Tag: Jay Peak

A New ‘Twist’ to the ‘100-Mile’ Darn Tough Ride

(Press release by Pascale Savard)

STOWE, Vt. — Century rides can be boring. Too often, they are repetitive from one year to another, feel like an eternity, and lack creativity, diversity and spirit. It’s a good thing that none of these characteristics will ever be used to describe the Darn Tough Ride, the most anticipated cycling event in New England held in Stowe on Sunday, September 1st.

As Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Difficulties mastered are opportunities won,” and with road construction delays plaguing main arteries previously used for the ride, organizers jumped on the opportunity to refresh the event and offer a new route for the 100 mile/160km riders for 2013.

As most NEK drivers and cyclists know, Route 242 between Jay Peak and Montgomery Center has been under construction since early this Spring and road work is now expected to go on until October 8. “I would advise you to re-route. Route 242 will not be paved by Sept. 1. The construction is scheduled to be completed in early October,” was the advice given by Resident Engineer for VTrans on the Rte 242 construction project.

Re-routing came as a great opportunity to make the event more centralized for 2013. Now, the 100 mile loop route will not go anywhere near Jay Peak but will take the riders twice over Smuggler’s Notch, one time on each side. Although the distance will be very similar to last year’s route, the 95.3 miles with 8,383’ of elevation route will be just as challenging as ever. The riders will travel more locally and will most certainly, at one point or another, also ride along side cyclists from the other routes. Another plus is that 100 mile riders will also now have a chance to ride on some of the best area roads including Hog Back, 100C and 109, all of which could not be a part of the 100 mile route last year.

The 100 mile Darn Tough Ride will begin as scheduled at 7am from the Mt. Mansfield Winter Academy, 3576 on the Mountain Road in Stowe, Vermont. The riders will first warm up and ride about 13 miles in Stowe, down the Mountain Road, through Stowe Hollow, up Barrows Rd, and back to MMWA to start the first timed segment of the event. It will indeed be a lively “hot spot” with cyclists departing for other rides around the same times, and friends and family on site to cheer all. It will also mean that the 100 mile ride participants will be able to regroup, leave extra clothes, refuel, get better organized before starting the 5.5 mile hill climb which will end in Smuggler’s Notch, just before the beginning of the steep turns. The rest of the ride is set on the best area roads and will take riders back toward Morrisville before returning through Centerville, Eden and Belvidere. The second timed hill climb will remain unchanged, a 3.5 mile climb beginning at the entrance of Smuggler’s Notch Resort and ending at the top of Smuggler’s Notch State Park.

The other routes are not affected by road constructions and will remain the same as last year. Please make note of the new starting time: 100 mile is 7am, 65 mile is 8am, 45 miles is 9 am and 25 mile is 10am. With these new start times, more cyclists will cross the finish together, attend the party, and enjoy the food spread by Black Diamond Barbecue and the music by TallGrass GetDown. To speed things up for those returning home after the ride, the raffle will be be held during the feast while results are tabulated. There will be numerous prizes and raffles donated by our generous sponsors including Fit Werx, Kona One One and much more.

To view the new 100 mile route visit the event page at http://mmwa.org/darntoughride/ or download it directly from http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3083706. Please feel free to contact darntoughride@mmwa.org with questions. Online registration is open until August 31, day of registration are also accepted but t-shirts and swag bags are only available until quantities last.

The Darn Tough Ride is a fully supported bicycle ride and a benefit to the Mt. Mansfield Winter Academy in Stowe, Vermont. Main sponsors are Darn Tough Socks Vermont, High Tower, Fit Werx, Commodores Inn, Hammer Nutrition, Vermont Smoke and Cure, Honest Tea, Food Should Taste Good, and the Stowe Reporter.

August 15, 2013
SuperTour Finals Extras: Quotes from the Climb

Far West’s Kyla Burill leads Janelle Webb up Monday’s 6 k hill climb at SuperTour Finals up Sugar Bowl Resort in Truckee, Calif. (Photo: Mark Nadall/MacBeth Graphics)

FasterSkier’s coverage of SuperTour Finals and U.S. Distance Nationals is brought to you by the generous support of Concept2, the leading manufacturer of indoor rowers, racing oars, and the SkiErg.

TRUCKEE, Calif. – After heaving themselves to the top of Mt. Disney at Sugar Bowl Resort on Monday, several of top finishers were pretty animated about the 6 k hill climb, the final pursuit-style event of SuperTour Finals. Here are some of the best quotes outside of the men’s and women’s race reports.

On the premise of hill climbs:

Lisa Larsen of Sweden nears the finish of Monday’s agonizing 6 k hill climb at Sugar Bowl Resort at the SuperTour Finals in Truckee, Calif. Larsen placed seventh overall. (Photo: Mark Nadell/MacBeth Graphics)

“I don’t know, you’re skiing up a mountain, you’re not supposed to do that anyways. It could be the nicest day ever, and it’s still gonna be one of the hardest things you’ve ever done.” – Liz Stephen (Burke Mountain Academy/U.S. Ski Team), overall women’s SuperTour Finals winner, first to the top with fastest time-of-day

“I actually really like hill climbing. I’m really bad at downhills so I’d much rather just go up the whole time. … It’s always hard when you first start out. It feels just impossible, like you’re never gonna make it there, then once you get going it’s not so bad.” – Rosie Brennan (Alaska Pacific University), sixth overall

“I like going up hill … and I like V1-ing.” – Brian Gregg (Central Cross Country), 10^th overall with second-fastest time

On the inevitable mental battle:

“I just put my head down and had to keep reminding myself, this is crazy, but everybody’s in this. It hurts so bad, but you just keep trucking.” – Sadie Bjornsen (APU/USST), third overall

“I single-sticked so much. Erika [Flowers] was right behind me on the results and I knew she was kind of catching me at one point, and part of me wanted to stop to just have someone to follow, but it was like, ‘Don’t do it don’t do it!’ Spectators help but. You also just want to get to the top.” – Chelsea Holmes (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation), 12^th overall with third-fastest time

“We’re all tired at this point in the year. If you can trick your mind on certain days that you’re feeling good … the goal was honestly to have fun out there, which was really difficult with that wind.” – Stephen

“This year I just decided to not pay attention to anybody around me ’cause I know what my strengths are climbing a hill, and it’s not really anything. … I did a lot of skinning two weeks ago in France, and I was like, ‘Just pretend you’re skinning.’ My legs go the classic style a lot better then the side style.” – Sadie Bjornsen

“I did exactly what my plan was, which was to go out and not blow up on the first loop, go up the hill at what I thought was a sustainable pace, and try to catch Erik [Bjornsen] there. I did catch him.” – Kris Freeman (Maine Winter Sports Center/USST), second to Bjornsen with the fastest time-of-day

On giving credit where it’s due:

“[Erik Bjornsen’s] at an age where he gets stronger every year. Erik Flora had him following me around in Bend [Oregon] at Level 3 when I was doing Level 1 two years ago. He’s a resilient kid; he can recover from that. I think recovering from hard training is one the most important things as a ski racer so I’m really impressed with him.” – Freeman

On the conditions:

“The wind was so brutal. When it was at your back, it was so sweet. You’d try to ski super big trying to get boosted up, but when you’d turn the corner and it was blowing sideways and blowing your poles. … It was a crosswind at the finish. It definitely felt like I was V1ing sideways into it ’cause otherwise you’d get blown off the side.” – Jessie Diggins (Stratton Mountain School T2 Team/USST), fifth overall with second-fastest time

“The wind is less obnoxious than the powder. It’s all right, not the most fun conditions, but make you tougher, hopefully.” – Holmes

“The top is just survival mode. You’re doing everything you can to move and it didn’t help that all a sudden there’d be piles really deep and then there’d be ice and stuff.” – Sadie Bjornsen

On the finish:

“You could hardly see even my parents cheering; they were standing up there in this crazy storm. Thank God ’cause we wouldn’t have known where to go. I was like, ‘Thank you guys, and my mom. You’re still standing here! You’re in a full-on storm!’

” – Sadie Bjornsen

“It was windy, but I heard it was worse before we got there. By the top part, it flattens out so it’s the only part you can ski well. It didn’t feel as windy as when you’re standing still and getting buffeted by the side wind. I thought the top was the best part for sure. You could actually get some glide.” – Mikey Sinnott (SVSEF), third overall

“I was really excited when I previewed the course [the day before] and I could see that last four hundred, five hundred meters was gonna be skiable, maybe V2, and it was. I think I V2-ed a lot of that.” – Erik Bjornsen (APU/USST), overall SuperTour Finals winner/first to top

On how Sugar Bowl stacks up to other hill climbs (including Italy’s Alpe Cermis, the famous final climb of the Tour de Ski):

“It was brutal. It’s funny because we were talking about how we thought this climb was a little bit easier than Jay Peak [at SuperTour Finals] last year, but with the four k or whatever we skied before the hill climb, it was a tough race.” – Sylvan Ellefson

(Ski & Snowboard Club Vail/Team HomeGrown), fourth overall

“This one, in my mind, was a little easier than Jay Peak. We got a nice run into it, nice ski section in the beginning and then just a couple steep pitches. Jay Peak was so steep the whole time even though it’s shorter [at 1.8 k].” – Tad Elliott (SSCV/HomeGrown/USST), 13^th overall with third-fastest time

“I feel like Alpe Cermis is always going to be the hardest, but this compares pretty well because of altitude, snow drifts, they were so deep.” –Diggins

“I thought this wasn’t as skiable, more side hill and more awkward grades.” – Kikkan Randall (APU/USST), second overall

“The actual hill climb seemed a little shorter than the one in the Tour, but we’re way higher than it ever was on the World Cup. It’s just a different deal. The altitude is a huge, huge factor here. You guys [FasterSkier] posted the tape of us walking up the hill in the 15 k the other day. I saw myself coming up the hill and I’m thinking, ‘That’s kind of embarrassing,’ and then I saw the rest of the field come up and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I was walking, but I was walking with impulse.’ ” – Freeman, who won Friday’s 15 k classic mass start

On getting back down the mountain:

“I don’t think I’ve ever been that cold. That was miserable.” — Erik Bjornsen, stuck on the chairlift for an estimated 15 minutes with Skyler Davis (SMST2/USST). Most people skied down.

On the last races of the season:

“It’s good to be four down, one to go. I’ve been feeling really good. [On Monday] I didn’t feel great on the second half, but hill climbing is such a unique thing. I’m hoping to have the energy to finish up one more, and I’m definitely ready to be done.” – Randall

“Every mini tour I’ve done this year, the 10 k classic I’ve taken myself effectively out of the running. … Every time there’s a slushy, klistery classic race, I need to really work on that. So it’s cool to come out of it knowing where I can improve.” – Diggins, who placed 18^th in Friday’s 10 k classic mass start

“It’s great to end the season here in California. I think the organizers have done an awesome job, and I hope they have it again out here. It’s a little bit too late in the season; that’s the only thing. We’ve all had a long season. A week before this is a more ideal time for all of us. I think right now we’re beating ourselves into a hole that will take an extra week to come out of.” – Stephen

“I think Sylvan and I are just gonna lay in bed and watch movies, get some ice cream and coffee and hopefully we’ll be up there with these boys in the 50 k.” – Elliott

April 9, 2013
SuperTour Finals: Hill Climb Photos

Sara Hewitt (CXC) makes her way up Jay Peak during the SuperTour Finals 1.8 k hill climb on Wednesday.

JAY, Vt. — The SuperTour Finals 1.8-kilometer freestyle hill climb at Jay Peak was one bear of a race. If you missed it in person, check out some photos from along the course on Wednesday.

For SuperTour Finals galleries, click here.

Men’s hill climb | Women’s hill climb

Start lists to help determine racers by bib

Also, video footage from the hill with interviews

March 30, 2012
Diggins First to Top; Stephen Fastest in SuperTour Finals Hill Climb

Ida Sargent (Craftsbury Green Racing Project/U.S. Ski Team) looks up the alpine ski trail at Jay Peak during the 1.8 k SuperTour Finals freestyle hill climb on Wednesday. Sargent finished sixth overall in the SuperTour Finals pursuit with the 13th fastest time.

JAY, Vt. – Every uphill has to end at some point.

But what if it’s a mountain, and what if you can’t see the top?

Nearly 70 women and 90 men probably thought something along those lines as they ascended a 1.8-kilometer freestyle hill climb at the Jay Peak alpine resort on Wednesday.

As part of the SuperTour Finals, the event was a pursuit with the mini-tour leader starting first and the rest of the field chasing. In the women’s race, U.S. Ski Team and Alaska Pacific University (APU) skier Sadie Bjornsen was the carrot.

Jessie Diggins (USST/CXC) on her way to finishing first in the SuperTour Finals hill climb to win the overall mini-tour title. She had the second-fastest time after USST teammate Liz Stephen.

Behind her, Jessie Diggins (Central Cross Country/USST) played the role of closest rabbit.

Knowing what was in store for the 1,079-foot ascent, Bjornsen spoke to Diggins before the race.

“I told Jessie before the start, ‘when you pass me, remind me to stay positive as you pass by me standing still,’ ” Bjornsen wrote in an online chat after the race. “She made a little joke as she went by.”

After starting 31 seconds back, Diggins passed the SuperTour Finals leader within about two minutes, according to Bjornsen. More of her World Cup teammates, Liz Stephen and Holly Brooks overtook Bjornsen about four minutes in.

She knew it was going to happen; it was just a matter of when, Bjornsen explained. She kept herself in the race by reciting, “Think like Johaug, think like Johaug,” in her head.

While Norway’s Therese Johaug championed the Tour de Ski 9-kilometer freestyle hill climb in Val di Fiemme, Italy, earlier this year, the woman that placed eighth behind her, Stephen, returned to the hill on Wednesday.

It wasn’t the infamous Alpe Cermis, but Jay Peak was still pretty grueling. Stephen put her head down and clocked the fastest time to the top in 15:06.7.

The first to finish after starting second, Diggins captured the overall SuperTour Finals title. She had the second-fastest split (+6.6), and Chelsea Holmes (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) was third fastest (+13.9). Brooks (APU) was fourth and independent racer Rebecca Dussault was fifth.

Liz Stephen (r) leads fellow World Cup teammate Holly Brooks (APU) up part of the 1.8 k hill climb at Jay Peak Ski Resort in Jay, Vt., on Wednesday. Stephen won SuperTour Finals race in 15:06.7 and was second overall to Jessie Diggins (USST/CXC) in the pursuit.

Bjornsen, who ranked 14th on the day, finished fourth overall behind Diggins, Stephen and Brooks, respectively. Those three rounded out the SuperTour Finals podium, which does not include Friday’s 30 k freestyle mass start, part of U.S. Distance Nationals.

Cheering his daughter about halfway up, Mark Stephen said he remembered driving his two children nearly two hours from their home in East Montpelier, Vt., to Jay for alpine races. Liz caught the nordic bug at Burke Mountain Academy as a sophomore, and the family hadn’t spent much time at Jay Peak since.

Exhausted at the top, she marveled at what she and her competitors had accomplished in finishing.

“I’m really tired, but that’s how its supposed to be,” Stephen said. “We just climbed up an alpine mountain. Usually people go down so it was great.”

Third at the World Uphill Trophy in February, Stephen scaled 4 kilometers up an alpine trail in Szklarska Poreba, Poland, then navigated 4 more on a hairy descent. Looking back, she said the Tour de Ski topped them all.

“The Tour de Ski hill climb is the hardest ever and this is pretty damn hard,” Stephen said after starting 1:02 back and climbing to second overall.

“I just kind of tend to start at one pace and see how long it lasts, not a sprint pace but a hard Level 3,” she said. “By the top, you’re just going all out, just trying to move up the hill.”

Rebecca Dussault (r) cresting one part of a 1.8 k climb up Jay Peak in the SuperTour Finals pursuit race on Wednesday. A winter triathlon world champion and mother of three, Dussault races independently and achieved the fifth-fastest time in the hill climb.

Eighth in last year’s SuperTour Finals hill climb in Sun Valley, Idaho, Diggins said she couldn’t wait for the end of Wednesday’s race after skiing alone for most of the second half. She kept looking and waiting for a sign, but it never came.

“It was really hard,” Diggins said. “People kept cheering, and I kept being like, ‘But where’s the line?’ … It just kept going and it was really painful.”

A series of sharp switchbacks near the top made it difficult to gauge where the finish was. Diggins said she did some singlestick coach skating and felt like she was hiking at certain points.

“It feels really good to be done,” Diggins said. “It was a lot of fun, but it’s also a big pain fest.”

Also third in last year’s hill climb, Holmes said she knew how to attack the race, and she had some uphill results to show for it. In September, she won a trail run called the Baldy Hill Climb, which ends at the top of a 9,150-foot mountain in Sun Valley.

“I was psyched for today,” Holmes said. “It was actually pretty fun in that sadistic sort of way.”

After starting more than 4 ½ minutes and 15 places back, Holmes worked her way to ninth overall. She caught Caitlin Patterson near the end and did her best to stay with the University of Vermont skier to the finish. Patterson finished sixth by time and eighth overall.

“I start pretty hard, that’s just what I do,” Holmes said. “I’m not one of those people that can say I’m saving it for later.”

While she didn’t sprint, she gave the course most of what she had. On the steepest part, which she called “the wall,” Holmes said going almost as hard as possible was just about as fast as pushing 100 percent.

Chisa Obayashi (r) of Madshus Japan ascending a long, grinding uphill in the 1.8 k SuperTour Finals hill climb at Jay Peak in Jay, Vt., on Wednesday. Cambridge Sports Union junior racer Corey Stock (c) and Annelies Cook (U.S. Biathlon) follow.

Starting 37 seconds out of first, Brooks said Stephen, who was nearly 30 seconds back, caught her about a third of the way up.

“That didn’t really surprise me, but it was impressive,” Brooks said.

She stuck with Stephen and the two skied together trying to catch Diggins. Brooks said the overall series winner was ultimately out of reach and Stephen later pulled away near the finish.

“The starting order really made it a fun, exciting race because there were a lot of us packed right in there,” Brooks said. “With Liz starting at the back, she’s by far, obviously the best climber of the field.”

For Brooks, one of the biggest challenges was knowing where the finish was. Without previewing the course, she relied on spectators and markers along the way.

“It’s funny because you get to the top or near the top and there are lots and lots of people and everyone says you’re almost there,” Brooks said. “That’s a really subjective statement.

“Then there were all these signs that just said ‘race’ and arrows,” she added with a laugh. “I know it’s a race, but kind of wanted to know where we were.”

Regardless, she enjoyed it in hindsight. At least her skis didn’t have holes in them like they did after the Tour de Ski hill climb, in which she placed 31st.

“It was as huge mass start and it was extremely aggressive,” she said. “We had S-turns going up this steep hill so there were a lot of people trying to cut the inside of the gates going on corners. I just have holes punched in the top sheets and the sidewalls of my skis. … This wasn’t quite as long, not to say it wasn’t hard, it was extremely hard, but it was fun.”

Pursuit finish/overall SuperTour Finals standings

Women’s hill-climb results by time

The four fastest women in the 1.8 k SuperTour Finals hill climb at Jay Peak on Wednesday (not shown, winner Liz Stephen). From left to right: Rebecca Dussault (independent) in fifth, Holly Brooks (APU) in fourth, Chelsea Holmes (SVSEF) in third, Jessie Diggins (CXC/USST) in second. Diggins finished first for the overall pursuit and SuperTour Finals title.

March 28, 2012