quiet comfortable environment, please), to voluntarily stress our body’s 1,500 miles of respiratory tubes and 70,000 miles of circulatory tunnels, from tiny-muscled capillaries to large veins and arteries. The runner’s payoff is obvious, remembering that all efficient human movement is predicated on optimal respiratory and circulatory vitality.

Establishing a regular morning prerun CHHB protocol takes practice. Use an app, video, or other voice-activated coaching aid so you can enjoy the “flow.”

Wake up, do your morning ablutions, and then lie down on a bed, couch, or yoga mat. Take 30 to 40 aggressive breaths in and out through the nose (adding in your mouth to deepen your experience), followed by a postexhale breath hold extending from 1-2 minutes, and then a 15 second recovery breath. Repeat 3-6 rounds, listening to your body and enjoying the ride. Post CHHB, you may feel slightly euphoric, resonant, or tingly, which is a nice time to settle into a little LSD breathwork before you head out for your run.

Adopting a “breathwork ecosystem” approach will not only breathe new life into your running, but your overall daily experience, as well. Experiment, observe, listen, flow, and unleash your secret superpower – your breath!

Rob Williams, who lives in the Mad River Valley, is a co-founder of The Peak Flow which teaches breathwork techniques. You can find out more and access the latest breathwork clinical studies at www.thepeakflow.com.

GETTING YOU OUTSIDE SINCE 1995.

T im e to g et fly.

2 02 2 n e w g e ar i s i n.

37 Church St, Burlington, VT

|

888-547-4327

gearx.com

|

@ o MAY u t d 2022 o o r g|e VTSPORTS.COM a r e x c h a n g e 13

HOW BEN TRUE BUILT A

COMMUNITYOF

LONG-DISTANCE

RUNNERS

BEN TRUE WANTED A TRAINING PARTNER SO BADLY HE WAS WILLING TO PAY $20,000. NOW, HE HAS A COMMUNITY OF FRIENDS, FAST AND SLOW, WHO RUN WITH HIM AT THE WEEKLY “TOUR DE WOODSTOCK.” BY LISA LYNN |

BY LISA LYNN

14 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

Ben True, the second American to finish the 2021 New York City Marathon, training in the Upper Valley. Photo by Fred Huxham

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 15

Ben True, in orange, with Dan Curts (far right) pacing and a tight lead pack during a weekend Tour de Woodstock. Photo by Ansel Dickey/Wahoo Fitness

16 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

18 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

VERMONT INVESTS IN OUTDOOR RECREATION

THE NEXT OUTDOOR PLAYGROUNDS

VERMONT JUST AWARDED NEARLY $5 MILLION IN GRANTS TO IMPROVE OUTDOOR RECREATION. HERE’S WHO EARNED THE GRANTS AND WHAT THEY PLAN TO DO.

An overhead view of the trails of St. Johnsbury's Dog Mountain. Photo by Downriver Media

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 19

T

he State of Vermont recently made one of the biggest statewide investments in outdoor recreation in its history. On Monday, March 28, Gov. Phil Scott announced that $4,549,313 in grants from the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC) had been awarded to municipalities and nonprofit organizations around the state for projects to enhance outdoor recreation and foster economic growth.

Over the next two years, the VOREC Community Grant Program will bring to life 24 outdoor recreation projects.

Some examples: One grant will revive the 150-year-old Danville train station as an information hub for visitors on the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Another will help Montpelier explore the feasibility of a whitewater park for paddlers. Still another will provide scholarships for youth who identify as BIPOC to take sailing lessons in Burlington.

Ludlow will redevelop a skatepark.

Killington will get a new singletrack cross-country mountain bike trail.

Marlboro will build new trails … the list goes on.

Grants will also go to statewide organizations such as the Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance, the Town of Randolph and the Vermont Huts Association, and the Vermont River Conservancy and White River Partnership.

Many outdoor communities proposed worthy projects that met the $50,000 minimum grant-ask threshold.

In fact, 103 ideas were submitted, totaling $21.5 million in requested funding.

As Jackie Dagger, VOREC Program Manager, notes: “The grant program is intended to support VOREC’s vision of a network of communities across Vermont supported by thriving local economies that are organized on five key principles: 1) To grow outdoor recreation-related business, 2) Increase participation in outdoor recreation among all demographics, 3) Strengthen the quality and extent of outdoor recreation resources, 4) Increase stewardship of outdoor recreation and environmental quality and 5) Promote and enjoy the health and wellness benefits of outdoor recreation.”

The grant program was established as a pilot program in 2018 with the passage of Act 194. In 2019, $100,000 in grants were awarded to two communities.

Newport received $35,000 to build a trail connecting Prouty Beach and Bluffside Farm—a critical piece of the city’s larger Waterfront Recreation Trail and Lake Access project.

The town of Randolph was awarded $65,000 to help the Ridgeline Outdoor Collective (then called RASTA) build The Trail Hub information center, as well as signage, maps and trails.

20 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

The VOREC grants will help the Vermont Rivers Conservancy build access for paddlers and help Montpelier consider a whitewater park.

Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance

W

hen Governor Phil Scott created the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC), he also endorsed a recommendation for an industry-led network of outdoor companies. The Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance (VOBA) was established in 2018 as a statewide, nonprofit organization that provides networking, education, and business development. Its goals are to strengthen, expand, attract, and retain outdoor recreation economy businesses in Vermont. VOBA also engages in outdoor recreation economy policy and advances justice, equity, diversity and inclusion efforts.

Today, VOBA‘s 100 members range from well-established and global companies such as Burton Snowboards, Darn Tough, Orvis, Killington Resort, and Outdoor Gear Exchange to smaller businesses such as Kaden Apparel, Bivo, Vermont Bike & Brew, and Train NEK. In 2022 VOBA was awarded a VOREC grant of $150,000

In 2020, a new round of grants awarded $200,000 to seven additional communities.

All nine VOREC communities were featured in “The New Basecamps,” an outdoor recreation and business guide that appeared in Vermont Sports thanks to a partnership

Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

to develop workforce training programs based on needs identified by businesses, especially in the trades, such as bicycle mechanics, sustainable trail building, and gear and apparel manufacturing. “VOBA’s award allows local businesses to employ a skilled workforce and scale up their delivery of quality goods and services,” says VOBA Executive Director Kelly Ault.

The project will lay an education foundation to help the sector fill jobs and retain workers. “Outdoor retailers are facing an ongoing shortage of workers, especially for positions such as bike and ski technicians,” said Jen Roberts, coowner of Onion River Outdoors in Montpelier. “VOBA’s work to establish training and intern/apprentice options helps shops fill positions so they can support cyclists, skiers and others.”

The grant will also help VOBA work with established and emerging companies to grow their markets, with a focus on businesses based in seven legacy outdoor recreation hubs: St. Johnsbury, Lyndonville, Montpelier, Randolph, Poultney, Killington, and Castleton.

“By elevating the highly diversified Vermont companies that produce, provide, and sell products and services related to outdoor recreation, VOBA strengthens ties to our urban and rural communities and the landscape,” says Ault.

between the Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance (VOBA), the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing (VDTM) and the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.

Thanks to another partnership among those groups, this guide features

11 communities and 3 statewide projects that are receiving the next round of VOREC Community Grants.

The best part? Governor Phil Scott has recommended that another $5 million be allocated to the program and the Vermont Legislature is on track to

support this same amount for another year.

“Vermont’s natural beauty, combined with outdoor recreation opportunities, are economic engines for our state and a driving force for why people visit and live in Vermont,” says Gov. Scott. “These grants will help continue to connect trails to downtown centers, develop new recreation assets and promote all we have to offer.”

From (roughly) north to south, here are 11 of the places that were VOREC grant winners. The remaining 10 (see page 29) we plan to feature in a fall issue.

1. DERBY When it comes to outdoor recreation, there is always something going on in Derby. Kingdom Games holds dozens of swimming, biking and running events in the region starting in February with the Memphremagog Winter Swim Festival (a 25-meter swimming pool cut in the ice of Lake Memphremagog) and ending in October with the Fly to Pie Kingdom Marathon. Each spring, Kingdom Games hosts the Dandelion Run which starts at Derby’s Beach House on Lake Salem with options to do distances up to a half marathon. On July 4th, the Harry Corrow Freedom Run on the NewportDerby Bike Path covers 3.5 of the 20 miles of the beautiful Memphremagog Trails. In the winter, those same trails are groomed for skiers and snowshoers.

The lakes and rivers of Derby are popular with boaters and anglers as well.

oldest sporting camp. Stay in one of the lakeside cottages or sign up for guided activities that include fly fishing, rock climbing and mountain biking. For a fishing guide, Gibb’s Guides out of Island Pond is the local expert.

2. ST. JOHNSBURY

The VOREC grant will help ensure Derby's Kids' Pond remains accessible to seniors and kids.

Paddlers on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail can follow the Clyde River and traverse several of Derby’s small lakes including Lake Salem and Charleston Pond.

Clyde River Canoe Rentals can help set up a trip, rent boats or provide shuttle services for anyone wanting to do a longer stretch of the NFCT. They also offer 5-mile and 16-mile paddle trips— shuttle, boats and gear provided. Pick up a copy of the Clyde River Paddling & Fishing Guide (available from the Northwoods Stewardship Center).

The Clyde is, of course, known for its fishing, too, with a stretch near Newport, holding landlocked salmon –a species that was once prolific here – as well as brook and brown trout. Guides from all over Vermont often head to the Clyde.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: The Derby Fish & Game Club will use

Courtesy photo

its $173,000 grant to help rebuild a 100-year-old dam on Kid’s Pond off Route 5. At no charge, the pond introduces children to the sport of fishing and provides seniors with accessibility issues a place to continue to fish. Plans also include making the facility accessible to all with a platform where a wheelchair can be securely locked in place for fishing.

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: For fishing and hunting gear, stop in at Wright’s Sports Shop. The Derby Line Village Inn is an old Victorian inn furnished in period antiques and is also a local’s favorite for weekend dinners. The East Side is the spot to go to for dinner on the water. If you are up for a drive, the peaceful and updated cottages at Quimby Country are about a half-hour east on Great Averill Lake. Quimby Country is America’s

For some, St. Johnsbury at the junction of I-91 and I-93, is a place to stop on the way to bike Kingdom Trails. But that’s not giving the cultural epicenter of the Northeast Kingdom its due. St. Johnsbury is home to gems like the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium, the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, and Catamount Film and Arts.

Now, with the completion of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail due this year, there’s a new reason to make this a destination. By the end of 2022, you will be able to bike 93 miles from its terminus in St. Johnsbury all the way to Swanton, near the Canadian border on New England’s longest rail trail.

The gravel trail follows the old railroad route which was designed to take passengers from Portland, Maine, across the northern states to Ogdensburg, N.Y. on Lake Ontario.

The railbed has been resurfaced with firm gravel to make a perfect, carfree route for cyclists, walkers, skiers, snowmobilers and snowshoers.

And there are plenty of resources for cyclists of all kinds in St. Johnsbury.

LINK Vermont is a nonprofit workspace for bicycle repair and maintenance. In The first completed section of the 93-mile Lamoille Valley Rail Trail starts from a hub in St. Johnsbury, the Three Rivers Path Pavilion. Photo courtesy Duncan Wisniewski Architecture

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 21

summer 2022, they’ll be located in a popup space at the former Caplan’s Army Navy Store, hosting bike repair services, a bike and outdoor gear lending library in partnership with NEK Prosper!, build-a-bike workshops, swaps, and other activities. All Around Rental in St. Johnsbury Center just added E-bikes to their fleet and delivers them to the LVRT trailhead. Lamoille Valley Bike Tours will also be expanding to offer rail trail tours, as well as bike and E-bike rentals in St. Johnsbury.

For a touring guide, meet local Fritz Fay of Land Animal Adventures who hosts a weekly no-drop gravel ride for all levels on Tuesday nights that meets at the Trailhead Pavilion. You can also explore a brand new, 1.7 mile flow trail scheduled to open in early June in the Town Forest; a project led by the Caledonia Trail Collaborative. New to mountain biking? Contact professional mountain bike instructors Joe Fox and Bryna McCarty of Noble Fox Adventures to schedule a tour or skills clinic.

But don’t be too quick to bike (or ski) out of town. Make a pilgrimage to nearby Dog Mountain, a 150-acre property with trails, a gallery, and a dog chapel that the late artist Stephen Hunek turned into a tribute to all things canine. Walk the trails, or enjoy live summer concerts.

Catamount Arts also puts on live performances that range from hip hop to poetry readings to classical concerts.

What the VOREC Grant will do: St. Johnsbury will use its $128,00 to develop signage and wayfinding for cyclists and pedestrians to use the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT). The grant will also help start a bike lending library and free or low-cost bike, snowshoe, and exercise programs and gear.

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop There are plenty of places to stay in St. Johnsbury like the dog-friendly Comfort Inn or the Cherry St. B&B, or splurge and head just 10 miles east to the luxurious Rabbit Hill Inn. For an after-bike brew head to Whirligig Brewing and the Taco Poco onsite taqueria. For drinks, try the St. Johnsbury Distillery’s cocktails and Kingdom Taproom’s craft beers and for food, Table features farm-to-table fare.

St. J. also has some amazing diners, including Salt Bistro and Pica Pica Fillipino Cuisine.

Danville boasts more miles of gravel roads than any town in the state and pro cyclist Ian Boswell's Tour de Peacham is a great way to explore them each fall. Danville is also an important stop on the soon-to-be completed Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Photo by Ansel Dickey/Wahoo Fitness

3. DANVILLE You might know Danville as the home of Joe’s Pond, the roughly 400-acre pond (well stocked with fish) where locals bet on when the ice will melt out each spring, a ritual that has helped track Vermont’s changing climate. Or you might have lost yourself once or twice in The Great Vermont Corn Maze. At 24 acres it’s New England’s largest and draws crowds from August through September when the corn is head high.

Or maybe you’ve headed to Danville to take a course with Penny Hill Tree Climbing, an outfit that offers one-day classes to train arborists, saddle hunters and anyone who wants to learn the techniques of climbing trees without harming them. After, you might head to the town green and catch one of the free family movie evenings with classic favorites projected on a big screen and free popcorn.

Want to learn another important skill? Just a few miles south in Peacham, Train NEK offers SOLO-certifying Rural and Backcountry Medicine courses including Wilderness First Aid and CPR. Thanks to a VOREC grant, the 150-year-old Danville Train Station is being reimagined as a hub to guide visitors and anyone exploring the four-season Lamoille Valley Rail Trail to all there is to do in the area. This spring cyclists and hikers can use the 15-mile completed Section 1A between St. Johnsbury and Danville and soon

they will be able to continue west from Danville to Morrisville, Johnson and all the way to Swanton. Lamoille Valley Bike Tours of Johnson offers rentals— including e-bikes—and shuttle services all the way to St. Johnsbury.

Danville also holds the title as the Vermont town with the most miles of dirt roads (102 miles), which makes it a gravel riding dream. If you want to try some of the other gorgeous bike routes in the area, sign up for the nearby Peacham Fall Fondo (Sept. 24), a fun communityminded bike ride on the region’s back roads put on by former Tour de France pro and Unbound gravel race winner and Peacham resident Ian Boswell.

The best part? It has an aid station that’s stocked with homemade apple pies.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: The $97,650 VOREC grant will help create a transportation and recreation hub in the former Danville Train Station. The hub will offer amenities such as ADA bathrooms and information about the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT) as well as other outdoor recreation, attractions, and businesses within a 10-mile radius.

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: Stay at the threebedroom Emergo Farm Bed & Breakfast, a sixth-generation working dairy farm on 200 acres that’s a mile from the rail trail or the four-room Danville Restaurant & Inn in the village. For pub fare and a Little Devil IPA head to Red

Barn Brewing on Route 2. After a ride, refuel with Vermont comfort food such as fried chicken and waffles and a spiked switchel at Three Ponds’ new location on the town green or order the daily special at the family-run The Creamery. For lunch, pick up a sandwich or panini at Bentley’s Bakery and Café.

4. CHAMPLAIN ISLANDS For a different view of Vermont, bike the Island Line Trail from Burlington to the Champlain Islands. The Island Line follows the narrow Colchester Causeway, the old railroad bed that crosses Mallett’s Bay. Riders or walkers then take the bike ferry run by Local Motion across the narrow cut to South Hero. Just 14 miles from Vermont’s biggest city you’ll find a very different world.

Grand Isle and North Hero islands –connected by bridges—are marked by low terrain, farm fields and orchards. The islands are a popular biking destination with quiet roads, a rural landscape and beaches such as White’s Beach, where you can cool off. The Champlain Islands Bikeways Brochure offers a number of suggested routes, including ones that will take you by the Birdhouse Forest (yes, a forest populated by birdhouses) or Stone Castles, which passes miniature castles made from pebbles and stones.

On Isle La Motte, explore the 85-acre Goodsell Ridge Fossil Preserve where you can take a self-guided tour of fossils that date back 480 million years.

The Vermont River Conservancy and White River Partnership The Vermont River Conservancy is an organization that focuses on protecting Vermont’s waterways and shores and ensuring healthy outdoor recreation activities can continue to grow. It protects swimming holes, improves river access, conserves flood plains, protecting wildlife and prevents the abuse of Vermont’s waterways.

22 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

The VRC and White River Partnership received a VOREC grant of $293,478 to improve white water access infrastructure at multiple sites, coordinate site stewardship efforts, and pilot the Vermont River Access Collaborative. This network will allow for improved resource and information sharing with the goal of increasing access to flowing water for all.

For more adventures, Lake Champlain’s Inland Sea offers protected waters for paddling. From North Hero, stock up at the North Hero General Store and you can kayak out to Woods Island and Knight Island State Parks for an overnight at one of the park system’s remote campsites and lean-tos.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: Grand Isle County’s VOREC grant of $99,726 will allow partners in South Hero to develop a plan for safe and connected biking and walking routes, connected to the increase in traffic from the Local Motion Bike Ferry. The region plans to build a new website portal with an interactive map as well as improve signage, safety outreach and education, and organize events.

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: Snow Farm Winery and Ellison Vineyards have tasting rooms where you can taste some of Vermont’s top wines, with live music on occasion. Stop for a pie or a pastry at DonnaSue Bakes on Grand Isle, an honor-system shack that serves up baked treats. The Blue Paddle Bistro in South Hero has been a local’s favorite for fine dining for years and Hero’s Welcome General Store is a classic general store. Just next door, spend the night at The North Hero House with views of the lake, or paddle out to a campsite on one of the state park campgrounds on Knight, Woods or Burton islands.

5. BURLINGTON For a small city, Burlington packs in big recreation with beaches and parks, climbing gyms and outdoor retailers all within walking distance. Stroll along the waterfront on the Burlington Greenway, (a bike path that runs from downtown all the way to the Champlain Islands) and you will come to the Community Sailing Center, which provides access to boats ranging from SUPs to keelboats.

The boats rent at low-cost and some are equipped for people with disabilities.

Just past the sailing center is the world-class A-Dog Skatepark. North Beach, just a bit farther north, is where Burlington locals stretch out their beach towels or rent SUPs from Paddlesurf Lake Champlain. North Beach also has its own campground, as well as a sandy beach—one of three in the city.

On the other side of the bay, to the south, the Burlington Surf Club has regular SUP events, and windsurfers and other watercraft to play with. Nearby, Petra Cliffs’ indoor climbing gym is where everyone can learn to climb. For expert climbers, Lone Rock Point, which juts out into Lake Champlain, is home to one of the most scenic crags in New England and has a series of wooded trails that parallel the cliffy shoreline.

And if all that isn’t enough? Rent

From Burlington, ride the car-free Island Line Trail out to the Champlain Islands.

a bike from Local Motion, Skirack or Outdoor Gear Exchange and you can cruise all the way to the Champlain Islands on the bike path.

What the VOREC Grants will do: Burlington’s $300,000 VOREC grant will help fund a pilot project that will offer low and no-cost gear, such as camping equipment and bike rentals through Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront. It will also provide scholarships for sailing camps for BIPOS youth. Some of the funds will go to building an urban bike park in Leddy Park and a boardwalk on the Wetlands Walk at the Ethan Allen Homestead near the Winooski River.

Photo by David Goodman

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: Burlington has a wealth of shops, such as Outdoor Gear Exchange, Skirack and WNDNWVS that will outfit you for just about any outdoor adventure. After a day on the water or the waterfront, stop in for a sunset tropical cocktail by the lake at The Beach House VT at North Beach State Park or at Splash by the docks on the Burlington waterfront. Or go for a cruise on the lake on the Spirit of Ethan Allen. After, check into Hotel Vermont or camp out at the North Beach campground.

6. MONTPELIER Thanks to its many parks and trails, Montpelier has been growing as a recreation destination. From just behind

the Statehouse you can take a short hike to one of the best views in Vermont from Hubbard Park’s stone tower.

Completed in 1930, the tower is on the National Register of Historic Places and provides sweeping views of the Green Mountains, the Worcester Range, and east to New Hampshire. Hubbard Park also offers miles of trails for exploring, biking, and hiking.

North Branch River Park, a 200-acre park, follows the North Branch of the Winooski River just outside of town. You can find wide paths for walking along the river and thrilling mountain bike trails up on the hill — there is something for everyone. Head across the pedestrian bridge at the north end of the park to access the North Branch Nature Center, an outdoor education center that hosts year-round events and programming on their 28-acre nature preserve. For an even longer adventure, head north out of the park on the Sparrow Farm Trail and you can walk/bike all the way to East Montpelier.

Montpelier’s Siboinebi Recreation Path is a 4.5-mile paved, accessible path that cuts right through the heart of downtown. It follows the Winooski River the whole way and is a great place to see the river, teach a kid to ride a bike, or just go for a stroll with a friend. You can access it on the west end from the Dog River Recreation Area, on the east end from Old Country Club Rd., or park downtown and head either direction.

The Winooski cuts through the center of town and the upstream section of river between Marshfield and the city has Class II and Class III rapids. The new VOREC grant will help explore the possibility of building a whitewater park.

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 23

with a welcome center with parking and restrooms. The hub will act as a jump off point for the surrounding trails. The project will also build a new pedestrian bike bridge across the Mill Brook with a new crosswalk across Route 100 to link the hub to Waitsfield’s walkable downtown.

For boaters and SUP’ers, there’s also Wrightsville Reservoir. Just 5 miles outside of town, the nearly two-mile -long reservoir has a beach area that rents boats, a separate boat launch and a disc golf course. Motorboats are allowed on the southern end of the reservoir.

Head north for a quieter paddle and swim, and fo r some great bird and wildlife watching.

After a day on the trails or on the water, head downtown. Onion River Outdoors organizes a host of events, ranging from gravel rides like the Muddy Onion, to bike swaps and mountain bike clinics, to regular shop rides and runs. Right next door, ROAM has a top selection of apparel and there is no shortage of places to go for a beer and the city has an impressive selection of restaurants that feature international cuisine.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: Montpelier will use its $213,000 VOREC grant to hire the Montpelier Youth Conservation Corps to build two connector trails that will strengthen the downtown’s connection to existing trails and recreation assets and to design an urban Whitewater Park. The funds will also help create promotional videos and an adventure guide.

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: Book a room at the Capitol Plaza hotel downtown or the Inn at Montpelier and then plan a day and a night on the town. There’s everything from authentic Thai at Wilaiwan’s Kitchen to Italian fare served with a riverside view at Sarducci’s. For drinks, hit the Three Penny Taproom for a huge selection of local brews or stop by Gin Lane where Caledonia Spirits distills its now world-famous Barr Hill gin and its bar serves up cocktails.

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: The Valley is famous for its home-grown food and beverages. After a day on the bike, stop at Lareau Farm for American Flatbread’s specials topped with produce grown out back and local meats and cheeses. Mad Taco and Canteen Creemee are must stops, as in a pilgrimage to Lawson’s Finest Liquid’s brewery and pub. Rent a bike at Sugarbush or get yours tuned up at Stark Mountain Bike Works.

8. VERGENNES Montpelier's footpaths and bike paths are the best way to explore the capitol city.

Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/

Montpelier

Warren Falls or rent an SUP and paddle around the still waters of Blueberry Lake. It’s when you can wade deep into the Mad River and catch a sizable trout on a fly rod or go soaring with Sugarbush Soaring. Or simply meander on the Mad River Path, a system of public pathways that connect the towns of Warren, Waitsfield, Fayston and Moretown.

It’s the time road cyclists make a point of testing themselves on both “Gap” rides, knowing that the steepest paved mile in America is on Lincoln Peak. Increasingly, the Mad River Valley is a mountain biking destination. The Mad River Riders has worked to create a network of nearly 60 miles of trails that link and loop throughout the Valley and

now connect up to the downhill trails at Sugarbush Resort. The Valley’s network includes the beginner-friendly Blueberry Lake trails in the Green Mountain National Forest, classic technical trails at Eurich Pond, Chase Brook Town Forest, Camel’s Hump and Phen Basin State Forests, and flowy classics starting at Lareau Farm.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: The $408,019 grant “represents one of the largest investments in outdoor recreation in the history of the Mad River Valley,” says Eric Friedman, executive director of the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce. The funds will go toward developing a recreation hub

Halfway between the urban bustle of Burlington and the college town of Middlebury lies the city of Vergennes.

One of Vermont’s 9 cities, Vergennes combines the best of city and country life with an historic opera house and plenty of boutiques and restaurants. Large Victorian homes line one side of the main street with boutiques, galleries and cafes such as the acclaimed Black Sheep Bistro and the Vergennes Laundry bakery on the other. Vergennes is something of a foodie town with Daily Chocolate, lu.lu. ice creams and Shacksbury craft ciders all calling this place home.

Vergennes is also a good jumping off point to burn any calories you consume in town. From downtown, head west for a bike ride through gorgeous farm country toward Kingsland Bay State Park, where you can camp or launch a kayak and navigate the rocky points

7. MAD RIVER VALLEY It’s hard to imagine what you could add to the Mad River Valley to make it a better destination for outdoor recreation. Sugarbush Resort has skiing in the winter. In the summer, it hosts liftserved downhill mountain biking, an 18hole Robert Trent Jones Sr. golf course and disc golf. Plus, there are regular afternoon corn hole competitions with wood-fired pizzas and live music at its Lincoln Peak plaza.

Mad River Glen may not run its lifts in the summer but its slopes are there for hiking and General Stark’s Pub for refueling after. And you can hike past both ski areas, from Lincoln Gap, all the way to Appalachian Gap on the Long Trail with big views west to Lake Champlain and east across the Mad River Valley.

Summer is a time to savor here. It’s Cool off in the pools and cascades at

24 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

Casting a fly in the Mad River is one way to cool off after a day hiking the mountains above Waitsfield or biking the trails.

Photo by Sandy Macy/MRV Chamber of Commerce

that jut into Lake Champlain. Continue on to Basin Harbor Club where you can dine with views of Lake Champlain or play golf on its beautiful 18-hole golf course, which is open to the public.

Just south of the city, hike up Snake Mountain for spectacular views of the Champlain Valley, all the way across to the Adirondacks. In the spring and fall, watch for the thousands of snow geese that land in the Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area during migrations.

The Otter Creek flows through the middle of Vergennes. Falls Park and Macdonough Park, located on either side of Otter Creek just under Vergennes Falls, offer a beautiful view of the falls as well as picnic tables and grills and prime fishing opportunities.

Boats can follow the Otter Creek from Lake Champlain all the way to Vergennes, the farthest navigable point, and tie up at the town docks, just steps from downtown’s restaurants, shops, and brewery. Check the maps for the Addison County Bike Club and you can find a small network of mountain bike trails off Comfort Hill St. or visit their website to find out about group rides and other events.

Should you need help with your bike, Little City Cycles specializes in saving old bikes. Owner, Tim Mathewson, builds, repairs, rents, and sells all types of bicycles and accessories. It is also home to Green Mountain Foster Bikes, a nonprofit whose mission is to give foster

20 miles. If you need some Skida wear or Darn Tough Socks, Linda’s Apparel and the Men’s Corner have you covered and boutiques such as Malabar, Ten Stones and Blue Lily are great places for gifts.

9. KILLINGTON

It's easy to launch a boat and fish the Otter Creek, which runs through the heart of Vergennes.

children bicycles to ride. Or head to Frog Hollow Bikes in Middlebury.

boardwalk to span Mossy Brook near the southern end.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: The Vergennes Connector Trail East will create a universally accessible trail between New Haven Rd. and Monkton Rd. The 2,300 feet of trail will cross city and school lands creating a major link in the proposed Vergennes Pedestrian Loop around the city and includes a

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: Check into The Basin Harbor Resort on Lake Champlain or stay at the historic Strong House, a 14room bed-and-breakfast set on five acres of gardens. Go for pub fare at Antidote and try whatever is on tap at its on-site hyper-local Hired Hand Brewing, which sources all of its ingredients from within

Killington, the largest ski resort in the East, is now also the biggest downhill bike park in the East. With more than 35 miles of lift-served mountain biking, The Beast of the East has become known as the place to go to learn to downhill, to perfect your skills or compete at its many events.

But it’s not all about the downhill.

Since 2015 the town of Killington has been working to build out its crosscountry trails.

At present, you can ride downhill at the ski resort or head to the Kent Pond area for some mellower but also fun trails. You’ll find beginner and intermediate cross-country trails at Sherburne Trails or more advanced ones at Base Camp Trails. Together, those trails represent about 15 miles of singletrack.

Kent Pond is also a favorite destination for paddling an SUP or canoe or fishing. Just across Route 100 from Kent Pond, Gifford Woods State Park has campsites, cabins, and leantos you can rent.

Of course, there are a million other ways to recreate in Killington from hiking the trails or the Long Trail which crosses Route 4, to trying the resort’s Wrecktangle obstacle course.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: The $75,000 grant will go toward building a 3.4-mile single track cross-country mountain bike trail, from Gifford Woods State Park toward the Velomont trail. It will also help create a new kiosk and wayfinding and a new trail map.

The new addition of 3.4 miles of trail be one of the longest flow trails in the state and move closer to connecting with the proposed Velomont Trail which will connect Killington to the Green Mountain Trails to Rochester so you can ride off-road the whole way.

Killington Mountain Resort has 35-miles of downhill trails. Now, the town is expanding its cross-country trail network.

Photo courtesy Killington Mountain Resort

Vermont Huts Association and the Town of Randolph Two big ideas came together and will be helped by a VOREC grant of $141,488. The town of Randolph and Ridgeline Outdoor Collective, it’s chapter of the Vermont Mountain Biking Association has been responsible for planning and mapping a state-long mountain bike trail connecting the many trail networks. At the same time, the Vermont Huts Association has

been planning a network of backcountry huts that would be accessible from the Velomont where riders and other travelers could spend the night. The 2022 grant will be used by both organizations to collaborate on finishing the master plan for the Velomont and develop wayfinding and signage.

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: For hotels, the Killington Grand, on the mountain, is right on the downhill trails or check into the newly renovated Killington Mountain Lodge which sits on the sixth hole of the par 72 championship Killington golf course. For outdoor shops, try First Stop Board and Barn, Base Camp or Alpine Bike Works. For food, The Foundry has fancier fare or try any of the many eateries on the Killington access road.

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 25

no camping on the reservoir, set up a tent in Molly Stark State Park, where you can climb to the top of the Mt. Olga firetower for big views.

10. WEST PAWLET & RUPERT While a lot of attention has been given to the completion of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail in the northern part of the state, many folks are not even aware that the D&H Rail Trail makes for great riding from Castleton south to Rupert.

Little to no bike or foot traffic, open meadows, and a goat farm with a selfserve cheese stand are just a few of the things that make the Delaware & Hudson Line rail trail one of the most interesting and beautiful trails in the state. The northern section goes about 10 miles from Castleton to Poultney, where you can connect to the Slate Valley Trails network of mountain bike trail and gravel routes. The crushedstone and gravel trail then dips into New York and is interrupted with a 4-mile gap where it crosses private land before starting up again in Granville.

Perhaps the most scenic part of the trail though starts in West Pawlet and heads south to Rupert. Here the trail crosses broad meadows with big views of the Taconic range. The trail passes small streams and goes by the 300-acre Consider Bardwell farm where you can stop and buy some of their renowned cheeses and watch the goats cavort.

In Rupert, stop at Sherman’s Store, which dates back to the 1850s or the historic Sheldon Store, nearby, which has been newly revived as a community hub and café.

Ride back to West Pawlet or if you have two cars, do a shuttle. Save some energy to hike up Haystack Mountain, just north of West Pawlet for huge views to New York and the Green Mountains.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: West Pawlet and the town of Rupert will use their $80,212 grant to help alleviate parking issues near the D&H Rail Trail by designating new parking areas and improving existing parking lots.

What the VOREC Grant Will Do: The $62,000 grant will help build a new trail system, including a section that is accessible, with signage and connections to existing trails. The museum also plans to create a sensory garden and a natural playground. The grant will also help provide rentals and loaner gear such as snowshoes, binoculars, field guides, and other environmental education materials.

The southern section of the D&H Rail Trail connects two charming villages; West Pawlet and Rupert.

Courtesy photo.

than 70 years. Once a ski area, Hogback Mountain now has a brewery at its summit and the mountain itself attracts backcountry skiers in the winter and hikers in the summer who come for the 100-mile views from the summit.

Halfway between Brattleboro and Wilmington and Mount Snow (where downhill mountain biking is big in the summer), Marlboro is a great summer destination, with wild areas to explore.

Thanks to the VOREC grant, Marlboro’s Southern Vermont Natural History Museum is building out a new trail system with accessible trails and gardens and will be creating more programs to help people learn about the natural world.

The museum currently hosts talks with top wildlife experts in the state and owns 600 mounted specimens of native northeastern birds and mammals – the largest in the state — as well as live birds

of prey, reptiles, and various other critters.

Nature abounds in this region. A biologist who recently completed an inventory of the 600-acre Hogback Mountain Conservation Area found 11 amphibian/reptile species, 22 mammals, 80 birds, and close to a hundred insect species use the area.

Among that list: moose, bear, beaver and raptors.

If you want to see wildlife, try paddling Harriman Reservoir early in the morning. A short drive from Marlboro, Harriman Reservoir is the largest body of water that is entirely in Vermont. The reservoir stretches north/south for about 10 miles with undeveloped shoreline.

The reservoir caters to everyone from paddlers and SUP’ers to the clothingoptional bathers who congregate at The Ledges (be forewarned). While there is

Stay/Eat/Play/Shop: To explore the Harriman Reservoir, High Country Marine in Wilmington rents everything from SUPs and kayaks to pontoon boats and speedboats. Rent bikes (downhill or other) at Mount Snow and ride its downhill trails. Taste local libations at Vermont Distillers and Beer Naked Brewery, both right in Marlboro.

There are many great places to stay ranging from the historic Crafts Inn or Wilmington Inn to the Shearer Hill Farm B&B, situated on a working farm in Marlboro. One of the best bike shops in the region is West Hill Shop, out of Putney and for outdoor gear, head into Brattleboro to Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters.

This project was supported by a grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission. Funding for this project was also made possible, in part, with a Rural Business Development Grant from USDA Rural Development. Many thanks to the Vermont Department of Tourism, Vermont Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation and the Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance for help and support of this project.

Stay/Play/Eat/Shop: Rent one of the rustic cabins, shelters or dispersed campsites at Merck Forest & Farmland Center, set on 3,200 acres. For bike gear, Analog Cycles is the place to stop if you are coming from the north or Battenkill Bikes, in Manchester if coming from the south. There is no shortage of great local food. In Pawlet stop in at Mach’s Market (yes, Mach’s) where organic sweet treats are baked in a wood-fired oven and most of the provisions are local. For a fine local meal, head to The Barn in Pawlet or The Station.

11. MARLBORO Marlboro is a town that is reinventing itself. In 2021, the campus of Marlboro College was purchased by The Marlboro School of Music which has been putting on music festivals in the town for more From the top of Hogback Mountain, you get a 100-mile view that is spectacular in the fall.

26 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

Photo by Chensiyuan/Wikimedia Commons

the new VOREC Grant Towns A TOTAL OF 21 PLACES RECEIVED GRANTS TO IMPROVE THEIR OUTDOOR RECREATION. LOOK FOR THE TOWNS IN RED IN THE PREVIOUS PAGES. IN AN UPCOMING ISSUE WE’LL CONTINUE OUR PROFILES OF 10 OTHER VOREC GRANT WINNERS.

Orleans - craftsbury

$200,000 will go toward:

Building a public-facing community wellness center and outdoor recreation hub to serve as a wayfinding point at the confluence of three trail systems in Craftsbury Village. It will also help develop wayfinding and signage for the trails system, renovate an existing building to provide space for the center which has a climbing gym, recreation programming and workshops, and equipment rentals.

1

CALEDONIA - hardwick

5 3

lamoille - wolcott

$197,900

$200,000 will go toward: Designing and engineering for a new Gateway Park reconstructing an historic pedestrian bridge connecting community park to downtown center. It will also help the Outdoor Recreation Working Group assist local organizations, and develop a marketing plan and building regional partnerships.

4

2

6

will go toward:

Building a multi-use trail network in Wolcott’s new Town Forest, including installing trail signage, a network map, and trailhead infrastructure.

The trail network will provide a safe route between the elementary school, recreation field and the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT).

CALEDONIA - Groton

$225,000 will go toward: Ugrading a town-owned recreational trail that connects to Groton State Forest and the Cross Vermont Trail and building a parking area and trailhead for it near the village, with improved signage along the trail. It will also help develop a master plan for a future greenspace and bridge that will directly connect the trail to the village.

7

8

washington - cabot

$62,500

will go toward: Building connections among the Village of Cabot, the town’s four-season trail network, the Cross Vermont Trail and the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail (LVRT). It will also make improvements to enhance access and wayfinding, purchase equipment to support ongoing maintenance, and build capacity for the Trails Committee to be a sustainable and effective organization.

windsor - bethel

9

$331,809 will go toward:

Planning and building an interconnected network of parks, greenways, and multi-use trails. Upgrading trails and developing improved mapping / signage to enhance the accessibility of the network, including community outreach to understand signage needs.

windsor - ascutney

$262,088 will go toward:

washington - Northfield

$122,965 will go toward:

Improving the Town Forest by restoring a trail that was damaged during Hurricane Irene, removing invasive species, developing and implementing a wayfinding masterplan that will connect the trail to town, installing trailhead kiosks with maps, designating nearby parking spaces for trail users, and expanding outdoor gear lending at the local public library.

Ascutney Outdoors, Ascutney Trails Association, and the town of West Windsor, which are collaborating to build a trail between the village and the mountain, constructing new mountain bike trails at the ski area, upgrading the rope tow, providing free equipment rentals for the children’s ski program. It will also help strengthen marketing efforts.

10

11

windsor - ludlow

$190,500 bennington - pownal

will go toward: Redeveloping the Dorsey Park Skatepark, which will enable the town to host camps and Okemo Mountain School to do off-season training.

$375,000 will go toward:

Creating better community access to a 700-plus acre recreation area and trail network by building trailhead parking and an informational kiosk, constructing a pedestrian bridge, installing trail blazes and maps for wayfinding, improving trails, and developing an ongoing trail management plan.

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 27

ENDGAME

THE WILD PLACE

WHY DO WE NEED EVEN THE SMALLEST OF PARKS?

BY CAROLYN KUEBLER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY COREY HENDRICKSON

L

ook, I’m alive. And this park, Wright Park it’s called — a scrappy woodland just a half mile down the road from my home — is alive too, living and dying at once, whether I’m there to see it or not.

It is not an old-growth forest, not a mountainside, there’s no grand vista,

28 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

nor really complete immersion in its 150 acres. I can often hear train cars groaning and bashing up against each other, or mysterious industrial sounds from the other side of the tracks that border the park: the cheese factory, the brewery, the Feed & Farm Supply.

It’s the outskirts of the outskirts. A

nothing kind of place at the end of a nothing kind of road where one small town gives way to an even smaller one.

For 15 years I’ve known of this park, spent more and less time in it. But where the park renews every spring, I — a single specimen, like a single tree — only decay.

And yet a partially dead tree is layered with life, even more than a young, fully alive one. Whereas a young tree is all surge and green, an old one, with its dead limbs and deep roots, is home to mosses, fungi, insects — intricate systems we can’t even see.

But some that we can see too: hollows

where the coronavirus was surging most gruesomely, I almost wanted to be there in the middle of it, to hear the sirens all night long. Walking down an empty street in Middlebury, I’d have to remind myself, say it out loud — it’s a pandemic — in attempt to dismantle my disbelief, even as hospitals and colleges, the National Guard, everyone, was preparing for a surge in patients.

At the same time, the radical simplifying of daily life was such a relief.

In other places, immediate death and devastation. Here, a kind of blessing.

Such deep contradictions. I took them to the park with me.

PREPPERS AND POETS

In Vermont, where there is so much open land, it is easy to lose sight of the value small town parks — like Middlebury's 150-acre Wright Park — hold for the neighbors and children who explore its paths.

turned to squirrel nests, dead limbs drilled by woodpeckers. The old tree both lives and dies and is all the richer for it, having so much to give away.

When I was younger and lived in cities, I’d gravitate toward some illusion of solitude in nature and thrill at the first hint of it: Allentown’s Cedar Beach,

Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, the far end of Red Hook in Brooklyn, where you could hear the lapping of the East River against the pilings in the quiet, cobbled streets. And yet I rarely seemed to have time to visit Wright Park, right down the road. Or any park really, these past 15 years, these middle years, the

time of life when there’s just no time.

But in spring of 2020, social occasions, arts events, school, travel, even walking back and forth to work — all dropped off the books. Hopefully laid plans were disassembled, one piece at a time, as everything closed down.

Reading the news from New York City,

Just a few houses down from mine, if you veer right onto the street’s “extension” rather than follow the main road around the curve into the covered bridge and walk about a half mile — ten minutes there, ten minutes back — you get to the secluded entrance to the park.

The real estate agent called this area a “transitional neighborhood” and tried to warn us away from it. The homes here are not good old homes, restored and restorable, and they’re not good new homes either. There’s no harmony to the patterns they establish up and down the road.

The extension begins with a trailer, abandoned and slowly sinking into the ground, and continues with a tidy little prefab with a picket fence and sentimental statuary, an aluminum storage bunker for the trash pickup company, and a cedar-shingled shed that might belong on Nantucket if not for the boarded-up doorways. There’s a striking, silver-sided house with wooden doors swinging open, and across from it a ranch house with stone-bordered gardens, a gutter-fed rain barrel, and No Trespassing signs posted on the trees. “Probably preppers,” people say.

Finally, the last building before the road turns to dirt for the final leadup to the park is what I think of as, and possibly is in truth, the “poets’” house.

A large round window looks out from the second story onto the rusted icecream parlor furniture planted in the yard. It’s in bad need of paint.

The last quarter-mile stretch, with a thin row of young spruce trees between it and a massive stump and gravel dump, is a dead end that leads straight to the trailhead. Wright Park.

CRUELEST MONTHS

Dreary with a hint of snow. That’s how spring arrives in Vermont, and it was no different this year. I wasn’t walking to work, so I walked in the park instead.

In March into April, the trees were beginning to wake up — as if lightly brushed with gold and pink — but

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 29

Like a noble statue, a decaying trunk stands tall in Wright Park: "Whereas a young tree is all surge and green, an old one, with its dead limbs and deep roots, is home to mosses, fungi, insects — intricate systems we can’t even see."

there were still patches of snow in the otherwise cold, flat, and faded woods.

Then at the end of April, something broke through. Tiny, yellow, nodding flowers. What were they called again?

I’d noticed them last year, looked them up, tried to memorize them. Trout lily!

I was so pleased to see them, but maybe even more pleased that I could recall the name. And it dawned on me, finally, why the name “trout”! The leaves are smooth, spotted brown and green, like a brook trout, and shaped something like one too — not named for the flowers at all. Once I saw them, they were everywhere, pushing their way out from under the matted dead leaves.

Looking for trout lily I started to see other flowers, too. A small cluster of white blossoms, each no bigger than a fingernail, with a ring of delicate stamens that made it look decorated with the tiniest paintbrush. Then I saw pink ones, otherwise identical to the white, and as if that weren’t enough, also deep lavender. Each with the same basic design and growing so close to the ground I had to crouch down to look at their faces or gently tilt them upwards.

I’d never seen these before and so looked them up in a field guide when I

30 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

got home: hepatica.

Hepatica? How ever would I remember that?

Trillium I already knew but was no less delighted to see. When I went to college near here, I was introduced to the white and red varieties by a friend — a new friend at the time, now a lifelong friend. In my mind she knew everything about the woods, and I followed her out one night to sleep under the moon at the top of the Middlebury Snow Bowl. The sky was thick with stars, so close. I was sure I could see the curve of the Earth from there, and I wanted my whole life to be like that: unprotected under a shining swath of the Milky Way, just scared enough to be exhilarated, not alone but gloriously free.

My whole life didn’t turn out to be like that, and yet that moment remains, underneath all these years and all these springs come and gone. It is still part of me, like one thin layer of geologic time in the Earth’s crust. Everything was still possible then. The trillium remembers.

I remember.

NO CAMPING, NO ATVS

Wright Park? Oh, yeah. That place is creepy. That’s what people say, and

“I wanted my whole life to be like that: unprotected under a shining swath of Milky Way, just scared enough to be exhilerated, not alone but gloriously free.” they’re not wrong.

It may have something to do with the “transitional neighborhood” that is its runway. The slouchy trailers.

The bearded men who never look up.

Or maybe it’s the No ATVs sign at the gate, which is shot through with holes.

Maybe it’s also the sign itself, Wright Park, which for years was graffitied with white spray paint, cleaned up, graffitied again. Then there are the cars at the

end of that dead-end road: sometimes occupied and idling, sometimes empty and possibly abandoned. Sometimes there’ll be somebody sleeping inside with the windows open. Sometimes two people in the front seats play loud music. These are more often sedans with no hubcaps or souped-up, oldmodel Hondas than the Thule-racked Subarus or out-of-state SUVs you see at other trailheads. And more than once I’ve been startled by a tent in the woods, despite the No Camping signs.

One summer I’d see a man with his chihuahuas nearly every time I walked up to the park entrance — that ten minutes back and forth was as much as I had time for. He seemed to come out of his van when I got there, friendly, talking of his dog rescue and his sister who lived in town. Massachusetts plates, dark windows, two or three little dogs on leashes. He never seemed to leave. I didn’t let on how little I believed of what he was saying, just responded in kind, oh yes, my dog is a rescue too.

From South Carolina. I tried not to linger but didn’t want to be unfriendly either, and then one day he was gone.

Another summer a teepee appeared, rising high up out of the field near the

park entrance. Soon enough a sign: What is a teepee doing here? it said. And an explanation: A summer camp for kids. By summer’s end they’d painted the Wright Park sign in bright colors, Van Gogh–style swirls in the sky, rays of sun and dots of yellow flowers. At least I think it must have been them.

At one time in this park’s lifetime, most likely within the past twenty years or so, somebody took the time to carve and shellack a series of signs identifying different trees and other landmarks in the park. White pine, American beech, yellow birch, red cedar. There’s also a sign for beaver activity, which must at one time have pointed to a chewed-out tree, long gone. I imagined a retired man, a science teacher maybe, in his basement workshop. Someone who spent time birdwatching in these woods, or someone with a new tool and a need to use it. The signs are screwed into the trees they label. Some have fallen since their original placement and have been fixed to posts instead. This park was once beloved by someone who wanted us to be able to identify the trees.

Yet still there are the trash bags that pop up along the road like mushrooms.

An air conditioner. An ever-renewing array of fast-food wrappers and bright blue Bud cans. The barbed-wire fence along the road, falling down and rusty, protecting what from whom?

By late spring this year it had changed. Piles of gravel appeared along the trail, as if by magic. Wheelbarrows, tipped up and waiting, like dabbling ducks. Fresh boards were placed over the muddiest spots, and the earth underfoot was worn smooth, dry, and starting to crack. The park had become a popular escape for people who would normally be in an office or a school, and it had begun to feel almost suburban.

The trail crews were out in force. I never saw them; they must’ve been there weekdays while I was working inside at the computer. Evenings, I’d see the same people with their dogs — two beautiful Siberian huskies, one with a young man, one with a woman about my age. New patterns were forming. The park was going through a renaissance of sorts. New signs appeared, asking for donations. Enjoying the trail?

Contribute here!

Yet the barbed wire still hid in the brush at the edge of the road. The No ATVs sign was still shot with holes.

SPADIX AND SPATHE

Even in suburbs and cities, it’s not hard to spot an owl — particularly the fairly common saw-whet owl, so the birding blogs say. Just follow these five tips! But I’ve been scanning trees for chalky poop and peering into cedars for years, it seems, and have never seen one. Maybe I’m just better suited to wildflowers.

correct nor incorrect, so why not give this colorless Monotropa uniflora, these “Indian pipes,” a new one, one that doesn’t suggest that native people are mythical and magical beings from the past, one that won’t make my daughter cringe? Yes, let’s call them ghost bells. See them there, at the foot of that dead tree, in the shade? Ghost bells.

PERMANENT RESIDENTS

A summer camp, a place to explore, a hideout where treasures lie under stones, this park is all of those.

They hold still, and they reward the habit of looking at the ground.

And yet even some plants seem to camouflage themselves, or they blossom only briefly. You have to be there on the right day or the flower is gone. Take the jack-in-the-pulpit. Every time I go into the woods in spring I look for trillium, and I usually see them, but I’d never seen jack-in-the-pulpit. It’s such a strange flower; how could I miss it? The flower is a sturdy brown tip — Jack — popping out of a pale burgundy and green striped tube that opens out into a draping hood. Jack and his pulpit are spadix and spathe, so my book tells me, and the pictures show the blossom up close, at ground level.

It turns out that this preacher hides under a canopy of his own leaves, which are the far more obvious part of the plant, and the part most pictures leave out. The blossom itself is shortlived, eventually turning into a cluster of bright red berries. It wasn’t until last spring, after walking and scanning the ground every day, that I finally saw one, then two, then three! At last, there they were, another gift from the plant kingdom! It was as if a secret world were waving hello, briefly, before disappearing again.

When the woods are still a canvas of browns and grays, it’s easy to notice the new flowers as they bloom if you keep your eyes on the ground. In flat muddy areas that would later fill in with water or grow dense with green, I saw clusters of deep golden-yellow blooms: marsh marigold. On the trail itself, there one day and gone the next, were tiny purple airplane-shaped flowers with fringed tails, in patches of shiny green leaves: polygala. A little later, and a little

deeper in the woods, were plentiful pink flowers, hiding in shrublike green, which I could never quite identify. Wild geranium, musk mallow — they didn’t exactly match any of those. And what were those enormous green balls that looked like they may burst any moment into white flower? They were probably great angelica or sarsaparilla. I’d never seen them before, and I only saw them that once.

It’s not enough for me to see a flower, look it up, find its name — like the vocabulary of a new language, it’s lost as quickly as it’s acquired. The next time out I still know nothing. What’s worse is that sometimes more than one plant answers to the same name, and often there’s more than one name for the same plant. Some don’t seem to have names at all or seem to have combined the traits of more than one plant so as to have become unidentifiable.

A handful of wildflower names, though, are so common that I learned them when I learned to speak — dandelion, daisy, violet. Others I’ve acquired just by living here — Joe-Pye weed, burdock, and yarrow. Indian pipes. My daughter raised an eyebrow when I pointed them out in the shade.

Who named them that? They’re a strange, waxy white — stems, flower, and all. Saprophytic, they make food from dead leaves instead of the sun.

Common names are like stories, condensed and passed down, altered by time, suggesting whimsical likenesses or remedies for ailments. Another common name for the lovely hepatica, for instance, is liverleaf or liverwort, as people once thought it was good for the liver. Common names are a useful shorthand, nicknames that are neither

About a quarter of the way along the trail between the road and the falls at the other end, one of those handmade wooden signs says “Sumner Homestead Circa 1875.” The tree growth is pretty thin here, and you can imagine pastures once spread out below the trail. There’s even a scrap of an old stone foundation hiding just off the trail’s edge.

It would come as no surprise to anyone living around here that at one point, between the time of the Sumner Homestead and the current park, this piece of land was owned by Joseph Battell. He has an interesting story, for sure, but the reason we remember him is that he was here when huge swaths of land were available for a dime, and he had the money to purchase them and enough respect for the natural landscape to give them away for conservation. A whole block of the downtown is named after him, as is a trail in the town of Lincoln, a twelve-thousand-acre woodland in the Green Mountain National Forest, and a sprawling dorm at Middlebury College.

This same Joseph Battell bought the 138-acre Sumner farm and then another 6.5 acres next to it in 1907. When he died in 1916 he left this, and massive amounts of other land (notably the Bread Loaf Wilderness), to Middlebury College. The college kept Bread Loaf but sold much of the rest, including the Wright Park parcel, which was sold in 1917 for agricultural use to Erwin Piper, who sold it to Nichols, who sold it to the Bergevins, and so on, until the early 1980s when the land was donated to the town of Middlebury. “The Board of Selectmen at the time of the donation questioned the purpose and usefulness of this donation; however, the donation was still made to the town,” notes the Middlebury Area Land Trust website.

According to the agreement, the town can’t build on it, can’t even turn it into a proper recreational park with a baseball diamond and basketball court.

There’s a lot of land like this in Vermont, part of the plan established back in the 1960s to attract tourists, to preserve the state as a place apart from the hustle.

But indeed, what is its usefulness, and for whom?

It’s useful for the homeless who camp here, near the railroad tracks; the college students who come here for

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 31

trail runs; the drug dealers who need a private place to make their sales; the people needing to get out of their homes during the COVID quarantine; schoolchildren on nature field trips; the Audubon Society and their Saturday morning bird walks; the high school cross-country team; the Siberian huskies; the chihuahua rescuer; and me.

We may not fit tidily into the healthful vision of Vermont sold to tourists or even to the ethos of the nature preserve, but we’re here. And so are the rabbits and snakes and salamanders.

Who, who, who does this land belong to now?

They say there are owls living here, not that I’ve ever seen them.

There are also rabbits and squirrels, snakes and toads, which I have seen.

Squatters’ rights supersede land deeds. If you can live there, it’s yours.

So it’s their land. It doesn’t belong to the town, it doesn’t belong to “you and me” like Woody Guthrie said, it belongs to the owls, to jack-in-the-pulpit, to the mosquitoes and black flies, the marsh marigolds, and the mallows.

It doesn’t matter that the park is ascribed with a name: Wright.

Who, who, who is that?

It doesn’t really matter who Wright is or was. I’ll try not to find out, and instead pay mind to the trees, the flowers, the dirt, the river, and the ghost bells nourished by decay.

We may not fit tidily into the healthful vision of Vermont sold to tourists or even to the ethos of the nature preserve, but we're here. And so are the rabbits and snakes and salamanders. Who, who, who does this land belong to now? ”

WILD COLUMBINE

By the end of May, I started running instead of walking on the trail. That way I could get all the way to the bridge over the falls at the other end, burn up more bad energy, and fit it all into a lunch break. I’d put in the earbuds and run, barely looking at the woods at all.

The rocks and roots had become just a series of obstacles.

Until I saw a tiny splash of red, just where the trail opened up to the sun at the far end. It was the astonishingly intricate blooms of red columbine.

They stood there, as if to say, why have you stopped paying attention? Is your interest in this place here really that superficial?

And in case I missed them the first time, there were even more where the trees gave way to the gravel staging ground of the hydroelectric station, the spot where I usually turned around.

They didn’t seem to belong there, among gravel and chain link. They were too lovely for this place, with their outer ring of red petals, like blownglass droplets, their inner ring of fine yellow curves, thin as tissue but firm as ribbon candy. I had to stop and look, to just breathe for a minute. Why such a hurry, why was I always so insistent on keeping to a schedule — work, lunch break, exercise, and work again? I love

32 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

Graffiti marks memories, as the park does. Wright Park was given by Willard Jackson in 1982, in honor of his Middlebury College classmate, Charles Wright.

my work, it’s important to me, but so is the world outside of it.

They’re the kind of flower that suggests a whole universe in miniature.

And how easy it would have been to miss them! If we were in France, a friend once said, we’d be taking photographs.

I had my excuses, though, for not bothering with it all — the flowers, the beauty, the life that goes on in the park even as I’d stopped noticing it. The heat as May turned to June was not conducive to contemplating the delicacy and strength of wild columbine. It was the heat of long-roiling racial protest, of the global climate emergency, of human hatred, violence, suffocation, and death.

Everything seemed to be happening elsewhere and yet could be felt — and even seen with just a glance at any screen — all the way out here. The summer was convulsive.

But the columbine don’t care. They don’t even care that their name — What name? We don’t answer to any name — has been coopted, for a whole generation, by the name of a high school in Colorado where a couple of boys shot and killed 15 people, including themselves.

TRAVELING IN

I never felt I came to the park often enough over the many years I’ve lived nearby — in fact I’m still able to get lost sometimes if I go off the main path.

Even so, moments of my life have been inscribed here, so that a walk in the park can also feel like paging through a diary.

There’s a broken-down picnic table near the river, now barely more than a pile of loose boards, almost entirely absorbed by prolific green. When I come upon it, I remember my baby daughter in my husband’s lap. My family of three on a rare day outside in the sun. When I reach the open meadow, I see her with the fifth-graders on a school field trip for an insect hunt. They found a praying mantis here, and everyone crowded around to look. Except one boy. He marched ahead, flipping the flat stones off the path where they’d been laid to protect against erosion.

When I pick my way up a steep, uneven section of the path, I remember wanting so much to share this place with my sister—how she’d love it! And how when one day I finally did, we spent the whole time talking, not looking at all.

When the trees rustle along the road at dusk, I remember the time I heard the coyotes and picked up my pace.

There was a thrill there, a recognition that my life ran parallel to the wild.

I remember one bad winter kicking snow from a footbridge in rage, and watching it dissolve into the dark water — the same bridge where I saw the marsh marigolds this summer, and then later the rare cardinal flower, a bright red spike.

And sometimes when I get all the way to the hydroelectric station, just below the Arnold Bridge, I’m just here, just now. Up above the rushing water and looking down into the loud, smashing current. How lucky is that?

How lucky am I? Still, to see the same road, the same trail, the same rocks over and over again — sometimes, oh, how dull that seems. I want to go to Morocco!

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page,” said St. Augustine.

Where mobility and world travel are tied to ambition — you follow a career, follow the money, follow your dreams

The 16-mile Trail Around Middlebury passes through Wright Park, which has a 4-mile loop. Each fall, the TAM is the site of a race where you can run all 16 miles around the town or do it as a relay.

— to stay can feel like a kind of failure.

I rarely travel, but I’ve always been susceptible to the idea that what really matters is happening somewhere else.

And will I really live here the rest of my life, in a dirty, vinyl-sided house, a half mile from a scruffy park? How dare I even imagine I’ll have that, with Covid and cancer lurking everywhere?

But “one cannot read a book; one can only reread it,” said Nabokov.

I don’t want to be the one gaping at the architecture in a beautiful new city anyway. I want to be the construction worker on a ladder calling down to the waiter in the café. I want to be integrated, to be part of a place, to have that place, this park even, be part of me.

Wendell Berry says of his own farm in Kentucky, “the place and the history, for me, have been inseparable, and there is the sense that my own life is inseparable from the history and the place.” He was born and lived most of his life in the same place, whereas I only moved here in my thirties. Still, after all this time, maybe I’m beginning to belong here — traveling in rather than traveling out.

Besides, Augustine never really said that about “reading just one page.” As one

online investigator of “fauxtations” pointed out, he wasn’t all that well traveled himself.

What he really wrote was more like “Our great book is the entire world; What I read as promised in the book of God I read fulfilled in the world.”

DEEDS AND DONATIONS

Every state park in Vermont seems to have a story like Wright Park’s, of deeds and purchases and donations, and these lineages are dutifully described on every state park’s web page, commemorating that brief moment in the history of European occupation and settlement of the Northeast when certain men bought lots of land and then were considered philanthropic when they gave it away for conservation. But talk of permanent ownership — that’s just wishful thinking. Permanently set aside for conservation, the documents say, but it’s only as permanent as the laws that bind us, the fragility of which is written in every history book.

For the approximately 8,000 years of human habitation in Vermont prior to the arrival of Europeans — yes, 8,000 — there is little or no record of what happened here, and there are certainly no deeds of sale. The Abenaki did not

necessarily have dwellings on the land that is now Wright Park, or even use it for hunting or anything else before they were nearly wiped out by the Europeans.

But also, maybe they did.

The top layer of history, the past few hundred years with its deeds and names, is so brief it could be scraped off in no time. Beneath it, we don’t know.

The real, long history of this place goes even further back, to the beginning of this landform as we know it, about 12,000 years ago when the glaciers drew back from the land and various species, including humans, eventually moved in.

The rock ledge I pass in every kind of weather has seen it all but is silent on the matter. It was here before Sumner, before Battell, before Wright, whoever that is. It was seen by all the animals, all the people, everyone who passed by. Is the history of the Abenaki still present on this little plot of land too?

It is nowhere written, but can you feel it? Is there any way to access that past, beyond the written record?

I had a friend who said she could hear the voices of the people who’d passed by the lake before her, not words, but human sounds of joy and

pain, of the transactions of every day.

I try to listen, but I hear no voices. Of course I don’t hear them. How crazy is that? And yet I don’t disbelieve her.

RUNNING INTO JOY

Some days I just could not move from my screen. I did not have the energy for the park, or to listen to all that quiet.

Some days I didn’t go outside at all and regretted it. Other days I compromised by putting in earbuds and listening to news podcasts. But one day I discovered that if I put on music, and ran instead of walked, stepping lightly over rocks and roots, huffing up the inclines, my whole being — my fraught relation to myself and to the present state of things — would change.

The music had to be just the right mix of familiar and new. When I would put on that playlist and begin to run, the combination of music and movement conjured up something from the deep — the anticipation or hopefulness or loss I’d felt the first time that song entered my life, piled up with the many times I’d listened afterwards, and now with this day, this park, this run. If I could push my body past thinking and worrying, and breathe deeply enough,

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 33

“One day I discovered

that if I put on music and ran instead of walked, stepping lightly over rocks and roots, huffing up the inclines, my whole being—my fraught relation to myself and the present —would change. ”

Puddles fill the gullies come spring, perfect splashing for kids. For anglers and whitewater paddlers, the Otter Creek cuts through Wright Park, forming a deep gorge that spils out to a pond.

and at the same time listen to music, there it was: ecstasy!

Sunlight can most reliably evoke that feeling of pure joy, moving in any number of ways across a landscape, across the ground at my feet, dappling over water. But it can happen in the cold and rain too, with cool skin and darkened ground. It always comes as a surprise, and always it feels like some kind of blessing, a state of pure poignancy I want never to end.

In that state, the entire world feels like a gift so abundant I could never want anything more. I bound over the boards of a small bridge, so grateful that they hold, that someone has repaired it year after year. And when I run along a flat stretch of meadow, with the waving and tossing of hundreds of seedheads, I am in awe of my own feet, with their hundreds of bones, landing just right every time.

Joy, the leavener, the motivator, the sharpened spade that loosens the soil, letting air and water in. Undeserved, but there it is.

Blake said that energy is an eternal delight, and I believe this is what he meant: this energy, this joyful desiring, gone as quickly as it comes and yet eternal.

And Rilke: “Look, I am alive . . .

Overabundant being / wells up in my heart.”

34 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

By July it was green, green, green out there. The wildflowers no longer surprised the way they did in the spring against all that brown, but deep into summer they kept coming anyway: Queen Anne’s lace and Japanese knotweed, daisy fleabane, yarrow, moneywort, crown vetch, thistle, milkweed, musk mallow, wild geranium, campion, black-eyed susan, red clover, wild basil, flowering rush, thistle and common nightshade, selfheal, chicory. I continued to learn their names, even though none was quite so arresting as the first trout lily or the later columbine. So many of them were just variations on dandelions and Queen Anne’s lace — prolific enough to go unnoticed. Midsummer wildflowers reach a kind of stasis.

If I took the time to go beyond the two-mile stretch of Wright Park — to the other side of the Arnold Bridge rather than just crossing and turning around — the views were completely different. Same river, but different life.

Just across that bridge, one more mile, and suddenly I saw wild forget-menots blossoming in the sunlight. A flock of mergansers sunning on the rocks and playing in the current. A meadow dotted with red clover.

There was one whole week I didn’t go to Wright Park at all. I was gone for ten days, and when I came back: jewelweed — everywhere!

Little orange blossoms that burst when you touch them, scattering their seed. A feast for hummingbirds, but only for a day or two. I was so relieved that I did not miss this hummingbird moment, this brief wash of orange on the roadside, the creekside, beneath the bridges, and even behind the barbedwire fence.

I almost felt guilty. I should not have stayed away so long. To think I nearly missed this!

PRODUCTIVITY

A human life is small and short. And yet my own is the first thing and the last thing, every day, to me, to each of us maybe, our main preoccupying concern. What is my life, what will it become, what have I settled for, what do I still have to hope for? Some days all I want is to do little harm and find some joy, and maybe if I’m really lucky, determined, and big-hearted about it all, to do some good. Inch the needle forward. But first, do no harm. For a twenty-first-century human, it’s hard not to get stuck at that level.

In October 2020 The New York Times reported that 2.5 million years of potential human life in the United States had already been lost to Covid-19.

I couldn’t help but think of how this was, at the broader and abstracted view, a good thing. The less time humans, especially Americans, spend

on this planet the better. Some human civilizations may have contributed to, or at least done no harm to, the health of the planet, but I don’t think at this point we can hope for that. The temptations for more and faster and easier and shinier — they’re too great and we’re too far gone, have ruined too much.

Richard Powers’s novel The Overstory is 500 pages long and full of wonder, but the moment that keeps coming back to me is when the designer of a wildly popular and addictive video game is asked, “Does it bother you, to be such a destroyer of productivity?”

And the designer looks out his window to a mountain stripped by mining and says, “It might not be so bad, to destroy a little productivity.”

Economists and actuaries place the value of a human life at about 3 million dollars apiece — or 1.1 million, depending. It’s not an easy calculation, but always it’s a positive number.

Considering how much destruction a human life causes, it seems that its worth should be calculated as a cost, not an asset, on the world’s economic balance sheet.

Even so, taken up close, those 2.5 million years lost represent at least 2.5 million tragedies, each of which could break my heart. Because, in spite of it all, it’s with human beings that I’ve formed my deepest connections, and it’s through human creations — art,

music, literature, laughter, celebrations — that I’ve formed my deepest sense of meaning. I don’t see any way around that. Self-hatred, repulsion at one’s human self, is the logical conclusion to any widescale observation of what humanity has wrought — and never more so, perhaps, than this summer.

And yet, what wouldn’t I do to save a human life, right in front of me? What cost is too much? At close range, it becomes utterly incalculable.

MY HEROES

If all humans were more like John Lewis, the politician and civil rights activist who died on July 17, 2020, then maybe I wouldn’t take such a grim view of these numbers.

Yes, John Lewis found the right way to live. He had a purpose, his presence here on Earth was justified. Listening to a podcast about his belief in the Beloved Community, jogging along my usual path, I imagined being good as John Lewis was good. Imagined standing in the way of violence, setting myself up to be bludgeoned by a mob, the way he did, all the while holding the image in mind of these murderous armed men as innocent babies. Could I do it? Nonviolence like that, when it has righteousness on its side, is an act of bravery more powerful than anything that comes in its path.

Then two huge birds lifted off a tree.

Yes, on Monday, August 3, 2020, 6:15 p.m. while I was running and thinking about John Lewis, two barred owls flew across the path right in front of me.

So large I thought maybe they were turkeys. They settled on the branches above, large, staring at me.

They were like monkeys, perched up there in a dead treetop, moving their heads around in gravity-defying ways, up and down and around, even face-up to the sky. Their faces looked flat from the side, as if their profiles were cut off.

Their bodies were covered in brown and white feathers. They flew across the path again and settled in the bare branches of another tree and watched me some more. I stopped and watched them back.

They were intimidating. Owls like this have wingspans of three to four feet. They eat baby bunnies. They seemed to be staring at me with their amazing, predatory vision. They could probably see the sweat on my face, though hopefully could tell from my eyes that I intended no harm.

I plucked out the earbuds and watched and listened, afraid I’d scare them away. They made some little chirpy sounds. After a while it felt rude to be staring the way I was, so I took a few steps away and watched from a greater distance while they twisted

their heads around and flapped their enormous wings.

Once I finally turned and walked away, I heard them hooting. Who who who cooks for you?

Just like the books said they would.

I’d never seen a barred owl before.

I’d heard of other people seeing them around here and had been jealous and a little miffed by their refusal to show up in my life. But there they were. I was startled and overwhelmed and, frankly, just so pleased, as if I’d finally been deemed worthy of their presence.

Birds are not good or bad. There’s no morality in their world. They eat tiny furry animals, snatch them off the ground midflight, and yet as a species they do no harm. They’ve shaved no mountaintops, poisoned no rivers.

Maybe it’s time to let the owls inherit the Earth. No tears need to be shed over the loss of a single baby mouse, or even 2.5 million mouse years. What value do the actuaries place on their lives? Yes, let them inherit the Earth. The mice, the owls, and the trees.

THE MAKER OF SIGNS

As I moved through the park all summer, I kept thinking about those old wooden signs along the way and wondering who made them, who maintained them, repositioning them as the trees fell or the beavers moved on. Who tended to these things while I wasn’t looking?

It’s not hard to get information.

Sometimes it’s harder to resist it, to keep things in the realm of imagination.

But I wanted to know, so I sent an email to the organization that does the trail maintenance and just hours later I got my answer.

I had it all wrong. It wasn’t an old guy in his basement workshop who made those signs. They were made by a college student named Kate on a borrowed router. The router was loaned to her by the man who was her workstudy supervisor for all four years she spent in college working on the trail — and who was the person who emailed me back.

It was about 20 years ago, so I had that part right, but I missed the most important part: this park is not just a scruffy woodland that the town sees as a dubious asset. It’s not a nowhere place that I happen to love. It has been loved and labored over for decades, by many, and in large part by this one man, John Derick, who not only loaned his router to Kate but spent years negotiating agreements for rights of way to connect Wright Park to the next farmer’s field, and so on, until it formed a 16-mile network of trails all around the town, the Trail Around Middlebury (TAM.) Not only that, but he’s been maintaining these trails with his own hands almost

daily. A former plant manager for the Shoreham phone company, he has a lot of know-how with machines and wires and engineering and knows a lot of people.

As for Kate, she now works in a bird sanctuary in Montana. She made these signs, her onetime supervisor said, inspired by the Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

There’s a story to everything. My park, my lovely little Nowheresville park, is not just a single book, opening more each time it is read. It is more like a whole library, with volumes that can only be taken down and read one at a time.

CATALOGUE

I’d come to love my pocket-size wildflower book, with its clear protective cover and smell of vinyl and ink, its simple organization, its promise of beauty and knowledge. I’d be more likely to find what I was looking for on the internet, but the book brought more pleasure. Looking through its pages, I felt the way I did as a kid poring over catalogues for LEGO, and later for the clothing brand Esprit, each page imprinting itself on my mind as a kind of wish.

I also felt like I’d never see some of the flowers in that book — too showy, too rare — the way I knew I’d never acquire the fanciest LEGO sets or the easy, worldly stylishness of those teenagers in their sweaters. Purple gentian, butter and eggs, great angelica, rose pogonia, pink lady slipper, Dutchman’s breeches.

Seeing them first in the book made their appearance in real life all the sweeter. As sweet as the turtleheads, which I spotted at the edge of a wetland in late summer, when the weather was cooling and running got easier.

These late-season, moisture-loving snapdragon-like flowers cluster around streambeds. Their flowerheads could be said to have an overbite, a shy demeanor, and yes, I can see it, it’s a bit of a stretch, but in a way they really are like turtles’ heads.

As August passed into September, most of the flowers had finished blooming, their stalks and leaves blending now into the background or transformed into berries. But first the New England asters would have their day. Aster blossoms are nearly the opposite of the turtleheads — bright and long-lasting, they paint whole meadows with shades of purple.They’re not showy as individuals; their beauty works more like a brushstroke across a backdrop, or the dabs from an impressionist’s paintbrush, offering a surprising contrast to the faded greens of the fields and forest in swaths of varying shades of lavender, dark purple, even magenta.

When I saw them this year it was as if my whole body bent to their beauty.

They brought the bittersweet message that summer was nearly over, and at the same time were a reminder of the first time I really noticed them. It was just a couple years ago, but it was one of those rare times when inner and outer weather colluded to make me feel as if made of pure light. A powerful feeling of being, in that moment, truly myself. Seeing them this year brought aesthetic pleasure, of course, but more than that too. Each subsequent year the reflection, or even embodiment, of that earlier feeling may be a little fainter, but it lingers, breathing something more into the moment.

So when I saw them out walking this fall, on a dull, exhausted day, back and neck bent from too much time at a desk, worry over election season and unthinkable but possibly imminent futures, they reminded me of another self and another time, as the trillium do, but at closer range and in more abundance.

“It was odd, she thought, how if one was alone, one leant to inanimate things; trees, streams, flowers; felt they expressed one; felt they became one; felt they knew one, in a sense were one; felt an irrational tenderness thus . . . as for oneself.”

Yes, Virginia Woolf seems to have understood exactly.

FOLIAGE

By the time the asters have faded, the famous foliage has too. There’s just a brief flash of red and gold — it’s the trees’ time now — before the park goes dormant until next spring. I’m terrified of the future, can barely imagine another year following this one, but at least I know that, whether I’m here or not, next spring the wildflowers will find a way to come back. I’ll go to the park in winter when it’s bleak and without light. I’ll go when it’s bright and covered in snow. And next spring the flowers will come out from under the faded, flattened leaves. First the trillium and trout lily. Next, maybe something I’ve never seen before.

This land between the river and the railroad — 150 acres of it — will keep opening like a book. Haunted, beautiful, always changing. This is my park, the one I’ve ended up with, the one I know best, and some days that’s enough.

Carolyn Kuebler is the editor of The New England Review and lives in Middlebury, Vt. This essay originally appeared as “Wildlfower Season” in the Massachusetts Review and was the winner of the John Burroughs Nature Essay Award for 2021.

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 35

Podiatry Care at Mansfield Orthopaedics When your feet hurt, you are not functioning at your best.

Our Podiatry Specialists work closely with the team at Mansfield Orthopaedics to help you.

Ciara Hollister, DPM Kevin McNamara, DPM Services include treatment for corns, bunions, hammertoes and nail disorders as well as care for: • Diabetic Foot Ulcers and Infections • Sports Injury/Trauma • Peripheral Vascular Disease And more….

To schedule an appointment call 802-888-8405. www.mansfieldorthopaedics.com 36 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

FOR MOM, FROM VERMONT

GEAR

WOMEN, THESE COMPANIES HAVE YOU COVERED.

Darn Tough's Utralight Sockc

Kaden Apparel's Primo Maternity short

Terry 's Liberty Jersey Orvis' Ultralight Convertible Waders

Finn Utility's Essex Sidebag

M

other's Day is coming up.

But you don't need that excuse to buy your mom, your partner (or yourself) something that inspires them to get outside. Here are five ideas from Vermont brands.

ULTRALIGHT RUNNING SOCKS

I go through phases with running socks. For trail running, I want padding and a sock that comes up high enough to offer some protection. But for road running? Especially as temperatures warm up? Give me something as low and thin as possible. But not so thin that you feel like you’re putting on a stocking. Enter Darn Tough’s Run No Show Tab Ultra Light Running Socks ($16). Yes, this one’s for women but they also come in men’s sizes and colors. Made here in Northfield, Vermont from moisture-wicking, odor-eating Merino wool, this sock is still cool enough to keep your feet from overheating. It comes with the

Darn Tough guarantee so you know it’s strong and what we like best is the option to order it with or without cushioning.

A MATERNITY BIKE SHORT

This spring Burlington-based Kaden Apparel launched the brand’s first, Chamois Shorts - Primo Maternity ($107.99). “We designed the shorts to change the industry's perception on cycling apparel for women, by helping women ride their bikes in comfort throughout all phases of their lives, whether they're pregnant, postpartum, or just wanting a little extra room to breathe in the belly area,” says owner Chelsea Camarata, herself a kick-ass mountain biker. The best part is these shorts are versatile. There’s a tall belly band that offers support and can be rolled down when height is no long needed and smooth leg bands that don’t constrict. Designed for all types of riding, they have a handy side pock-

et with a top-flap closure for phones, keys or a snack.

CONVERTIBLE WADERS

Versatility is the name of the game for these women’s Ultralight Convertible Waders ($398) from Orvis, the fly-fishing and outdoor gear company based out of southern Vermont. Undo the Fidlock magnetic snaps and you can adjust whether they go waist-high or chest-high. They have anatomical neoprene booties and a gravel guard.

Designed for a women’s frame, they come with 1.5 inch stretch belt and have gusseted crotch so you won’t split them when jumping from rock to rock across a stream. They also come in a huge size range: from XS Petite to XXL Tall. Don’t worry guys, there’s a men’s version too.

A TIMELESS SIDEBAG

There is something so beautiful and timeless in this Finn Utility’s Essex Sidebag ($265) that it’s tempting to

use it for more than fishing. Made in Richmond with heavy-duty waxed twill and waxed canvas, detailed with English bridle leather and brass hardware, it’s something we’d carry anywhere.

But this 9-inch by 11-inch bag comes with a tippet sling, fly holder and fly dry patch. It also has a rod holder, adjustable straps and two easily-access external pockets

A LOOSER JERSEY

If stretchy tight bike jerseys aren’t for you and you are just as happy touring gravel than screaming down a paved road, Terry’s Liberty Bike Jersey ($79.95) may be the answer. Terry was the first bike company to design specifically for women. Based in Burlington, it still caters to the women’s market. The Liberty’s looser fit, side panels with pocket on the right and reflective paneling on the left, make it a great choice for someone who’s getting into gravel touring.

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 37

IKE SHOPS

3 3

16

14 12 15 21

6

19 22

26 18

23 13

1

99 Bonnet St., Manchester Ctr, VT 802-362-2734 | battenkillbicycles. com Manchester, Vermont's bicycle shop since 1972, Battenkill Bicycles is a Trek and Specialized Bicycle dealer offering advice and sales to meet all your cycling needs. The service department offers tune-ups and repairs for all brands of bikes. Come to the shop to rent a bike or get information about local group rides or advice on where to ride your bike in the Northshire. Battenkill Bicycles is the number one e-bike seller in Southern Vermont and is an authorized Bosch e-bike systems service center.

2

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.

3

BOOTLEGGER BIKES

60 Main Street Jeffersonville, VT 802-644-8370 | bootleggerbikes.com 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 ththe Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Bikes are a passion here.

38 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

4

11

BRADLEY’S PRO SHOP SKI & SPORT

13 17

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 so be sure to bring your ride in. As always: THINK DIRT

5

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.

6

EARL’S CYCLERY & FITNESS

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 you need a flat tire fix or a suspension rebuild, the service staff is ready to help. Estimates are always free! Stop by our new location at 2069 Williston Rd, South Burlington, or call us.

9

10

9

BATTENKILL BICYCLES

25

20

AROUND THE REGION

advertising section

7

5

24 24

1 4 8

2

7

27

EAST BURKE SPORTS

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 full-service 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.

EQUIPE SPORT

8749 VT RT 30, Rawonville, VT 802-297-2846 equipesport.com Serving the Stratton, Rawsonvilel and West Dover areas. Three shops wtih sales, service and rentals. Sales of hybrid, mountain, kids and e-bikes. Service for all bikes. Rental for mountain bikes and hybrids. Hours: 9 - 6 every day.

FROG HOLLOW

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. Hours: Mon. - Sat. 9:30 - 5:30, Sun. 11 – 4.

10

2

439 Route 114 East Burke VT 802-626-3215 eastburkesports.com

8

9

THE GEAR HOUSE

16 Pleasant St., Randolph 802-565-8139 gearhouse.com fenergy and excitement to the state's cycling scene. Located in the center of Vermont, we offer Rocky Mountain, Bianchi, Yamaha e-bikes, a rotating inventory of consigned bikes and gear, and a full service repair shop.

Randolph has newly revived mtb trails that combine classic old-school singletrack with machine built zones. Start the 12/12a loop from the shop for 38 miles of well maintained road miles, or map out a day ride entirely on the gravel.

The shop is also home to RASTA's outdoor trail hub which features topographical and printed maps. Stop by the shop and plan your next adventure!

11

GREEN GREENMOUNTAIN MOUNTAIN BIKES BIKES

105 N. Main St. Rochester VT 800-767-7882 | greenmountainbikes.com

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.

12

HANOVER ADVENTURE TOURS

713 US 5 N., Norwich, VT | 802-359-2921 hanoveradventuretours.com

More than a full-service bike store, we are a full-service adventure center. With an expertise in electric bicycles, we live and breathe outdoor exploration through our offering of e-bike rentals, sales, and tours including doorstep delivery and a full-service shop (all bikes welcome). Over 100 electric bicycle rentals, demos, and tours available for individuals and large groups, short and long-term.

13

HIGH PEAKS CYCLERY

2733 Main St., Lake Placid, NY 518-523-3764 | highpeaks cyclery.com The Adirondacks' source for bicycling and outdoor gear and adventures since 1983.

Sales, service, rentals, cemos, tours, base camp lodging and dirt camps. Bikes by Scott, Yeti, Giant, Liv, Salsa and BMC. Gravel, road, mountain, fat and e-Bikes. Monday Sunday: 9AM - 5PM

14

HITCHHIKER

394 Mountain Road Ste. 6, Stowe, VT | 802-585-3344 hitchhikerbikes.com

We are Stowe’s premier mountain and gravel bike shop. At our convenient location near the Cady Hill trails and the Stowe Rec Path you’ll find bikes from Rocky Mountain, Cervelo, Otso Cycles, Chromag, Forbidden, Why Cycles, State, Gazelle E-bikes and more. We also offer a vast assortment of parts, clothing, and accessories. We service all types of bikes and strive to offer the best and most timely service around. Come check out the shop next time you’re in town

15

MOUNTAINOPS

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

We offer bike sales along with fast, friendly service. Dealers of Niner, Scott, Devinci and Jamis, we carry a large assortment of mountain and gravel bikes including a 60 bike Demo Fleet. Our techs have years of experience and our local trail knowledge is second to none. Our converted 1893 barnturned-bike-shop houses a huge selection of bike and lifestyle clothing along with parts and accessories. Looking for a more mellow ride? Rent one of our cruisers for a trip down the legendary Stowe Rec Path right from our parking lot!

16

OLD SPOKES HOME

20

POWERPLAY SPORTS

331 North Winooski Ave., Burlington, VT 802-863-4475 | oldspokeshome.com

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

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 Rail Trail just 200 yards down the road.

17

OMER & BOB’S

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

Offering mountain bikes, gravel and road bikes, hybrid bikes, e-bikes, and kids bikes from Specialized, Trek, and Electra.

Featuring a full service department, bike fitting, mountain and e-bike demos, and a kids trade-in, trade-up program. Hours: Mon.-Friday, 9am-5:30pm, Sat., 9am-5pm

18

ONION RIVER OUTDOORS

20 Langdon St. Montpelier, VT 802-225-6736 | onionriver.com 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, Pearl Izumi and more.

19

OUTDOOR GEAR 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.

21

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 bike shop, tap room, and eatery where you’ll find hand-crafted food and unique culinary creations. Featuring sales and demo bikes from Ibis, Yeti, Evil, Revel, Norco & Specialized. Looking for top of the line mountain bikes and components?

Got ‘em. How about microbrews from New England’s finest purveyors of craft libations?

You bet. And if you need a thoughtfully crafted meal to power up or wind down before or after a ride, Ranch Camp has you covered. Best of all Ranch Camp is situated trailside, at the base of Stowe’s iconic Cady Hill Forest, home to some of the best riding in the northeast.

22

SKIRACK

85 Main St. Burlington 802-658-3313 skirack.com Locally owned and operated since 1969, Skirack provides the best selection of outdoor gear for running, downhill & cross country skiing and snowboarding. We specialize in all things bike and e-bike: service, rentals, car racks, expert fitting and knowledge. Head to Skirack.com for updated hours and more information.

23

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.

24

TYGART

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

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 in-house suspension service, wheel building, and full bike build-outs.

25

VILLAGE SPORT SHOP

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

Established in 1978, we are a family-owned, passion-driven 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!

26

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!

27

WEST HILL SHOP

49 Brickyard Lane, Putney, VT 802-387-5718 westhillshop.com

Right off I-91 exit northbound! We're pleased to welcome Specialized as the cornerstone of our broad range of trail, gravel, road and e-bikes.

Bikes from Banshee, Cannondale, Devinci, Evil, Transition, Salsa, and Mondraker too. Plus, a curated selection of garments from Patagonia, POC and Specialized. Our service department is widely recognized as one of the best in the region, and our goal is to keep turn-around time to a week or less, and to offer Friday and Saturday walk-in service starting in June. We did it last year, and we've invested in more help. Ask for David to discuss custom wheel builds and suspension service and tuning. Most important, hit us to go for a ride!

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 39

We're Back...

Vermont Corporate Cup Challenge & State Agency Race 39th

Presented by Union Mutual

RUN OR WALK 5/19/22

WWW.VCCCSAR.ORG

Vermont’s “Sweetest” Half Marathon is Back!

After two years off because of the pandemic (2020 and 2021), central Vermont's sweetest half marathon is back on!

But... We're changing the date from the spring to fall.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR

Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 Capped at 750 runner, so, don’t delay, register today!

MIDDLEBURYMAPLERUN.COM 40 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022 2022

VERMONT

SPORTS LISTING YOUR EVENT IN THIS CALENDAR IS FREE AND EASY. VISIT VTSPORTS.COM/SUBMIT-AN-EVENT OR E-MAIL EDITOR@VTSPORTS. COM. ALL AREA CODES ARE 802.

ALL LOCATIONS ARE IN VERMONT, UNLESS NOTED. FEATURED EVENTS, IN YELLOW, PAY A NOMINAL FEE. NOTE THAT COVID-19 MAY IMPACT EVENTS AND DATES SO PLEASE CHECK DIRECTLY WITH ORGANIZERS FOR UPDATES.

RUNNING/HIKING MAY 1 | Run for Jim 5K, St. Albans The Run for Jim Memorial Fund was established in memory of Jimmy Bashaw who died at the age of 45 from brain cancer.

Proceeds of this event aid residents of Franklin and Grand Isle counties with expenses related to catastrophic illnesses and are distributed through the Jim Bashaw Memorial Fund at the Northwestern Medical Center. stalbansvt.myrec. com/info/activities/program_details. aspx?ProgramID=29988 7 | Shelburne 5K/10K/Half-Marathon, Shelburne Run past the Shelburne Museum, Meach Cove, vineyards, and orchard, and through gorgeous countryside before heading back. Almost entirely on quiet back country roads. Racevermont.com 7 | Tulip Trot 5K, Brattleboro Green Street School hosts its free 10th annual 5K and Sprout Sprint 1/2 K. tuliptrot5k.com 7 | Spring into Health 5K, Townshend Grace Cottage Hospital puts on its timed 5K, starting at 8:30. gracecottage.org 8 | Adamant Half Marathon and Relay, Adamant This scenic figure eight course runs past the hills and ponds of Calais and East Montpelier. Part of the Central Vermont Runners race series. cvrunners.org 13| Leprechaun Dash 5K/10K, Shelburne Race to the pot of gold! Each of our first place overall finishers (all 4 of them), plus one lucky post-race raffle winner will each receive free entries for the 2022 RaceVermont series. racevermont.com

RACE & EVENT GUIDE 15 | Vermont Sun Half Marathon, 10K & 5K, Lake Dunmore Starts and finishes at Branbury State Park on Lake Dunmore, a spectacularly beautiful and pristine place to run. Amenities include digital photos, post race food and music, aid stations every 1.5 miles, awards to top 5 overall, top 3 in every 5 year age group, tech shirts, massage, finishers medals and more. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com 15 | Maple Leaf Marathon, Lake Morey Run eight laps of a 3.3-mile course for a full marathon or four laps for a half marathon in this Boston Marathon USATF qualifier at beautiful Lake Morey. newenglandchallenge.org/maple-leafmarathon 16 | Goshen Gallop, Ripton Come run the trails at Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center in the 44th running of this 5K or 10.2K race that starts at 4 pm. goshengallop 19 | 39th Annual Vermont Corporate Cup, Montpelier Bring your team and run the streets of the capital. The Vermont Corporate Cup Challenge and State Agency Race is a 5K team running/walking event open to businesses, government and non-profit organizations in Vermont. It promotes physical fitness within the workplace and at home by bringing employees together to enjoy and experience the benefits of fitness. .vcccsar.org 19-29 | Infinitus Trail Races, Ripton Infinitus moves to Silver Towers Camp in Ripton this year. Start dates vary for this 8-mile, marathon, 88k, 100 Mile, 250 Mile, Penta, Deca, 888K relay, and 888k races held on the trails with the shortest races (8 miles to 88K) being held on Saturday, and longer races starting earlier that week.

Endurancesociety.org 21 | Kingdom Games Dandelion Run, Derby Choose between a half marathon, a 10K, a four-mile, a two mile, or a one-mile run or walk through the dandelion fields and the hilly but beautiful Northeast Kingdom. kingdomgames.co 21 | Black Fly Run or Ride, Westmore Run or ride your way around the NEK/ Routes range from 5K to a half marathon with Under 18 categories too. Camping Friday and Saturday are included with event registration as is a post-race meal. runreg. com/black-fly-ramble 21 | Barre Town Spring Run 5K, Barre Central Vermont Runners hosts this race from Barre Town Recreation. cvrunners.org

22 | Race Around the Lake, Barnard Walk or run a 5K or run a 10K around Silver Lake. The course is on wooded trails, back roads and footpaths with views of the Silver Lake. barnarts.org 29 | Vermont City Marathon, Half Marathon & Relay, Burlington Run the streets of Burlington and out the bike path to return with views of Lake Champlain.

Half marathon and relay options, too. runvermont.com

JUNE 1 | Saints Shuffle 5K & Kids' K, Millstone Trails, Websterville This evening event, presented by Midstate, features a spectator friendly 1k kids fun run and a wooded 5k trail run/walk passing scenic and historic granite quarries. Afterrace celebration includes grilled hot dogs (or veggie option) and a raffle. All runners 14 and under receive a medal; everyone who registers by May 13 gets a souvenir t-shirt. Proceeds benefit St. Monica - St. Michael School, a preschool - grade 8 school welcoming students of all faiths. https:// runsignup.com/Race/VT/Websterville/ SaintsShuffle 5 | 30th Covered Bridges Half Marathon, Woodstock Run 13.1 miles through scenic covered bridges, starting at Suicide Six Ski Area.

Currently sold out. cbhm.com 11 | 42nd Annual Capital City Stampede, Montpelier Central Vermont Runners hosts this 10K road race out and back, half on paved roads and half on dirt. cvrunners.org 18 | 21st Annual Basin Harbor 5K & 10K A 5K and 10K at beautiful Basin Harbor – a spectacular seasonal resort on the shores of Lake Champlain.

Racevermont.com 18 | Mt. Washington Auto Road Race, Pinkham Noth, N.H. Elite runners and those who won their spots in the lottery compete on this sold-out 7.6 mile course up the Mt. Washington Auto Rd.l. mtwashington.com 19 | Solstice Trail Race, Charlotte A 5 or 10K race and a fun yet challenging trail run through fields, single track and old sugar-wood roads. gmaa.run 25 | Catamount Ultra, Stowe Run a 25K or 50K trail race on wide, hardpacked dirt trails through highland pastures and hardwood forest at Trapp Family Lodge Outdoor Center. The 50K course is two laps on the 25K course. catamountultra.com

JULY 4 | 40th Clarence DeMar 5K Race, South Hero A flat and fast 5K on paved roads of South Hero, starting at Folsom Elementary School. gmaa.run 4 | Harry Corrow Freedom Run, Derby A 10-mile, 10K, 5K, and 1 mile run and walk on the Newport-Derby Bike Path and the Memphremagog Ski Touring Foundation Trails with a July 4 celebration after.

Supporting the National Alliance on Mental Health Vermont and its suicide prevention efforts. kingdomgames.co 10 | Mad Marathon, Waitsfield A Boston Marathon qualifier, this has been dubbed one of the most beautiful marathons in the U.S. Run it as a relay of up to 5 people or as a half marathon. madmarathon.com 15-17 | Vermont 100 Endurance Race, West Windsor Featuring unrelenting rollers that add up to 17,000 feet of climbing, the VT100 trail race winds its way over country roads, through forested trails, and alongside breathtaking views of the southern Green Mountains.

Vermont100.com 30 | Moosalamoo Ultra, Goshen Run 14 or 36 miles on Blueberry Hill’s gorgeous trails in the Moosalamoo. ironwoodadventureworks.com

BIKING MAY 1 | Cranko de Mayo, Waitsfield An exhilarating tour on the dirt roads (with a touch of pavement and a little Class IV) of the beautiful Mad River Valley. Starting and finishing at the Lawson’s Finest Liquids taproom in Waitsfield. Two routes: The Solo Bien (Just Fine): 29 miles & 3,700 ft of vert and The Demasiado (Too Much): 47 miles with 6,000 ft of happy climbing. bikereg. com/cranko-de-mayo 7 | Onion River Outdoors Bike Swap, Montpelier Bring a bike by from April 30 to May 6 then show up on May 7 to find kids bikes, road bikes, full suspension and gravel bikes. onionriver.com 14-15 | 14th Annual Waterbury Gravel Grinder, Waterbury Ride (or run) 28 miles or sign up for 50 miles.. bikereg.com/14th-annualwaterbury-virtual-gravel-grinder

MAY 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 41

21 | RTF Richard's Ride, Richmond There are several road routes, a river trail adventure, a challenging gravel plan, and mountain bike options available. Also many vendors, entertainment, and information in our Velo Village. All rides start & finish at Cochran Ski Area; foods & beverages will be aplenty! Thanks to Dakin Farms, Stone Corral Brewery, Sugar Snap and other sponsors. Your earned 'recovery' beverage is included in your registration fee. You must be 21 or older to consume alcoholic beverages. bikereg.com/rtfoundation 28-30 | Killington Stage Race, Killington A 3-day road bicycle stage race scored on time with daily cash prizes and overall General Classification cash prizes. Also daily leader's jersey for each of the 6 fields— also a Sprint and King/Queen of the Mountain competion. Stage 1 is a circuit race over 38, 56, 76 miles based on category. Stage 2 is a road race of 61 or 76 miles based on category with a challenging finishing climb to the K1 Base/ Stage 3 is an 11-mile individual time trial. killingtonstagerace.com

JUNE 11 | The Moose, Derby A 103-mile "timed event" on wide open, "car hungry" roads through Moose Country in Essex and Northern Caledonia Counties. We start with our hands on the bar and finish with our hands on the bar, Mike's Tiki Bar with 30 beers on tap. It's not a sanctioned race: you have to stop at all stop signs, but, hey, there are only three during the entire ride. We encourage teams of 3 to 10 riders to compete for the Moose Wheel. The fastest three times in each team determine the winner. kingdomgames.co 12 | The Ranger, Tunbridge Ride 62, 42 or, 18 miles in this epic gravel riding celebration, with time enduro sections on a loop of dreamy hardpacked dirt roads and minimally maintained Class IV riding. therangervt.com1 8 | Bike for the Lake, North Hero The 12th annual bicycle ride through the Champlain Islands and along the Vermont and New York shores of Lake Champlain with 30, 60,80 and 100 mile options. friendsofnorthernlakechamplain.org 18 | VT Monster, Stratton A course primarily on quiet gravel roads, with plenty of climbing, flowing descents and epic vistas. Monster is best attacked with a cyclocross bike, though road, mountain or fat bikes can handle the 75 and 50 miles of challenging riding Vtmonster.com 18 | B2VT, Stratton Ride with the pack from Bedford, Mass. to the finish line at Stratton Mountain, Vermont. With two route options, enjoy the full 145 mile peddle, or the 100 miles, from Massachusetts to Vermont. Stratton.com

42 VTSPORTS.COM | MAY 2022

18 | 12th Annual Vermont Adaptive Charity Challenge, Killington This fundraising event is back in person this year. Do the Cabot bike ride of 20, 40, 60 or 100 miles; join in the Salomon hike or the Yeti paddle or try the new mountain biking and gravel routes. charityride. vermontadaptive.org 25 | 100/200, A Vermont Double Century, North Troy First ridden in 1984, the 100/200 spans Vermont, north to south, following scenic Route 100. The first 100 miles roll by fairly quickly, but the big climbs kick in during the second half of the ride, culminating in the 12-mile Mt. Snow climb. 100-200.org

JULY 8-9 | The Prouty, Hanover, N.H. This fundraiser is back and in person. Ride 20, 35, 50, 77 or 100 miles on roads in the Upper Valley, or wherever home may be.

Tackle a 70K or 100K gravel ride. Golf 18 holes, walk 3k to 10k, or even row 5-15 miles. dhmc.convio.net 23 | Maxxis Eastern States Cup, Sugarbush Come try your hand at downhill racing along with the best in the East. Compete in Downhill, Enduro and Kask showdown.

Camping will be available again this year.

Seasternstatescup.com.

29-31| Flow State MTB Festival, Ascutney Join us at Ascutney to celebrate all things mountain biking, for our second annual Flow State Mountain Biking Festival. We will once again have bike demos from the best brands in the industry, beer from Vermont’s legendary brewers, live music and fun for all. flowstatemtbfestival.com 29-31 | Rooted Vermont, Richmond Join Ted and Laura King for a weekend-long gravel fest, culminating in Rooted, a 42 or 82-mile epic gravel race/ride that's business up front and party in the back. Entries capped at 1,000. rootevdvermont.com 29-31 | Red Bull Raw Slalom, Killington Compete or spectate at this made-for-TV mountain bike dual slalom held on raw terrain with minimal grooming, unique features, and technically challenging for riders of all skill levels. killington.com

AUGUST 6 | VSECU Point to Point, Montpelier Enjoy a beautiful ride or run on Vermont's scenic roads. Choose from a variety of distances from 25 miles to a century. Prefer to keep your feet on the ground? Register for a half-marathon, 5K, or one-mile run.

It's all to benefit the Vermont Foodbank's efforts to end hunger. thepointtopoint.org

13-14 | Enduro World Series, Burke Some of the top mountain bike racers in the world will come to Burke Mountain Resort, one of only two U.S. stops this year on round 6 of the Enduro World Series..

Taking place over two days, the race will feature terrain the area is famous for rooty, rocky and above all, highly technical. skiburke.com

WATER & MULTISPORTS MAY 7 | Peavine Whitewater Race, Stockbride A downriver race for whitewater boaters of all abilities. Paddle 3.3 or 5.5 miles of Class II soup with some Class III spice as you trace the route of the historic Peavine Railroad through the scenic White River Valley. This event benefits the Ridgeline Outdoor Collective. Paddleguru.com/races/ PeavineWhitewaterRace 8 | Fiddlehead Slalom, Montpelier For those comfortable with Class II+ rapids, this is a fun whitewater slalom race for canoes and kayaks on the Winooski. nessrace.com/fiddlehead-slalom 13-15 | 14th Otter Creek Classic Fly Fishing Tournament, Middlebury Green Mountain Adventures presents a fly fishing, catch and release “paper tournament”. All meetings and scoring will be handled in person this year. mmvt.com

JUNE 4-5 | Tough Mudder, Stratton Tough Mudder New England is going back to Vermont and dare we say: it's gonna be wicked epic: miles of shoe-sucking mud, insane new obstacles, and legendary favorites for you and your team to test yourself against. Take on the 5K, 10K or 15K course. stratton.com 5 | Onion River Ramble, Bolton 10.5-mile paddle from Bolton to Richmond on on the Winooski River. serious racers as well as paddlers looking for a fun time. winooskiriver.org 18 –20| LCI Father’s Fishing Day Derby, Lake Champlain The 41st anniversary of the Lake Champlain International Father’s Day Fishing Derby, and the event is about so much more than catching fish. Mychamplain.net/fathersday-derby June 18 – Sept. 10 | Saturday Clubhaus Swims, Lake Memphremagog Swim courses of 10, 6.5, 4, 3.3 or 2 miles from The Clubhous out to and around the islands of Derby Bay on Lake Memphremagog. Offered most every Saturday morning from the middle of June, through July, August and the beginning of September. Held June 18, 25; July 2, 9. 16, 30; August 20, 27; Sept. 3.,10. kingdomgames.com

25 | Vermont Sun & Lake Dunmore Triathlons, Salisbury Try your hand at the USA Triathlon Vermont State Championships at the Vermont Sun Triathlon: Swim 0.9 miles, bike 28 miles, and run 6.2 miles. You can also just do the Aqua Bike option with just the swim and the bike or do the Lake Dunmore Triathlon (600 yard swim, 14-mile bike, 3.1 mile run). The classic, pristine course starts and finishes at Branbury State Park. Participants swim, bike and run around beautiful Lake Dunmore. Triathlons repeat July 17 and Aug. 14. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

JULY 16 | Missisquoi Paddle/Pedal, There’s 6.5 miles of paddling down a Wild and Scenic section of the Missisquoi and 5 miles of cycling on the Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail. northernforestcanoetrail.com 16 | Trout Day, Sugarbush, Waitsfield Learn the basics of fly fishing. Participate in the Trout Unlimited raffle for cool prizes.

The event is free. Sugarbush.com 17 | Vermont Sun Triathlon & Branbury Classic Salisbury The Lake Dunmore Triathlon is a 600-yard swim, 14-mile bike, 3.1-mile run). The Branbury Classic starts with a 1.5-mile paddle, then a 14-mile bike and 3.1-mile run. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com 23 | Kingdom Swim, Newport An open-water swim with no lanes in Lake Memphremagog. Swim the 25K Border Buster, 10 milex, 6.2 miles (10 km), 3.1 miles (5 km), or 1 mile. Registration will be capped. kingdomgames.co

AUGUST 6-14 | NEK Swim Week, NEK Swim 8 gorgeous lakes of the Northeast Kingdom over 9 days —46 miles. Crystal Lake, Island Pond, Lac Massawipi, Lake Seymor, Echo Lake, Lake Memphremagog's Derby Bay, Lake Willoughby and Lake Caspian. kingdomgames.co 7 | Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival, Burlington Come race or watch the dragonboats race this team-based fun on the waterfront, the Festival is a charity event, raising money to support cancer survivors. dragonheartvermont.org.

17 | Vermont Sun & Lake Dunmore Triathlons, Salisbury Swim 0.9 miles, bike 28 miles, and run 6.2 miles. You can also just do the Aqua Bike option with just the swim and the bike or do the Lake Dunmore Triathlon (600 yard swim, 14-mile bike, 3.1 mile run). vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

P2P

#VT

JOIN US AUGUST 6 TO HELP FIGHT HUNGER www.thepointtopoint.org

Register for the Point to Point, powered by VSECU, to support the Vermont Foodbank, help fight hunger, and put the fun in fundraising!

Bring your bike or running shoes to the State House Lawn in Montpelier on Saturday, August 6. You can enjoy one of our five scenic Vermont routes designed and supported by Onion River Outdoors. With courses from five kilometers to 100 miles, there’s a ride or run for everyone!

There will be music, local food trucks, games, and fun for the whole family. Sign up today to help raise $150,000 for the Vermont Foodbank. Together, we can provide over 250,000 meals for our neighbors who don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

Groundbreaking Groundbreaking research, research, Innovative treatments Innovative treatments and therapies, and therapies, Pioneering rural care, Pioneering rural care, Warmth and understanding, Warmth and understanding, where it matters most. where it matters most.

When you’re sick or hurt, the last thing you want to do is travel far and wide to feel better. It’s great to know you don’t have to. Dartmouth Health has some of the best research, innovation and medical minds in the world. nurses and caregivers who breakfar boundaries push medicine to to When you’re sick orProviders, hurt, the last thing you want to do is travel and wide and to feel better.

It’s great new to help overcome the obstacles.

All from right close innovation to home. and medical knowheights you don’t haveyou to. Dartmouth Health has some of the besthere, research, minds in the world. Providers, nurses and caregivers who break boundaries and push medicine to Learn more at Dartmouth-Health.org new heights to help you overcome the obstacles. All from right here, close to home.

Learn more at Dartmouth-Health.org

NCI Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center

NCI

Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center

The best, where it matters most.

The best, where it matters most.

Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital I Cheshire Medical Center I Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics I Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center I New London Hospital I Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire In partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine.

Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital I Cheshire Medical Center I Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics I Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center I New London Hospital I Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire In partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine.