PITTSFIELD –Cyclists hoping for a spot in the 2018 Leadville Trail 100 MTB race in Colorado now have another opportunity to earn an entry: The top finishers of a local race in Pittsfield will earn an entry into next year’s long-distance bike ride. This year, the Peak Woodsplitter 6-Hour bike race Pittsfield, Vt. has joined…

More than 300 of the world’s top mountain bikers from 35 countries are set to converge on the Smithfield Regional Park at James Cook University for Mountain Bike Worlds Sept. 5-10, 2017, in Cairns, Australia. USA Cycling has announced the 44 athletes that will represent the United States at the 2017 UCI Mountain Bike World…

Courtesy of PHS PROFESSOR  LUIS  VIVANCO Wednesday, Aug. 16, 7 p.m.—PAWLET— The Pawlett Historical Society (PHS) is pleased to present its August program, “Of  Wheelmen, the New Woman, and Good Roads: Bicycling in Vermont, 1880-1920,” to be presented by Luis Vivanco, a professor of anthropology at University of Vermont. The PHS event will be held Wednesday,…

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 over $1.3 million to date. Riders can choose 100, 50 or 25 miles on the…

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 30 on the brand new Goat Skull trail at Ramshead Mountain. The race also served…

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 route’s peculiar resemblance to a seabird, not just techy and hilly but downright treacherous. Fourteen-year-old…

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 was nothing short of the liberation of mind, body and spirit. The side benefit of…

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 for registered racers ($15 for guests). Registration includes a t-shirt for competitors and awards for…

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 the next 15 to 20 years in school dispelling your naiveté. Nature doesn’t care at…

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 ago there wasn’t such a variety of options. Everybody has their thing. Some love 29ers…

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 rocky chute, a bermable turn. Marking Start flagging a rough path. Make the markings as…

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 a curious sight to see a guy walking his bike up it. He had some…

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 open to the public (without an entrance fee) have to be maintained. Maintained by someone…

By Matt Baatz PITTSFIELD—I did not build the Green Mountain Trails. For the longest time I wanted to go on public record with that statement dispelling this absurd rumor. I’m not sure when or how it started, but I know it’s out there and I’m starting a campaign to end it. As any trailbuilder knows,…