The first hint of a fall chill was trapped in the swirling early-morning fog, and participants assembling for the Allen Clark Hill Climb on Sunday, October 6, weren't happy about it. Riders in skin-tight Lycra cycling clothing, swaddled in down jackets, and winter hats were everywhere as they readied themselves for the 6.2-mile time trial from the Valero station on Route 17 to the top of Appalachian Gap. There was a lot of shivering.
But such is October weather: By 10 a.m., when the first rider headed upward, the chill had been blown away by brilliant sunshine and temps in the 50s. That first rider was the ever-intrepid 12-year-old Daphne Buzby-Mueller, who, for the second year in a row, was the only under-15 rider gutsy enough to take on the challenge. Buzby-Mueller charged off into a radiant landscape of peaking fall colors, brought into their full glory by the bright and beautiful morning light.
In total, 66 riders from 10 states and Canadian provinces were signed up, among them the tandem team of able-bodied Andy Holt and the disabled Tom Robideau. Riding a twin-seated recumbent machine, Holt and Robideau weren't especially speedy -- when all the math had been calculated, they were the slowest of all finishers -- but they toughed it out with admirable determination to make it all the way to the top, an especially noteworthy performance given that the event is a fundraiser for Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports.
Buzby-Mueller, from South Burlington, did not make it all the way, but she had a trilogy of legitimate excuses -- a strained hamstring, a new and unfamiliar bike, and a soccer game to be played immediately after the race. She pulled the plug at Mad River Glen, but that's the normal finishing point for riders under 15 anyway. Last year she insisted on -- and succeeded in -- going to the top. At the other end of the age spectrum, 75-year-old Dan Ernest, from Ste. Adele, Quebec, was the eldest rider to complete the ride.
Among the men, Alan Boguslawski, from Gardner, Massachusetts, was the fastest finisher for the second year in a row, arriving at the summit with a time of 24:58.26. That was significantly quicker than his winning time of 26:40.22 last year and significantly quicker than the time of second-place finisher Paul Noone, of Millbury, Massachusetts, who was also pretty darned quick at 26:09.40. The fastest woman was Sonya Bodick, of Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania, who came in with a time of 32:18.37. Not too far behind was Sara Graves, of Stowe, Vermont, who registered a time of 34:38.22.
Representing the Mad River Valley were two riders, Adam Whitney and Marc Hammond. Whitney landed himself on the podium of the hotly contested 50-59-year-old age group with a time of 30:02.46, not bad for a guy better known these days for cranking up a chainsaw rather than cranking the pedals of a bike. And Hammond wasn't especially fast, but the simple fact that he was riding at all was impressive; he spent much of the spring and summer suffering from the symptoms of long COVID.
By the time the awards were handed out on the upper deck of the Basebox at Mad River Glen, the sunshine had gone into supercharge mode, and the weather felt more like the dog days of midsummer rather than mid-fall. Medals went to the top three riders in all age categories, capped by the bequeathal of the overall winners' prizes -- half gallons of amber-grade syrup from Cold Hollow Cider Mill -- to Boguslawski and Bodick.
The real winner, of course, was the event beneficiary, VASS, with the proceeds going directly to the improvement of accessibility at businesses in The Valley. There is a good chance that the new ramps, or other features to enable access for all at facilities in The Valley that have appeared are thanks to the aerobic gruntwork of riders in the Allen Clark Hill Climb, on one sun-blessed fall morning.
