Vermont Sports 2022 June Issue

WHAT GLUCOSE MEANS FOR ATHLETES | A DIFFERENT KIND OF RACE TEAM | LYME ON THE RISE

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MO WILSON REMEMBERED THE METEORIC RISE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF A CYCLING SUPERSTAR

VMBA’S 25 ANNIVERSARY TH

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CHANGED VERMONT VT’s Newest MTB Destinations

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In the early days of riding in Vermont, the trails were largely homemade. Some 25 years later, the Vermont Mountain Bike Association has helped change that. Photo by John Atkinson

7 The Start

It Takes a Village of Trails

9 News

New MTB Destinations

New trails, new lodges, new places to ride.

11

Health Lyme Disease on the Rise

More than half of all Lyme disease cases are reported in June and July.

13 Nutrition

16 Feature

Moriah’s Rising Star

The NEK’s Mo Wilson was the “winningest woman in off-road racing.” Then her life was cut short.

22 Feature

How VMBA Changed Vermont

As the Vermont Mountain Bike Association celebrates 25 years, a long-time rider and chapter leader looks back at what made a difference.

28 Featured Athlete Building a Different Kind of Bike Club Josh Saxe’s Jackalope Northeast Cycling Team isn’t just about winning. But it is for everyone.

30 Calendar

Race & Event Guide

34 Endgame

The to Happiness? It’s the TinySecret Things.

Why Leath Tonino looks at his feet.

Should AthletesLevels Monitor Their Blood Glucose

Like a car’s fuel gauge, CGM devices can monitor your blood sugar.

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THE START

IT TAKES A VILLAGE OF TRAILS MORIAH WILSON WAS RAISED ON THE TRAILS OF EAST BURKE. THANKS TO THOSE TRAILS AND OTHERS, VERMONT’S COMMUNITIES ARE EVEN STRONGER.

I

t was a shock to hear the news a few weeks ago of Vermont gravel-racing star Moriah Wilson’s murder in Texas. Like so many people around the country, we were stunned. How could this happen? Why? And why to her?

In Vermont, nearly everyone has one or two degrees of connection. Mo’s brother Matthew, a recent Middlebury College grad, had interviewed for an internship with Vermont Sports last winter. Her aunt Andrea Wilson had lived in Middlebury and was a friend.

While news media around the country focused on the crime that was committed and the intrigue around it, we wanted to hear more about Moriah and how she went from being a recreational mountain biker to becoming the winningest offroad racer in the country this year.

Though they were still processing the news and grieving, the Wilson family graciously granted Vermont Sports the first interviews and access to some of the people who had helped shape her skyrocketing career as a cyclist.

What emerged in our feature on page 14 is the story of how Moriah Wilson busted to get where she was. “I had never seen someone work so hard,” her father Eric said. While yes, her father had been a World Cup ski racer, it was Moriah’s training and planning that got her to where she was at the top of off-road racing – mountain bike and gravel.

But it was also something else. “It truly takes a village, and the village has just reached out to us in so many ways” said Karen Wilson, her mother. Moriah grew up riding Kingdom Trails, attending Burke Mountain Academy and was, in many ways, formed by the landscape and the community of skiers, riders and athletes that make up this small town in the Northeast Kingdom.

That community, in turn, was formed, in so many ways, by mountain biking.

Twenty-five years ago, both Kingdom Trails and the Vermont Mountain Bike

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

WEST HILL SHOP PUTNEY • VERMONT

Association were just getting going, as John Atkinson, the long-time executive director of Mad River Riders, explains in “How VMBA Changed Vermont.”

In the same way that skiing led to the birth and growth of so many ‘ski towns’ around Vermont, thanks to the work of VMBA and its chapters, mountain biking is doing something similar, giving rise to new destinations such as Poultney and reviving old ones like Randolph.

One of the most important things that VMBA founder Gary Kessler did was help put in place the Landowner Liability Protection Act in 1998 which protects private landowners who allow cyclists and others to use their land from being sued.

To understand just what an impact that act has had, look at a recent situation in Oregon, which has no such law. In 2016 a cyclist at Mt. Hood Skibowl hit a rut and crashed into a sign. Recently, he was awarded $11.4 million. Mt. Hood Skibowl has since closed its slopes to mountain biking.

Yes, VMBA and mountain biking have changed Vermont. But more importantly, the sport has helped shape our communities and given rise to athletes such as Moriah.

“I’ll tell you where our future ski champions will come from,” Warren Witherell, the founding headmaster of Burke Mountain Academy told The New York Times in 1977. “We’re going to have to raise them. And right here at Burke, we’re doing our part.”

While he meant Burke Mountain Academy, the same thing could be said for the village of East Burke.

Because it does, as Karen Wilson says, take a village. Now the Wilsons have set up a GoFundMe page with money going to a foundation to help support community programs to help youth find self-confidence through the sports Moriah loved. If you want to carry on Mo’s spirit, please consider giving.

—Lisa Lynn, Editor

JUNE 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 7

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NEWS

NEW MOUNTAIN BIKE DESTINATIONS

WITH NEW TRAILS, AND NEW TRAILSIDE LODGING COMING, THERE ARE EVEN MORE REASONS TO EXPLORE VERMONT BY MOUNTAIN BIKE. ASCUTNEY BREAKS GROUND ON FLOW TRAIL & PARK

In West Windsor, Mt. Ascutney has been gradually revived as a ski hill, a mountain bike destination and an outdoor center. Recently, it has played host to events like the Vermont Overland, to the Vermont 50 to Flow State, the mountain bike festival.

Now, Ascutney Trails Association (ATA) in collaboration with Powder Horn Trail Co. of Belmont, N.H., Ascutney Outdoors and the Town of West Windsor is breaking ground on the Ascutney Flow Trail & Skills Park Project. The project is an e-bike friendly, enduro-style zone comprising

This summer work begins on Ascutney’s new flow trail and skills park. Courtesy ATA

three brand new downhill-only mountain bike flow trails and a skills development area.

The flow trails will be located within the active-use portion of the Ascutney Outdoors ski area, in the vicinity of and above the 42nd Street, Fifth Ave and Broadway mountain bike trails.

This project expands the existing MTB trail network to a significantly higher point on the mountain. The Skills Park will be on the lower mountain directly above the Ascutney Outdoors Center.

The mainly single-track flow trails are designed primarily for use by intermediate, advanced and expert riders, and will use many of the

incredible existing rock formations and natural features on the mountain.

ATA will hand-build a climbing-only trail to access the upper portion of new flow trails, and it will begin at the current intersection of Fifth Ave and Norcross Trail.

Powder Horn Trail Co. is contracted to complete the project in two phases and Phase One will see the Skills Park and lower Flow Trail completed in June 2022. Phase Two will see the upper Flow Trails being built in July and planned for completion in August.

In May, Ascutney was awarded one of the 22 VOREC grants, $262,088 to go in part to help build trails.

OGE TAKES TO THE LONG TRAIL

DARLING HILL’S WILDFLOWER INN CHANGES HANDS

One of the most iconic trailside hotels in the country, the Wildflower Inn of East Burke changed hands in late April. After 38 years, owners Jim and Mary O’Reilly handed the keys to the old farm house, it’s ancillary buildings, 25 hotel rooms and title to 190 acres on Darling Hill to Heaven’s Bench Realty, a company manged by Foster Goodrich, of southern Vermont.

Heaven’s Bench also purchased another 44 acre lots near a cow barn off Kingdom Trails. “We really owe a debt of gratitude to the O’Reillys. They helped start Kingdom Trails and hosted events such as NEMBAFest,” says Kingdom Trails executive director Abby Long.

A MTB LODGE IN THE MAD RIVER VALLEY

The MadBush Lodge in Waitsfield has had many lives. As the MadBush Chalet Hotel it catered to skiers in the early 1960s. Later, it became John Egan’s Big World lodge and restaurant. But it had sat empty and in disrepair for many years when Jonny Adler, one of the founders of Vermont’s The Skinny Pancake restaurant chain, bought the

Goodrich hopes to also host events there. “We want to make this a place where everyone is welcome,” he said. Goodrich’s earlier plans were to create a glamping experience near the property where the cow barn is with campsites and cabins. That project has been put on hold for now.

Goodrich has already worked with Kingdom Trails to add a new trail along the Wildflower Inn property named Grumpy Farmer. It will take bikers off the road and connect from the inn to Fox Run. The inn will be open this month with 25 rooms, a new hot tub near the pool area, a slip and slide, a nine-hole disc golf course, a new menu at what was formerly Junipers and an area for outdoor refreshments.

1958 building, its 1994 annex and 15 acres last November for $1.5 million.

Adler, an avid mountain biker who lives in Stowe, hopes to revamp the lodge as a mountain bike/ski inn. Adler went before the Development Review Board in late May to present plans for a 72-seat restaurant and 16-room/two apartment lodging facility and recreation base camp.

Adler currently lives in Stowe but chose this location for its trails.

“Thanks to the Mad River Riders, local landowners and VMBA there is no better place to ride your bike than the Mad River Valley,” he said. “We are excited to be creating the basecamp the Valley deserves with a trailside bar and restaurant, an affordable place to stay with covered, locking bike storage, gear and drying spaces, a trailside bike and gear shop.” Adler also hopes it will also serve as a base for guided rides and coaching.

OGE’s principals Mike Donohue and Marc Sherman on Camel’s Hump. Courtesy photo If you are hiking the Long Trail this month, don’t be surprised to see the person from Outdoor Gear Exchange who sold you that last backpack a few steps ahead. To celebrate its 25-plus years in existence, Outdoor Gear Exchange is taking to the trail. The Burlington-based outdoor retailer is inviting employees, friends and VIPs to accompany them on section hikes the entire month of June. The 272-mile trek starts on June 6th. Through day, single night, and multiple night sections, teams of OGE staff and community members will relay a commemorative flag. The event is a fundraiser for the Green Mountain

JUNE 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 9

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HEALTH

O

ver the last 10 years, Vermont has had the highest increase in incidents of Lyme disease of any state. Between 2010 and 2019, reported cases rose by 744%, and many cases go unreported. In 2019, 1064 cases were reported.

Now, as the Vermont Agency of Agriculture starts its spring tick survey, there’s more bad news: there may no longer be a beginning and end to tick season.

“It’s really a 12-month season now in Vermont,” said Patti Casey, the agency’s environmental surveillance program manager. Live ticks were found as early as February this year, she noted. The agency has spent the past year collecting data on when ticks are active throughout the year. Nationally, over 54% of the total Lyme disease cases are reported in June and July.

Of the 15 types of ticks identified in Vermont, six are known to transmit diseases. The blacklegged tick is the most common and transmits both Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, a bacterial disease. Blacklegged tick bites are most common in the spring and fall months and account for over 99% of reported tick bites, according to the Vermont Department of Health.

While the agriculture agency has not yet conducted its tick count, Casey said there is anecdotal evidence from hunters that this year’s numbers could be higher than in past years.

“They’re saying that they are seeing a lot of ticks here, more than usual,” she said.

There are many factors that have made it difficult for experts to make predictions about the severity of tick season, Casey said. One factor making tick season especially unpredictable is climate change. “We were never really comfortable making predictions, but climate change has thrown everything to the wind,” she said.

The University of Vermont’s Vermont Climate Assessment 2021 found the state’s average annual temperature has warmed by nearly 2°F, and precipitation has increased by a whopping 21% since 1900.

Warming temperatures have helped the disease spread north as ticks, who in the past may not have survived the winter, now appear to be thriving.

In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency tracks the incidence of Lyme disease as an indicator of climate change. The agency explains how the two are related: “Deer ticks are mostly active when temperatures are

LYME DISEASE ON THE RISE

NEW DATA IS SHOWING NOT ONLY A RISE IN LYME DISEASE, BUT THAT INFECTED TICKS MAY BE ACTIVE YEAR-ROUND IN VERMONT

More than half of all Lyme disease cases are reported in June and July. Dress to protect. Photo Adobe Stock

above 45˚F, and they thrive in areas with at least 85-percent humidity. Thus, warming temperatures associated with climate change are projected to increase the range of suitable tick habitat and are, therefore, one of multiple factors driving the observed spread of Lyme disease.”

Vermont’s public health veterinarian Natalie Kwit said the health department conducts tick bite surveillance in real time and does not make projections.

“As far as risk communication, we always know we’re going to have lots of ticks,” Kwit said.

Regardless of tick surveillance data, the health department remains consistent in its tick bite prevention messaging: use repellent containing at least 30% DEET, check your body for ticks and avoid tick habitats.

Each year, approximately 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported to

the CDC by state health departments.

This said, as stated by the CDC, “There is no way of knowing exactly how many people get Lyme disease. A recently released estimate based on insurance records suggests that each year approximately 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease.

This number is likely an overestimate of actual infections because patients are sometimes treated presumptively in medical practice.”

Since the early 2000s national and state health departments have been actively tracking Lyme disease cases.

Statistics seem to show that Lyme disease continues to build each year and spread to new areas of the United States. What was once an illness seen in heavily wooded areas of the New England region has now spread South and West seemingly gaining a foothold in almost every state. States and regions near to the Northeast U.S. have the largest increase in cases, but now, even Midwestern states are reporting Lyme disease in their areas.

By Kathryn Field/VT Digger with additional reporting by George Bradley/Archer Education

Protecting Yourself Wearing long pants, socks and checking your body regularly is the best protection. Lyme disease can be transmitted in as little as 15 minutes though usually it takes longer. Some tips and resources: Repellants: Use an EPA-approved repellant that contains at least 30% DEET. To find one www.epa.gov/insect-repellents/findrepellent-right-you Get the tick off quickly. Removing the tick as quickly as possible reduces the risk of infection.

Identify the tick: Not all ticks carry Lyme disease. Depending on the location, anywhere from 1% up to 60% of black-legged deer ticks may carry it.

Test the tick: Organizations such as the Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania can test ticks for Lyme and other diseases (starting at $50) and has a list of resources, including tick identification tips. Ticklab.org

Lyme Disease Cases from 2010-2019 as reported by the Centers for Disease Control

JUNE 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 11

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NUTRITION

SHOULD ATHLETES MONITOR THEIR BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS? LIKE A CAR’S FUEL GAUGE, NEW DEVICES CAN EASILY MONITOR YOUR BLOOD GLUCOSE LEVELS. SHOULD ATHLETES BE USING THESE?

BY JAMIE SHEAHAN, M.S, R.D.

A

thletes have a tendency to become a bit obsessed with data.

Determined to be the healthiest and fittest versions of ourselves, we track metrics like miles logged, daily step count, sleep, heart rate, and the like.

Knowledge is power after all and thanks to advancements in technology we increasingly have access to all sorts of information about our health and fitness. Just glancing at my smart watch I could tell you how many hours of restful sleep I got last night (not nearly enough apparently), my respiration rate (no idea how my watch has that figured out), my training status (patting myself on the back for being “productive” today), my resting heart rate (all indications point to the fact that I am still alive), total steps for the day (sitting at my desk all morning hasn’t done me any favors), and that’s just to name a few.

For many athletes these stats can be a tool to not only optimize their health, but also performance. As if all those metrics weren’t enough, athletes are just starting to tap into a new tool; continuous glucose monitoring (CGM).

To be clear, CGM devices aren’t new.

Individuals with diabetes have relied on them for years as a way to manage their blood sugar instead of taking regular readings from finger pricks.

While diabetics use CGM devices to avoid the health complications from blood sugar getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia), a few startup companies are looking to offer these devices for individuals who don’t have an actual medical need. These companies claim CGM devices can also be used to increase energy, reduce inflammation, promote recovery, and enhance athletic performance. Sounds good in theory, but can CGM devices really live up to the hype?

WHAT CGM DEVICES DO CGM devices measure an individual’s glucose, more commonly referred to as sugar. As a health indicator, monitoring one’s blood glucose can be very eye opening. Anytime you consume a source of carbohydrates, those carbohydrates are digested then absorbed into the blood stream as glucose, causing a rise in blood glucose levels.

for those already motivated to adopt a healthier diet and lifestyle.

HOW ATHLETES ARE USING CGM

Athletes are finding new uses for continuous glucose monitoring devices, long used by diabetics. Adobe

The body likes to maintain rather tight control on blood glucose levels, so a big spike in blood glucose from a large pasta dinner or candy bar elicits a response from the body to rein this in, primarily through the activity of insulin.

Insulin functions almost like a key by binding to cells and allowing them to take glucose in, thereby lowering how much is circulating in the blood.

In an ideal world when blood glucose levels become elevated the pancreas pumps insulin into the bloodstream and glucose falls back into a normal range pretty quickly. However, the average American diet is far from ideal. Refined grains and added sugars, which comprise much of the standard American diet, cause a more significant rise in blood glucose than our bodies were designed to handle. That’s bad news for our health because prolonged elevations in blood glucose and large post-meal spikes increase the risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, obesity, and cancer.

That’s where CGM devices supposedly come in. By inserting a tiny sensor in the upper arm or abdomen, CGM devices transmit continuous glucose readings to a device or app on the user’s phone without the need for constant finger pricks throughout the

day. The sensor is covered by a patch and is typically replaced every 7 to 14 days. As opposed to finger pricks, CGM devices don’t actually measure blood glucose, but instead measure glucose levels in the interstitial fluid.

Fortunately, the levels of glucose in blood and interstitial fluid are very close so the numbers can still be interpreted the same.

Regardless, the question is what’s the benefit from knowing your glucose levels if you do not have type 1 or type 2 diabetes? It really comes down to the individual. Imagine you just polished off a large creemee and got a reading from your CGM device that your glucose levels are off the chart. Would that really deter you from indulging in such a summertime staple in the future?

That’s where we come back to the adage that knowledge is power.

Knowledge is only powerful if we use it. Perhaps realizing how certain foods effect glucose levels would prompt some individuals to consume a healthier diet.

However, to date there are no published studies showing CGM is correlated with any dietary changes or positive health outcomes for those without diabetes.

The jury is still out, but it seems for now using CGM to improve one’s health is no magic bullet and only beneficial

Even if CGM isn’t necessarily the ticket to optimal health, there is increasing interest among athletes in using the device to help optimize performance.

Any athlete who has “bonked” before can understand the serious toll low blood glucose can have. That feeling of legs turning into cement blocks and the inability to form a coherent sentence comes down to a lack of fuel going to the muscles and nervous system.

Just like a car when it runs out of gas, when your body runs low on glucose no amount of grit or determination will allow you to continue on. This is because during high intensity exercise our muscles rely heavily on glycogen as a fuel source. Glycogen, the storage form of carbohydrate in the body, is broken down into glucose to provide a quick and accessible fuel source to power muscles.

Unfortunately, the amount of glycogen our bodies can store is limited to enough to power roughly 90 to 120 minutes of exercise. Hence the recommendation to consume exogenous forms of carbohydrates in the form of gels, sports drinks, gummies, and the like during prolonged activity. In theory this is where CGM could help. By essentially acting as the body’s fuel gauge, athletes could use CGM to determine when and how many carbohydrates to consume in order to avoid a dip in glucose that could hinder performance.

However, there is a big discrepancy between the theoretical and realworld application. The effect glucose levels have on athletic performance is complicated. Although glycogen serves as the predominant fuel during highintensity exercise it is not the only fuel being used. Fat is also a fuel source for working muscles.

The degree to which fat versus glycogen is used is determined by a number of factors, the most significant of which is exercise intensity. Go for a leisurely walk and glycogen hardly factors in as fat provides nearly all the necessary energy to put one foot in front of the other. Take that walk up a notch to an easy trot and the body starts to rely a bit more on glycogen, but only

JUNE 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 13

to a small degree. As exercise intensity gradually increases, the body shifts to relying more on glycogen and less on fat. Break into an all-out sprint and almost instantly glycogen becomes the go-to fuel source with fat just lending an assist. While that may not seem so complicated it is far from the whole story.

Another factor is how long you are exercising. Blood glucose, which as discussed earlier is kept in a pretty tight range by the body, is largely unaffected during short duration activity. That’s because even during intense exercise blood glucose is mainly used by the nervous system as opposed to muscles.

However, as glycogen levels near depletion, the body has no choice but to turn to glucose in the blood for a fuel source. When this shift occurs, muscles can continue working as long as blood glucose levels remain high enough to meet energy needs.

This is where a CGM device could potentially come into play. It seems simple enough. When users notice blood glucose levels start to drop, they knock back a sports drink or take in a gel before the dreaded “bonk” hits.

Once again, theoretically this works, but practically speaking it’s not that

simple. Throughout a bout of exercise, it is perfectly normal for blood glucose to rise and fall without impacting performance. Thus, an athlete may incorrectly assume they need to consume carbohydrates before glycogen stores are even close to depleted or conversely not realize they’re running on empty before it’s too late.

Just as knowledge is powerful only if we use it, knowledge is similarly

only powerful if we know how to use it. When it comes to enhancing athletic performance, it seems the how is still yet to be determined.

CGM devices may not be new technology, but the science of using them to improve health and optimize athletic performance is. At least for now the recommendations to consume carbohydrates prior to endurance exercise and to consume exogenous

carbohydrates during exercise lasting 90 minutes or more remains unchanged. As more research is done on the application of CGM for both health and performance we may be able to better use this as a tool for both in the future.

However, another glance at my watch reminds me that we have no shortage of data available to us already.

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MORIAH WILSON’S

RISING STAR SHE WENT FROM BEING A SKI RACER FROM THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM TO BECOMING ONE OF THE BEST OFF-ROAD RIDERS IN THE COUNTRY. THEN HER LIFE WAS CUT SHORT.

BY LISA LYNN

16 VTSPORTS.COM | JUNE 2022

The “winningets off-road racer” Morian Wilson had planned to move back to the Northeast Kingdom. Photo courtesy the Wilson Family

T

his story should have been written sooner. This story should have had a different ending. This story should not have been about the tragic murder of a young woman from Kirby in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

The story should have been about her life and her meteoric rise as a bike racer.

In an interview published on May 11, Velo News called Anna Moriah “Mo” Wilson, 25, the “winningest woman in the American off-road scene.” Later that same day, Wilson was found shot to death at a friend’s home in Austin, Texas. She’d flown to Austin the day before to compete in a 150-mile gravel race. She was the favorite to win.

The news of her death spread like wildfire. In the national media, it became a sensational story of how a jealous girlfriend, Kaitlin Marie Armstrong, allegedly murdered Moriah for having briefly dated pro cyclist Colin Strickland, Armstrong’s boyfriend.

But that is not the story. The real story is how this young woman from the Northeast Kingdom went from never having competed at a nationallevel bike race to the top of off-road cycling in two short years.

For her 7th birthday, Moriah got her first mountain bike, a Specialized Hot Rocks. Nearly 20 years later, she was sponsored by Specialized.

KINGDOM RAISED On May 18, 2022, Moriah Wilson would have turned 26. That afternoon, Moriah’s family and friends biked along East Burke’s Kingdom Trails from various directions until they all gathered at Heaven’s Bench, high on the ridgeline of Darling Hill.

“It had been raining the days prior, but that day was clear, beautiful with just a light breeze,” Matt Wilson, Moriah’s younger brother, recalls. A crowd of nearly 100 gathered at the Bench around 6 pm, joined hands in a circle and then raised them to the sky.

“Our arms were like birthday candles,” Karen Wilson, Mariah’s mother remembers, her voice cracking in her first media interview, which the family granted to this magazine in late May. The trails around Burke were Moriah Wilson’s playground—literally.

She grew up in the area and went to Burke Mountain Academy where her father had been a coach.

As an athlete, Moriah was a product of Burke Mountain Academy, the ski academy that has turned out such competitors as Mikaela Shiffrin. “I’ll tell you where our future ski champions will come from,” Warren Witherell, then headmaster of Burke Mountain Academy, told The New York Times in 1977. At the time Moriah’s father Eric Wilson, was one of five Burke grads on the 17-member U.S. Ski Team. “We’re going to have to raise them. And right

Photo courtesy Wilson family.

Moriah’s father Eric is on Kingdom Trails board. Her mother Karen Wilson is a cycling coach with KC&E Adventures. Her brother Matthew also went to Burke Mountain Academy and then ski raced for Colby for two years and then Middlebury College.

“We’ve been biking with the kids on Kingdom Trails since they were six or seven,” Karen recalls. “As Mo got older, it’s what she would do with friends. A lot of people might have been surprised by her relatively sudden success in cycling, but it’s something she’d been quietly working toward for a long, long time.”

Eric, Karen, Matt and Moriah Wilson. The family has set up a GoFundMe page in Moriah’s name to support community organizations that help youth find self-confidence, strength, and joy through biking, skiing, and other activities.

here at Burke, we’re doing our part,” Witherell said.

Kraig Sourbeer, one of Moriah’s ski coaches at BMA and a former bike racer himself, remembers taking Mo on training rides in the off-season. “She was quiet and almost shy but put her on a bike and she was fierce. We’d go out for training rides and some of the elite boys would pull ahead of me and then all of a sudden Mo would pass me too.

She had an engine, man did she have an engine. She was a delight to coach – if you told her to ice something for 20 minutes, she’d ice it for 40. But she also just knew how to have fun.”

Moriah was an intensely-focused and accomplished athlete who before taking up cycling competed in ski racing and was captain of her soccer team. Yet, as pro cyclist Ian Boswell put it: “She was a Vermonter in and out: always giving to those around her.”

“Moriah was a former Kingdom Trails employee, babysitter to many in the Kingdom Trails family, consummate riding buddy, mentor and model to aspiring young riders, and so much more,” Lilias Ide, the communications director for Kingdom Trails said in an email. “Simply put, we loved Moriah and she loved Kingdom Trails.”

GOING PRO Julie Furtado. Lea Davison. Both were ski racers, trained in Vermont, who went on to become some of the top mountain bikers in the world. Moriah Wilson’s trajectory was similar, except she put it in fast-forward. In just two short years, she went from an unknown in cycling to standing on the podium alongside seasoned pros at the toughest bike races in the country: the Leadville 100, the 80-km Sea Otter Classic, the grueling Belgian Waffle Ride.

In 2019, after graduating from Dartmouth with an engineering degree, Moriah told her mother she wanted to be a professional cyclist. “She was determined. I knew she could do it and we did our best to help her,” said

JUNE 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 17

At Mid South, Moriah finished second. She showered, changed and then stayed at the finish until after 11:30 pm to cheer the last racers in.

Photo by Ansel Dickey

Ski racing may have been Moriah’s first passion but during two ACL injuries, she used cycling to rehab. As she said of the injury at the time “it will only make me stronger.”

Karen, who connected her daughter with a training coach, Neal Burton.

“Her yearbook quote was from Ralph Waldo Emerson,” Moriah’s brother Matt recalls. “It said: ‘To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.’”

“Moriah’s goal at the time was just to see what potential she had,” says Burton. An accomplished ski racer at the Div. 1 collegiate level, Moriah had become more serious about cycling after recovering from two ACL surgeries. “She had this great attitude about the injuries: she said ‘These things happen for a reason and this will just make me stronger,” Karen said.

18 VTSPORTS.COM | JUNE 2022

She was right. “Mo worked out harder coming back from that surgery than I’ve ever seen anyone work. She’d be in the gym for six hours,” said her father, who had competed on the World Cup against Ingemar Stenmark in the late 1970s.

Moriah’s aunt, Laura Wilson Todd, was a two-time Olympic cross-country ski racer.

But Moriah had only raced bikes a handful times, and mainly in local events, such as Circumburke.

That didn’t phase Burton, her trainer.

“Right off the bat, we did these functional power threshold tests,” said Burton. “I was like ‘Wow’! She had World Cup-level power numbers.”

By late summer, Moriah had moved to San Francisco to join her boyfriend,

Gunnar Shaw, son of Olympic ski racer Tiger Shaw. He had grown up in Norwich, Vt. and graduated from Dartmouth in 2014. “They bought a van and started going to rides and races together. Gunnar and his family saw her potential, encouraged her and really helped her,” says Karen.

Burton, her trainer, had suggested Moriah start racing cyclocross. She started out with local events. By early 2020, Moriah came from the back to finish 26th as an elite racer at the Nationals.

“Mo always had this quiet determination, she was a real perfectionist —almost to a fault,” said her mother. “I remember when she

was in seventh grade and Kirk Dwyer, then the head of school at BMA, asked her point-blank, ‘How are you going to deal with your perfectionism?’ We had gotten her some counseling and it helped. Mo just looked Kirk in the eyes and said, ‘I’m going to start with a clean plate,” Karen said with laugh. “She meant ‘slate.’ It was so cute.”

SETTING GOALS By spring of 2020, Covid-19 had shut down races. “In some ways it was a blessing because it gave Moriah the chance to really train as she didn’t have to go into an office,” Karen says. Moriah had started working for Specialized as a demand planner in 2019.

After moving to California and working for Specialized, Wilson got more into gravel riding. Photo by Christopher Keiser

“In a year where 99% of races have been cancelled, I’ve been searching for ways to test myself both mentally and physically,” Moriah wrote on Instagram.

In the fall of 2020, she set out to speedride Moab’s 100-mile White Rim Trail with a friend. Her friend dropped out, but riding alone Moriah broke the women’s fastest-known-time record for the trail.

In 2021 Moriah had already racked up wins at California’s Grasshopper Adventure Series and the 90-mile “stupidly hard” off-road/gravel/ adventure race, Rock Cobbler, when she entered Unbound—gravel-racing’s premiere event, 200 miles of dirt riding in Kansas.

In an interview with VeloNews’s Betsy Welch, Moriah called herself a “dark horse,” for that race. But she was still quietly confidant. “I’ve noticed that in life in general and particularly in cycling women like to sell themselves short,” Moriah said in the interview.

Moriah flatted and finished 9th in Unbound’s star-studded pack. Just a few months later, she took second racing 100 miles on knobby tires at the Leadville 100.

After Leadville, Moriah seemed unstoppable. At the October 2021 Big Sugar Gravel Race in Bentonville, Arkansas, part of the Life Time Grand Prix off-road series, she not only easily won against some top pro women,

she finished the 103-mile race in 12th overall, beating such seasoned pro men as Peter Stetina.

THIS IS WHY WE RIDE In March, Moriah finished second in the Mid South gravel century. After finishing, she went home showered and then came back to cheer on the last riders, who were straggling in late into the night.

“It was dark, it was cold, and she had been out there for 14.5 hours!

What an incredible display of strength and perseverance,” Moriah wrote on her blog about seeing the final finisher come in. “Watching this woman cross the line, with dozens of others cheering

her on, was a special moment. This is why we ride. We ride to do hard things and celebrate those things together. My race may have looked a lot different than this woman’s, but there are threads of similarity in our journey.”

A few weeks later was the first event of the 2022 Life Time Grand Prix Series (a new 6-race series of endurance mountain bike and gravel races with an overall prize purse of $25,000 for the winner). On April 9 Moriah was at the start of the Sea Otter Classic 80km Fuego cross-country mountain bike race in California.

“I remember going over to the house where Moriah was staying the night

JUNE 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 19

before the Sea Otter race,” recalls Ian Boswell, the pro cyclist from Peacham, Vt. who manages Wahoo Fitness’ athlete relations. “While a lot of elite athletes might be resting before a big race like that, Mo was cooking everyone dinner and doing dishes. That’s just who she was,” he said. Moriah loved good food. “Food is not just fuel.

Food is a linchpin for connection - for community,” she wrote. At Sea Otter, her sponsor Skratch Lab, provided food for their athletes. Moriah published her “Sea Otter menu” and recipes on the Skratch blog.

“I still struggle with a bit of imposter syndrome: Do I deserve to be here? How did I get here so (seemingly) quickly? Will it all disappear at some point?” Moriah wrote on her Substack blog about the Sea Otter race. “I was with: Sofia Gomez, Alexis Skarda, Evelyn Dong, Hannah Finchamp, and Lea Davison. These are legit mountain bike racers,” she wrote of the field that included Olympians. On the last hill Moriah, who excels at climbing, made her move. She won. Lea Davison was fourth.

The next big race on Moriah’s calendar was the grueling Belgian Waffle Ride, on May 1, a 222 km gravel race over dirt, single track and with stream crossings in southern California.

Moriah at the 2021 Rooted Vermont race in Richmond. She finished third there and went on to take silver two weeks later at the Leadville 100.

Moriah won by an unprecedented 25 minutes. Two weeks later she flew to Austin, to race the 150-mile Gravel Locos.

A FULL-TIME JOB “Bike racing is a sport where oftentimes it takes a long time just to learn the tactics and techniques,” said Ian

Mo’s Place in the Gravel World GRAVEL RACER TED KING’S TRIBUTE TO MO WILSON.

I first met Mo Wilson this spring on a group training ride in Sonoma County, California. She’d already stacked up some monumental wins early into this season, which I read about in the headlines, but I was curious to hear her bigger life story. I rode up to Mo and lightheartedly asked, “How is it we’re both from Vermont, but we only meet here on the West Coast?” With her characteristic ear to ear smile, she responded, “Home in Vermont is my favorite thing to talk about!”

I learned that as a kid growing up in East Burke, downhill skiing was her passion. She joked that if she’d ever really paid attention to it, her true calling would have been towards endurance sports. Mo loved downhill skiing. She also loved exploring the Kingdom Trails on her mountain bike. She wasn’t racing bikes at that point in her life, but that time riding trails surely laid the foundation for the bike-handling skillset that’s required for any kind of cycling success, especially in gravel riding.

In my eyes, one of her most exemplary performances wasn’t actually a win, but her second place at the Leadville 100 in 2021, just a few days after finishing third at our Richmond gravel race, Rooted Vermont. One of the most challenging races of any discipline in North America, the Leadville 100-mile mountain bike race

20 VTSPORTS.COM | JUNE 2022

Moriah high fives Laura King at Rooted Vermont

Photo courtesy Laura King.

snakes across Colorado’s sky-scraping Rocky Mountains, crossing terrain where oxygen feels nonexistent.

Cycling is a sport that rewards cumulative training.

Chronic hard work, year over year, often for upwards of a decade or more is what puts a rider in the very top tier. The more challenging the race, the more those previous years of training are relied upon to grit through the challenge. For such a new racer to land one step away from the top step of the Leadville podium is extraordinary.

The standout names in the burgeoning sport of gravel cycling have earned their recognition with a lengthy history in more traditional aspects of cycling. The best gravel racers have spent lengthy careers as professional road or mountain bike racers.

Photo by Laura King

Boswell in late May. “She was obviously a very quick learner, but still was very much figuring out the intricacies of the sport,” he said. “One day she came over

It truly wasn’t until Mo’s meteoric rise to the very highest level that we’ve seen someone come from out of the blue to reach the highest level in gravel. Mo did it uniquely her way.

The highest tier of gravel racing is a full-time job.

Fling from race to race, spending time at training camps, or fulfilling sponsor obligations is all encompassing.

Juggling a separate job outside of the sport is nearly impossible.

Mo was doing both. Some of the most exciting news in the gravel world was that Mo had just announced she was stepping away from her full-time job in sales forecasting for Specialized in order to focus exclusively on training and racing. She was already winning, and with more training, more time riding, the sky was the limit.

The news of her passing has been indescribably heart-wrenching and has cast a pall across the gravel community. I’m thankful that I can eke out slivers of happiness having briefly gotten to know Mo, having seen her at the races and events, and witnessed the positivity she emanated. Her reputation in the cycling world was built on a combination of positivity and humility. It’s with these two characteristics, plus incredible results, that her name was already No words can encompass the devastating loss of Moriah Wilson. It’s incomprehensible the tragedy and heartbreak surrounding her death. The gravel cycling community often feels like a family and the news of her passing sent a shockwave throughout this tightly knit group.

—Ted King

to our house in Peacham to pick up a Wahoo trainer. I asked her if she knew how to change the cassette and she said ‘No, I’ve never done that before.’”

Boswell had planned to stay at the same house where Moriah was staying in Austin, owned by a friend with ties to the Northeast Kingdom, but last minute plans changed. He had also been planning to do a video shoot with her in Texas for Wahoo Fitness, her sponsor.

Boswell had also helped her get invited to race the 2022 Migration Gravel Ride in Kenya on June 16. “It was something she was really excited about – not so much for the race but for a chance to help the sport grow there,” he says.

Moriah had worked hard to connect within the industry and had picked up sponsors such as Specialized, Skratch Labs, TheFeed, and The Meteor Café.

“About a year ago she had coffee with [pro cyclist] Colin Strickland to talk about how to get sponsors,” recalls her mother. Strickland was sponsored

by Red Bull. The Meteor, a bike café with locations in Bentonville, Ark. and Austin, Tx., sponsored them both.

Moriah had recently made the decision to leave her job with Specialized and devote herself full-time to cycling. “She’d moved all her things back to Vermont and had this idea that

she’d like to start a gathering place for cyclists, like the Meteor, with good local food, a place where a community could gather,” said Karen.

Moriah and Strickland had a brief affair while they were both newly single in late fall of 2021. Strickland then resumed his relationship with Kaitlin Armstrong, but he and Moriah remained friends. It was a friendship that according to the police affidavit, Armstrong tried to disrupt by blocking Moriah’s calls and texts on Strickland’s phone. A few weeks ago, Karen Wilson asked her daughter if she was dating anyone. “It’s not something I would normally ask but Mo said ‘No, I’m not in any relationship,’” Karen said.

According to the affidavit, Strickland and Moriah had gone swimming together at a local pool in Austin the night Moriah was killed. After walking to get a burger, Strickland dropped Moriah back at her friend’s house in Austin and left without going in.

Minutes later an SUV was seen outside the house, captured by a neighbor’s surveillance camera. It was similar to Armstrong’s. The gun that was used to shoot Moriah was similar to one of two weapons Strickland had purchased in January and kept at the house he shared with Armstrong.

THE AFTERMATH Since Moriah Wilson’s death, Kaitlin Armstrong has disappeared. As of press time, police had tracked her to New York City. Colin Strickland voluntarily cooperated with police and issued a statement saying “there is no way to adequately express the regret and torture I feel about my proximity to this horrible crime. I am sorry, I simply cannot make sense of this unfathomable tragedy.” Still, as VeloNews reported, several of his sponsors, including Specialized, severed their ties to the pro rider.

In the cycling community and in the Kingdom, memories of who Moriah Wilson was are being kept alive.

“She was just this amazing person with an amazing career ahead of her,” said her coach Neal Burton. “We had been talking about her racing mountain bikes in World Cup events just the week before she left for Texas and Lea Davison was going to help mentor her.”

“She was so determined, so strong and I think she was just getting started in bike racing and that’s one of the tragedies of her death,” said her former coach Kraig Sourbeer.

“Moriah was always giving back,” says her brother Matt. “She had already begun using her blog as a way

to highlight others, like the Paralympic cyclist Meg Fisher.”

After Moriah’s death the Wilson family set up a GoFundMe page with the proceeds going to a foundation “to help fund community organizations that help youth find self-confidence, strength and joy through biking, skiing, and other activities that Moriah was passionate about.” As of press time, it had already raised more than $100,000.

In late May, Matt Wilson graduated from Middlebury College Phi Beta Kappa. He now plans to make the foundation his project. “I’ve never been more passionate about anything in my life,” he said.

That passion, if it’s anything like his sister’s, will take it far.

EPITAPH In October, 2021, following the Big Sugar gravel race in Arkansas, Moriah wrote on Instagram: “It’s been a year of growth, change, self-exploration and discovery. Leaning into the things that light a little spark, seeing if they’ll start a fire. Chasing dreams I didn’t even know I had. Rode a lot of miles, but somehow they all went by so fast. I guess that’s what happens when you’re having fun.”

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HOW

VMBA CHANGED VERMONT

IN 25 SHORT YEARS, THE VERMONT MOUNTAIN BIKE ASSOCIATION CHANGED THE LANDSCAPE AND BUILT A CULTURE OF RIDING IN THE GREEN MOUNTAIN STATE. STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOHN ATKINSON

Reid Kiniry rides Sugarbush ‘s wooden berms with 26-inch tires in 2008. Sugarbush was one of the early adopters of lift-served riding. VMBA’s Patrick Kell helped more Vermont ski areas adopt the sport by bringing in terrain experts such as Gravity Logic for conferences on trail building.

22 VTSPORTS.COM | JUNE 2022

M

y first mountain bike ride in Vermont was in September 1992. I had just moved to Warren and a new friend took me to Eurich Pond. We climbed what is now Powerline to Techie and back out to Sugar Run. I was riding a Bridgestone MB-6, basically a glorified road bike with knobby tires. The pitchy headtube angle, 26” wheels, narrow bars, centerpull brakes and tall seatpost inspired very little confidence. The loop was less than 5 miles, but I was gassed by the end and walked more than a few of the steeper sections.

The ride was fun and challenging enough that I wanted more and by the next spring, I had a job at the Mad River Bike Shop, building new bikes, fixing broken ones and helping build trails.

While folks have been riding bikes in the woods of Vermont ever since twowheeled transport was invented, the modern era of mountain biking got rolling in the 1980’s. Riding mountain bikes back then was a little like going to Phish shows in the same time frame. Everything was clunky and dorky, the mountain biking community was small and exclusive, access to venues and terrain was limited.

But there was also a feeling that something bigger and better was just over the horizon. Fun was had, although we might classify it as Type III fun in retrospect.

The first routes ridden with knobbies were generally Class 4, power line, logging and farm roads, cross-country ski trails and lower angle hiking trails.

Thanks to the collaboration with Green Mountain National Forest, new beginner trails at Warren’s Blueberry Lake helped cater to new and beginner riders, like these Mad River Rippers. Below, Hannah Flynn flowing through the ferns on Plum Line in Warren in 2008, shortly after it was built.

Trails built with bikes in mind began to appear in the early 1990s, generally in recreation-friendly areas like the ski towns of Ascutney, Stowe and the Mad River Valley. They were almost always high-level expert routes.

Mount Snow was a very early adopter of lift-served riding, and by the early 1990s was hosting the Grundig World Cup Cross-Country events. Soon, other ski resorts began to add trails and offer summer lift-served access.

As bikes became more prevalent and mountain bike trails appeared, a few forward-thinking folks understood that access was vital. Gary Kessler, who cofounded the Mad River Riders in 1986, explains: “We realized pretty early on that if we couldn’t get access to public and private land, we were never going to have trails.”

As a lawyer, Kessler’s professional experiences helped lead him to write and lobby for the Landowner Liability

Protection Act, which passed in 1998 and has proven to be a key component in how trail networks develop in Vermont.

The act protects landowners who allow the public to use their land from personal injury lawsuits, as long as there is no fee charged for access.

This has encouraged a more European style of land-sharing and more open access to private land than many of other states enjoy. Without this legislation, there would likely be many fewer trails in the state. Every access conversation with a private landowner in Vermont references this legislation. It’s that important.

While the legislation was vital, the early days included a fair amount of ignorance of access issues. Riders often snuck around posted signs and built rogue trails with no permission from public or private landowners. Most of it didn’t feel rogue, it was just fun to build and ride. I was as guilty of these things as anyone in the community.

The mid ‘90s saw a lot of rapid growth, with bike shops popping up in most towns and semi-secret networks.

Randolph was one of the first areas to go full legit and publish maps, helping lead to one of New England’s first big mountain bike festivals, with Pedro’s as the title sponsor.

With a big (for then) network of 40 miles, some of it even mellow enough for normal humans to ride, Randolph was sold as the up and coming “Moab of the East.” The fests drew thousands who camped out for the weekend. The festivals were fun, with group rides, demos,

.

JUNE 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 23

fun races, food, beverages, and lots of dogs, music and tents. These events set the tone for almost every bike fest in Vermont since then.

But the Moab-thing did not pan out for Randolph – at least not then.

The other area that began to work with private landowners and share trails publicly early on was Kingdom Trails, which did end up becoming a destination similar to Moab. My first rides in the Kingdom were in the mid 90’s and the whole scene blew my mind even then.

We would pull into East Burke Sports, buy a ticket, get a map and then John Worth, owner of East Burke Sports and founder of Kingdom Trails Association, would pull out his pen and add the new trails that had been built since the map was printed. The vibe in town was overtly bike-friendly and everyone seemed in on the game, even if they didn’t ride.

As the fun drew more attention and Vermont’s mountain bike community ballooned, Kate Carter (founding edtior of Vermont Sports), Dave Tremblay (another Mad River Rider) and Gary Kessler realized that the few individual bike clubs and associations in existence at the time weren’t going to be able to effectively lobby federal, state, town and private landowners on their own.

This led to the start of the Vermont Mountain Bike Advocates in 1997, the original name of VMBA. The first meetings and boards included Carter and Kessler, folks from Putney and the West Hill Shop, Green Mountain Bicycle Club, Randolph/Rochester area representa-

The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps helped move boulders in 2008 to extend the Cyclone trail and make it more sustainable in Howe Block. Below: the early days of Lycra and Eurich Pond.

tives, and some Mad River Riders like me, Geoff Wade and Eric Sharnberg.

It was a time of mostly unplanned growth, done largely without official permission. With increasing scrutiny, there were bound to be challenges. VMBA had been building relationships for a few years with the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation (VT-FPR) and the US Forest Service (USFS), but for what was considered a “new use” and subject to a lot of review, not much had happened. Institutional inertia was not in our favor either: at that time, VT-FPR didn’t even have employees who were dedicated to recreation management.

This changed in 1999, when VTFPR discovered unofficial trails being scratched in by hand in Fayston’s Phen Basin, part of Camel’s Hump State Park.

VT-FPR fixed the “problem” by paying

[VOICES OF VMBA’S LEADERS]

PATRICK KELL VOLUNTEER BOARD MEMBER FROM 2005-2006, THEN PAID EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FROM 2006 TO 2011.

BIGGEST CHALLENGES: Some public land managers were initially reluctant to embrace the growth in popularity of mountain bike access and didn’t really meet that demand with new trails. On the flip side, nonsanctioned trail building was occurring, as mountain bikers were frustrated at the slow progress, It took dozens of meetings over many years to create an atmosphere of trust, which has eventually led to increased trail access.

BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: The partnership with the Green Mountain National Forest, initially in the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area, then expanding GMNF trail networks to Blueberry Lake in Warren.

COOLEST TRAIL BUILT DURING YOUR TENURE: the Chandler Ridge Trail in the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area is a one-of-a-kind trail in Vermont. A long traverse, (re)built at higher elevation, it has a remote,

24 VTSPORTS.COM | JUNE 2022

a contractor to dig dozens of deep pits and drop over a hundred trees along the

backcountry feel to it. It links up with Leicester Hollow Trail which was damaged in a flood in 2008 and then had to be rebuilt. The rebuilding was a massive effort by the VYCC. If you ride the 10-mile loop today, you probably have no idea what work went into it!

BEST EVENT(S) DURING YOUR TENURE: We held an annual spring conference for ski resorts from throughout the northeast and Quebec from 2007-2011. The presenters were staff from IMBA Trail Solutions, Gravity Logic and local trail builders, with the content focused on developing mountain bike parks and trail systems, both at lift-servd and XC ski resorts.

The event was well attended, with up to 65 attendees each year from dozens of resorts and Governor Douglas was the keynote speaker for one event. I hope that the event was a catalyst for the growth of resort-based mountain biking in the region.

PUBLIC POLICY CHANGES THAT IMPACTED MOUNTAIN BIKING: The VMBA agreement with the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation was signed in 2006 immediately before I started with VMBA - the agreement legalized the Perry Hill Trails in Waterbury and the Camels Hump Trail in Fayston. In fact, the agreement was the catalyst for creating the Executive Director postion. So the signing of that agreement and then administering it (managing trail building projects and grants in order to uphold our end of

pre-existing Hemlock Hill trail, which led to the unofficial trails, in an effort to permanently close them all. After a public outcry VT-FPR established the Phen Basin Advisory Committee to discuss the possible inclusion of multi-use trails in the management plan. In 2002, this lead to the first official bike-accessible trails on Vermont state lands.

The success in Phen Basin led to efforts to protect the existing rogue networks at Perry Hill and Howe BlockCamel’s Hump State Forest, both on state lands. Both had unplanned but well-loved, intermediate and expert trails such as Rastaman, Joe’s, Burning Spear, Enchanted Forest, Cyclone, Clinic and GS. These trails were built without permission and without input from VTFPR. However, with a few seasons of good faith work in Phen Basin and lots of relationship-building between VMBA, Stowe Mountain Bike Club, the Mad River Riders and VT-FPR, the two networks were recognized as multi-use bike trails in 2006.

Key figures in this process included Rick Sokoloff and Hardy Avery from Stowe Mountain Bike Club, Matt Swartz who was VMBA board president, Patrick Kell, VMBA’s executive director and Gary Kessler of the Mad River Riders.

Hans Jenny helped start the Fellowship of the Wheel in the late 1990’s and was instrumental in this key period of VMBA’s evolution too.

Kell also brought Gravity Logic (the folks behind the bike parks at Canada’s Whistler-Blackcomb, Trestle, Killington,

the agreement) was a big lift in terms of staff and volunteer time and a significant policy initiative. It’s great to see those networks being well managed now by local clubs, and to see that trails in Little River State Park have been added to the list of mountain bike trails on state land.

BEST MEMORY: Easily, the movie night that we would do each spring at the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center on the waterfront in Burlington! We would secure premier rights for that year’s big mountain bike movie release, rent the theatre, and pack the house for two shows each time on a Saturday evening in May. Vermont always had a vibrant ski movie culture in the fall, with the big release films getting skiers stoked for the upcoming winter, but there wasn’t previously a mountain bike equivalent.

We held this event in May each year for several years (2007-2011) and it was a blast - people would come from all over and it felt like a state-wide mountain bike community was building, where it hadn’t existed before.

VMBA is a phenomenal organization these days it’s very different from when I was there. There is now a much larger chapter structure, an industry leading database and membership management system, and grants for local groups, all leading to increasing access across the state. My hat is off to them!

[VOICES OF VMBA’S LEADERS]

Tom Stuessy

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FROM 2012 TO 2020

IMBA, Gravity Logic and Governor Douglas at Stowe Mountain Resort for one of the spring conferences that VMBA’s Patrick Kell organized to help better develop trails around the state.

etc.) to Vermont for a few years to guide ski areas through the process of starting lift-served programs. Fortunately, almost everything they shared about trail building applied to our non-lift-served networks too and these conferences were instrumental in educating many folks in our community.

With increasing legitimacy and a solid landowner-friendly framework, VMBA’s chapters (and other groups like Kingdom Trails, now part of VMBA too) were able to forge partnerships with many landowners and land managers, often connecting a wide mix of public and private properties. This created momentum for new chapters to form and when Tom Stuessy took over for Patrick Kell as executive director in 2012, the stage was set for success.

Some of Stuessy’s most important

initiatives were the chapter membership model and member benefits, which centralized membership processing for all chapters, created the add-on chapter system and provided attractive incentives like day tickets to the lift-served areas in Vermont. This step helped build a more stable financial foundation for the VMBA home office and the chapters through much stronger membership, which is likely to top 10,000 in 2022.

The add-on model has proven particularly effective at community-building and capturing support from a wide cross section of participants.

AS VMBA and the chapters were figuring out the logistics and relationships, they also jumped deep into trail permitting, design, building and funding, leading to the first true beginner and intermediate trails outside of places such as

BIGGEST CHALLENGES: When I started at VMBA, we were scrambling to honor Vermont’s rich riding and trail building history while building an outward facing organization stable enough to handle the sport’s exploding popularity. At the beginning, the popularity of riding was outpacing the organization and the gritty, unspoken riding that defined the Vermont mountain bike culture was becoming vulnerable to the sport’s growth.

Getting organized and establishing representation empowered the riding community’s voice in a meaningful way. This gave way to numerous (and still growing) commercial opportunities to embolden Vermont’s economy.

By organizing, we could partner with those who wanted to engage and give a tip of the hat to those that didn’t.

Progress was sustained through board and chapter support. I was extended a lot of grace to learn and make mistakes as we grew. Every time people stayed curious and listened, we achieved another breakthrough. I am grateful for how much I learned from the challenges.

BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: VMBA’s progress is the result of how Vermonters pursue their passions. I’m most proud of our riding community working together to launch the statewide model of chapters. More than membership, it facilitated individuals’ access to organized state-wide advocacy while remaining loyal to their home chapter. The Add-On portion of the model —where members could ‘add on’ ‘a second or third chapter to their membership—gave riders a voice in multiple locations and provided additional support to every chapter.

The Naming Grants program gave Vermont’s business community measured access to our precious landscape in collaboration with chapters.

Stowe Mountain Bike Club founder Rick Sokoloff building trails the old school way at Little River State Park.

COOLEST TRAIL BUILT DURING YOUR

TENURE: The coolest trail built during my time was our first Naming Grant project supported by Burton and built by the Waterbury Area Trail Alliance at Perry Hill. The hope was the program would give Vermont businesses a chance to empower their employees by letting them support the building of a trail. I’m excited to see the program still doing its thing today.

BEST EVENT(S) DURING YOUR TENURE: Soon after we launched the statewide model, chapters quickly developed a long list of amazing events. The enthusiasm at chapters’ spring kick-off parties is incredible. Riders showing support, excitement, and an awareness of what their participation means is an amazing feeling.

PUBLIC POLICY CHANGES THAT IMPACTED MOUNTAIN BIKING: During my tenure, a lot of resources were devoted to land management policy. Much of that effort continues today. Progress was defined by how much new access we could find, which happened in many parts of Vermont because of the amazing work by chapters. Vermont’s success depends on the role private landowners play in outdoor recreation access. Moving forward, it is critical their participation is shown great respect and is free from unsuitable regulation.

BEST MEMORY: I was riding in Stowe one day and when I returned to the parking lot, I overheard two other groups talking. When asking for trail info, one of them said, “What are those orange things on everyone’s bike?” The local rider responded, “It’s my VMBA chapter membership strip it’s how we support our trails here. You should join.” Riders that have been around for a minute know the orange strip was early in our new system.

That answer, in that location, was a signal that we were on the right track.

JUNE 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 25

Volunteers have helped make it happen since the beginning. Green Mountain Valley School students working on the GS trail in the Howe Block of Camel’s Hump State Forest in 2014.

the Kingdom and Catamount Family Center. This allowed many more people to access mountain biking and progress into the sport. It also added popular, easier hiking routes, as bike trails are multi-use trails.

The Contest Trail in Rochester, built in the early 1990s, was the first bike trail

[VMBA’S LEADERS]

Nick bennette MARCH 2021 TO PRESENT

in the Green Mountain National Forest.

It took until 2012 for the next routes to get built, but once the gates opened, working with the U.S. Forest Service has been another major boost for bike trails.

The Blueberry Lake network in Warren was started in 2012 and opened in 2013, with several key additions since then.

The Rochester Outdoor Collective chapter currently has the most miles in the GMNF and more are being added right now.

Part of this work involves creating long distance connections as part of the Velomont Trail, a trail that when completed will link existing networks from

BIGGEST CHALLENGES: Keeping up with the rapid growth in trail use, specifically ensuring our chapters are sufficiently resourced to both stay on top of trail maintenance and grow their networks to accommodate new users. Relatedly, the demand for more trails has also led to rogue/unauthorized trail building that itself has been a significant challenge.

BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Successfully growing the VMBA central team to include three incredible full-time and two equally incredible part-time staff. It’s still behind where we would ideally be in terms of capacity, but we punch well above our weight and plan to further grow the team in the not-too-distant future.

COOLEST TRAIL BUILT DURING YOUR TENURE: That’s a tough one, though I’d have to say the new half of Six Flags at Perry Hill, which was completed last summer. Working closely with VT Forest Parks & Rec, our Waterbury Area Trail Alliance (WATA) Chapter retired an old trail (Duct Tape) that was neither much fun nor very sustainable and work with Ideride builders to replace it with a ~0.3 mile masterpiece of rockwork, tech, and flow - which also happens to be a short ride from the VMBA office.

BEST EVENT(S) DURING YOUR TENURE: The Member Party VMBA hosted with Skirack last October was truly amazing. It was awesome to see so many folks come together and celebrate the riding season that was, while we also announced our grand prize Reward Volunteers winner and thanked many of our incredible supporters in person.

I could not have imagined a better way to wrap the 2021 season.

PUBLIC POLICY CHANGES THAT IMPACTED MOUNTAIN BIKING: There have been many before my tenure, most notably the Landowner Liability Act and Rule 71 (which designates public-access trails as municipal projects under Act 250). Over the last 12 months, VMBA - working through the Vermont Trails & Greenways Council - has secured important additional clarifications for when and how Act 250 jurisdiction applies to trails and prevented the development of more onerous regulations.

26 VTSPORTS.COM | JUNE 2022

the Massachusetts border up to the Canadian border. The Velomont aims to connect as many of the VMBA chapter communities and networks as possible with links to backcountry huts and spurs to downtown villages along the way, similar to what can be found in many European mountain towns.

Thanks to Vermont’s well-established landowner/land manager framework, institutional knowledge about how to best plan, design, permit, fund, build and steward trails and a membership platform that benefits the chapters and the administration, the last ten years have been the most productive in VMBA’s history. Looking at the wider region and even at the national level, VMBA’s successes are noteworthy, with more members per capita than any other state, a strong foundation of grassroots organizations in 30 chapters that contribute massive yearly volunteer efforts and share over 1,400 miles of public access multi-use trails with everyone.

The fact that all this has been accomplished in 25 short years makes the work that much more remarkable.

It took the Green Mountain Club over a century to get to a similar number of members. The initial Long Trail system design and build were also done with a lot less regulation and planning. VMBA continues to lead the way for high quality, low-impact, sustainable biking and multi-use trails in VT. Please remember to join and support VMBA if you bike, hike, run, ski or snowshoe on the trails.

Here’s to another 25 years.

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 one 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.

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doing so, we can rally to support each other in individual pursuits, through group participation and affiliation.

FEATURED ATHLETE

BUILDING A NEW KIND OF BIKE RACING TEAM Name: Joshua Saxe Age: 33 Family: Partner, Jessica Buckley; daughters Riley 3 ½ and Robin 2 Lives in: Montpelier Primary Sports: Road, cyclocross, gravel, and cross-county mountain biking Occupation: Principal agent of Jackalope Sports Group, Director of Jackalope Northeast Cycling

A

bike racer in his own right, Joshua Saxe could have gone the traditional route when he and Jared Katz decided to pick up the mantle of the former 1K2GO bike racing team, which emphasized road racing and elite performance. Instead, they decided to focus on more than just speed when they formed Jackalope Northeast Cycling.

Jackalope describes itself as a team of inclusion, acceptance, and community.

Although they want to improve cyclists’ athletic performance, they believe that “being the best you” should be each rider’s goal.

What got you into cycling?

The biggest moment in cycling for me was well before racing. It was when I first started riding. I grew up with severe asthma. Aerobic pursuits through my childhood and teenage years were intimidating and scary. I knew what it was like to pass out from not being able to breathe. On a number of occasions, a flight of stairs quite literally knocked me on my back.

When I was 18, I took the mountain bike I had gotten from Onion River Sports up the North Branch connector to Sparrow Farm on a whim. I had only ever ridden over to friends’ houses at this point and had no idea what I was in for other than a climb. It took me 45 minutes to get to Sparrow Farm, and once I was at the top, I distinctly remember being able to breathe (and smell manure).

No rescue inhaler needed. Just a deep breath, and the next pedal stroke to keep riding home.

That loop would be a 30-minute ride now, but it took me almost two hours that day. The next year I built a road bike with help from Montpelier Free Ride using recycled bin parts and a dirt-cheap steel frame I got on eBay. I used it to get to work faster. Steve Colangeli, who was my high school biology teacher at U32 and now owner of sponsor Paradiso

28 VTSPORTS.COM | JUNE 2022

A bike racer himself, Josh Saxe wanted a club that would get everyone riding better. Photo courtesy Josh Saxe

Farm Coffee, saw me riding to work and suggested I try racing. That was the summer of 2008, and it’s been a ride ever since. Pun intended.

Tell us a bit about your racing career.

I raced with the University of Vermont from 2010 to 2012 and again when I returned to finish my degree in 2016.

It’s been very cool to watch that cycling program come back to the glory it had when I was entering the sport. I raced independently as a Cat 3 and then I had a breakout season in 2016 in which I was never lower in the results than third — assuming I kept things upright during the races. In 2016, I earned an overall podium at the Green Mountain Stage Race, and I ended that year obtaining my Cat 2 standing on the road. I got my Cat 1 last year.

What have been your race highlights?

One of my best memories is my Stage 2 win at the 2018 Green Mountain Stage Race in Randolph, which was also about two or three weeks before my first daughter Riley was born, coincidentally at Gifford in Randolph. While I’ve won races before, I had never won in front of my family. To win at home, in front of a home crowd is as cliched as it sounds, but also truly special.

What were you doing when you left UVM? I wanted to experience life in the world.

I travelled and worked for Green

Mountain Valley School as a ski racing technician. When I got back to UVM, I started doing contract work assisting sponsorship agreements between U.S. based athletes and teams with Eddy Merckx USA. How did you start the Jackalope Northeast Cycling team?

In 2017 I joined the former 1K2GO cycling team and I took over operations in 2019. I thought the team needed to move its purpose away from high performance to trying to pull in riders who were challenged by high barriers for entry into the sport including cost of equipment, inability to find coaches or mentors, and difficulty getting to events.

We made a decision to repurpose how we’d function by creating a more welcoming environment. We want to build a community where kids and adults can thrive and explore healthy habits through cycling.

Riders don’t have to perform at the top end of the sport, but at the top level of themselves.

When Bobby Bailey [the founder of 1K2GO] moved to Delaware, he wanted to run a program there under the 1K2GO name. My company, Jackalope Sports Group, had already been providing sponsorship for our team, so we changed the name to Jackalope Northeast Cycling. We are not the same operating entity as when we were 1K2GO. The goals, purpose, and methodology are all entirely different.

Our aim is to be welcoming of all in a community-oriented manner and in

Tell us about the team members.

Anyone can join Jackalope Northeast Cycling. Most riders have spoken with someone on the team ahead of time and are put in touch with someone who is helping to organize to see what the benefits of riding with a team are, and whether it fits with their goals and needs for the year. We’re looking for active and regular participation and anything from a minimum vague goal to very specific targets throughout the year.

Where appropriate and warranted, we will link riders with coaching services to further their individual efforts. As one rider rises from within the group, the riders around them will rise to the challenge too. It’s pretty cool to see that happen. If joining the team isn’t for you, but you or someone you know believes in the mission to cultivate a safe place to participate in sport, we happily accept donations for a number of infrastructure projects or for the general use fund.

Who are your team members?

We have 33 cyclists. Five are U23 racers and four are in the “fringe division” which is how we refer to the performance racers. Cycling has a history of elitism, especially in competition. To reference elite performers is to perpetuate that rhetoric. While we have athletes who aim to perform at the top of their sport, we do not refer to them as elite, but as a fringe division of the team focused on high performance.

The rest of the team ranges from 25 to 75 years of age. Most are from Chittenden County, but we have a few new riders from the Montpelier area and a few from New Jersey and Massachusetts who spend considerable time in Vermont. The idea is that we’re supporting individual goals throughout the year, be it getting new equipment, riding with new people, or just building community. Each year, the level of riding is elevated.

And your top racers?

One of our junior athletes, Griff Larson, was coached by Jake Hollenbach last year and we provided him with funds for travel and races. Griff has tackled gravel and mountain bike racing and has mostly raced in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. He works in the summer at Catamount Outdoor Family Center as a counselor for the summer programs, and races regularly on Wednesday evenings for Catamount’s XC series which Jackalope Sports Group sponsors.

This year, we’ve gained two U23 riders from UVM, Tanner Putt and

Kaitlyn Agnew, who will be heading to nationals for road racing. The three of them join me in the fringe division.

These kids are exciting to watch. We also have two new juniors named Lela and Leita Griffith who just joined us.

They are sisters from Connecticut who just moved to Stowe. They are focusing on road, gravel and cyclocross. I’m really happy they’re interested in drop handlebars since most kids aren’t interested in road cycling anymore.

We are pretty well aligned with the local gravel scene and the Green Mountain Stage Race. We treat that as our home race. We provide volunteers and we are the lead riders for the Kids Crit.

What do you mean about the team being ‘community oriented’?

Members of the team have to do community service like Green Up Day or trail clearing. They can also opt to organize or lead rides or volunteer at races. We don’t dictate what they do and it’s an honor system. We don’t hold anyone’s feet to the flames.

The team is based on five tenets which are borrowed from taekwondo: Courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit.

I was bullied as a kid, and in middle school and high school in Montpelier,

I turned to taekwondo which gave me confidence and stopped the bullying.

In talking with friends years later, they would say it was something different in the way I walked. I think it was a confidence boost, ego boost, however you want to look at it. Taekwondo is something beautiful and ferocious.

Discovering that would make anyone walk a little differently.

When we were reworking the purpose of the team, I felt that we needed some kind of code, and this fit really well. In the old days, coaches taught juniors racers that their goal was to prove their value to their sponsors but that’s not the way we operat.e What does the team do for the Jackalope riders?

One of the keys is coming up with a stock of equipment. Niner has been giving us frames and we build them for the fringe division of the team. We got four frames for the new riders and their old frames get recycled into our inventory. We keep building that inventory year after year.

We’re looking for investment in longterm infrastructure from our sponsors.

Money going into travel doesn’t come back, but money going into equipment can be reused. It’s more important to get someone on a bike than to a bike race.

If I recall, you had a bike building business years ago so you should be good at recycling those bike parts.

I’ve always been doing that sort of thing. Building bikes is the core of my business and where my knowledge base comes from. Jackalope Sports Group is a consultative sales agency. As the principal agent I strive to keep our selection of brands within the space of innovation and inspiration at all levels of participation in the outdoors. When I go to sell products, it’s from a very technical standpoint.

On the team side, bringing in frames and building them up is a carryover from when I ran Flahute Bikes in Burlington while I was in college. I started that business largely because I needed a nice bike and couldn’t afford to buy one. I had that brand for six years before I shut it down. Now, I’d rather collaborate with the brands I work with who are known for integrity and innovation.

Tell us about collaborating with the Richard Tom Foundation and Green Mountain Bicycle Club.

Our collaboration with the Richard Tom Foundation came from a few different places. I worked briefly with Richard at Earl’s Cyclery in Williston. Richard, who was hit by a car and killed while

cycling in Hinesburg in 2015, was very influential and had a lasting impact on me. RTF advocates for safer roads and cycling infrastructure, and we do, as well. We set out to find ways to promote each other’s missions and ideas and get the word out there. The Foundation is very well known in the Burlington area but not beyond. We travel across the country. One of our riders, Doug Coker, is living in Spain and wearing our kit while racing there.

Our collaboration with the Green Mountain Bicycle Club has been a carry-over affiliation from 1K2GO but we’ve worked closely with [club president] Kevin Bessette in trying to build community. IK2GO was the racing leg of the bike club and we’re taking that over and are happy to work together.

Is the team where you want it to be right now?

Unfortunately, no. We are still predominantly white males. I very much would like to see more diversity.

I believe we’ve done a good job showing that we’re welcoming to all and to lower the barriers of entry, but the result hasn’t been seen yet and will probably take a little longer.

—Phyl Newbeck

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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 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 4 | West River Trail Run, South Londonderry This full 11-mile trail run starts at the South Londonderry Depot and ends at Jamaica State Park . thecollaborative.us/westrivertrailrun/ 9 | New England Series, Springfield One of a series of 6 runs held on consecutive days in 6 New England states, with distance options for a 50K, marathon, half marathon, 10K, and 5K at each event day. The races have a “no runner left behind” policy, and organizers stay until the final finisher crosses the line. Walkers and parents with strollers welcome. mainlymarathons.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

30 VTSPORTS.COM | JUNE 2022

RACE & EVENT GUIDE 18 | 21st Annual Basin Harbor 5K & 10K A 5K and 10K at beautiful Basin Harbor – a spectacular resort on the shores of Lake Champlain. Racevermont.com

16 | Farm to Fork Fun Run, South Hero A non-competitive run where you get to choose the distance best for you (1mi, 5k, or 10k) and stop for chef-prepared bites at farms along the way. farmtoforkfintess.com

18 | Birdland 5k, Montpelier Enjoy the beauty of Montpelier’s North Branch Park as you travel across rolling singletrack, lush forested hills, and babbling brooks. Our Birdland 5K will have two fully stocked aid stations and HOKA running shoe demos. onionriver.com

30 | Bennington Trailfest, Bennington A free event for hikers and the community!

Workshops, activities, food, and entertainment, all geared towards increasing awareness of the A.T. and Long Trail. /benningtonvt.org/bennington-trailfest/

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

31 | Caspian Lake Challenge, Greensboro The 11th Annual Caspian Challenge lake run/5K, sponsored by the Greensboro Association, is back to normal this year, with official timing and bibs, and prizes for winners in various categories. greensboroassociation.org

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 3 | Montpelier Mile, Montpelier This classic 1 miler through downtown Montpelier starts at 6 pm. Don’t forget the Dash for Cash! The first man and woman that make it to the corner of Main and State get $50! onionriver.com 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 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,. Vermont100.com

AUGUST 6 | Sugarworks Trail Run, Shelburne Run or run/walk the 5K, or run the 10K (two loops of the 5K). The course is rolling - mostly through the woods on the beautiful trail system that Shelburne Sugarworks. racevermont.com 13| Slate Valley Scramble, Poultney A trail running race that features an 8K, half marathon, and kid’s fun run on some of VT's newest and best single & doubletrack trails on Slate Valley Trails’ network. slatevalleytrails.org 14 | 100 on 100 Relay, Stowe TStarting at the Trapp Family Lodge Bierhall, the course covers 100 miles on scenic Route 100 from Stowe to Ludlow.

100on100relay.com 20 | Craftsbury Beer Run, Craftsbury A point to-point dirt road half marathon from Craftsbury Outdoor Center to Highland Lodge. Post-race picnic will be catered by Hardwick’s Caja Madera Food Truck at Highland Lodge. Think catered farmer’s market picnic party extravaganza! Jasper Hill cheese, Hill Farmstead Beer, Front Seat Coffee pastries. craftsburybeerrun.com 27 | Vergennes Day Race, Vergennes Sign up to walk a 5K, or run a 5K, 10K or 15K as this race comes back in person for its 41st year. vergennes.org 28 | Race to the Top of VT, Stowe Hikers, bikers, and runners from across the U.S. and Canada to climb Mt. Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak to benefit the Catamount Trail Association. The course ascends the historic Mansfield Toll Road. It is 4.3 miles in length, and has 2564 feet of up. rttovt.com

BIKING JUNE 11 | The Moose, Derby A 103-mile "timed event" on wide open, "car hungry" roads through 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.com 18 | 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. Proceeds support the Friends of Northern Lake Champlain. friendsofnorthernlakechamplain.org 18 | VT Monster, Stratton This is a challenging 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 courses: 75 and 50 miles of epic and very challenging riding Vtmonster.com 17-19 | Bikepack Workshop, Poultney During this weekend-long bikepacking camp, Trailhouse VT's Hardy Avery and Caitrin Maloney share tips, and techniques learned through a variety of bikepacking experiences to help give you the confidence to tackle your own adventures. trailhousevt.com 18 | B2VT, Stratton Grab your buddies and get ready to ride with the pack from Bedford, Mass. to the finish line at Stratton Mountain, Vermont.

Enjoy the full B2VT 145 mile peddle, or the B2VT Century Ride of 100 miles, from Massachusetts to Vermont. Stratton.com 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 MTB 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 save your reserves, as the big climbs kick in during the second half of the ride, culminating in the 12-mile Mt. Snow climb. 100-200.org 26 | Central Vermont Cycle Tour, Montpelier The Cross Vermont Trail Association's "Original Gravelgrinder" features mountain vistas, farm fields, white steepled churches, historic barns, waterfalls and lakes. n.

A supported ride with convenient food stops, well marked courses, and bike patrol on duty. All wrapping up with a hearty, homestyle, picnic dinner. bikereg.com/cvct

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 16 | Raid Lamoille, Craftsbury Rolling This gravel riding classic offers a 50-mile route as well as a 25-miler, both deliver the legendary Raid Lamoille elevation gain!The Women's No Drop Group Ride also makes its return. Pre-ride there's fresh java from the 802 Coffee plus UnTapped Maple sampling products. At the finish; craft beer from Lawson's Finest and a terrific spread from the Craftsbury General Store. grvl.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 7 | Slab City Trail Challenge, Randolph This event incorporates a majority of the single track that Randolph has to offer. Your goal is to ride to the top of the three major peaks either individually or as a team relay.

People can choose their route based on riding ability. This event will start and end at The Gear House hosting an after event with local food beverage and music. .bikereg. com/slab-city-trail-tour 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 13-14 | Black River Grand Prix, Craftsbury A celebration of fast racing, big loops, varied terrain, and fun on bikes in the woods. The format is simple: Saturday is a short track XC race and Sunday is a mass start on one big lap. This ain’t XCO or even XCC, this is VT mountain biking - flow, tech, jank, doubletrack, and even a dirt road or two - there’s something for everyone. .craftsbury.com 28 | Cycle 4 CMT Ride/Walk, Shelburne Enjoy a morning ride with family and friends while supporting those with CMT. Cyclists can choose from one of four beautiful cycling routes of up to 41 miles that travel through the scenic Vermont towns of Shelburne, Charlotte and Hinesburg. All routes start and end at the Old Lantern in Charlotte. cycle4cmt.com

SEPTEMBER 2-5 | Green Mountain Stage Race, Burlington Stage 1 is individual time trial.

Stage 2 is a circuit race. Stage 3 includes the Middlebury Gap and a finish at the Summit of the Appalachian Gap. The event concludes with the Stage 4 Burlington Criterium on a thrilling 6 turn downtown 1K course. Daily podiums and cash prizes as well as GC, Sprint and K/QoM leader's jerseys. Eight categories for different ages and abilities. gmsr.info 10 | Kelly Brush Ride, Middlebury Participants can ride 100, 50, 20 or 10 mile routes through the scenic Champlain Valley.

For those who can’t make it to Vermont, the foundation offers a virtual option that allows participants to take part in the fundraising ride from anywhere. The ride benefits the

Kelly Brush Foundation and helps people with spinal cord injuries resume active lives. kellybrushfoundation.org 10 | Woodsplitter MTB Challenge, Pittsfield. The ultimate 6hr event at the home of the Spartan founder, Joe DeSena.

Our race’s diabolical origins date back to the 666 race eight years ago, which featured a short, but brutal, six-mile loop ridden for six hours up steep skidder roads and through our budding trail system, barely recognizable to what it’s grown into. =. gmtrail.org

WATER & MULTISPORTS 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 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-derbyJune 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

championships. Each race has Team and Aqua Bike Categories (swim and bike. No run). These classic, pristine courses start and finish at Branbury State Park on beautiful Lake Dunmore. Triathlons repeat July 17 and Aug. 14. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

JULY 16 | Trout Day, Sugarbush, Waitsfield Learn the basics of fly fishing. Participate in the Trout Unlimited raffle for cool prizes. Maybe try to catch a brookie in the Clay Brook. Casting instruction and fly-tying demonstrations. The event is free.

Sugarbush.com 17 | Vermont Sun Triathlon & Branbury Classic Salisbury The Vermont Sun 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 17 | Vermont Sun & Lake Dunmore Triathlons, Salisbury Race a 600 yard swim, 14 mile bike and 3.1 mile run or the Lake Dunmore Triathlon: a 1500 yard swim, 28 mile bike and 6.2 mile run. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

25 | Vermont Sun & Lake Dunmore Triathlons, Salisbury The Vermont Sun Triathlon is a 600 yard swim, 14 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. The Lake Dunmore Triathlon is a 1500 yard swim, 28 mile bike and 6.2 mile run. The events are the USA Triathlon Sprint and Olympic Vermont State

Ethan Allen Biathlon Club 2022 Summer Race Series

DATES July 7, 14, 21, August 4,11, 18

TIMES 5:00 pm - Mandatory Safety Clinic 5:30 to 6:00 pm - Zeroing 6:15 pm - Race Start WHERE Ethan Allen Biathlon Club Ethan Allen Rd., Jericho, VT

Register online at SkiReg.com More Info: www.eabiathlon.org

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THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS? IT COULD BE THE TINY THINGS

CAN THERE BE AS MUCH FULFILLMENT IN LOOKING AT WHAT CRAWLS BETWEEN YOUR TOES AS THERE IS GAINING THAT FAR-OFF SUMMIT? BY LEATH TONINO

ccording to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, the number of invertebrate species found in the state — arthropods, mollusks, worms — is in the ballpark of 21,400. It’s a rough estimate, but you get the idea. The idea is simple: Many!

Hold that in mind as you read on.

Kobayashi Issa, the Japanese haiku poet from the late 1700s is pretty much the most lovable writer of all time.

That’s in large part because he attends to the lives of tiny, overlooked critters, especially insects, with compassion and humor and a lot of brave honest heart.

I’ve been enjoying his perspective for decades now, but a quote from translator R.H. Blyth that I recently happened upon officially sealed the deal: “Issa wrote 54 haiku on the snail, 15 on the toad, nearly 200 on frogs, about 230 on the firefly, more than 150 on the mosquito, 90 on flies, over 100 on fleas and nearly 90 on the cicada, making a total of about 1,000 verses on such creatures.”

Pulling randomly from those thousand verses, here are three examples:

bird cheep-cheeping in the thicket can sing through your entire being.

Of course, this opening of awareness and gratitude isn’t dependent on the physical mountains. The constructed canyons of Burlington. The green suburban lawns of Rutland and Essex.

Gas station parking lots in Randolph, Warren, Enosburg, Guildford. These are the daily wildernesses where our lives take shape and lose shape and regain shape. I’m tempted to refer to them as Issa Wilds, each an invitation to connect and expand.

In the book A Zen Wave, Roshi Robert Aitken celebrates Issa’s predecessor, the haiku master Matsuo Basho, by contrasting him with a different character type: “It is possible to train yourself to be dull. Don’t pay attention to things.

Preoccupy yourself with brooding. The dull person is one who has practiced not noticing closely.” We can train ourselves to be dull, absolutely, and that’s a big problem. But what I want to emphasize is that in doing so we are simultaneously training ourselves to be sad—or at least sadder than necessary.

Issa was a sad, sad, sad guy, no doubt about it, yet his poems of “attention to things” and “noticing closely” are affirmations of the world, and it’s this capacity to affirm, not despite the hard knocks but because of them, that makes him a genuinely lovable writer.

One human being, one fly, in a large room.

Don’t worry spiders I keep house casually O flea! whatever you do, don’t jump; that way is the river.

If you ever want to make your pack feel lighter, watch what the ants beneath your feet carry.

Some might argue that Issa’s tender, warm regard for the easily ignored—heck, easily crushed—lifeforms stems from his Buddhist faith. Well, yeah, definitely.

The first of Buddhism’s five precepts is to abstain from killing, and Issa was a lay priest in the True Pure Land Buddhism school. But I think there’s a more basic factor at play, namely that in addition to being the most lovable writer of all time, he’s pretty much the saddest writer of all time, too.

What a sad, sad, sad guy. Issa was orphaned. Issa was perpetually impoverished and sick. Issa was a widower and the father of four children who all died in infancy. This relentless parade of hard knocks made him, I believe, available to the myriad fragile buggies, i.e. made him able to feel for them and, in turn, receive a feeling from them. A feeling of friendship and support.

A feeling of we’re-in-this-together solidarity. Only because he was broken down could he be lifted back up by their presence.

I’m no Issa. In fact, my life is so ridiculously charmed that I actively choose hardship, which is to say I immerse myself in the Green Mountain wilderness as a hobby, a discipline. On the regular, I pack a rucksack with minimal food and clothing, a thin foam pad, a threadbare sleeping bag, a cheap plastic tarp, and trudge into the hills alone. The goal isn’t a relaxing vacation, but rather an elemental scouring, an existential adventure. Violent storms and intense vulnerability. Real raw contact with huge ancient forces.

Last week, reading Issa, I recalled a backcountry trip from my early twenties, when I was new to the challenges of going solo, unaccustomed to facing—all by my lonesome—Vermont’s more severe faces.

Sleet fell for two days and two nights on the Long Trail, pinning me beneath my pathetic tarp shelter. The portable camp stove ran out of fuel. The cold gnawed my bones. The wind screamed and screamed, rarely pausing to catch its breath. Inkblack spruce. Rocky ground. Indeed, the

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Adobe

forces were huge and ancient.

But then, to my delight and surprise, forces very, very small, were crawling right under my nose. “I’ve never had friends like ants before,” a journal entry from that trip declares. “Friends that show up when you’re blue and without saying anything make you smile.”

Maybe you’ve had a similar experience, a low, rotten, hopeless, isolated moment that unexpectedly swung open like a gate: Wow, how incredibly beautiful you are butterfly/ chipmunk/sparrow/slug, thanks a ton for visiting, please do come again soon. Thank you, thank you, thank you. When we are humbled—no longer Lord Man On His Throne but Dinky Hairless Ape Lost In The Woods—we can begin to notice and appreciate that which has been routinely neglected.

A spider weaving its web across the hollow of your boot can be a savior. A silly mouse that clumsily steals your dinner’s crumbs can be a relief valve on the pressure cooker of the self. A

Take care in the grass— don’t wipe out those pearls of dew, little cricket!

Need I say more? This haiku, with its insistence that a pearl of dew is itself another kind of tiny overlooked critter, easily ignored and easily crushed, illustrates where Issa’s lifelong work—call it Buddhist, call it literary, call it both—ultimately leads. For him, the realm of sympathy and concern is limitless. Every detail matters.

Every detail deserves 17 syllables. One thousand verses on “such creatures” (R.H. Blyth) is just a start.

How many invertebrate species are found in Vermont? Yup, approximately 21,400. It’s a rough estimate, but you get the idea. The idea is simple: Lotta opportunities to be drawn out of yourself, to be buoyed, to be amazed. Lotta poems to be written.

A version of this essay originally appeared on the Tricycle Magazine blog.

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