Adaptive Riding in Vermont
What is Adaptive Mountain Biking?
Adaptive Mountain Biking (aMTB) describes the activity of a broad range of riders who typically cannot ride a standard mountain bike and require adapted equipment and trails to suit their physical, intellectual, neurological, and/or sensory abilities.
A variety of adaptive mountain bikes—including kneeling and recumbent hand cycles, bucket bikes, and more—are available to meet a rider’s specific needs. Many aMTBs also feature a small electric motor to help expand their terrain capabilities as well as the experiences they can facilitate.
Adaptive-friendly trails are built with special attention to trail width, surface, grade, and camber; turn radii, and technical features.* VMBA has made it a priority to build new trails—and revise existing ones—to better serve aMTBs.
*Check out the Adaptive Trail Standards published by the Kootenay Adaptive Sports Association (KASA) for more on what you can expect from an aMTB trail.
Vermont trail systems with aMTB-friendly riding:
Southwest:
Central:
Northwest
Northeast
For more information, check out VMBA’s Plan Your Ride tool.
The Driving Range
One of the few—and perhaps the only—fully adaptive trail networks around, the Driving Range was built with the goal of making it safe for adaptive mountain bikers to ride entirely on their own without any assistance from their able-bodied peers.
The bike park-style, progressive trail system sits on a 256-acre piece of private land that used to be a golf driving range. Designed to be lapped, it includes progressive features including ladders, drops, and rollers, plus some of the biggest jumps in Vermont. It’s important to note that “adaptive” doesn’t mean “easy” at The Driving Range. This is a place where riders of all abilities can find terrain that pushes their limits.
The Driving Range stands as a testament to a community recognizing a need and coming together to meet it. The project got its start when Berne Broudy, president of Richmond Mountain Trails, went on a ride with Greg Durso, an aMTBer who has ridden gnarly lines across North America but who needed to be carried over bridges that were too narrow for his bike. Seeing a problem in need of fixing, Richmond Mountain Trails proceeded to plan a trail system that would be safe for adaptive riders to ride entirely on their own. Together, the riding community pooled over 5,000 hours of volunteer labor (plus $270,000 in paid construction) to accomplish just that.