I live down in the Brattleboro area, and own a new startup company named Multisport Maps. In essence, It’ll be a website that gives information to triathletes trying to train in an unfamiliar area – the location and review of area pools, rides, runs, bike shops, group workouts, and more. It’ll be structured around serious athletes and will be comprehensive. So, no more “I’m traveling to nowhereville for the weekend, where do I train” posts here on ST. I do the research myself, and am traveling around all of Vermont this summer to do it. Rather than go in blind to a new place, I’ve found it real helpful to talk beforehand to people who know the area I’m researching. I’m trying to create sort of a local’s guide, so who better to talk to but the locals! I’ll no doubt be coming to the area you live or know sometime soon, so I’m wondering if you can lend a hand – it would be great if you could help me find the best training around.
So, if you wouldn’t mind, drop a reply here with your location in VT (or the area you know). If you’d rather, a PM works too. When I’m coming to your area, I’ll get in contact with you, and we can figure something out – maybe even meet up for a workout and some grub (on the company, of course). Anyway, thanks a ton… any help you can give is greatly appreciated.
In Waterbury here and can connect you with w’tby, b’town, mont’p and the valley. check out www.gmmtri.com and send something that way and you’ll be connected with a significant portion of northern (and some central/southern) VT triathletes.
Thanks for the reply. From what I’ve heard and seen, the training around that area is great. I’ll likely be up there in three weeks or so, and I’m definitely looking forward to it. I’ll probably see you then.
Hi Brian,
Is this giong to be a free site, or a pay site? If free (with income from advertizers) then this would be a great resource. I would suggest to include some sort of interactive portion so that folks from local areas can post group workouts in their local areas, and then integrate it into an interactive (clickable) map. For example, our tri club here in southern maine has a group tri practice on thursday nights (with arout 15-30 people), and a group swim on Mon evenings (all free). There is a group ‘race’ on wed. locally as well with a large number of people that show up. Anyway, I think that this type of thing would be great.
Frankly, I don’t know yet if the site will be free to the user, or available for a membership fee, though it sure would be nice to get it out to as many people as possible. Either way, I expect it to be a great resource. I talk to so many people frustrated by trying to find safe, effective and specific training in unfamiliar places, and yet there’s no resource out there that targets these serious athletes. It will be great to have something like it out there.
You make a great point about user-content. I agree with you, and certainly plan to include it in some way. The problem I’ve seen so far with user-content sites, is that there’s just not that much there yet. 80% of the time, when I type in my own city, I get nothing. What I’m trying to do in traveling around is to provide a solid base of information on to which users can add. I’ll have a good deal of a given area covered; users can then fill in what I missed. It’ll make for a good combination.
You also make a great point about interactive maps and the such. I have a great web design team working with me, and I know the final product will be great. It’ll not only be a place to visit when you need information, but one to visit daily for cool features and a unique tri-culture. Plus, building it that way is much more fun for me!
Thanks a lot for the reply. It’s great to hear your excitement and your ideas. Out of curiosity, where are you in Southern Maine? I’m not covering the area yet for my business, but that club sounds great.
I go up to Stowe on a fairly regular basis, and usually bring my bike, weather permitting. I’d be happy to tell you about my favorite rides. A good epic is Stowe-Morrisville-Jeffersonville and then up and over Smuggler’s Notch. I also like the climb up to the Van Trapp Lodge. Running is best done on the 5.5 mile Stowe Rec path, otherwise it’s pretty hilly. The Stowe Marathon, however, manages to put together a route that pretty much avoids hills, using the path and roads. Find their site and check out the route. I’ve always wanted to run at the XC ski trails, as they tend to be rolling or flat, but I haven’t done it yet. For swimming, the Watering Hole has a very nice 25 meter pool, and a day pass is $10-15 or so. Some of the hotels and inns have pools, but I’ve not used them. It might be feasible to swim in the (newly reopened) Waterbury Reservoir, but I’ve not done it.
Thanks a lot for your help… this is exactly what I’m looking for. I’ll be sure to check out all that you’ve posted, and certainly give the XC trails a try. I have about 20k of trails out of my back yard, so I barely run on roads all year. I love it. Maybe I’ll drop you a PM when I’m up in that area. We can talk more about the riding, and maybe it’ll even be a time when you’re there.
Here’s an attempt to get this thread going again. Google anything below to get more info.
Tuesdays: Burlington track workouts led by Ironman superstar Kim Loeffler; contact ON Track Physical Therapy, Catamount Family center 5k trail running series (avg 200 runners every Tues); also 4 tuesdays in the summer a practice triathlon series at Lake Elmore
Wednesdays: Stowe bike club TT series; Catamount Mtb race series, Millstone (Barre) 5k x-c running series
Thursdays: Green Mtn bike club TT series, First in Fitness master swims (led by me—PM me if you want to come, start back up in Sept)
Thanks for your help. Frankly, I’m surprised more people haven’t contributed to this thread. Everyone who I’ve come accross so far has been nothing but helpful, and I thought more people would just drop in here, and say: “hey, I’m from Rutland, give me a call.” The added bonus of this, of course, would be for Vermonters to network with other people close by. ST’ers may be living miles away without knowing. Maybe more people will drop in here soon.
Anyway, I’ll be sure to contact you soon - I’d certainly like to get to know the club and its members more. I also look forward to meeting you.