Bike Polo (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Wow! What an excellent excuse to fly to Puerto Rico...in February!



Ever since Evan moved to Puerto Rico a couple years ago, I've been meaning to plan a visit. This event helped set the timeline for that visit and the timing could not have been better! The winter was beginning to drag on and the recent snow storms had really cemented that feeling of "when will winter end?" To say the least, this vacation was a breath of fresh air!



Although polo brought us to the island, the beach was where we spent the majority of our time. Our team merged with another, so court time was scarce. Luckily, however, the beach was just a few yards from the court.



After playing polo on Saturday, we decided to go surfing with Evan on Sunday. We spent the majority of our day at Pine Grove and finished the day with drinks and fried chicken at Evan's house.



Rebecca and I couldn't spare much time away from school and work, so we squeezed this mini vacation into a four-day weekend. On Monday we packed, took one more dip in the ocean, and headed for the airport. All in all, it was a perfect glimpse into a trip I'd like to revisit annually.

Snowshoe (West Virginia)

Our timing could not have been more perfect for a daytrip to Snowshoe. The snow fell all day long and we could simply NOT find a single patch of ice on the slopes!



We learned an important lesson on our first run - stay away from the BallHooter High Speed Chair. We stood in that line one time, and that was plenty to motivate us to find another lift to make runs under for the rest of the day.



Rebecca is new to snowboarding and Ian had never gone before, so we spent the majority of the day on blue and green runs. They both improved significantly just over the course of one day.

The drive home was harrowing, but we eventually made it back to Richmond without incident.

New River Rock Climbing (West Virginia)

Since our trip to Goshen Pass, I've been dying to climb outside again. Our crew from Peak chose to visit the New River Gorge, due in part to some of their experience climbing there in the past.



The route options were limitless. On Saturday our group of nine split into two. One group consisted of the more experienced climbers and the other, well, was where I found myself! Although we did meet other climbers on every wall, we still never had much difficulty finding an open route to try.

Mountain Bike Double-Header

This weekend was an official MOUNTAIN BIKE EPIC! Downhill riding at Snowshoe on Saturday followed by the Shenandoah 100 on Sunday.



Camping in Slatyfork was beautiful as always. Joey and I set up our hammocks in the mossy forest and grabbed a few hours of sleep before our first day of riding.



The trail crew at Snowshoe has kept themselves occupied all summer, and their work shows in the trail conditions. There is also a new trail being cut, but I doubt we’ll see its completion this season.



After we had our fill of DH at Snowshoe, we loaded up the Jeep and headed to the Stokesville campground. We arrived fairly late, but had decent luck finding a suitable area to setup camp. That night I registered and prepared my gear for the race before heading to bed. At the break of day (well, before then actually), I rolled out of my tent and cooked a protein-rich breakfast before heading to the 6am start.



As always, I wasn’t perfectly prepared for the race, but I suffered through the cramped muscles and loaded up on electrolyte pills at each aid station. The aid stations are really the key to the SM100 and its high completion rate. Each stop has a choice of food, drink, and nutritional supplements to keep riders sufficiently fueled for the long day.

Just after the eleven-hour mark I crossed the finish line. It was a long, but not necessarily painful day. I felt relatively relaxed at the finish – a contrast to years past when I’ve felt completely drained by the end of the day.

North Anna Float (Doswell, VA)

When Joey and I purchased our season passes for Snowshoe this year, we were pleased to find that our passes also included three free days at Seven Springs (PA) and Mountain Creek (NJ). Duteously, Joey called ahead to confirm this with Seven Springs. He found out, however, that this didn’t include Saturdays, so we shortened our trip to a single day. This left me with one vital question – what to do on Saturday?



Immediately I remembered one crucial trip that we’d yet to make this summer…it was time to float the North Anna River! At the last minute, a group of eight friends agreed to meet the next morning to make the float. Along for the adventure were Rebecca, Alex, Jason, Mac, Virginia, Brett, Mark, and Catherine.



As usual, we had a slow start to the day and arrived at the put-in about an hour later than we’d hoped. Luckily for us, though, the water level was high and moving faster than I’d ever seen. The four-hour float that we’d expected flew by in just over two hours. The swift current also meant that the tubers scooted along just as quickly as the boats, avoiding the typical need for a tow rope.

Mary's Rock (Luray, VA)

This weekend I decided to visit Nat in DC. He, along with his roommate Jean Francois and I headed to the Shenandoah National Park on Saturday morning in search of our friend Jake, camped within the Mathews Arm Campground.



We searched the camp area for Jake's girlfriend's car until finally spotting it parked by the Traces Trail. We began up the trail and eventually spotted them near the trail's intersection with the Appalachian Trail. Unfortunately, Jake's girlfriend Dung (pronounced "yung") had injured her knee earlier and was not feeling up for any additional hiking. We parted ways with them after hiking back to the parking lot and continued on to find another trail along the Skyline Drive.



Jean Francois suggested we find the trail to Mary's Rock, so we did. Once atop the ridge, the view was magnificent! We celebrated our ascent with a beer, took in the view for a bit longer, then headed back to the Jeep. After that we headed into Sperryville to check out the Copper Fox Distillery, then back to DC. I dropped them off at their apartment and headed back for Richmond. Not a bad way to spend the day!

Goshen Pass (Virginia)

After nearly a year of climbing indoors at Peak, I finally had a chance to climb outdoors this weekend.

Joey, Tobje, and I headed to Goshen early Saturday morning, unloaded our gear from Joey's Jeep at the swinging bridge, and hiked in to begin our day of climbing. Once at the rock face, we set two top ropes and began taking turns tackling the ascents. The rain was nearly constant throughout the day, but the overhanging rock kept us dry. It was actually a very nice touch, keeping the temperature low and offering a soothing sound to the background.



At midday, we moved one rope to another location and attempted a more difficult route. It was unique from the other two due to its overhanging anchor point, which meant that a fall resulted in a lengthy swing away from the face.



That night we camped near Crabtree Meadows and the next morning we decided to drive Shoe Creek. Joey's Jeep handled the rocky trail in excellent form.



Near the completion of the 4x4 trail, we spotted a decent water hole and chose to brave the cold water before heading to pavement and back to Richmond.