Here at Skirack there’s not much that gets us more stoked than skis and winter – I guess you could say it comes with the name. We’ve been selling skis for 5 decades! In recent years, another growing outdoor sport has begun to capture our attention too. If you frequent the shop over summer, you’ve probably noticed our ever growing collection of mountain bikes on the second floor.

Mountain biking is the largest growing summer sport in the northeast and naturally Skirack employees are leading the charge. From events, trail building, group rides, and races - to say we’ve fully embraced Vermont bike culture would be an understatement.

The debate surrounding women’s specific bicycle frames has been ongoing for several years. Women’s specific bikes have been around since the early 2000s, but some of the major brands have started phasing out the practice of designing bikes specifically for men or women.

Specialized in particular is aiming to gender-neutralize their bikes. New for 2019 / 2020, we are seeing several women’s models being dropped and replaced by the more neutral frame design. Specifically, the Specialized Ruze (a 27.5 plus tire hardtail mountain bike) and the Specialized Ruby (an endurance road bike) will no longer be manufactured. This follows the gender-neutralization of the Specialized Diverge, Stumpjumper, Tarmac, and Sirrus in the past couple years. So why, after fighting so hard for women’s bikes, are these manufacturers deciding to do away with women’s specific frames?

Skirack's THULE Specialist, Doug Stewart shows off the new Apex XT hitch hanging bike mount.

Click here to browse the full Thule selection.

Only a few years ago, the idea that a small dual chair mountain would invest in lift access biking would seem foolish. Coupled with immense overhead, steep competition from larger resorts and what was still a very niche sport, the return on investment just wasn’t clear – and the risk for locally owned hills was potentially fatal.

But things have changed. With the explosive growth of Mountain Biking across the Green Mountain State and broader New England, small town mountains are seeing a more solid path to profitably supporting the logistics and overhead associated with digging and staffing trails.

Join Skirack for one or more group rides at NEMBAFest 2018. Held from June 22nd to the 24th, NEMBAFest is a celebration of all things summer and mountain biking! 

Experience over 100 miles of unique trails and terrain that makes Kingdom Trails. Enjoy a fun-filled, family-friendly weekend of riding, camping, demo-ing the latest mountain bikes, gadgets and gear, great music, and local food & drink in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom!