POW!

Just incredible snow out there. Here's a shot from yesterday, BEFORE it stared snowing!

And out the back door today.

A parting shot. Definitely the time to get out and ski!

Morning Powder Turns

Awesome to get out and ski what was some pretty decent snow this morning. Hope the rain stays away from the upper elevations these next few days!

From fast grass, to snow, to stick season once again

We've had a little bit of everything in Vermont as of late. Winter was here in fits and starts for a few weeks there, and we were able to get some sweet turns on thin cover.

We even scored some sun here and there.

Last Thursday though, things began to look a bit different. Snow came down pretty heavily, and we were pleasantly surprised to find 3-8" of fresh snow as we hiked up under moonlight Friday morning.

By the time we got to the top the sun was out, and we were pretty sure it was going to be a pretty sweet descent.

Sure enough the powder brought big smiles to our faces. 

There's nothing like fresh tracks.

A big rainstorm Sunday into Monday has things looking more like this in the mountains again, but a storm rolling in later today might change that. Fingers crossed.

Two-a-days once again

Fire's cranked and there's snow out the window right now. Still, the trails were riding quite well this morning before things started to stick. We snuck sweet 2.5 hour mtb ride, with central VT's best (2,000 vertical foot) descent mixed in for good measure, and followed it up with some biscuits and gravy at Positive Pie in Plainfield (seriously good weekend brunch).
Throw in a late afternoon mission to snag a few turns on the Marquette's, and you've got a pretty good Saturday. Sounds like tomorrow might feature some awfully nice turns up high. Certainly can't complain about lack of options.
See you out there!

Winter Begins in Earnest

Ski season kicked off in earnest with some sweet top to bottom runs this weekend. A quick scouting mission late in the day Saturday got me pretty psyched.

Sunday Nina and I headed out, getting some pretty sweet turns in up high.

Skiing Marquette Backcountry skis has really opened up terrain. A little snow and grass all of a sudden becomes really fun. Pretty stoked to be stepping things up with the Pro Leisure Team this winter.

More snow on the deck this morning. Must be winter.

Highland Overmountain Enduro Race Report 2012

I headed down to Highland Bike Park this weekend for the Overmountain Enduro, not really sure what to expect. I'd heard awesome things about Highland, and I'd also heard it was pretty knarly. So I was intrigued to say the least. 

I was also a bit nervous. I've done a Super D here and there, and I raced a few gravity events in college, but I've never done a proper enduro before. And even though I have a few tricks in my dh toolbox, racing fast downhill is a different ballgame all together.

Initially the plan was to head down Friday and preride the course. Then it poured all day and I had more work to do than I thought. So I stayed home. Which was great from a rest up and feel good standpoint, but apparently not so good from a race fast standpoint. There is a definite learning curve to these races, and not going down the day before was mistake number 1.

Before I get too far though, there is one thing I should say: this race was a blast. Do yourself a favor and put it on your race calendar for next year.

So, back to it. We got up early and headed down to Highland Saturday morning. Which gave me enough time to register and ride stage 1 a couple of times. Stage 3 was only open to foot inspection, so we checked that out too. Then it was chill out and wait for the start mode until the pros finally started at 3 pm. I have to say I got more nervous for this one than any other race all year. I think it has something to do with the fact that you know you're going to have to take some risks to do well.
Stage 1 was a good time. Super fast, with some wall rides, rock features, and a lot of berms. Preriding helped for sure, and I was riding pretty fast, though I need some berm riding practice for sure. The bottom half featured a hint of climbing and some old school NE singletrack. I figured that would be my strength and I punched it there.
Stage 2 was fast, flowy, tight singletrack. No preriding meant I threw in a few too many brake checks, but it was the shortest of the three stages, so I figured it wouldn't be a big deal. That stage flowed right into the climber's prime. That was a tricky one, because when you're racing Adam Craig and there's no prize for second well......
So basically I rode a fun, fast tempo up the climb, and backed off when it got steep and hard in order to save energy for the last stage, which was the most technical by far. Guess that worked okay, I got second in the climber's prime, though again, that didn't really do me any good. Hmmmm, going to have to asses that one for next year.
That brought me to the top of stage 3, which, for some reason, I had a hard time keeping my head in the game for. I rode the top part okay, but not great, and then came into the steep, muddy chute mid course all wrong. Soon enough I was in the trees. And that was pretty much it. My head was out of the game and I'd lost a bunch of time. Too bad too. It turned out I was 9th on stage one, and a good, clean run on stage 3 would have put me in contention for the top 10.
Guess that reinforces how important pre-riding it for these things. You have to have your lines down for sure, and you need to know what they feel like at speed. I didn't do that for stage 3 and it cost me big time.
Oh well, I guess that's what next year's for. Live and learn.

River's Way Up

It's been raining all day in central VT, with the Mad now the highest it's been since Irene (I think) at our    house. We headed down tonight to check it out, and found the river well 6 feet above where it was this morning, and about the breach the plunge pool wall.

Our usual sun bathing spot (the rocks are usually 3-4 feet above the water) is now a huge rapid.

The fire pit about to be taken out. Irene created a beach here, looks like it might be gone by morning.

Off to Highland for the Enduro tomorrow. Hoping it stops raining.