2025 Bitter Pill Racer Update #1

Note: This went to racers in early June.

Hello Racers!

With May and all its 40° rain and snow behind us, it felt like a good time to send a thread of warmth from the summer everyone’s been patiently waiting for.

We’re very excited to see this year’s Bitter Pill filling up fast, with only a couple 2-person team openings left, and a few more in the 3-person category. If you have friends or family who want to join, now is the time to sign up! Speaking of which…

Please Register Your Teammates!
If your team has not filled its roster yet (e.g. you have a 3 person team, but only 1 or 2 people signed up so far), please do so ASAP. We will be placing an order for shirts very soon, and we need everyone’s shirt size from the registration form to make that happen. The sooner you do this, the less nerve wracking it is for us (and the more likely it is you’ll get the right size shirt). Thank you! (Link to Registration)

Accommodations & Bike Rentals
The East Burke area is abound with options for places to stay, but our host, Burke Mountain Hotel, has kindly offered a 10% discount on hotel rooms. Just ask for the GMARA room block and the discount to be applied to your stay. If you’ve already booked a room, you can call up reservations (866-966-4820) and ask them to move your reservation into the GMARA block and the discount will be applied retroactively.

Also, whether you need a bike for the race, or are making it a long weekend and want to rent something beefier for before-or-after fun on Kingdom Trails or the Burke Mountain Bike Park, there are multiple shops around town that offer great rental options.

Every Course Detail You Could Ever Want
Just kidding. But what you can look forward to is some beautiful paddling, all sorts of different biking, as much trekking as you want, a particularly diverse set of strategy decisions, and maybe a few surprises thrown in along the way. Also, note that there will be one mandatory bike leg of significant distance on (mostly) VT dirt/4th class roads that might be worth preparing for with some longer rides over the next month and a half.

We hope your training is going well and look forward to seeing you in July!

Cheers,
The GMARA Crew