By Quinn Uva, Woodstock Mountain Bike Team Captain This is the quintessential run to do when visiting Woodstock. This run is one of the oldest in Woodstock making it a classic and has been heavily revamped in recent years. The easiest way to access “Cloud Drop” to “Sir Bermsalot” is from the Knox Meadow parking…

How did you get into Mountain Biking? Do you remember your first  time  on a single track? What were you riding? When I was in college in the early 1990s my childhood friend began riding and I was intrigued. Shortly after, I purchased my first mountain bike, a GT Tequesta. Modern mountain bike design was in…

Quinn Uva, 18, is an accomplished mountain bike racer who's competed in race circuits across the northeast throughout his teenage years —often besting riders with many more years under their belts! He's no stranger to the podium either, having won the 2023 Maxxis ESC Stan's Enduro in Woodstock, Oct. 1, 2023 as a U-20 rider…

Woodstock Middle/High is the first public school in the state to field a varsity team  By Katy Savage and Polly Mikula Mountain biking has been such a popular club sport at Woodstock Union High School that this fall it became a varsity sport. And it made history as the first public school in the state…

By Polly Mikula Mountain biking in Vermont is now the state’s fastest-growing form of outdoor recreation, according to the Vermont Mountain Bike Association (VMBA) a non-profit that provides advocacy, education, and community-driven stewardship statewide and to local chapters.  “The growth of the sport has been exponential in the past — call it five years,” Mark…

Improvements in equipment and trails over the past decade have made the sport more fun for more people By Polly Mikula Mountain biking even just a few decades ago was a very different sport than it has evolved to be today. Mountain bikes “back in the day” were only slightly different than their road counterparts…

Vermont Adaptive produces the event at the Fox U.S. Open at Killington Resort. This will be its fourth year. The race is the only adaptive downhill race held East of the Mississippi River, according to Vermont Adaptive's blog.  Trail accessibility for mountain bikers of all abilities, including adaptive riders, got a big boost this year…

By Katy Savage Mazie Hayden, a 23-year-old Killington Mountain School graduate from Pittsfield, has become a regular presence on mountain bike race podiums. This will be her fourth time at the Fox U.S. Open of Mountain Biking. She got third place in Dual Slalom in 2022 and fifth last year, while she got 15th in…

By Katy Savage Sarah Hamlin was 11 when she first started mountain bike racing. She competed in the U-12 category with boys because there weren’t enough girls for them to have their own team. Now, 15, Hamlin is a sophomore at Killington Mountain School and she just became a professional rider for the first time…

By Katy Savage Sitota LaRocque, 15, is only a freshman at Killington Mountain School, but this will already be her second time competing in the U.S. Open.She’ll be riding with 12 other KMS athletes, along with two coaches.  “It’s so awesome to have such a big event so local to me,” LaRocque said. Mountain Times…

By Katy Savage Joshua Poirier is in his second year as a downhill mountain bike coach at Killington Mountain School and he’s already “looking forward to many more,” he said. “The athletes I work with are all incredible people which makes my job fulfilling and fun.”  Poirier is a mountain bike racer on the side,…

By Katy Savage Dylan Conte has been mountain biking since he was about 12. A small bike park where he grew up was built and his dad dropped him off there. He’s been hooked ever since.  Mountain biking, he said, allows him to “both be competitive and be out in nature,” Conte said. “It’s something…

Spectators, watch the action all weekend at Killington Resort' s Ramshead base area.  All events are free to watch and hiking up the trails for better viewing is encouraged. A $15 spectator pass to ride the Ramshead Express quad uphill will also be available for purchase (go to the ticket booth on the second floor…

Young racers will also have their shot at the Fox U.S. Open in the Next Gen Youth Downhill event, which offers categories for intermediate and expert racers. For 2024, advanced categories will ride the main downhill track and novice categories on the separate Next Gen specific track.  “Next Gen” applies to U.S. Open categories for athletes 14…

Staff report The flat Ramshead beginner ski area at Killington Resort (home to two magic carpets during the winter) has been transformed into a huge mountain bike jump for the Fox U.S. Open of Mountain Biking competition this weekend Sept. 26-29. The spectator-friendly best whip competition is a crowd favorite. It’s being held Saturday, Sept.…