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:

(Another) New Blog

Hey guys. Thought you might be interested in a new blog of mine, located over at brianlburns.blogspot.com. It's relatively simple - a dynamic, web-based resume for for my writing... but it should be lots of fun too. Check it out.

Noah Revisited

Ok... I've gotten a lot of crap (mostly from my mother) for being unfair to Noah. She said it was mean to post this picture of him a couple days ago:


As someone who wears my Speedo with pride, I meant nothing but admiration with the picture. But to clean up the record for all, Noah is a good-looking dude with a fine sense of style. This is a picture of him (and half of paul) earlier that evening, loaded up in my Jeep to go swimming. Pretty studly, eh?

Feature (part 3) - West River

Two times I written features about the training in Vermont, and twice, I've featured pools. It's winter, so I figure that's where my mind was... but really, anyone who's spent a summer in Vermont knows the best swimming comes far from chlorinated water, lane lines, and the black-tiles-of-death-by-boredom. It comes under the late-afternoon sun, past trees that hang out over the water, and through schools of fish darting around the bottom-rocks. It comes, of course, in the open water. Vermont holds almost unlimited open-water adventure; every town it seems, has it's own favorite rivers and lakes. Each one is worthy of an afternoon’s-worth of exploration, but I'll try and narrow it down to a few to feature here.

The first is a spot pretty near to my former home, and only 2 or 3 miles outside of Brattleboro: the West River. The water there, depending on rain and draught, can be as shallow as 3-4 feet in some points. Deep enough to swim easily, but shallow enough to bring the fish right under your nose, and shallow enough to give the swim a safe feel – absent of loud and threatening motor boats. A steep, tree-green hill rises up immediately to the east of the water, which not only beautiful, gives the river a closed-in feel, and makes the swimming seem even more safe. It’s the perfect spot to enjoy the calm, worry-free Vermont evenings.

We usually swim from the launch (a 1/4 mile hike from rte. 30) downstream to the 91 bridge that goes over the water. There’s always cool stuff that’s dropped off the bridge to explore there (I’ve found a fork, a pair of women’s sunglasses, and a couple hubcaps), and then, we swim more slowly back up. It’s a great time, and being only 2 or 3 miles out of town, is a great option for people in Brattleboro.

Pictures... Two of Bad-ass Steve T. and I goofing around, and then an afternoon series of Friends Noah, Paul and Hilary.

Steve and I:



Noah in the outfit he got unrelentless shit for:


Noah, Paul and Hilary Wading in:


Actually swimming:


And afterward, Hilary performing in the parking lot:

My Kind of Workday

I've been working pretty hard lately - Multisport Maps is starting to kick back up, and I'm running a couple new businesses... all while life (and relationships) run on. I've put in more than a few long days recently, and worked right through this past weekend. Come today then, I was pretty tired. I woke up, and was working at 8am, when Roommate Randy started to dress for a ride. It was a great, sunny February day, so, heck… I decided to go with him. I could head out for a quick spin, and be back at my computer before lunchtime.

Well, we rode 110k... took us a bit over 4 hours, 42 minutes. I haven't ridden for more than 90 minutes since last October, so I can't say it was pretty, but it sure was a blast. It started at with a free espresso shot at Moto's coffee shop (a buddy of Randy's), then rolled out north of town, toward a reservoir called Carter Lake. We climbed up to the lake, descended off, and going through a headwind 2 hours, 30 minutes in, the predictable happened: I cracked… completely. I was way gone.

I stuffed down a caffeinated gel and a chocolate Powerbar, then sat behind Randy (at 10mph) for the next 20 minutes. I got out of "that place," but the legs just weren’t there again. I basically dragged my ass home... but only barely. We ate near a full box of spaghetti, we watched a movie, and I'm only writing this after a quick nap. Tough ride, but a great ride. And really, a great day. Exactly the break I needed.

A few pictures:

Moto’s:

Rolling out:

About halfway (check the mountains at 11 o’clock):


Our second (and last) coffee stop, about 80k in:

Breckenridge Retreat

A new feature is coming along soon, but I figured it’d be fun to show you all where I am this week – a sweet mountain home in Breckenridge, CO. I’m staying at an entrepreneurs' retreat, as a guest of my good buddy Andrew. I’m getting some work done, sure, but there’s also been plenty of eating, hot tubing, and general relaxing. It's been a real nice time.

Here are some pictures. One of the house, then a series of Andrew. Partly because he’s an important pal, but mostly just because he likes posing:

Features (part 2) - Bennington Rec Center

In part one of the series, I wrote about Stowe’s pool, ‘The Swiming Hole’ – named and designed to capture the quaint, easy feel of Vermont. And while it’s certainly a nice place to swim, I think the Rec Center in Bennington actually does a better job representing the states’ culture; the straight-forward, no-nonsense side. It’s set into one of the town’s run-down, old mill neighborhoods, and the facility itself is pretty dreary. But the pool is fine, and it works great if you just want a workout.

Best of all, access only costs you $3, so if you go in the morning (they usually open for adult swim around 6am), you can get in a couple thousand yards, then head down to Sonny’s Blue Ben Diner for a great railroad-car breakfast. All this for less than a single access pass to The Swimming Hole.