BY MAT CLOUSER
BRANDON — For many a Vermonter, harvest season is filled with a cycle of chores. There are crops to reap, wood to chop, and wood to stack (and stack and stack). All the kids are busy in school. Winter, we know, is inching closer, one snappy breeze and radiantly dying leaf after the next.
Somedays, autumn can feel like an endless battle against the wheel of time—no matter the incandescence of the leaves. It’s hardly the time of year most would deem suitable for taking vacations to the beach, slipping from hammock to surf and back again.
And yet, for one Vermonter lucky enough to have some free time recently, the wheel of time and blaze of fall presented themselves as the perfect opportunity for a beach vacation—even if it was far from idly spent.
On September 23, Brandon resident and Executive Director of the Homeless Prevention Center (HPC) Angus Chaney said to heck with it all. He stopped splitting logs and split for the beach instead. There was a catch, of course—he did it all to raise cash—$7,000, in fact—for HPC (a nonprofit working with families and individuals in crisis to secure and retain housing in Rutland County) by way of what he deemed “Pedal to the Sea.”
It turns out, if the job is right (and includes a trip to the beach), there’s little some folk won’t do to keep at it.
An avid mountain biker, in addition to being an advocate for altruism, Chaney says the plan came together quicker than frost on a pumpkin. “I had vacation time coming, and it’s a great time of year to check out New England by bike,” he said. “I reached out to like-minded folks about sponsoring it as a fundraiser, and it grew.”
“If anyone’s ever thought about getting on a bike and just going—I say do it,” said Chaney, who braved a five-day and 215-mile trek by mountain bike that took him on a mix of paved and gravel roads, single track, rail, and snowmobile trails all the way from the Adirondacks in New York, over the Green Mountains in Vermont, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire, before eventually depositing him at Ogunquit Beach along the coast of Maine on September 28.
Chaney said the highlights of his trip were vast and included his first-time riding any of New Hampshire’s Northern Rail Trail, and he was able to enjoy some of his aunt’s cooking and his uncle’s coffee along the way.
Oh yeah, and there was the beach too. “Cruising down that last hill into Ogunquit and actually seeing the ocean come into view,” he said. “First thing I did was stash the bike and go swimming.”
As is often the case in life, Chaney said he had to take the good with the bad. “Arriving hungry in small towns to find all the restaurants and diners closed—that happened in a few places, either because of COVID or the workforce struggles we’re all seeing,” he said, speaking of some of the challenges he faced. “You tell yourself around mile 40 you’ll get a cheeseburger when you stop at the end of the day, but you end up digging through the options available in a small gas station.”
“I got the last yogurt in Tilton, NH,” he continued. “Not having a car to zip 10 miles to the next town for a café in food deserts without reliable transportation. That’s also why getting a homecooked meal when staying with family meant so much.”
Chaney said the first year of Pedal to the SEA was a test for him. “I want to thank the many folks from Vermont and points along the way for their generous support of this cause. There weren’t business sponsors like other HPC fundraisers,” he said. “The $7,000 raised all came from donors who heard about it. Most are, of course, Vermonters and know about the mission of the Homeless Prevention Center. Still, it was also exciting to receive support from people along the way in New York and New Hampshire, even beyond New England.”
“Folks as far away as Mexico and Scotland got in the charitable cycling spirit, he continued. “With that level of support and enthusiasm… I might approach Vermont businesses in the biking world next time around to see if they’d be interested in sponsoring and anchoring the event at the outset.”
Asked if he would do it again, Chaney didn’t hesitate. “Definitely,” he said, “in some form on some route at some point. I’ve already had the maps out again, thinking about next fall.”
He also said he’d like to grow the event enough to see other riders join in for some or even all of the trek. “I’d like to make that an option that people could ride a day of it if they don’t have time to do the whole thing,” he said.
As for the continuing work at home—without which there would be no ride at all, Haney says there’s much work that needs to be done. “Homelessness has come into full view in Vermont in the past few years,” he said. “That awareness is great and needed, but it’s also bringing out extreme opinions in some communities which aren’t always constructive or grounded.”
“HPC has a lot of programs it’s developed and refined over time to meet people where they are in the journey back to housing, stability, and community. They’ve got options for individuals, families, and youth,” he went on. “Affordable apartments are getting harder and harder to come by—everywhere in Vermont—but there are also a lot of good housing initiatives and projects underway that HPC is connected with.”
Chaney says the need is staggering, but so are the successes and that since the start of the pandemic, HPC has helped rehouse 392 people. “Some of the big federal programs are winding down now, so a lot of HPC’s work will need to pivot to keeping those people secure with just the right mix of services and some rental assistance,” he said.
“It’s on us to keep balanced with our handlebars straight as we go through the peaks and valleys with clients and our larger community.”
*Editor’s note: Anyone interested in contributing to Pedal to the Sea retroactively or more broadly to HPC can do so via their website at www.hpcvt.org
