Rutland Demolition Derby

On the Fourth of July, Dayna, Frank, Jon and I headed up to Rutland to check out the Demolition Derby. Apparently, they still have those, and for good reason. It was a great time. Dayna and I went in a bit skeptical of such a "red neck" event, but this is Vermont after all, and it ended up being one of the greatest things I've seen. The only rule is you can't hit the driver side door. Other than that, people just ram into each other until only one car is left running. Check out the video, and some pictures I got from the stands (wooden bleachers. Did we learn nothing from the Baker Bowl a century ago?) The fireworks at the fairgrounds afterwards topped off a great Vermont Fourth.

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Purty

Went fishing again today, and it went worse than yesterday. The weather definitely didn't help, at 55 degrees, windy and a bit rainy. It was still nice to get outside, and I saw this rainbow, that you can kinda see in the picture. It was much better in person, a full arch, ending on the beach across the lake.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

I brought my fishing pole up with me the last time I came back from Jersey, and today I decided to head to a lake and try my luck. I prefer to use worms, and it seemed to work. I had a lot of nibbles, but no real bites. I think the hook I was using was too small for the fish that were biting. I did manage to catch a rock bass twice. I'm pretty sure it was the same one though. Fish aren't the brightest things.

My fishing spot

Stupid fish.

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The Hoagie Lives

Today I saw a sight that made me extremely happy - the word hoagie being used in Vermont. Granted it was just on a generic wrapper that they happened to have, but still, it made me very happy to see "hoagie" in reference to a sandwich up here. Which brings me to my next point. I'll be heading back to Jersey for a long weekend tomorrow, catching 2 of the Sox/Phillies games this weekend at Citizens Bank Park. I really like what MLB has done, putting the Sox in Philly the past 4 years or so - gives me a legitimate chance to see the Sox, no matter how terrible they're playing. A quarter of the way through the season, and sitting at .500? C'mon now.

Hoagie!

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YouTubesday

This week is a YouTubesday twofer. First up, in honor of YouTubes 5th birthday, the first video ever posted on YouTube. Why it only has 2.7 million views (versus Lady GaGa's Bad Romance which has over 200 million views) is beyond me. Yea, the video sucks, but it's the first video ever uploaded. That's history right there folks. Following that is my equally terrible video from the donkey basketball game in Springfield a bit ago. There are no words to describe it, it's just something you have to see.

Summer Shred Sessions

Even though it's late May, there's still some riding to be done these next couple weekends. Need that last fix? Here's where to get it:

• Mountain Creek is holding a Stockpile Session May 22nd, in what they're claiming to be the first event of it's kind in Jersey. Apparently they had a 22' quarterpipe that they'll be turning into a hikeable set of features. Pretty sick that there will be May riding in Jersey.

• Stratton and Mount Snow are teaming up Memorial Day weekend to throw the last sessions that I know of in the East. Saturday is the Peace Pipe Jam at the bottom of Carinthia at Mount Snow, and Sunday is the Mountain MAYhem Jam at Stratton (see what they did? They capitalized all the letters of May since the event is in May. Clever bastards.) They'll be turning all the left over snow from the US Open SlopeStyle course and half pipe into one final on-snow event for the season.

For those of us who won't be making it out - 1 shredless month down, 6 to go.

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Frydeeeee

Twas a good Friday - got outta work early and pretty much everything is now taken care of from my accident. My"less upsidedown-y" car is now registered and has VT tags. All around, I'm just feeling good. I need to bottle this energy and remember it for those times I'm feeling down.

Sidenote: The Schick Hydro commercials worked on me. I bought it. And tried it. A+

Felchville

Yep, there's a town in Vermont called Felchville. Just thought people should know this.

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I Heart Assault Rifles

Yep, you read that correctly. A bumper sticker that says "I Heart Assault Rifles." This car also had a bumper sticker for FreeVermont.net, a Vermont secession movement, so take that into consideration.

Driving Range

One great thing about living in Vermont is that no matter where you are, the view is usually spectacular. The Okemo Valley Golf Course is no different. I checked you the driving range Sunday May 2 on a gorgeous 80 degree day. The great thing about the range is not only do they have the driving portion, but they have a rather large practice green, complete with fringe, chipping area and bunker. I ended up with a rather large blister on my thumb, but it was great to get outside and actually do something.

Doin' Big Things

Sadly, the riding season is coming to an end soon (Okemo closing tomorrow, 4/9; Killington shooting for May 2, but I don't see that happening). So, I now need things to do. Here are a couple things I have planned so far; if anyone has an idea of what to do in a snowboarding town in the summer, share them in the comments.

1. Run/Bike/Hike - this is a big one. I need to stay in shape, and my apartment is too small to work out in much. I also hate running, and my body rejects it. I also want to get a bike as cheaply as possible, and get to riding around and see the scenery. If anyone can help me there, let me know. The hiking around here is pretty good too from what I hear, so I definitely plan on going for more than a few hikes. It'll also be great to get outside and away from the apartment.
2. Season change stop motion video - so here's the plan. Every day possible, I plan on going to the same spot at as close to the same time as I can get. I will take a picture from the same angle, using the same settings on my camera. I plan on shooting by one of the lakes, that way I can catch the ice as it forms and melts, as well as the trees blooming in the spring and changing in the fall. I also want to capture the sky, to show the weather and movement of clouds and fronts. This is probably not an original idea, but I think it'll be pretty cool to see the end result of my own version.
3. Make T-shirts - this is something I've wanted to do for awhile now, and I think I'll finally have time to figure out how to get it done. I want to do my own screen printing
4. Learn website design - this is something I've tried before and failed miserably at. There were a couple factors involved in that, and most of those are gone now. First up, redesigning this blog. Also I want to write more consistently. The redesign could take awhile, but I'd like to get it done by summer. The writing more consistently will hopefully (for me, not necessarily for whoever stumbles across this) start now.
5. Learn to consistently ollie - I snowboard. It's embarrassing that I can't do a simple ollie on a skateboard anytime I want. Simply. Embarrassing.

The Bump @ Mt. Enzy

So with all this powder we've been getting this week, and me working in an office from 8-5, I decided I needed to ride a little bit during the week. Since Okemo closes at 4, I had to improvise a little bit. I decided that the piles of plowed snow that had been adding up all winter would make a good starting point, and that it would be a great idea to build a kicker at the bottom of the highest pile. Here's what I had to start with (the pictures are all taken with my cell phone camera, which of course has no flash. I need to get a camera at some point):

Standing at approximately 10-12 feet, Mt. Enzy rivals most mountains in the Poconos. It is also the only mountain that is 100% lit in Vermont. However, with zero snowmaking coverage, it takes quite a bit of help from Mother Nature to get it open. This particular day dumped about 24 inches of fresh all across Mt. Enzy. That's some nice lookin' pow, right? Not too good for getting speed though. After a few runs down and some work with the shovel and my board, it turned into this:

Much better for what I was looking to do. The hard part was building the actual kicker. I have mad respect for park crews after building this - just getting it to ride right, and be solid enough to not just crumble when someone hits it, is an art. It took a solid hour of building to get it good enough to ride, and another half hour to fix it up the next day to ride again. The work those park crews must put in is insane. Thanks for the hard work - it's appreciated. Here are some more pics of the Bump at Mt. Enzy.

Not awful - nothing great, but it absolutely served it's purpose. Now, onto some of the "features." The picture below was taken from the top, looking down. Depth perception is near impossible, so I added a little visual aid. The lines are at the bottom of the starter, leading into the kicker.

Quickest lift in VT - 'bout a 20 second trip to the top - up the stairs.

And the actual kicker itself, looking from the side. It's not much, maybe 2 and half feet, but it's a hell of a lot better than nothing. It's actually way more fun that I expected, and was definitely worth the effort.

I was pretty pleased with the way it came out, and I'm hoping it lasts for more than a few days. Saturday I'll finally get out on Okemo, so hopefully there's still some stashes out there.

Curling - The Most Deceiving Sport on Earth

This past Sunday I went curling with the Rutland Rocks Curling Club at Giorgetti Arena in Rutland. Let me tell you, curling is a very deceiving sport. First, the ice isn’t slippery at all. The surface is “pebbled” with a fine mist, to create traction for sweepers as well as a surface for the rock to slide on – the concave bottom of the rock would create suction on a perfectly flat surface. The rock essentially slides alone these pebbles. It’s also way harder to get those stones all the way to the other end – 140 feet away. The Olympians barely look like they’re pushing the stone at all, but you really have to get a good slide (a difficult task in and of itself) to get the stone down there. And sweeping is just exhausting, especially at the club level. A lot of sweeping is needed just to get the stone even close to the house, or target, and after doing that as hard as you can the length of the sheet really wears out your arms after awhile. Just getting the basics down are hard enough, but once you factor in the strategy and precision it takes to pull off the shots the Olympians do – wow do I have a new respect for the sport. Still, it’s definitely something I want to try again next season. Pictures from the session hopefully coming soon.

16 or so inches of fresh on the ground so far – more supposedly coming, potentially 35 inches by Saturday. Updates from the Mt. Enzy terrain park will be coming in the next day or two, but the weekend needs to get here so I can ride.

Halfpipes and Rocks

Shaun goin' huuuuuge

The Olympic halfpipe competition is over, and I gotta say, it lived up to the hype. The uniforms were first class (who doesn't want those pants?), Shaun White won gold, and managed the pull off the Double McTwist in competition – on a victory lap. Unnecessary? Yes. Awesome? You bet. Scotty Lago, from New Hampshire, won bronze for the Americans. Vermont girls Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark both medaled, silver and bronze respectively. Torah Bright an Aussie, won gold in the Women’s pipe throwing down a sick run. Hannah grew up riding Okemo – it’s kinda cool knowing that Olympians (Ross Powers as well) rode the same trails I do. Congrats to the Vermont riders, and a big ups to the US on the continuing dominance of the halfpipe – 4 out of 6 medals ain’t bad.

I’d love to embed a video of some sort, but NBC really sucks at this allowing access thing – how is withholding content from viewers a good thing? You can't even save pictures from their website - NBC fail.

I’ll be starting my own Olympic quest this Sunday in Rutland. I’m going to a curling clinic this Sunday, so my path to Sochi begins at the Giorgetti Arena. Updates will follow.

Another example of fine Olympic Uniform pants.

Yes, sadly this man is an Olympic athlete. Ohhhhh, Canada!