Essex Junction lives in northwest Vermont, just seven miles from Burlington. Everything you need is close at hand—and just a few miles in any direction, you’re suddenly in farm country. Very few fairgrounds in the U.S. can pull this off: rally-ready and minutes from genuinely great riding.
Our mission is simple: take you on the rides we’d show friends visiting New England for the first time. One thing you’ll notice right away is what Vermont doesn’t have—billboards. The state DOT calls them “litter on a stick,” and Vermonters agree. You also won’t find many fast-food chains or big-box stores once you leave the Burlington area. What you will find are small country stores and gas stations with shockingly good sandwich counters. Between now and the Rally, we’ll share downloadable maps of our favorite sandwich stops, maple creemees, and ice cream stands—some so close to the source you can hear the cows providing quality control.
Vermont roads come in four flavors. Classes 1 and 2 are paved—think of highways and connectors. Class 3 roads are town-maintained dirt and are plentiful, well-kept, and perfectly happy hosting a street bike. Class 4 roads? They’re the wild cards: unmaintained, sometimes closed, and ranging from “pleasantly rustic” to “do we need a rope?” Vermont has more dirt than pavement, and the Green Mountains run north to south with beautiful gap roads cutting east and west. June is prime riding season: the woods are drying out and the pavement is clean.
If you ride a GS, congratulations—you’ve found paradise. Class 4 roads can be mellow backcountry strolls or full-on adventures that test skill, patience, and friendships. We’ll be offering challenging tracks for those who want to earn their stories the hard way.
Prefer sticky tires? We’ve got you covered with miles of twisty pavement, including fresh tarmac and classics like Appalachian Gap and Smugglers’ Notch.
Your co-chairs have been at this a while with experience including helping design the North East Backcountry Discovery Route, running enduro championships, and hosting a 24-hour Iron Butt–style rally for over a decade. We know the roads, and we’re excited to share them.
New England riders love building great routes, and we’d love your help. We’re looking for riders who can submit a .GPX file from the area or lead a ride during the rally. Case in point: member David Aho, at 88 years young, took us on a “quick tour” of the northeast kingdom. Two hundred miles later, we had a spectacular GS route now known as David Aho’s NEK Big Adventure.
We’ll lean on technology and classic Yankee hospitality to capture and share the best rides. That may even mean meeting up for a follow-me session to record a track. It’s a tough assignment, but someone’s gotta do it.
If you’d like to share a ride, send us a .GPX file or Google Maps link with a short description. Photos are encouraged. The MOA is partnering with a navigation app that will make routes and tracks available with a free trial during the rally. Prefer Garmin? Tracks will be available for download. Need help? We’ll have tech support at the ride center every morning from 8 am – 10 am After that, we’re riding.
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For many of us, the perfect day is taking a small group of old and new friends to our “secret spots.” If that sounds like your kind of fun, check out our meet-up-and-ride concept. Using the MOA app, you can post a simple ride outline—surface, distance, difficulty, group size, and timing. No .GPX required. If that feels like homework, just swing by the ride center and see what happens. We’re here to connect riders, not complicate things.
Speaking of the ride center—you’ll find it in the northeast corner of the fairgrounds at one of the RV sites. Expect morning coffee, water, and .GPX tech support. Not all day though. We have places to be.
To reach the ride committee, email ridevt26@gmail.com or text 765-BEEMERS. We can’t wait to see you in Vermont – it’s not flat! Promise!
Andrew Phillips #136760
Doug Morrison #39541
Rob Nye #81219
