infinitely sustainable pace

It was the last night before free nights become a rare treat. The world is my oyster, what do I do? Out on the town for drinks? Party?

Sorta. I rally the dog and the pugsley and a whole bunch of lights and head out to explore from the house. The night was warm (30ish whole degrees) and snow was lightly falling all around, but the VAST trail was firm and fast. Seamus and I covered a lot of ground quickly and found ourselves on trail that we hadn’t gotten to yet. Everything dark and quiet, exploring the forest, pedaling and pushing up and up and up. That moment you realize that you’re simply enjoying the ride and not negotiating with all the demons in your head for each turn of the cranks. That you’re doing okay.

Only problem was, with the excitement of the dog and the somewhat tricky nature of getting to the trailhead with him by bike, I left the house without my water. I had vodka. And peanut butter sandwich. But no water. Cue cutting the ride an hour shorter than planned. But who cares. Two solid hours pushing 38 lbs of pugsley in the woods was absolutely the Friday night that I needed.

The next day I hopped a plane back to Colorado. Exploring, testing the waters, soaking up some sunshine. Things are aligning and the universe seems to be in agreement with the plan. Tuesday the boy and I flew back east, exhausted.

He slept most of the trip and then slept hard all night. I was feeling it as well. Filled with optimism and hope and fear and anxiety. Thus begins several months of solo parenting and the next stage of this adventure.

MTBVT teamed up with the Trapp Family Lodge this weekend for a great little fat bike event. Trapps, home to a growing network of summer time mtb trails, is known for their groomed XC network. Together with mtbvt, they provided snow bikers the opportunity to come out on Saturday and go for a ride on the groomed trails on the east side of the property. Photo above from the mtbvt facebook page.

Kind of a trial run I guess, to see if it’s something they want to get behind. There was a great turn out with 40 or so riders showing up for the day. Conditions weren’t the best. Pretty soft, particularly in the fields, but the bikers and the XC skiers seemed to coexist well. It was fun to loop around and ride some new stuff. Also great to see friends that I haven’t seen much this winter.

If that sounds cool, make plans to come up to the Kingdom Trails for Winterbike on Saturday, March 9th. Winterbike is open to all bikes, not just fat bikes. I’m hearing talk of great rides, kegs of beer, big fire, booze, and fine meats and cheeses. I’ll definitely be there.

Last weekend it dumped snow. Over the week that settled, it got warm, then it got cold again resulting in perfect snow biking conditions. Saturday I got a nice long roll on the VAST trail up in Sterling Valley with the dog as my partner. It wasn’t too cold, the sun was out and conditions were so prime that it was big grins and laughing out loud descending into the next valley.

The only bummer was that my front derailleur had seized up and I was stuck in my middle ring for the whole ride. I had to walk up some hills that would have been perfect for granny gear.

Sunday I made some good progress in the house and actually did some laundry. Got help with my front D and headed back up to Sterling Valley for more snow bike action. The temps were much colder and the wind was roaring, but I came dressed to impress Jack Frost with two hats, a great PomPom neckwarmer and extra pants. To change it up I explored the Sterling Gorge trail off of VAST. It was set up much better than it had been the last time I tried to ride it and the trail was fun. First I went up up up but with the daylight fading fast and no first hand knowledge of how much farther up it went, i turned it back around and chose the shorter loop. Turned out super fun, nice choice and recommended when conditions permit.

Lots of weekend warrioring here. But first, some assorted randomness. Thursday night Josh Ritter came through town with his band. Just as the last time, it was an incredible show. He’s got a new album coming out and apparently he’s been getting divorced too and thats what it’s all about. Looking forward to it and just really stoked that he came through time. Lots of good showing coming up: for example Lucero at Higher Ground and John Prine at the Flynn. Not sure how I’m going to juggle babysitters to get out and see some music, but I gotta figure out a way.

There was a lot of sunshine in my life this week and on Friday the temperatures were warm and I couldn’t wait to get out of the office and meet up with friends. A little sunshine in a glass:

Saturday morning K and I got our act together early and got to the mountain before the crowds. After a few runs I realized that I wasn’t having to take it slow anymore, in fact I’d better speed it up. He’s really doing great on the snowboard. Getting confident and fast. We went all the way to the top and flew down blues until we were cold and the good snow was all scraped off and the holiday weekend crowds got thick.

After BCT and the two days of riding before that I was spent. So we opted to for more adventure on the road trip instead of another morning of riding in Sedona. We watched the red rocks disappear from the rear view mirror and headed back on the road. Above, the mountains of Flagstaff are ahead of us.

Our goal was to add another Very Important Monument to the collection, so off to Four Corners we went. Turns out that it’s not the real four corners (apparently the survey was off and the real spot is 2.5 miles away) and it’s oddly easy to drive by the hand painted sign at the turn. But the flag poles with the frayed flags gave it away. We stopped, paid our money, admired the monument and used the most disgusting toilet facilities on the entire trip.

Onto Colorado. A short hop got us to Cortez where we planned to spin out the road legs at Phil’s World. Unfortunately conditions were not in our favor. There had been a bit of snow and the warm(ish) temps led to much melting and much mud. We tried, it just wasn’t meant to be. Back in the car, next stop Durango for a beer at Ska Brewing and some food for the last push of the day.

We made it all the way to Salida before calling it quits on a long days drive. Excellent tea the next morning (first good tea the whole trip), a stroll around the cool town and a hang out by the river to get primed for the last leg of the drive. I had a plane to catch that afternoon and reality to return to. Another crystal clear day of driving through the mountains helped get me stoked for the changes to come. While I got on the plane to return to VT, my bike stayed in CO. Waiting for me for the next time.

So I skipped SSAZ this year. While I missed out on seeing my dear singlespeed friends and all the zanyness of that event, I don’t get that many weekends to go flitting around the desert riding bikes and it was time to explore some areas beyond the ssaz course. After my little preview last year, I was especially keen to get out for an all day adventure on the Black Canyon Trail. We got hooked up with Bob over at Gnar Gnar tours and his Black Canyon Trail shuttle which allowed us to leave the car at the Rock Springs trailhead and get a lift up the trail to ride back down to the car.

We got dropped off at the Antelope Creek trailhead. Unlike the previous couple of days, the sky was overcast, temps were on the colder side of comfortable and it even looked like it might rain a bit. Turns out those are perfect conditions for a nice big day on the BCT. No overheating, no sunburn, no water problems. The trail was faint and narrow at the trailhead, but quickly buffed out into the rolly ribbon of singletrack that’d we spend the next 30ish miles enjoying.

Most of it is not particularly technical, so you can zone out and just pedal while being overwhelmed with the views and the terrain. There were a couple of tricky sections to keep you honest and of course the cactus you don’t want to hug.  The Aqua Fria river was running well after the recent rains, so there were two wet feet river crossings but nothing too daunting.

It was a helluva remarkable day on the bike. The BCT is a real gem and I can’t wait to get back and ride some of the other sections. Back to the car at the Rock Springs trail head we hustled over to the Cafe to consume an enormous pile of food, followed of course by their famous pie. Stuffed with the well-deserved meal it was back up to Sedona for more beers in the hot tub.

It was clear and sunny when I landed in Denver on Thursday morning. No smog, the mountains were popping. No time to waste, lots of ground to cover. The clear skies didn’t last. Once we got into the mountains we encountered the snow I had heard about the night before. I guess it wasn’t too bad, but it certainly wasn’t plowed. For an east coaster, seeing the avalanche control trucks is always surprising. Onward. A stop in Fruita for pizza (cold and snowy there too) and then rolling through Moab into the emptiness of the dark, dark desert. A bazillion stars and then a fat half moon lit the road all the way to Flagstaff.

After some coffee, the final push down to Sedona through the beautiful Oak Creek Canyon. We geared up and headed to spin out the legs on Mescal > Aerie > Cockscomb. but then we took a bit of a wrong turn and our little spin got a little longer than anticipated. No worries. Beautiful day, beautiful trails, beautiful scenary.

The next day involved replacing a burnt out headlamp, a fruitless search for brake pads, and having to eat several times before we finally got out on the trail. Llama to Slim Shady. Again a beautiful day in an amazing setting. My winter legs were not happy with me and the sudden switch to summer biking mode, we did the best we could. How could you not have fun on that stuff? Slim shady was a blast.

Another night of beers in the hot tub and catching up on beauty sleep to get ready for the next day.

Four full moons ago (or was it five…) I was watching a crop duster dive and swoop above the fat, golden full harvest moon in Africa. One full moon ago I was drunk, happy and freezing cold riding a bike back from a night on the town in CO. This full moon was whiskey, fat bikes and far more snow than I would have imagined.

Six of us met up in Sterling Valley for a full moon ride. It was a whole nine degrees outside and the wind was picking up. A layer of clouds partially obscured the moon and sent waves of diamond dust snow swirling about the ground. We floundered up the Catamount/7 bridges trail, the snow was deeper and not too navigable for me on the pugsley. We consumed whiskey and PBR. And then back to the cars where we stood around, freezing, in the parking lot shooting the shit. As you do.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. Things got done or not done as they will.

Oh, and I totally changed my mind about selling the Air9 Carbon. Gonna keep it. Wasn’t ready to see it go, want to ride fast on it some more. So sorry world, it’s off the market.

This was by far the best weekend since I went out to CO during the holidays. Incredibly active and productive and social and a little relaxing too. Saturday K and I braved the crowds and the wind at the mountain and had some good runs. In the afternoon I snuck out for a snow bike ride, attempting to ensure I have some saddle time before the upcoming desert road trip. Conditions were strange. Seems the VAST trails were closed to snow ‘chines due to the reduced snow pack, so it was quiet out there. 2″ of fresh snow over frozen hardpack/ice. Fairly fast conditions, but you couldn’t let your guard down or the back end would slide out. I laid it down several times at speed. Cruising home at dusk was beautiful, very glad to have gotten out.

On Sunday morning many chores were accomplished. Many many chores. Then a nice long xc ski with friends. And then a short, intense race on the snow put on by SMBC. With the temps dropping quickly, conditions were great for riding on the snow. My performance was unremarkable, but it was fun to catch up with friends and make the lungs work extra hard for 20 minutes.

Ended the day with a planning meeting for the Mountain Moxies. If any ladies in VT have an interest in joining up with a great womens team, please drop me an email at mandy (at) bike29.com. It’s a great way to get with other women to ride and get support for racing. Also our potlucks are really yummy. Finally home, boy sleeping, and it was time for a beer and some Downton Abby.

January in Vermont. Settling into the rhythm of winter. Sometimes things are awesome and you love winter. Sometimes it is brutal and cold and horrid. Like this:

Thankfully that never seems to last for too long, and it’s back to regularly scheduled winter. Snow has been falling, 3-4 inches per day for the past week. Looks pretty outside but my plow bill is going to be enormous. Time to take advantage of my office location for some lunch time xc skiing.

And it’s time to explore the snowmobile trails. Headed out on this one near my house, looking forward to making it to Middlesex Notch and beyond as time permits. Conditions were soft and fluffy making it very pretty, but slow going. Looking forward to night rides and long afternoons checking out these snow corridors that you can’t access in the summer.