There have been many rumblings and speculations about what I am up to exactly. Well, now I can officially tell you. I am leaving VT.

It all started about 2 years ago, when my life underwent a pretty radical change. My 3 week road trip of the southwest awakened me to the fact that I was in fact, completely miserable where I was, both mentally and geographically. However owning a business, and more importantly, being a parent made “just picking up and leaving” very unlikely. So, for a long time, I waited. Patience is a Jedi trait I lack, but is definitely one I have been working on.

Well, it seems as if my patience has paid off. The business is no longer a factor, I have gotten rid of all but a few remaining items of inventory, and have placed B29 in carbonite, until such time as it might be needed again.

The parent part, well, that is ongoing, but negotiations have been made and long term plans set in motion. The subject has been broached with the little guy, who was both excited for the new opportunity for a new life in a new place, and sad that he would miss his friends that he has known since he was a baby. It was a very hard thing to do, break a little kids heart, but I know he’ll be OK. These next few months will be difficult, but the best things in life are seldom easy. These last few months have certainly been hard on me, but I have chosen to think of them as the universe’s way of purging all the unnecessary crap out of my life. Kind of like jettisoning the garbage before making the jump to hyperspace. 

On February 25th, I put the Green Mountain state in my rear view mirror, and point towards the Rocky Mountains. This isn’t the bummer ending of Empire, rather a new beginning in the wake of life altering change. Plus I hear there is some good mountainbiking out there…

More updates to follow, stay tuned…

I’d say so. In fact, the last day of 2012 was pretty darn good. The saying goes “out with the old, in with the new”, and this was the case for me in terms of my vehicular transportation. Face friends know that my car was backed into and dented pretty badly, enough for $1200 worth of repairs to the door. Well, the Saab was a good car, by far the best I’ve ever owned, but she was getting  a little long in the tooth. 8 years is a long time to have a car, I’d say I got  my money’s worth. With insurance check in hand, I decided it was the time to make my move. On Dec 31st, I bought a 2006 Toyota 4runner. I am stoked.

Also got my first good trundle of the year in. Mandy and I headed out on the VAST network near the old homestead, our goal to see how close to Middlesex Notch we could get in the amount of daylight we had to work with. Conditions were pretty good, a little soft, but manageable. The snowmobile tracks are definitely packed down enough, save for a few spots that required some walking. The terrain was rolling, with a few rotten fall line climbs, but hey, these trails aren’t designed with bicycles in mind.

cheers big ears

It was a pretty grueling slog on the way out, mostly uphill, but we stopped at a nice little clearing and hoisted a couple of PBRs that I had stashed min my jersey pockets. The trail kicked up pretty sharply just beyond, and with an hour of daylight left, we figured this was a good turn around point. As it was mostly up on the way out, it was mostly down on the way back. Riding the Trundleraptor fast is pretty exhilerating. You never really can be sure that you will have grip at any given time. The best practice is to have a good attitude, and be totally OK with ending up in a pile on the ground (I did).

dropping in

when I says woah, I mean woah!!!

All in all it was a good outing, and the ride definitely fueled some winter bike stoke in me. My brain got to thinking about some sort of ridiculous snow bike enduro… Oh yes… I’m hatching some sort of hair brained, night time, point to point race, involving bacon, booze and likely, fire. After all, you have to do something in VT in the winter to stay sane.