Vermont

The Vermont 50 & WEEK in ADVENTURE! It was a hot start to the fall season. Temps reached 80º + and the sun was strong. MPF athletes and the MPF RNR Team were all over the East Coast!

Here is some footage I had taken during the race. I hope to have many photos from the day posted later this week so check back! - Joe Azze • MPF

Plan C was to head north to ride the Camel’s Hump by the Bamforth Ridge, where the trailhead was about 2k feet lower. It was raining hard as I drove north, and I was starting to accept that I might be out for a 7 hour ride with no run.

Evan went back to the Vermont 50 mountain bike race for the 3rd straight year, looking for a podium finish... 

I went to the VT 50 with the plan to ride it for the 3rd year in a row but with minimal time spent on the bike this year and a lot more time on my feet instead (should of switched to the run...), I decided to experience the event from a different perspective. 

Some folks spend their entire lives trying to get a sighting of the rare male Rusiecki in the wild. I not only managed to spot it, it ended up chasing me all through southern VT. This is my story…

Here are some photos and thoughts from the 2015 Vermont 50 Mile Mountain Bike Race by Joe Azze.

This was Evan's 2nd year in a row riding the VT 50 and it is quickly becoming his favorite race of the season. Evan took almost 30 minutes off his time from the previous year and did so just using 1 gear. 

I heard about the Vermont 50 back in the spring from several of my Mountain Peak Fitness / Campmor teammates. Joe Azze was doing the 50 mile bike and Jules Moore the 50 mile run. I had not run a 50 mile race in 2 years so I wanted to give it a go. My obstacle though was my new baby daughter.

The first time I participated in this race was in 2011 on my mountain bike with Philip my fiancées uncle. That Vermont year blew my mind of how though this course was and the challenge of mountain biking.  Despite my lack of experience and getting my ass kicked with a steel toe boot, I had a blast!

My EPIC weekend (yes it qualifies) started on Saturday night as I left my house for Vermont at around 7:45 pm.  I rolled up to the hotel at around midnight.  I “slept” till around 4 am and then headed for the race.

I ran three Spartan Races last year, ending with a 4th place at the World Championships in Killington, VT.  While I thoroughly enjoyed the races, I still prefer FKT’s and traditional trail races most of the time.  With my schedule this fall I wasn’t able to get to the two shorter races I did last year before deciding at the last minute to return to Killington.  I couldn’t do the Beast Championship on Saturday

I went into this race really wanting to get a 50 miler under my belt this year but having experienced quite a bit of pain in my knees and hips leading up to race day, I was wondering if I would even finish within the 12 hour cut off. 

The Vermont 100 mile foot race is no joke for sure. Many endurance racers have stated that it is runnable. If I haven’t conquered a course that is described as runnable I don’t subscribe to that notion. Last year I had raced this course and the course won. This year’s race plan was exactly the same as last year. I even ran in the exact same shoes. The only difference was my fitness level that I hoped would allow me to reach my goal time.

Here are some photos from the 2012 Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run! Another epic weekend in Vermont. This is a state that everyone should visit at least once and be sure to head out on the trails for a minimum of a few miles. You can't go wrong with any of the areas that have the word "Gap" in them. Enjoy VT!

Well it has been a couple of weeks since Vermont 100 and I figure I better get my thoughts down before they fade away.  Vermont 100 has a special place in my ultra running history as it was my first 100 miler.  I ran it in 2007 and came in 10th place with a time of 18:55.  I was very driven back then and followed a strict training program.

I knew the Appalachian Gap Road pretty well and was familiar with its final pitch of around a 20% grade to the summit. I had raced up Middlebury Gap in past GMSR as well and really enjoyed this stretch of road but I kept hearing about Lincoln Gap and about some of the others with their dirt sections and steep grades. I was deeply interested, as I needed to see and feel what the suffering was all about