Catching Up

I've been real busy of late, and haven't had a chance to post.... so here's a quick update:

I spent this past weekend participating in Startup Weekend (which was a blast), and have spent the last few days writing a new blog (inspired by my experience there). Fun stuff!

The full Multisport Maps site is still coming along - the designer Andrew is coming into Boulder tonight, and I'm locking him up in my basement until it's done... so more details on that soon.

And of course, I'll write up a few more features for the blog here at some point... keep an eye out for those.

Hope you all are doing well!

Sugar Snow Run

We've had a dry winter here in Boulder - no significant snow to speak of in awhile. But last night, a good 5 or 6 inches fell. Real nice, wet stuff too... what Vermonters call a sugar snow. We don't have any sugar maples here, and I haven't made any syrup (though I did eat some of my father's in my oatmeal this morning), but I figured I should still celebrate. So I threw on my running gear, strapped up my sneakers, and went for a long run. It was my best one all season... under weighted branches, and along rushing streams, all over our open space trails. It (of course) looks and feels different here in Colordao, but the time reminded me of Vermont. Protected, peaceful, and beautiful.

So, to you guys in Vermont: Enjoy the last of winter, and I'll see you soon.

Feature – East-West Hill Climb

I’ll stay in the Putney/Brattleboro area, and talk about one of the best rides around… the climb up East-West Hill. It’s best from the West side, from Route 30 (the popular biking road that runs out of Brattleboro). On Rte. 30, A couple miles from town, there’s a real nice covered bridge - classic Vermont. It goes over the West River (over a nice swimming hole, and only a couple miles from where we distance-swim), and onto East-West Road. From there, the road kicks up pretty good. 2 or 3 miles of hard, out-of-the-saddle grinding… relatively short, but wicked steep. One of those climbs that no matter how fit or strong you are, you’re gonna have to suffer a little bit. For people who like that kind of thing, it’s a blast.

Most athletes in the area ride it pretty often. A lot do their z3 and z4 intervals on Route 30 (the only real flat road around), and jump up East-West Hill to finish off the workout (in a tough way). I used to tack it onto the end of my favorite 100k loop (out from Putney, through Saxtons River to Grafton, and back through Townshend), and cracked on it once real bad (I tried to do the ride on 2 Gu’s and one piece of pizza). The best story about the climb, though, goes on that Bill Koch (Putney native and credited-inventor of skate-style skiing), used to double-pole up and over the hill in training. That’s ridiculous if it’s true.

But anyway, if you’re in the area, make sure to hit up the climb… it won’t disappoint. Here it is pinpointed on a google map, and here’s the one picture I have of the climb (I don’t have any of the top part for obvious reasons):

Feature - West Hill Shop

Allright. I'm sick of talking about swimming. Well, not completely. I’m always up for talking about it, and I will… there are plenty more great places to swim across the state, and I'll feature them all here (and on the full site) at some point. But at least for now, it’s time to move on. I’m switching sports, but staying close (geographically). From the West River in Brattleboro, to the West Hill Shop in Putney. The shop is legendary by now (read this to get caught up). It’s half calm-Vermont, and half intense-cycling…. a holdover from the old-school days of riding, but with a modern feel too. They’ve put a new post-and-beam addition on, but they still keep the dirty “old shop” attached, and of course, they still keep the famous Red and Yellow kits.

The owners Jim and Diny are both personable and helpful, but the soul of the store (as it always has) revolves around Daq, the mechanic. He’s top-notch… the best wrench I’ve ever seen. He does the simple stuff flawlessly and the difficult stuff easily. He pays attention to the small things, and has an ingenious creativity. He can do any repair, and more times than not, can do it with a used part or a piece of inner-tube (for example). He does great work, and can usually save you some money (so you can stock up on Gu).

Daq has a name for everyone (I’m “Captain Burnsie”), and every rider in town drops in to hang out every once and awhile. You add in the (relatively) new (and cool) guy Rob, plus Jim and Diny… and West Hill is as much a place to hang out as it is a place to buy bikes. So, if you want to talk shop, if you want a new bike, a bike repair, even a (hard) Tuesday night road ride or a (very hard) cyclocross practice, West Hill’s the best place in the area. They’re just off 91 and just outside of downtown Putney (8 miles or so from Brattleboro). Or, you can cruise to their website (and lots of cool stuff) at www.westhillshop.com.

Pictures… one of the shop, and one of me riding in my West Hill kit: