Vermont Foodbank takes up the fight against hunger with the annual Harpoon Point to Point ride on Sunday, Aug. 12. Since its inception in 2002, the Harpoon Point to Point has become the Vermont Foodbank’s largest fundraiser of the year, raising […]
Category: Switching Gears
Featured, Switching Gears
Downhill pros tackle Killington singletrack
By Evan Johnson Dry weather meant fast times for mountain bikers competing in the Beast of the East Pro Mountain Bike Gravity Tour (Pro GRT) at the Killington Bike Park. Competitors battled it out Thursday, July 27 through Sunday, July […]
Sports, Switching Gears
Race report: Peak Gnarly Adventure and Six-Hour Challenge
By Matt Baatz Six-Hour Challenge The first wave of intrepid racers lined up on the top of Tweed. Downpours in the wee hours of the morning were enough to make the course, henceforth known as the “gnarled albatross” for the […]
Sports, Switching Gears
Uncaging the human spirit
By: Matt Baatz I remember what hooked a lot of us into mountain biking in the early 90s. The sense of freedom of riding a bike, multiplied by mastering daunting terrain in beautiful natural settings, yielded exponential results. The payoff […]
Sports, Switching Gears
GMT hosts two rides Sunday
PITTSFIELD—The Green Mountain Trails (GMT) will host two mountain bike races this Sunday: GMT Gnarly Adventure and the 6-hour Challenge. Both races take place on Sunday, Sept. 18, on the Green Mountain Trails in Pittsfield and include a barbecue free […]
Sports, Switching Gears
The hills are alive
By: Matt Baatz Your mom just handed you your first box of crayons. I’m betting one of the first things you draw is a big yellow sun with a smiley face benevolently spreading warmth over your world. Then you spend […]
Sports, Switching Gears
It’s not the latest technology that makes biking so great
By Ariel Kent In this day and age mountain bikes come in all shapes and sizes. There’s fatbikes, plus bikes, 650B, 29ers, and the good old 26-inch. One is definitely not better than the other, and up until 5-10 years […]
Sports, Switching Gears
How to build a trail
By Matt Baatz Scouting Scan the terrain when the vegetation is waning. Bushwack. Get lost. Find the chunks of terrain that make your heart skip a beat—a rideable ledge, a swoopy piece of old road that you can modify, a […]
Sports, Switching Gears
Going up the Rabbit Hole
By Matt Baatz A small tree upended and took out a chunk of Rabbit Hole, an unmapped and lightly-signed trail, but popular nevertheless. It’s a pretty freakin’ rippin’ ride down, so the day I was backfilling the damage it was […]
Sports, Switching Gears
Nothing is free, even trail networks
By Ariel Kent No trail net work is free. This idea was ignited in my mind this past week by trail steward Matt Baatz of Green Mountain Trails. No trail network is free and here’s why: trail networks that are […]