|   A few days in the East and a few pictures. | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:05 AM | | So I have some flight vouchers that expire in December and Mt. Snow presents a perfrect opprotunity to ride some of that fabled rooty, rocky sloppy East Coast singletrack and everything comes together with my schedule and the next thing I know I'm on a plane to Albany.
It's wet and cold when I arrive to a mostly vacant hotel on Thursday night.
It's still cold and wet so I slowly (letting the rain subside a bit) put my bike together on Friday morning and hit the slopes. Tim (narlus) and Nathan (ShaunTheSheep) get to Snow in the afternoon and we spend the time frolicking through the beautifulm fall foliage and soaking in the incredible scenery from the Summit (see picture).
Yes, it was damn cold and wet but it was also a great day of sloppy riding. |
| Day 2 and the weather is even worse. Why am I here? | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:06 AM | | Just look at the appalling amount of sunshine that we had to contend with. |
| Mike grunting up the climb in the afternoon | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:08 AM | | It was tough work. |
| Mike enjoying some sloppy rock. | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:09 AM | | Riding like a champ despite an aching, still recovering foot. |
| Nathan being followed by Tim | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:21 AM | | |
| Day 3 and Joe(stick) and Nathan are having a fine time together. | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:11 AM | | Joe is doing something with his hands and Nathan can't stop smiling.
It was kind of embarrassing. |
| stick chasing Nathan | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:14 AM | | |
| After the chairlift thing, Nathan seemed a little tender. | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:15 AM | | as evidenced by this photo. |
| HAHA... priceless!!! {nm} | Allroy
Oct 8, 2002 10:18 AM | | |
| Tenascious mud bog #14 | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:16 AM | | Nathan splashing through the muck. |
| Lotsa leaves | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:18 AM | | Nathan |
| Nathan above some lake and colorful trees and sh|t | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:19 AM | | Oh yeah, mud too. |
| Oops. picture here | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:39 AM | | |
| Is that Nathan | JimC.
Oct 8, 2002 10:50 AM | | that usta be Shawn the sheep? (I think?) Nice shots Pete. Jim (cameraless, bikeless. d@mn) |
| Good thing you had those littele blue signs | pedalAZ
Oct 8, 2002 10:55 AM | | or you would have been seriously lost, eh? |
| stick taking the "freeride hardtail" thing to new highs | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:23 AM | | PlanetX with a Junior T. |
| stick, Team Depends poster boy. | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 10:24 AM | | Martha Stewart says that dark colors work better on muddy days. |
| It was fun trying to keep you guys in sight..... | Rev Bubba
Oct 8, 2002 10:51 AM | | Nice meeting you after enjoying your postings over the years. I tried Twilight Error's Kona for a run on Sunday and it was a heck of a lot easier to ride than the I-Drive. Talk about a bike and rider being in over his head! Next year I'm going to follow Cush's lead and rent something more suited to Mt. Snow for a few days.
(I may have to rent a new body while I'm at it.....) |
| What did you think of the riding? | kristian
Oct 8, 2002 11:13 AM | | How was it from a "westerner's POV" (besides the fact that it was muddy)? Did they have a lot of trails? Did you ride anything that wasn't lift serviced? |
| pretty flat and boring actually... | Allroy
Oct 8, 2002 12:08 PM | | I didn't think there was that much @ Mt. Snow XC wise. The XC race course was really hard though! You've been out here... duh, I was going to say Cap'n Jacks would be the closest comparison... everything's in the woods and more rolling, anyway...
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| Is that stuff open to the public? | kristian
Oct 8, 2002 12:30 PM | | Or is it just open during the race? |
| Don't think it's normally open... | ShaunTheSheep
Oct 8, 2002 12:38 PM | | I think the Forestry Commission lot open it for special events only. In fact, a group were caught poaching and ejected from the mountain (lift tickets chopped).
N. |
| Not open to public... | Chef
Oct 8, 2002 12:39 PM | | Well, it ~is~ there, but it'll cost you your lift ticket + $100 if you get caught.
T |
| It was good. | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 12:40 PM | | I only rode the lift stuff but it's quite different than other gravity riding that I've done because of the way that the trails are routed. Apparently the Forest Service is pretty tight at Snow and they are limited to where they cut trail and what is open during the season.
Most of the runs involved a short climb, descent, short climb, descent as the trail(s) snaked their way down the mountain.
The nasty "Yardsale" section that Allroy posted pictures of is supposedly very fun/hospital time but it was closed and the day that I considered poaching it some other guys got busted by the FS, kicked off the mountain and fined $100.
Many parts of the trails actually reminded me of snippets of some of the trails here in the Bay Area in the Winter.
The other interesting thing, especially coming from what I consider to be the litigious/liabilty exposure center of the World was the hoops that you have to jump through to ride the mountain.
They require that you sign a liabilty waiver and watch a 3 minute video when you buy your ticket.
An added bonus was that VT had the best local beer of any road trip that I've done.
Pete |
| Seriously? | kristian
Oct 8, 2002 1:12 PM | | I mean about the beer. Which ones impressed you so much? When I was back there I tried as many local brews as I could. With the exception of one from Magic Hat (I forget which one), I thought the beer was very decent but not exceptional.
What was the video about? Every time I see a barney skidding his way down Keystone I wonder if something like watching a video would help. Probably not... |
| Yes, with the exception of Magic Hat and Otter Creek Octoberfest | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 1:39 PM | | Someone recommended some apricot dowsed piss blend from Magic Hat and it was horrible.
The Mcneill's (sp?) stuff was all really good but their hoppy amber was excellent and their cheap labels were a nice touch.
The video was very basic stuff about being careful, etc.
Pete |
| I got the same Magic Hat recommendation... | kristian
Oct 8, 2002 1:49 PM | | ...and came to the same conclusion on the apricot one. It almost prevented me from trying whatever the beer was from them that I liked so much (a bock I think). I'll have to remember the Mcneill's for next time I'm out there. |
| stay away from #9 | narlus
Oct 8, 2002 2:05 PM | | that's the fruity beer...
magic hat does make a couple of good beers though, esp the fat angel ale and the heart of darkness stout.
mcneill's is a safe bet too.
but boston's got some beers which really outshine the VT stuff, i think (mainly tremont and ipswich, but harpoon is also an old standby). |
| Hey I like #9... | Allroy
Oct 9, 2002 5:08 AM | | but maybe I'm just fruity like that... I also really like the Blind Faith, and the stout!
I'm a fan of Long Trail Ale, it's a classic plus it reminds me of those days hiking the A.T... sweet memory lane...
-j |
| long trail is good...double bag or hibernator! | narlus
Oct 9, 2002 6:33 AM | | so where were you @ snow? i saw stick's JF w/ jr T and thought it was you. |
| HIBERNATOR... | Allroy
Oct 9, 2002 7:03 AM | | got me through some long snowy days on the A.T.
No I wasn't there unfortunetly, been traveling too much this year and needed a break, so I decided to skip this one. Plus I did so good at the Norba race there a couple weeks ago and had such a great time I didn't want to chance it and possible ruin it... at least that's how I rationalized it to myself... |
| Here she blows. | Pete.
Oct 8, 2002 12:44 PM | | Almost as good as the picture of the puzzle people. |
| Thanks for degrading the trails...frickin' morons...wet=no ride! | McCracken
Oct 8, 2002 12:06 PM | | Bunch of IMBA poster children!
I apologize for Nathan and Joe. Please don't judge us easterners by the actions of these two. Nathan is from across the big pond and Joe is a pinko commie liberal, but I am guessing you figured that out.
-JC (Nice pics, glad ya'll had a good time!) |
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