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Vermont 50 |
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Written by Jerry Hughes
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Friday, 02 October 2009 |
The Vermont 50
Ascutney Mountain Resort, VT
September 27, 2009
 I have been racing mountain bikes for a long time. The Vermont 50 miler is by far my favorite event - hands down. It has a cult-like following of those that truly enjoy the suffering and the intense experience of pushing the limits of ones personal endurance. The last time I did this race was in 2004 - I got 7th place that year - finishing in 4 hours 50 mins. This year, my experience was much different....
Last May, when registration opened up for the Vermont 50, my father decided he wanted to ride this event. (Mind you - he is 63 and had never done any mountain biking before!) I agreed to guide him through this journey...he bought a sweet FS Trek Fuel....he got in his weekly long trail rides over the summer....he FINALLY agreed to clipless pedals....and the day quickly approached....
We got there on Saturday to a beautiful festival like atmosphere! My brother Jason had a booth setup to showcase his cycling art. My daughter Paige ran in a kids trail race. My wife arrived with the twins (Tucker/Colby). All my brothers were there. Life is good. We all relaxed and enjoyed the moment - occasionally glancing the the sky - wondering when the clear happy blue would be overshadowed by Mother Nature's fury......
The early forecasts called for rain, starting early Sunday morning and going ALL day. I was hoping they would just be 'wrong' as they so frequently are but the weathermen were right-on this time. The rain started at roughly 1-2am - about 5 hours before the race start - plenty of time to soak the trails.
 Usually my dad stands on the sideline and watches us race. Truth be known, that isn't really in his nature - he is much more of a 'doer' - so it was very cool to have him suit up and toe the line with us for this battle ~ 5 sons and their dad.....the mercury was low and the rain was coming down like meow-meows and bow-wows...the starting line was surreal...dark.
Mr brothers tore off the line trying to take advantage of the short distance of tar roads before the inevitable muddy terrain slowed everyone down to a crawl. I was my dad's support crew for this one - packed with plenty of food, tools, tubes and dry-jokes to get us through. It had rained in 2003 but the rain didn't start until I was over 1/2 way done that year. The trails that year were very bad so I expected the worst. And...we were off!
 My dad did great! Miles ticked by and Mother Nature did not want to make this easy on us! The road climbs were OK, the downhill single-track was basically unrideable - just surf down on a sea of foot deep soupy thick mud....good times.... (did I mention that my dad never experienced mud before this!?) He took a few early crashes and bounced right up ready to go. I have never seen conditions worse than this. He rode everything that was rideable and always had a smile on his face.....
...We lasted for close to 40 miles. At that point we were at roughly 10 hours, he was very tired and we knew that we wouldn't make the 12 hour cut-off. We decided to pull out - a decision we were both at peace with. We found a road and cruised home, exchanging High-5's and smiles, riding side-by-side squinting through the road/mud spatter coming up from the road. What a long day.....
 This race has close to 14,000 feet of climbing! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for something new. It draws some strong talent. I was proud to shift gears a bit and ride this with my dad. The Hughes Team that day was 6 strong - 5 brothers and our father - the man that instilled in all of this the desire to win....to push....to endure.
I love you Dad.
Jerry
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