Route 100 meanders 200ish miles through Vermont from Canada to Massachusetts. It's a scenic road that passes through tons of cute little towns. It's also the route of a one-day double-century bike ride that started in the 1980s known as the 200-on-100 (link here). I have biked the route on two different occasions with my friend Heather. The first trip was a 3-day trek, the next was done in 2 days. Both rides were epic. Maybe someday I'll join the ranks of the big kids and do the whole ride in 1 day. But not this year. This year I'll be following an ultra runner on another FKT attempt. Whoot!
When Shan and I were tossing around ideas for what to do in 2023 (trail races, backyard ultras, biking challenges), the 200-on-100 popped into my head. I started telling him all about the route when, in my usual fashion, I said, "Gee, I wonder if anyone's run it before." Well, according to fastestknowntime.com, Google, and BingAI, no one has! So there ya go. Here are the details:
When: Friday, June 23, 2023 - Monday, June 26, 2023
Where: The 200-on-100 route from the Canadian Border in North Troy, Vermont to the Massachusetts border in Whitingham, Vermont
How: Run 50 miles a day (with bike companions and sag support)
Three of us - me, Lisa, and Jo Ann (my mom) - will accompany Shan, riding our bikes and driving a sag wagon along the route. This way we can provide support for Shan while we have our own little 2-wheeled journey. It's going to be fun! Not only will we have another rad adventure to add to the list, but we also get to shake off the dust before the ACA Pacific Coast Expedition.
Also - a little reminder for those of us who are familiar with Shan's running history, even though he makes these expedition-style runs look easy, they aren't. They are crazy hard. So be prepared for a ton of cheerleading from me, and a million swoony posts about how amazing he is.
Please reach out if you want to join us. Or, even better, maybe you'll be doing the 200-on-100! If that's the case, we'll see you out there. Let's go, team!
Here's a peek at the elevation profile. Let's get ready for a wild ride - ahem, run!
I've driven on that and thought, this would be a really cool solo ultra, this sounds amazing!! I love Vermont, what an awesome adventure. Im gonna have to do it!