Fun on the Ground

I stumbled out the door at 5:00 am Saturday morning so I could be at the base of Mount Ascutney at 7:30 to help with the bike race. (The race climbs 2300 feet (700 m) for 3.8 miles (6.1 km) for an average grade of 12% but with several 19% grades. Bikes included full carbon toothpicks, more common road racers, a couple mountain bikes, and even a single fixed-gear bike). Jake organizes volunteers from the Vermont Hang Gliding Association and we had a great turnout this year.

After helping park cars I joined Jake, Judy, Jeremy, JJ, and Nancy at the second water station. We prepared our little cups of water, ate lots of wild blueberries, and waited.

A few elite riders came through in a small pack and then we had another break before the long stream of the main body passed through. Jake was having way too much fun spraying riders with his super-soaker! However, it was fun to hear the bikers yell "shoot me"!


After the last biker willed himself to the top, some of the bikers cashed in their altitude for a cooling cruise back down.


Once the bikers were clear, we drove to the top, unloaded our tools of destruction, and began cleaning the trail to the south launch. Once at launch we hoisted a new wind sock, did some minor trimming in the setup area, and then ate more blueberries and talked as we cooled off in the stiff breeze under rapidly growing clouds.




Eventually we ran out of gas and human energy so we headed to the Harpoon Brewery in Windsor for a recharge. Mike, Linda, Ryan, Peter K, Lee, Jake, Judy, and myself drank and ate while the sky dumped rain outside. Once the deluge ended I headed over to Morningside for more socializing, food, drink, and another cloud burst. The only flying I saw all day was a couple paraglider flights off the 450 foot (137 m) hill after the rain.

Time: 0:00, Distance: 0.0, Drinks: several ;-)