East Coast Events — beginning SUNDAY
Posted on Saturday, August 29th, 2009
It’s a sweltering and humid 80 degrees in VT with Hurricane Bob kicking up epic surf just a few hours away on the coast, and that can only mean one thing:
Ski season is close!
OK, not too close, but we ought to start getting in shape because if you want to go down, you have to get UP!
For the past several seasons I’ve prepped for skinning by competing in a few hill climb races on bike and foot. The races are short, friendly, and most are charity events for a good cause.
On August 3o (TOMORROW), the Catamount Trail Association is hosting The Race to the Top of Vermont at Stowe Mountain Resort. The Catamount Trail is a great cause that all backcountry skiers in New England should support – 300+miles of free cross country skiing, but it’s not just meadow skipping. The public access trail they work to keep open just happens to provide easy access to some of the best powder filled glades in the state.
The race is open to mountain bikers and runners, had several hundred participants last year, and boasts big sponsorship dollars to provide a great after-party and prizes.
The Burke Mountain Bike Race is on September 5 in Burke, Vermont. This mass start paved road climb is one of the steepest and tallest in the East (~2,400’ gain in 4.7 miles, for an average pitch just under 10%, and a max pitch of ~18%). This race is part of the B.U.M.P.S Championship Series.
If you can’t make it to Burke, or want to ride more than 5 miles for your entry fee, consider showing up for the Green Mountain Stage Race. For those not capable of 4 straight days of racing, there’s a “citizens’” division one day Road Race on September 6 that’s 75 miles long including a climb over Middlebury Gap and a finish on top of the amazing Appalachian Gap.
On October 3 Mad River Glen and The Stark Mountain Foundation host the Stark Mountain Hill Climb as part of their Green&Gold Fall Foliage Celebration. The race is on foot up the slopes of the Mad River Glen ski resort. True to MRG’s ethos of “Ski It If you Can” you can choose any route you want up the mountain, which brings a fun element of strategy into the race. This is great training for dawn patrol skinning your favorite resort.
Combine the Stark Mountain run with a Appalachian Gap road bike time trial on October 4 to compete for duathlon points. The annual Allen Clark Hill Climb might seem like a grueling and serious event, but the participants make it really fun and low key with a big kids division and even several unicycles competing every year. My first year competing had warm sun and fall foliage at the start in the valley, but we climbed into thick and cold clouds high on the mountain pass – an amazing and dramatic race experience. I’ve got a duathlon title to “defend” this year, so I better start training.
It’s hot now, but we’ll be breaking trail and earning our turns soon enough. Are you ready? Gotta get up, for the down stroke.
its cool how a company based in wyoming is posting news to a guy in idaho about his home state vermont!