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2024: My 17th Year of Digital Desipience
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Bringing It All Together
Looking for bugs? Not here, but fresh content, and organization is coming soon.
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Sunday, July 16, 2023
VermontStrong: Support the Green Mountain State
If you're interested in helping, here are some resources:
Or you can buy gift cards from some of the local businesses to give them a cash boost for now:
Friday, July 7, 2023
SafeTrails: Feel The Heat
Sunday, July 2, 2023
Central Vermont Cycling Tour
It was a great weekend of camping with our friends Liz and Dan at one of our favorite campgrounds, Lazy Lions in Graniteville, VT. Clean, quiet, and nearby trails to walk the mutts, what more could we ask for?
Saturday, June 24, 2023
SafeTrails: Ticks in New England
Unfortunately, they’re part of the outdoors, and while New Canaan Nature considers them “a strong and important link in the food chain,” I’d personally be happy to see them gone.
But, they're not going anywhere, and thanks to the effects of climate change (warmer winters with less snow), we will keep having "the worst year," over and over. Especially with the fact that ticks can be active any time of year when the temperatures are above freezing.
I think plenty of people are aware of Lyme disease and at least know some of the symptoms, but Lyme is just one of several diseases that can be spread by ticks in New England.
Let's first dive into the different ticks found here in the northeast (data from CDC.gov)
Monday, March 27, 2023
NEMBA’s Philip Keyes Leadership Summit
Just under 100 participants from nearly all of NEMBA’s 33 chapters got together to discuss strategy and how to ensure the success of the organization and mountain biking in general, and of course, ride.
After some energetic opening remarks from Nicole Freedman, NEMBA’s new executive director, the brainstorming began
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Boning Up
NOT MY FEMUR |
But, just like trying to keep an old car or an old bike up and running, our older bodies (or sbould I say "classic") need more maintenance as time goes on. Here is yet another article that discusses the importance of weight and strength training as a way to stave off osteoporosis and osteopenia.
The reality is, exercises like cycling, and swimming, just don’t cut it when it comes to bone strength. The more you stress the bones, the stronger they will become, providing you have adequate nutrition with calcium and vitamin D.
Friday, December 30, 2022
How a Trail is Born
Sunday, November 20, 2022
Bay Circuit Trail (Just a Taste)
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
What is Mountain Biking?
Monday, September 5, 2022
First Aid Kits Only Help If You Bring Them With You
Yes, the same "crash photos" seen in a previous post. |
Let's face it, it's inevitable that you or one of your riding compatriots is going to crash. Hopefully there will be no serious injuries and all you'll get is a good story and a good laugh, maybe make it on to #fridayfail on Pinkbike.com. But, someday, something more significant might happen so you should probably be ready.
In my mind, being ready requires two things: knowledge and supplies. I do happen to have a fair bit of medical knowledge, but until research is done to determine if oak leaves are better for packing a wound over maple leaves, I'd prefer some good old fashioned medical supplies.
If you don't have much medical knowledge, I strongly encourage you to take a first aid class, especially if it can be geared towards the outdoors. You should also take a CPR course and a Stop the Bleed course.
Thursday, August 25, 2022
Frontenac Secteur SUD National Park Adventure
It’s not common for a 30 mile gravel ride to rise to the level of needing a story about it, but this one does. This ride wasn’t a ride, it was a journey, an experience, a shit show. A shit show that I got to enjoy with my lovely wife and our two friends, Liz and Dan.
I’m typically tasked with finding and leading rides (or hikes) whenever we travel. I do have a reputation for taking my wife and our friends on rides that are a *bit* harder than I might advertise, or with a wee bit more climbing than mentioned. That’s part of what I do, but I HONESTLY don’t set out to do it. This just sort of happens, there’s “one more hill,” or we’ve only got “a few more miles to go.”
Anyone who has tried to find a ride hundreds of miles from home knows the challenges associated with choosing loops purely based on GPS tracks. Be it TrailForks or RideWithGPS, it’s caveat emptor when you download that GPS file and hit start.
Wednesday, August 3, 2022
ECGA Gravel Goodness
The roughly 25-mile loop included a mix of road and off-road accessing Maudslay State Park, the Martin Burns Wildlife Management Area, the abandoned J.B. Little Road, trails around the Indian Hill Reservoir, and some quiet paved roads.
About 30 riders set out in multiple groups broken down by an estimated average speed. I tried to go back and forth between everyone, but the fast riders were long gone. That being said, I was able to snap a bunch of shots of the majority of the participants, and from the smiling faces, it seemed like everyone was having a good time.
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
Muddy Onion 2022
Rolling out of Montpelier, the Muddy Onion offers two route options, 21 and 39 miles, the latter with about 3500 ft of climbing. I chose the 39'er, as did Jason G and Glen G, and in total there were about 697 other riders lined up with us on Saturday morning.
Sunday, September 12, 2021
Gran Prix Beverly Cyclocross
You can tell by the fact that you can't see any riders behind me how far out front I am... Thanks Jen Carter for the pic! |
With the race happening in my proverbial back yard, I had to do it, lack of training or semblance of fitness be damned. In fact, the entirety of my "training" for the race consisted of the one-lap pre-ride I did shortly before the start.
If you want to skip past my ramblings and see some pics of my teammate/work colleague/bro, scroll below, but if you want to subject yourself to a tiresome description of the course, read on.
Sunday, July 18, 2021
Kill Your Lawn, Grow "Weeds."
I've never been a "lawn guy," I've never really cared enough to dedicate much time, effort and resources to my grass. Sure, I *tried* and had done some stuff... watering, fertilizer, de-thatching, aerating, overseeding, etc, which, when I actually list it out, seems like a lot, but I was only barely interested and didn't do all of these things often enough or consistently. My lawn's appearance matched my efforts, but it was usually "good enough," and I was fine with that. The weeds were green, the grub patches weren't too bad, and I had better things to do. And while I wasn't a dedicated grass guy, my OCD made sure that what I did have was usually neat and clean.
Thursday, March 25, 2021
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Beverly Bike Park?
Friday, October 30, 2020
Battle of the Blowers vs Bloviators
I say there is no universal right or wrong approach, but generally I favor groomed trails.
In fact, for the most part I don't think leaf removal adversely affects trails and more likely may confer benefits to trail users.
Before you load your aspersions and invectives in a flaming bag to hurl at me, let's lay out some facts or at least some informed opinions that I'll use to make my case.
Monday, May 25, 2020
Poultry Power
It started innocent enough. Jean's friend in NH asked if we wanted chickens, and of course the answer was, "yes!" They gave us a small coop and all we needed to do was build an enclosure and get a permit from the city...