-Trip Report- Gulf of Slides: The Sideshow (April 30 - May 1, 2011)

Spring skiing at its best.

Mt. Washington can resemble a Spring circus.  The crowds gather for an annual festival that marks the end of the ski season.  Some people enjoy the show under the big tent: lions, clowns and of course, those candy peanuts.  But the main event isn't the only show in town.  Somewhere near the big tent sits the sideshow: a mystery tent with freaks, thrills and otherworldly experiences waiting to be discovered.  While the sideshow lacks the pomp and circumstance of the main tent, it can still blow your mind.

Basket Pedals Are THE DEVIL!

Just looking at this thing makes me cringe.

Buying mountain bike pedals is a lot like biking a difficult downhill line.  You need to commit, and commit hard, or it's going to eat you up and spit you out.

April is Alive

Can you think of another month with as much going on as April?  After all, April sees the  beginning of the baseball season, basketball and hockey playoffs, Patriot’s Day and of course the Boston Marathon.  Unfortunately, I usually don’t get to witness any of these national holidays.  That’s because April also happens to be the one time of year that I can engage my two favorite pastimes: skiing and mountain biking.  And I’ll be damned if I’m going to plant my ass on the couch just so I can tell you if Beckett’s fastball has lost its pop. 

-Trip Report- Osceola Slide: Bushwhacked (April 2011)

Osceola slide (first slide on the left)

I don't think anybody has ever been gang raped by an evergreen thicket, but after my bushwhack to the Osceola Slide I have an idea of what it might be like.

Nor'Easter Alert!

Put those shorts back in the closet.

Get ready to hear some serious whining from the golfers in your life, as the greens won't be regulation ready for another few weeks.  There's one big storm on the way this Friday, which has the potential to leave over a foot of snow from the Berkshires through the White Mountains, with more to follow next week!

-Trip Report- North Twin III: Third Time Is the Charm (March 2011)

Finally.

The music from my phone alarm pierced the morning air at 5:30am.  I had carefully prepared myself the night before for my "morning-self" and was armed with reasons that I wanted- no, needed to heed the call.  But there he was in my head at 5:30 telling me that I just wanted more sleep:  that today would be a good day to sit on the couch and watch some basketball; that I wouldn't be letting anyone down by not going.  He had a good point.  I mustered as much consciousness as I could gather and concentrated on a single thought:  It'll be worth it.