Comments by Participants
Highlights of Comments by Participants
“A ‘world class’ cycling event! Over the last 30 years I’ve participated in many organized rides and cycling events, there’s no question in my mind that the Tour de Kingdom is one of the best I’ve ever attended.” Joe Homer, NH
“We got out in the country and you’d think we were in Ireland. It was absolutely gorgeous. The Northeast Kingdom is like Vermont was 30 years ago.” - Peter Williams, NH
“It was one of the best experiences of my life.” - Laura Dolgin, VT
“Thanks for this. We had a fantastic weekend…. We'll see you next year … and definitely for the double century.” - Peter Duggan, MA
“An epic day!” – Amanda Tucker, VT
We will spread the word about this 'gem of a tour' and will surely be back next year. Take care,:)” - Becky Hebert-Sweeny, NH
“This was my first Tour de Kingdom; I loved every minute of it and will definitely be returning for years to come!” - Maggie Brown, VT
“A spectacular event!” - Peter Brooks, North Country Tours, MA
“Two of the best days of riding in my life.” - Fred Kirchoff, NJ
“Well organized … fun … awesome …” - Kathy Baillargeon, ME
“Everyone was so helpful and cheerful it made for a wonderful event.” - Don & Sue Myers, CT
Comments by Participants
I’d like to thank you and the IROC staff for your time, energy and effort organizing a “world class” cycling event!
Over the last 30 years I’ve participated in many organized rides and cycling events, there’s no question in my mind that the Tour de Kingdom is one of the best I’ve ever attended. The ride routes on both days were outstanding, exceptional scenery, aid stations perfectly placed and stocked with all the right stuff and very friendly volunteers. The jerseys, caps, gear bags, mugs, jackets and poster are beautiful and provide a nice memento of the 2009 Tour de Kingdom.
Your community is lucky to have IROC in their backyard, thanks for sharing it with us. It served as a perfect place to register, start, finish, grab a shower and let’s not forget the healthy food waiting at the end of each ride and those amazing smoothies! Newport’s a beautiful town and we enjoyed Lago’s, the East Side, our rooms at the Newport City Hotel and of course the Louis Garneau store. The two days of riding created the perfect opportunity for a Friday – Sunday mini-vacation to Newport.
From the outside it seemed like you did the impossible and kept everyone happy. With such a large undertaking, you probably dealt with a few problems on both days, however from my perspective everything seemed to run smoothly.
The option of timed century competition was a nice addition, lots of fun that provided a great challenge! I hope this option will continue in the future as it provides a great opportunity to measure one’s fitness among other riders while pushing yourself just a little harder than you thought you could.
Many thanks to the members of the Kingdom Velo Group. It was lots of fun meeting and riding with them and great to be led out of Newport each day by their yellow jerseys.
Great riding, good food and made some new friends along the way, … a perfect cycling weekend ! THANKS, ….. Joe Homer, White Mountain Velo Group
“We got out in the country and you’d think we were in Ireland. It was absolutely gorgeous. The Northeast Kingdom is like Vermont was 30 years ago.” - Peter Williams, rode with his daughter on the 50 mile loop out to Island Pond and back.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life.” - Laura Dolgin, A Century Rider – Completed her first Century Ride at the Tour this year – Congratulations Laura!!
“Great job, wonderful event … It really was a wonderful weekend. Your smoothies are the best!” - Ami Milne-Allen, member White Mountain Velo Group
“Thanks for this. We had a fantastic weekend…. We'll see you next year … and definitely for the double century.” - Peter Duggan -- raised $565 for IROC’s Healthy Changes Initiative from 14 contributors using Support Your Rider on our web site.
“I asked for a large T-Shirt so that I could give it to my husband, but I like the color so much, can I trade it for a small, so that it fits me?” – Anonymous (obviously) and winner of the “Just for the Fun of It” Award -- a small T-Shirt. (We at IROC are totally committed to saving marriages one T-Shirt at a time.)
“On behalf of the Stowe Bike Club members that made the trek to Derby, thanks so much for putting on a terrific event!! Beautiful roads and scenery, the use of your great facility, and the efforts that all of you put in, made for an epic day! The stops & food afterwards were great.” – Amanda Tucker, member Stowe Bike Club
“Just a quick note to say thanks to you and your crew for what will truly be a memorable weekend for the Sweeny's. Tom and I had a fantastic time and the encouragement and patience of everyone was amazing. We will spread the word about this 'gem of a tour' and will surely be back next year. Take care,:)” - Becky Hebert-Sweeny - Female “Winner” of the Double Century Challenge – and she didn’t even know she was racing!!
“This was my first Tour de Kingdom; I loved every minute of it and will definitely be returning for years to come! The routes which were selected were not only challenging but also gave some really great countryside to take in and be in awe of. Thanks to IROC for letting me shower afterwards for my trip home, I appreciated the hospitality! Take care, and have a great year!” - Maggie Brown
“A spectacular event!” - Peter Brooks, North Country Tours and member of the Charles River Wheelmen
“Love the (25 mile) ride out to Morgan and back.(My second year doing it!) and absolutely love the folks at the Lake Seymour support table, the smoothies, the water slide, and the therapy pool.” – Sharon Wilson
Had a GREAT time. - Janet Zinter, Brattleboro, VT
“Kasia and I had a great time this weekend. I really enjoyed the event and the beauty of -the NE Kingdom. Thanks for organizing those worthy rides/races.” -- Tomasz Jankowski 48 from Warwick, RI, winner of the Last One Back to the Barn award (a complete set of autographed works to date by Howard Mosher), finishing 12th on the Double Day Century Challenge after a near crash on Day One and constant equipment problems on Day Two.
“Two of the best days of riding in my life.” - Fred Kirchoff, 67 year old from Marlton, New Jersey and winner of the most “mature” double day rider award -- a four pack of lift tickets at Jay Peak (He won’t be back next summer, but only because he is riding his bike cross country to Seattle.”) Go Fred. Go!!!!
“It was a great time! Thanks for organizing it!” - David Borenstein – Somerville, MA - Winner of 3 month membership at the Boston Sports Club
“I just wanted to thank you for organizing such a great event this weekend. I rode in the Day 1 Century-- only my second such event-- but I felt that the support for the riders was significantly better than the ride sponsored by a national foundation which I completed in NYC last fall. Thanks again.” - Christopher Sullivan – Newport, VT
“Great ride – will be doing it again for sure.” - Abe Menzin – Newton, MA (Abe rode in 2008 and holds the distinction of being the first registrant for the 2009 Tour, signing up in November of last year. He said it picked up his spirit as he hung up his bike for the winter to register for a return to the Tour de Kingdom early. We love this spirit, Abe, and we are very honored to have helped you get through the long dark days of January!!)
“Many thanks for a great event. I'll spread the word to cycling friends near and far that this is a must do event... See you next year!” - Dave Hosmer, Stowe, VT
“Thanks a lot for putting on such a wonderful weekend - it was a fabulous introduction to the road riding of the Kingdom. I did the 100 (Sat), 41 (Sun), camped, swam, and visited the Louis Garneau store on the way out. It was all very enjoyable, the rides went well - please pass on my thanks to all your team for the very friendly and welcoming rest stops. The signage on the rides was superb. Being able to camp by the start made a big difference in time, ease, and keeping the costs down. If you are seeking opinions, my vote would be to have the hill century on the Saturday, but I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and really look forward to returning to the Kingdom roads now I know what a beautiful area it is. Cheers, - Chris Pease – Fall River, MA
And we had “some kind of fun” hosting the Tour
It was a great day. I had a blast. Everybody just said how great a ride it was. I had my mom with me and one of the riders was from her town, Arlington MA. And her fiancé was originally from the same town as my best man in my wedding, they were riding the old Shwinn tandem bike.
One group of riders was making fun of Vermonters because we only consider Jay a hill but the whole ride had hills. I can't wait until next year, a few riders asked if we were serving our burgers at the finish so save us a grill at IROC next year!
Thank You for having us. - Ray Edwards and The Vermont Highland family.
Truly it was a Great Event. We had our Lodge full with guests from the ride. We advertised on the IROC site. They spent two great evenings together meeting others, cooking in the community kitchen and hanging out at the campfire. It was a fun event not only for the participants but also for those who benefited from them in all ways. - Brian and Joan DuMoulin -- Seymour Lake Lodge
So here’s the secret about why I insist on making IROC’s “internationally acclaimed” fruit smoothies for riders on their return: I absolutely love the good spirit and awe of riders who have experienced the Northeast Kingdom for the very first time! Repeaters love it even more, because they have already discovered the best kept secret in New England. - Phil White, Chairman of the Board, IROC
More Comments
Please note, many of you have made some great suggestions for improving the event, primarily signage, adding warnings about how hilly the 25 mile route is on Day One, switching Day One with Day Two, reporting participation by those who did not leave at the 7:30 start time, and that kind of thing. We want this feedback and are logging it all in for discussion over some beer in January and February. So please keep these suggestions coming. We have generally not included these specific suggestions in the commentary logged on this page. But we don’t want you to think that we don’t pay attention to your suggestions. Each year this event has gotten better, and a large part of that is listening to the suggestions of riders. As far as we’re concerned this is now your event, not ours. We still reserve the right and pleasure of making the final decisions in as arbitrary and capricious manner as possible. After all, that’s half the fun. So here are more comments:
You are forbidden to remove me from the mailing list, I love the updates!! J This was my first Tour de Kingdom; I loved every minute of it and will definitely be returning for years to come! The routes which were selected were not only challenging but also gave some really great countryside to take in and be in awe of. Thanks to IROC for letting me shower afterwards for my trip home, I appreciated the hospitality! Take care, and have a great year! - Maggie Brown, Fair Haven, VT
Sorry I didn't see you at the end of day two so I could congratulate you on such a spectacular event! We "Team North Country" had a really good time, the two that did the mountain century said it compared with the difficulty of riding some divide in Colorado. From what I have heard the roads out there are not as steep as here though. They were challenged, and had fun. I rode the 80 and 40 with a tough newbie rider and did your 20 monday morning. All told I loved it and plan to be back next year with a larger group. In fact due to an email I sent on the club list 5 more people rode from the Charles River Wheelmen (CRW). There are three prize categories that I could try to qualify for next year; most mature double day rider, largest out of area group, or (possibly) last back in 2 centuries!
Biggest criticism I heard was " Larger type on the cue sheets!". The signage was so good the sheets weren't needed. The mileage was right on. See you next year!- Peter Brooks, Watertown, MA and North Country Tours
Thanks for the great experience. It was a pleasant change to ride at the other end of the state. I've done several supported rides and must say that you ran a very organized ride with friendly volunteers. - Sandy Garland, Guilford, VT
Thanks to all of you - we stopped at all the rest stops and took our time. This was our longest ever century but also the most challenging. Great ride by the way, we really enjoyed ourselves and we’ll try to make it back next year. - Mark and Leslie Henebry – Essex, CT riders with North Country Tours
Hi Phil! Thanks again for a great ride. We really enjoyed it and can't wait to wear our new jerseys. … Again, thank you for putting on such a well organzized and fun event. I just sent an e-mail off to our president of the Maine Cycling Club to tell him just how awesome it was. He is actually from Vermont, so I think we could get more interest from our fellow riders next year. I think it is great that you already set the date. I have it on my calendar. - Kathy Baillargeon – Lewiston, ME
Many thanks for a great ride and a great day. I lived in VT for close to 20 years '61 - '81 and never made it up to the lakes district in the NEK. I expect we'll be back next year. … Thanks again, everyone was so helpful and cheerful it made for a wonderful event. - Don & Sue Myers – West Hartford, CT
To come up here and see the hills was kind of a surprise, I’m used to riding on the bike path which is easy going, but it was a great ride.” - Shannon Williams, Burlington, VT
“We got out in the country and you’d think we were in Ireland. It was absolutely gorgeous. The Northeast Kingdom is like Vermont was 30 years ago.” - Peter Williams Newmarket, NH. Peter rode with his daughter Shannon on the 50 mile route. He added that being able to ride with his daughter was cool.
Thank you for putting together a great ride. There is not much better than riding in the NE Kingdom. I thoroughly enjoyed the rides, the stops & the food afterwards. .. And, special thanks to your volunteer on East Hill Rd (Sunday 34 mile ride) who took great care of us. BTW, the slurpy was great! I hope to join you again next year. - Matthew Locker – Lebanon, NH