PK's grand tour in the Mad

Cheers to Patrick Kell for showing us the grand tour of some of the most wicked trails wev'e riden all year in the Mad river valley!

A beautiful day, a life celebrated.

http://type2fun.wordpress.com/2010/05/16/mount-montpelier/

A beautiful day to be had! I was supposed to ride in the Dave Blumenthal memorial ride. This was a ride Dave came up with that consisted of every imaginable hill in Montpelier, a 37 mile gut-wrenching ride that included 5,300 ft in elevation gain as a way to train for the great Tour Divide. Unfortunately I woke up with a sore wrist and decided to sleep in and see what the day was to bring. So Sarah, Odin and I decided to celebrate Dave's extraordinary life by still riding but touring Hinesburg State Forest, at a slower, less elevation-y, more dog-appropriate pace. This is a great trail system in the town forest of Hinesburg that has trails maintained by the Fellowship of the Wheel, a great organization that helps maintain and lobby for trail use in some great locations in Vermont. So we set out and rode a two hour loop that consisted of trails the likes of The Back Door and Dragon (we think, we're not entirely sure where we were at all times). Once you are up on the ridge, there are breezes, views, and changing forests, plus fun rocky sections of trail to challenge yourself on. Upon starting our descent from the ridge we met a nice family: Dad, Mom, dog, and three young sons. What a great thing to do as a family! Maybe that will be us one day...maybe with just one third the amount of kids, anyways. The trails were a blast, the day was gorgeous, and the after-ride grub was some of the best (fresh streaks on the grill, beans from a neighbor's garden, pilaf, and salad: mmmmm, yummy). In all, it's a day to be remembered, marking lives to be remembered.

Happy trails!

2010 Vermont Mountain Bike Festival

Here are some scenes from this year's Vermont Mountain Bike Festival: Also, we had an amazing sunset on the second night:
Unfortunately those bright colors do appear to signal that a massive storm is coming...on this second night we also sat under tents during the worst thunderstorm/hurricane I've experienced in a long time. The lightening was incredible, though! Um...the flooding and sideways rain was also incredible.

Despite the rainy evening, the festival was a great time. There were lots of demo bikes, some great vendors (including Nemo tents, Vermont Peanut Butter Co, and Mocean Mate), and lots of people who love riding. This was the third year of this event...looking forward to the 2011 festival!

Another hot day in the Mad

What can Clif blok do for you?

When your tire just wont hold that tube because its tired side wall blows out on you like a gunshot in the air. This is what that useless clif bloc wrapper will do to get you out of the woods. Heres to Clif may they keep producing wonderful trail food that might just get you back to the parking lot for a cold beer!

Cheers!

It's been a good run indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kif_S8wwRRs

ORS Specialized demo day.

A Hancock brook day

One heck of a week! Happy 4th Everybody!

An overnight jaunt at Battell shelter below Mt Abe on the Longtrail, an epic day hike up to Jefferson in the the White mountains, the Montpelier parade, fireworks on top Mt. Madonna on the fourth then to cap it of Chrissy's birthday flotilla on the winooski river and dinner at the Alchemist! What a week it was! I don't think Sarah and I have ever had so much variety in one week and spent such quality time with good friends. It had been such a long time since we kayaked or paddled in a canoe. It was especially tough and interesting to have Odin in a kayak for the first time.
Thanks so much to everyone who accompanied us or invited us out. We are so fortunate to be in such a beautiful place with so many beautiful people.

Here's to you all and living the good life.