Our Vermont

                                                           Sarah's hard work in the garden

                                                               Lots of apples from the yard.

We lose power more then often.

                                                
                                    Showing Katie, Matt and Keelan the Hollister Hill farm stable.

                                                          Keelan clearly likes the big wheel.

                                                                       Lovely sarah

                                                        Ryan practicing his fathering skills.

                                                                         Spooning?

                                            Our favorite place to be after ripping singletrack.

What a week, fresh vegatables and apples from the garden, wonderful far away friends visiting, good food, beer and riding bikes.  This pretty much sums it up as Sarah, Odin and I had a great couple of days practicing what we most enjoy here in the Summer in the great state of Vermont.  Katie, Matt and Keelan we hope to see you this winter,thank you so much for visiting will see you soon.

Backyard Harvest

Those who know us know that this has been a different kind of year for us, one in which we  are getting accustomed to being homeowners. It feels like something we were meant to be, and we feel like we're in a place we were meant to be. As we drove home from work last night we stopped to look at one of our favorite views, just down the road from our home. From here, you can see the Worcester Range, Camel's Hump and the Monroe Skyline, and the sunset.

Last night, we found ourselves in our backyard, where we worked in the garden, chopped wood, and picked some vegetables for our dinner. A true backyard adventure; an adventure of a different kind entirely.

 

 We have already enjoyed a few meals featuring ingredients from our garden, but last night was the first time an entire meal was made from the garden. We had ratatouille and salad, with fresh Red Hen bread. Yum. It's a good life!

 

How Singletrack is Born

 Joe's Yoke: A great way to get in crushed rock, old school.

 Kip trying out the bridges, even the unfinished ones.

(photos courtesy of Kip Roberts and Kevin Jaques)

The ORS crew met up at one of our favorite local places to ride, Millstone Hill, in the beautiful historic quarries of Websterville, Vermont to get our hands dirty and work with the likes of Kevin and Jason Jacques, Joe, and Ricky of the Millstone crew.  These folks have been responsible for all the new trail creativity and vision at the touring center, and we figured it was time to help out.  With tools abounding and by way of tractor and lots of muscle power we were able to get some quality trail work done on "Rock and Roll" a trail that gives access to the new Harrington Heights.

This is how it happens folks: a lot of hard work and sweat. I myself need to log in more time to giving back and making the singletrack here in Vermont even better than it already is.  If you love to ride singetrack, get out there and throw some dirt or rock around; give back.  Singletrack doesn't just happen, it's born by sweat, blood, and sometimes tears; good tears that is! So next time you hear about a trail day or run into to folks doing trail work while you're riding, stop for a second and help out; I guarantee you and the VT singletrack will be better for it!

T.

Life cycles; a ride in movie.

With all our great outdoorsy folks we know, we knew this would be an easy one!  Sarah, Odin and I planned to have an outdoor showing of the new video-ography of the life of a bicycle; Life cycles.  With a group ride from Onion River Sports to Plainfield with good friends we grilled,shared drinks and sat down to watch which turned out to be an awesome outdoor movie showing.  There's nothing quite like riding your bike into see a movie indeed.  I think will be doing this at least a couple more times.

Stay tuned.

T.

El Mont Diablo!

Lunar quarry 2011

The Centrifuge at Pine Hill Park

This past Easter, we did our annual ORS ride at Pine Hill Park and I was very much excited when I saw this bridge, though it had not been quite finished. This morning our good friend Mike emailed me this picture to show after weeks of trail work in Pine Hill Park, the  Centrifuge Bridge is done! Get ready to rip!

T.

Garden Gate.

Riding to Austria, Vermont

Another fantabulously good ride last night out of Stowe Town Loops up to Trapp Family Lodge, which is a little taste of Austria right here in Vermont. This time, we were joined by the wonderful Caroline, Kate, Paul, Aaron, Mike and Dean.

We pedaled on out of the woods and through the cattle field, then popped out onto the road leading up to Trapp Family Lodge. From there we could see the balloon festival down in the valley. 

We continued our pedal up to the Deli-Bakery-Brewery and joined a lively Friday night crowd out on the deck for some brews and food. Mike had possibly the best sandwich of his life, and we all enjoyed the Helles Golden and Seasonal, brewed right on site. 

As I've said before, it's best to enjoy your beer(s) long enough for it to get good and dark for the way back down through the woods. This time we may have taken that advice a little too far...

Thankfully some of us had our lights, though some of us did not, making for a very interesting descent. We all made it, though! And then Aaron and I had a very close encounter with some deer as we rode back to the cars in the dark. It's a long story for another time, but basically I got within inches of a deer butt. Pretty sweet.

Today we're making a garden gate, staking up the tomatoes - which actually have little tomatoes on them! - playing with the dog, and hopefully heading out into the woods at some point. 

Happy Trails!