HOMETOWN FAVORITES

FROM STRATTON TO BURKE, HERE ARE SOME PROS' FAVORITE BACKYARD TRAILS.

With this issue, we’re launching a new feature: Locals’ Favorites where we ask a few local experts to share their favorite local spots – be it trails or places to grab a beer after riding. While these people have ridden and raced all over the country, some of their favorite places to session are near where they live here in Vermont. Here’s why.

ZEKE NEUBAUER - MANCHESTER

Zeke Neubauer, 30, grew up in California riding BMX and motocross, surfing and skating. He moved to Vermont in 2016 and transitioned to mountain bikes. For the past three years he’s been racing pro and men’s elite classes on a national level in both downhill and enduro disciplines.

He’s also become a trail builder, building on private land near the home he and his girlfriend Ali Kaukas built in Manchester.

Favorite local trail?

My favorite local trail is Garden Gnomes at Stratton Bike Park. What makes this trail unique is that it has a rollercoaster feel; it’s fast and also a bit tight so you feel like you’re flying through the woods. It really pulls your focus in. There are a couple funky rock gardens that take a bit of time to find the right line through and also a couple of sneaky gaps you can link in. It’s about high speed with flow and precision. The trail isn’t the longest (about 1,965 feet of trail total), but it is super engaging and always leaves me coming back for more.

Best post-ride swimming hole: The Stratton snowmaking pond has nice, deep, clear water to cool the body off and plenty of warm rocks where you can bake in the sun like a lizard, after.

Best local place for a post-ride beverage or meal:

Honey-Pie in Jamaica is locally-owned by some amazing people. It has delicious food you can enjoy while sitting out on the grass. The O.G. Burger, the Vietnamese Sausage and the Flash Fried Cauliflower are usually my go-tos.

Favorite local trail you’d take a novice MTBer on?

Ghetty’s Berm at Raptor Lane in Dorset. The climb is long and really mellow with just enough challenge and the down trail is really fun for all skill levels. My girlfriend and I ride it together and she has a blast. It’s built for novice level riders with great flow and fun features but allows for riders who like higher speeds to piece rollers into doubles and there are some pretty sneaky gaps all along the trail. Great trail design that supplies the goods for all levels of riders. I have so much appreciation for all the builders who create these amazing trails we get to ride. If it wasn’t for all their hard work I don’t know what we’d do!

AMY

ALTON – PITTSFIELD

Amy Alton, 48, did her first mountain bike race in 2012 and went on to race pro at UCI World Cup and Maxxis Eastern Cup events. She and her partner Vince Micciche moved from the Washington D.C. area where she worked for the Dept. of Defense, to the Killington area in 2015 and she began hosting Killington’s Dirt Divas women’s rides. Alton now has her own recruiting firm, M.E.T. Consulting.

Favorite local trail?

Archie Baker segment (it’s about 1 mile) of Sherburne Trails in Killington has fantastic, fun features—both natural and built — scattered throughout. These include large boulder up-and-overs, ladders off boulders, rock spines into drops and built doubles. There’s great flow until you hit the next option line which makes for good clean fun and it’s great to session. Plus, there’s loads more to ride at Sherburne and all the trails are super accessible.

Best post-ride swimming hole: Our daily ritual is to splash down at the bend in the Tweed River near Pittsfield.

Best local place for a post-ride beverage or meal:

“The Clear” (the Clear River Tavern in Pittsfield, “When you’re here, you’re in The Clear”) has excellent outdoor and indoor seating and fantastic service and food. Go see Buffy for delicious beverages and tell her the Diva of Dirt sent you for a complimentary high five.

Favorite local trail you’d take a novice MTBer on?

The trails behind the USFS Ranger Station in Rochester are great. Hit up the Old Gents descent by way of Sap Boiler.

It’s a flowy, machine-built trail that descends from Summit Knob.

ANSEL DICKEY – WOODSTOCK

As a junior racing for Killington Mountain School, Ansel Dickey was a Cat 1 contender. Dickey, now 28, has since switched to gravel riding and took over running the Vermont Overland Grand Prix and other Overland races devoted to mountain biking and running. Dickey runs Vermont Social, a media and advertising company out of the Woodstock area where he lives with his wife Gertrude Suokko.

as The Woodstock Inn was opening their eyes to the idea of mountain biking. It’s super flowy and fast at the top and then turns into something a bit more rough and grippy, as the name suggests. There are not many trails in Vermont of this nature and magnitude that are “hand built.” It’s about as flowy and big as any trail can get without using real machinery to build it. In my opinion, hand-built trails have a really unique quality to them and I much prefer them over the machine-built stuff. Cloud Drop does a really good job of bringing the speed, flow, and “send” that you’d get from a machine-built trail into a more unique and organic hand-built package. The soil on that slope of hill is top notch too.

Best post-ride swimming hole: That would have to be the Iron Bridge in Woodstock! The rope swing on River Road isn’t bad as well, just make sure you dodge the high schoolers.

Best local place for a post-ride beverage or meal:

Favorite MTB trail:

It’s Cloud Drop to lower Hard Style on the southern end of the Mount Peg network in Woodstock. I helped build this trail with Gavin Vaughn a long time ago right

Abracadabra Coffee Co. just opened their new facility on Route 12 on your way north out of Woodstock. It’s the perfect mid-ride spot, although it is a bit far out of town for those who don’t like pedaling. I like pedaling though.

Favorite local trail you’d take a novice MTBer on?

Tough call! Honestly, I’d probably start them out on some mellow gravel roads around town, and then explore a Class 4 road or two. They are a nice way to test out a rougher surface on a mountain bike without being on a narrow and winding single track trail.

NICK BENNETTE — WATERBURY CENTER

Nick Bennette, 40, is the executive director of the Vermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA). He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, riding BMX and then raced road, mountain and cyclocross as a collegiate rider at Boston University. Bennette was living in Washington state (where he was the state cyclocross champion) when he accepted the job to lead the Vermont Mountain Bike Association in 2021. Bennette, his wife Carrie and son Theo live in Waterbury Center.

Favorite MTB trail near home?

Six Flags at Perry Hill is my ‘desert island’ trail (If you could bring one trail with you...). It is a true double-black diamond trail, of which Vermont does not have many. The lower half includes an olderschool, technical flow section and the upper half features newer-school berms and jumps built in 2021. The entirety of the 0.62-mile trail integrates existing rock features that provide both challenge and connection to the natural landscape. Six Flags is also one of the few purposebuilt mountain bike trails on state land in Vermont, which in total account for just about 45 miles of our 1,000+ miles of singletrack.

Best post-ride swimming hole: From the Perry Hill trailhead, you can walk right down to the Winooski River. It’s shallow and fast-moving, so not much for ‘swimming’ - but it’s hard to imagine a better feeling than splashing in after a long ride on a hot summer’s day!

Best local place for a post-ride beverage or meal:

Perry Hill is a short pedal from downtown Waterbury, which has a host of amazing places to eat and drink. It’s a tough call as to the best spot though I have never been disappointed with Prohibition Pig’s legendary BBQ and impressive list of house brews. The restaurant can often be packed, but tucked around the back is their more spacious brewery, which has a smaller but equally delicious pub menu. And for a stellar creemee look no further than Crossroads Beverage & Deli at the Route 100 / Route 2 roundabout.

Favorite local trail you’d take a novice MTBer on?

In Waterbury, Little River State Park has a great loop for newer riders, with grades that are sufficiently mellow to make the climbing up Stonewall trail enjoyable while still providing a no-pedal descent down Highbridge or Hillfarmer. The only shortfall is the lack of mileage here - just under three miles of singletrack - but lapping a trail can be incredibly rewarding for beginners, allowing them to quickly build skills and confidence.

GREG DURSO – BURLINGTON

Greg Durso grew up in New York playing soccer, skiing and wakeboarding. In 2009, a sledding accident at Okemo severed his spinal cord. He took up handcycling and participated in the Kelly Brush Ride in Middlebury, a fundraiser for the KBF Foundation which supports people with spinal cord injuries pursue active lives. Since then, Durso, 38, has been working as Program Director for the foundation and has helped tailor mountain bike trails for adaptive bikes around the state. Durso played a big role in developing The Driving Range in Bolton, the first network in the country to be purpose-built for adaptive cycles, which opens this month.

Favorite trail:

For now, it’s Sheep Thrills in the Hinesburg Town Forest. It’s fast, chunky and rooty and it goes on an adaptive bike —which is hard to come by. It runs down the fall line. But that is also why I am so excited for the Driving Range/ Bone Mountain project with its downhill trail being built by Richmond Mountain Trails and scheduled to open in Bolton this month. That network has been purposely built with adaptive riders in mind. I could not be more excited to try it out and get more adaptive riders in Vermont.

Best post-ride swimming hole: Lake Champlain off my boat – the sunset never disappoints

Best local place for a post-ride beverage or meal:

I always pass through Richmond on my way back from riding so The Big Spruce or Hatchet for a meal and beer.

Favorite local trail you’d take a novice MTBer on?

I would have to say Florence at Stowe’s Cady Hill network. It’s not a crazy climb but a real fun downhill and a great way to get people excited about bikes.

ELLA MCANDREW – EAST BURKE

Ella Skalwold McAndrew was living in California when she first started mountain biking. That was in 2010. Five years later, she moved to East Burke, Vt. and started racing, moving up from Cat 2 in downhill to pro. She’s now 38, married to another pro racer, Alex McAndrew, and the couple run Green Mountain Pro Tune and coach as part of Vermont Bike Tours when they are not racing.

Favorite mountain bike trail?

Burke Mountain’s Rude Awakening is my go-to. I like that this channel offers a good mix of challenging riding with fast descending sections. I also like that subtle changes can really impact the overall ride. After so many years of riding there, I’m still learning new lines that make me have a better experience.

Best post-ride swimming hole: East branch of the Passumpsic.

Best local place for a post-ride beverage or meal:

I’m still partial to Mike’s Tiki Bar. Hazels ‘is pretty rad too!

Favorite local trail you’d take a novice MTBer on?

Many people know Kingdom Trails fairly well already, but I’d say the most underrated zone for new riders are the trails connected to Park Loop.

A Cycling Mentor

Name: Rachel Cohen Age: 35

Family: Husband, Tyler; 11-year-old border collie, Niva

Lives in: Jericho

Primary Sports: Cycling, mostly gravel and mountain biking with some cyclocross

Occupation: Humanities teacher at Colchester High School

Although Rachel Cohen only started racing after college, she’s made up for lost time and has developed a passion for endurance events. This summer, she’s heading to Italy’s Dolomites for a four-day, 720-kilometer race with her husband. She’s a mentor with Vermont Youth Cycling and one of the organizers of The Ranger gravel ride in Tunbridge.

When did you start cycling?

I grew up riding bikes recreationally near my home near Tunbridge. As a kid I can remember riding sections of the rail trail in Lamoille County and also, when I was ten, having my mom drop my dad and me off at the highest point of Route 110, just north of Chelsea Village, and letting us ride all the way down the hill and along the river into Tunbridge. I went to University of Vermont and when my roommate went abroad during my senior year, I asked if I could borrow the bike she’d left behind. I enjoyed it and when she got back, I asked my then-boyfriend, nowhusband if I could borrow his old bike until I got my own.

When did you start mountain biking?

In 2011, during my first year as a school teacher, my husband Tyler and I drove to North Carolina for a spring break trip of mountain biking in the Asheville area. I didn’t have a mountain bike, so I had to buy one for the trip, and I was hooked. I became part of the original Mountain Moxies that Kelly Ault started. I love being able to turn mountain biking into an endurance event. You can be creative by building on the trail networks. Tyler and I have designed a bunch of routes that put together different trails and Class 4 roads leaving from our house in Jericho.

How did you get involved with Vermont Youth Cycling?

I’m a lifelong Vermonter and in my 20s and 30s, I found my place in the cycling world and felt that the sphere was missing for kids. I wanted to foster that community for others. Vermont Youth Cycling started in 2018 and I joined the board of directors. Their mission —to educate and empower young riders to improve their skills and health while building both a stewardship ethic for the trails and a caring community —is aligned to my personal values.

We started with 40 to 60 kids at each race, but it’s grown tremendously, and they needed an executive director, so I offered to fill that role.

We are approaching 200 riders at every race, which is thrilling and unbelievably rewarding. Working with young people in the classroom I’ve been often troubled by how few of my students have the opportunity to experience the place where they live. As someone with a lot of access to outdoor recreation, it’s my passion and duty to create opportunities and open doors for young Vermonters to experience the place where they live and riding a bike is a way to do that.

How does Vermont Youth Cycling help more kids get on bikes?

Cycling is expensive. We want to help kids whose parents aren’t interested or can’t afford to get them on bicycles. We’re holding four races this year in the fall and a group ride on June 3 with the Ridge Riders. The rides will have youth leaders but will be swept by adults. We’re also offering a clinic for women and non-binary youth in August and some coaches clinics so students can have a more consistent and equitable experience around the state. At this point there are roughly 20 clubs affiliated with either schools or communities that are part of Vermont Youth Cycling.

That must dovetail with your teaching career.

I teach humanities to grades 9 through 12. I like that age because you can have high-level stimulating conversations with them. I think teenagers are really fun because they are figuring out the world in a way that leads to critical thinking. They’re forming their identities and have really strong views. By giving them new information, I’m helping them be able to wrestle with the complexities of the world.

For you, when did recreational riding turn to racing?

I raced the Leadville 100 in 2015 and then did a lot of local northeastern mountain bike races. In 2017, Tyler and I lived in Norway for a year. We weren’t sure what bikes to bring and could only bring one each. We learned that some people were putting knobbier tires on road bikes, so we did that and later discovered that we had created gravel bikes. The first weekend after we came home was the Vermont Overland. I hadn’t trained but we did so much riding in Norway that I entered and finished just off the podium. I discovered I really enjoyed that kind of racing and might even be good at it so I started taking it more seriously from there.

I’ve always considered myself an endurance athlete but racing at Catamount was a lot of fun. I did my first UCI race last season. I came in dead last, but I loved it.

What race are you most proud of?

The Overland in 2022 is the race I am most proud of because of my emotional growth not only on the day of the event but in the weeks after the race as well. One of my goals for the day was related to my start. In order to race at the pointy end and have any hope of finishing in the top five I knew I would need a very strong start to stay with the lead group. Instead, I totally botched it. I was so mad at myself. I rubbed tires with someone and totally lost my composure. My heart rate skyrocketed, and what felt like hundreds of people passed me. Miraculously, my friend and training partner Kim Coleman found me and very sternly told me to get on her wheel and take deep breaths. With her help and tough love, I got my emotions under control and my head wrapped around a revised race strategy. I picked people off for the next several hours and ended in 11th place. I was elated with my comeback, but not long after that we learned there had been a fatal accident on course. Processing the tragedy as a fellow competitor, event organizer, close friend to the Overland event director, and just as a human being was a lot. I was lucky enough to exchange a few words with Suleiman Kangangi on the starting line, but I’ve learned so much more about him since then. The whole thing changed a lot for me, including one really practical thing: at every starting line since then, I have started conversations with the people around me and I will do it in every race for the rest of my life. I will encourage the participants of the events I direct to do the same. I want the starting line to be a place where people look around and smile, laugh a little, encourage each other and honor the bravery it takes to show up for a big challenge.

What

other races have you done?

In 2022 I was able to travel to two bigger gravel races: Midsouth in Stillwater Oklahoma and Big Sugar in Bentonville, Arkansas. At Midsouth, I was 16th overall among women. At Big Sugar I was 44th and found out I had Covid two days later. It wasn’t the Arkansas dust that had me coughing for days.

How did end you up running The Ranger?

The Ranger started in 2018 and it’s based in Tunbridge which is where both my parents are from. Tyler and I volunteered to lead the Junior Ranger which is the youth race. In 2021, we had dinner with the organizer who had just moved to Montana and found it challenging to put on a race from that distance. He asked if we could help, and our first thought was that we knew nothing about putting on events.

We’ve had a tremendous outpouring of assistance from friends and industry partners, and we have almost 100 volunteers. Our mission is to give back to the community. We’ve donated over $10,000 to organizations that advance our mission of sustaining strong communities, conserving rural and agricultural land, and promoting outdoor recreation including the First Branch School Club, the Tunbridge Library, and the White River Land Collaborative. That’s the heart and the mission of the event.

We’ve got multiple ride distances and a gravel enduro format. It’s not a race but those who want to compete can do so. There is a five-mile fun ride, an 18-mile no-drop community ride, a 42mile gravel enduro ride, and a gravel metric century.

Taking on The Ranger really has to do with my own sense of place as a Vermonter and desire to use my passion for cycling to make an impact in areas that align with my core values. My uncle operates Howvale Farm on the border of the Tunbridge Fairgrounds and our riders pass through his land to start their day. The farm celebrates its 70th year as a small family dairy this summer. It’s pretty special.

What is the race you are doing in Italy this summer?

We’re doing a single-stage, self- supported 720-kilometer race in Italy in the Dolomites in July. It’s a brandnew event called the Memory Bike Adventure which is designed to cover a lot of the territory that was important in World War I. It includes a bunch of single lane passages high in the mountains. I wanted to do an ultraendurance race, but I also like to use cycling to travel to areas of cultural significance and as a life-long learner and a teacher of history, this combines my two passions.

It’s a four-day race for mountain bikes and Tyler and I are doing it together as a team. He’s generally stronger at the beginning of a ride and I’m stronger at the end but that’s when I need him to remind me to fuel up. The experience will be so much more than just the physical component of a four-day race but we’re a good team in marriage, as well as on the bike.

What do you love about racing?

I move through life at a pretty fast pace. I am at my best when I’m stimulated. Racing, putting on a number, lining up, and having a gun go off lets you clear your mind. I find it meditative. It’s a time when I’m alone with my mind and I’m forced to be self-sufficient. I have an opportunity to prove to myself how capable I am by my persistence, grit, and emotion. Being tolerant of adversity and uncertainty are skills that are transferable to everyday life. Racing illuminates what I can do and helps me prove I can do more than I think I can even if the outcome is not positive. It builds me into a more developed version of myself. —Phyl

Newbeck