*Ben Mason stands with his bike at the bottom of the Slippery Elm trail system. (Provided / Kathleen Mason).*

Over the course of 11 hours, in 90° heat, Ben Mason sped through every mountain bike trail in Randolph, becoming the first person to bike the approximately 25 trails in a single day, according to the local bike shop the Gear House. The meticulous journey tallied 40 miles of looping across town on primarily rugged, single-track mountain bike trails, resulting in 5,525 feet in elevation gain, according to the app Strava, which Ben used to track his route.

“I thought it would be fun,” said Ben, explaining why he took on the challenge.

Randolph has become a mountain biking haven, said his mother Kathleen Mason, who has worked at VTC for eight years as the school’s coordinator for equity, diversity and inclusion. The family has lived in Randolph for five years.

“We have a lovely mountain biking community. Young kids all the way up to senior citizens, who are crazy mountain bikers, are out there biking,” she said.

The biking scene in Randolph, centered around the Gear House, has been taking off in recent years. In the last two years, VTC’s trail system and the Abel Mountain trails have been added to the Ellis, Seward, and Mari-Castle systems.

Kathleen was grateful to the mountain-biking community for the work they’ve done to make a space her kids can enjoy.

“Really, it’s been an incredible resource,” she said. “I don’t have to truck kids to the trailheads, they can ride from the house.”

Starting at 7:12 a.m. on May 21, Ben biked from one trail system to another, stopping at his mom’s, and the Gear House for breaks. He prepared food and his mother followed by car as Ben descended from VTC to the Ellis system, where he reached a top speed of 30 miles an hour down Howard Hill Road.

The 11-hour day included eight hours of active riding time. Because Ben rode every trail in the five systems, it required him to do multiple laps at each system.

“At Mari-Castle I had to do two laps, because I had to take the connecting trail to the top, and then the climbing trail to the top. Same thing with Abel Mountain,” Ben said.

He had never come close to covering that kind of mileage before, he added.

Ben picked up biking from his father and his older brother Sam. He’s only been mountain biking for three years.

When the family took a trip to Moab, Utah, “the bug was implanted” said Kathleen.

Now in middle school, Ben has narrowed his sports focus to biking and soccer. Last summer a typical day for him involved a 7a.m.ride up to the Ellis trails system, a mile and half away, doing a few laps, and coming home in time for breakfast.

Ben plans on competing in races through the Vermont Youth Cycling race series, as well as continuing to do distance riding.

“A long-term goal would be biking to the Canadian border,” he exclaimed.

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