mb – Page 44 – littlecircles

January 18, 2017January 18, 2017

September Bikepacking

Summer trip with Greg, Wil and a couple of new friends to the Moosamaloo area. ~50+ miles – dirt road, gravel, single track, some schwacking. Camp, swim in Silver Lake, eat, fire, night, ride back to the car.

May favorite shot of the trip:

I really needed to write it up months ago, and revisited it now as the winter weather sort of sucks (rain, freezing rain, disappearing ski base) – so I’ll let the pictures speak.

I rode on my Krampus, but put a 5spd cluster on the King hub’d rear wheel. Worked great, little more range than single speed, saved me on some climbs. Was useless for chasing the crew on the downhills, but that was a known factor.

At the time I hadn’t felt as good on a bike in a long long long time.

December 6, 2016January 18, 2017

First Ski

First ski of the season, 4 runs at Smuggs.

New skis, new boots, new bindings… everything was different.
Going to take some time to get used to the new setup.
I’ve moved from Maschuss Epoch touring skis (185 length!) and 3 pin cable bindings and Scarpa T4 2 buckle boots to some Volkl Nanuq skis in 177 length with 22 Designs Axl bindings and Scarpa T2 3 bucket boots.

First runs are always an adjustment, but this was a lot all at once. By run 3 I did a few passable tele turns, but alpined most of the day. Run 4 was a mixed bag, lots of fast traffic on the few trails that were open, and my clumsily trying to find my center bending the knee left me wanting for some nice wide open easy groomers to practice on.

November 4, 2016

10 Years

10 years ago, on a Friday with an auspicious number, in October we were married in a picnic shelter on the shoulder of Mt. Mansfield. The following day we hiked over the mountain with friends, our pooch, and my nephew.

We went out to celebrate with a summit hike again – from Underhill up Sunset Ridge to ‘the Chin’.

Instead of the calamity of walking down the Stowe side of the mountain with the dog and 10 year old nephew, while waiting for friends to drive around and get us, we came down Laura Cowles trail, which was entertaining in itself – with ice up high, water, slippery rock and leaves…

November 1, 2016November 1, 2016

Camel’s Hump Sunrise

CamelsHumpSunrise from Mike Beganyi on Vimeo.

November 1, 2016November 2, 2016

Sunrise, Camel’s Hump Sumit

I’ve been spending a lot of time on two feet this fall. The single speeding and riding has been great – but as my health has improved I’ve really enjoyed getting around in the mountains on foot. I’ve been enamored with Camel’s Hump since moving to Burlington, where I can see it (and Mansfield) just about every day. After a few attempts earlier this summer I finally achieved a full moon and sunrise hike, and I brought along the camera for a time lapse.

Alarm was set for 3:30 am, but I awoke at 3. In the car by 4, at the trail head by 4:45.