Coyote Hill Mountain Bike Camps
Published by Vermont Magazine – July/Aug 2005
Story by Brian Mohr
When the dinner bell rings on the farm at Coyote Hill, over a dozen teenaged kids burst out of the old barn-turned-bike shop in an all out sprint for the dinner table. Before they are allowed to enter the main house, where husband and wife owners and operators, Tom Masterson and Gabi Formankova are ready to serve up another tasty, homemade meal, the campers must pass a simple test.
“Okay, let me see your hands,” says Formankova, a Czech-raised skier and cyclist, to the campers at the front of the line. These words send a few kids scurrying back to the sink inside the shop, while others frantically rub their hands on their shorts, hoping that it does the trick. After another day spent riding the trails of Coyote Hill, learning bike mechanics and getting schooled in the art of mountain biking, the campers devour whatever is on the menu.
Nestled into the hills of Fairlee, Vermont, high above the Connecticut River and surrounded by hardwood forests, open meadows and mountain vistas, Coyote Hill is a place where mountain biking dreams come true. Since 1996, Coyote Hill has offered a popular variety of kids’ and adult camps for all ability levels, with a focus on one-week, overnight camps for 12-17 year olds. The camps kick off in mid-June and run through the last week of August, with two additional adult weekend camps scheduled in the early fall.
Masterson, after spending ten years road-racing on the US Pro-Am circuit – while coaching skiing and selling bicycle equipment on the side – caught the mountain biking bug in 1990. Little did he know that this change would shape the rest of his life.
Soon discovering that he was swift and skilled on the mountain bike, Masterson headed for Europe on a completely self-supported tour of the European mountain bike race circuit. “I went for the adventure of it,” he says. Pedaling from race to race with fully loaded panniers, camping in countryside villages, and then mustering the energy to race among Europe’s very best, Masterson was in a league of his own.
After that summer in Europe, Masterson proceeded to win the US National Cyclocross Championship in 1993 and 1994 – one of the ultimate tests of on and off-road cycling skill and endurance. And it wasn’t long before he started thinking seriously about making a sustainable living doing what he loved to do most. In the summer of 1995, Masterson and several friends ran a mountain bike day camp out of the Mad River Barn in Fayston, Vermont. Although the camp was popular, its success was limited by its lack of a home base from which it could grow and accommodate overnight camps and a larger staff.
“This could work,” Masterson remembers feeling, after sensing that there was a niche to be filled. “I only needed a place to do it. So I shopped around for a couple of years…and then on my bike, discovered Coyote Hill.”
Within months, Masterson had a business plan, twenty acres and an old farmhouse at the end of the road in one of Vermont’s most beautiful corners. And after much work to turn the farmhouse and adjacent barn into camp headquarters, a bunkhouse and a bike shop, Masterson opened Coyote Hill for business in the spring of 1996.
Today, Coyote Hill is a place characterized by enthusiasm, humor and first-class mountain biking terrain. And for Masterson and Formankova, who married in September 2004, it is truly a labor of love. Being out in the mountains all day, and watching the campers get turned on to the sport is the stuff of dreams for them both. While Masterson handles most of the front-end logistics and coaching, Formankova keeps everything running smoothly behind the scenes. It’s a business that they can put their heart and soul into.
“We kick off each season with the Coyote Hill Classic,” says Masterson of the big race event that has drawn up to one hundred riders every May since 1996. “Its great fun…and it forces us to get the trails ready for summer.”
On a Friday evening in mid-June, the first campers arrive to a welcome dinner that is part of Coyote Hill’s first “Adult Weekend Get Away” of the season. Combining the atmosphere of a relaxing countryside inn, its great views and well maintained biking trails (singletrack), Coyote Hill is slice of paradise to its guests – and Masterson and Formankova are excited to share it.
By late June, the kids’ camps begin. On a typical summer day at a Coyote Hill overnight camp, the morning bell rings and the kids come pouring in to a delicious breakfast of french toast, fruit and Vermont maple syrup. After breakfast, they’ll head to the shop for their daily lesson on bike mechanics, and then pedal off on a morning skills ride close to camp – with Masterson and his experienced counselors setting the pace. Back before lunch, they might relax a bit, play ultimate Frisbee or wiffle ball as a group, and get ready for a longer afternoon ride on Coyote Hill’s prized singletrack.
Yet, before they go anywhere, Masterson has another test for them to pass.
“See that maple syrup…that’s gold! boys,” Masterson mimicks with a well-practiced twang. “So you better lick those plates before I send you back down to Connecticut.” Without hesitation, the kids finish off the job, clean up the table and make for the bikes. -anything, to get back out on the trail.
INFO:
Coyote Hill Mountain Bike Camps
www.coyotehillcamp.com
PO Box 312
Fairleee, VT 05045
ph 802-222-5133
email: coyotehill@valley.net
Coyote Hill offers Junior Development Race Camps, Adventure Mountain Bike Camps and Freeride Camps for overnight campers, as well as its Storrs Pond Day Camp in late July for 10-13 year olds. Their Adult Weekend Get Aways are available on select weekends in June, August, September and October. All but a few specialized camps welcome mountain bikers of all abilities.
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