Vermont 50 - 2019 Recap
The last Sunday of September marked the 27th annual Vermont 50 Mountain Bike or Ultra-Run located at the Ascutney Mountain West Windsor. Bikers took on the 50 mile course while runners chose between the 50 miles and 50 kilometers options.
The event consisted of a fundraiser for the Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports – a non-profit organization, that provides equipment and support to help people with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities participate in all sorts of outdoor activities and sports. This year, Class Act Racing opted to donate to help support this great cause. The race was entirely volunteer supported with folks taking on all aspects of registration, set up, packet pick up, drop bag transport, aid station support, clean up from the event, and much more! Thank you for each and every one of your efforts.
This being my first Vermont 50, I was excited to start my EPIC weekend. I opted to leave my home early Saturday morning. I checked in at the hotel and completed a casual mountain bike ride. I eagerly awaited the mandatory racer meeting held at 5:30 am. This educates riders/runners on which markings to follow and how to be courteous of the runners on the course. The brief also covered how special this race is. The 50 mile mountain bike race is held on over 70 pieces of private land. The course includes paved roads, dirt roads, fire roads, double track, farm land, and the most pristine single track.You ask, " Is the course hilly?" The answer is, "Yes, this is Vermont!". The course's total vertical for the 50 miles is about 8,900 '. The mantra of, "Get your climb on " helped to get me through this race after the mid-way point.
The expert race started at 6:05am as I was in the first wave to start. I was eager to get the show on the road. The predawn start is so much fun. With my MTB light gleaming the race official sounded the horn and off we went. Right out the gate it was clear what kind of race this would be. For many of us, climbing on a mountain bike is a necessary evil. You gotta up, so that we can go back down. Most of the climbs up were around 10-15%, but it got above 20% in some sections and is even steeper once the trail goes down.
At mile 25 I knew I could finish and I began to settle into my zone. The second half of the race made the first all worthwhile. Miles 30 through 40 consisted of gorgeous trails with awesome rock features and fast flowly singletrack. These left me craving more. All topped off with dramatic views of the beautiful and colorful landscape of Vermont revealing picturesque scenery of the surrounding valleys and hill tops.
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| View from atop Gavin Hill located at mile 17 |
Since 1993 the Vermont 50 has been a sought after race for mountain bikers and ultra runners to enjoy a challenging and scenic Vermont landscape course that is like no other. This race had something for everyone. The race was organized to perfection. The course was marked so well over the entirety of the course. There were ten aid stations! Basically one every 5 miles or so. You could stop to eat, drink, and converse. The course was lined with people cheering you on. So much electricity in the air. All the cheering and cow bells on the sides of the course were so motivating.
Time to thank the people who got me to this and many other finish lines over the course of this year. Thanks to the Team you are a great crew. To our sponsors, ESI Grips, Togs, Vittoria Tires, Honey Stinger. You are all amazing and we are so glad to rep your products.
And last but not least, I thank my family. They allow (put up with) my racing and training.
Class Act Racing
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