RedBull Berm Burners (Richmond, VA)

After riding all day at Bryce, I was slightly regretting signing up for the RedBull Berm Burner race on Sunday. The two day event was part of the Dominion Riverrock Festival.



The course was small, but after five laps it left each rider gasping for air. The format of the day was simple - each rider would complete five laps during qualification. The fastest lap would be used to determine the 16 advancing riders. After that, the riders would be organized into brackets and they would compete two at a time until a final winner was crowned. The age groups were thrown out, although the three fastest "old guys" were given a place on the board whether or not their times were among the fastest overall.


Jesse Peters of Backlight Photography snapped shots of the riders all day (including the two in this post). His complete collection can be found on his main gallery.

Since the race was an amateur event (pros raced on Saturday), the mood was a bit more relaxed. We progressed quickly through the brackets and within a couple of hours the races drew to an end. Once it was all over, I placed 4th among the 16 riders that qualified.

After that, we wandered through the rest of the festival, watching the freestyle mountain bike and kayak events among others.

Bryce Resort (Basye, VA)

This weekend marked the first downhill mountain biking trip of the season. Ian, Joey and I piled into Joey's Cherokee and headed for Harrisonburg on Friday night. Once we reached interstate 81, we began scouring the map for possible overnight camping spots and lucked out when we found a convenient area not far from the resort.



The next morning we woke to blue skies and made our way to the resort after a quick stop at Hot Plates for breakfast.



The park had a few extra features since we'd seen it last summer. The trails were also significantly better after a season of use.



We rode the park until it closed at 5 o'clock and headed home that night in order to catch some of the Riverrock the next day.

New River Rock Climbing (West Virginia)

On somewhat of a whim, I decided to join Tobje and Gummi on their weekend trip to the New River.



Just a week prior I had been certified to lead-climb, and this trip was the first time I'd actually put this new skill into practice.



On Saturday morning we drove to West Virginia. Our initial hope was to climb at the Meadow River, but we found that the road was blocked just after we forded a creek.



Since Meadow River access was blocked, we climbed one side of Summersville Lake on Saturday and the other side on Sunday. The area is beautiful, although it kept constantly reminding me of the initial scene of "The Planet of the Apes."



On nearly every climb Gummi would climb first, setting the quick draws, then I would climb either top-rope or lead (usually with the first anchor in place). Lastly, Tobje would climb and clean the route of our quick draws.



Eventually I became pretty comfortable clipping into the anchors and climbing above each. I even cleaned a 5.10a after one rest and one fall.

Morris Cabin (Virginia)

This past weekend was the most enjoyable PATC cabin trip I can remember for one simple reason - fewer people!

Rebecca and I headed to the cabin on Saturday afternoon. The drive in was grueling - with one serious slide into a ditch and the need for a new strategy. We aired down the tires and managed to work our way out of the ditch. After that, the rest of the uphill road was taken with as much speed as possible, while I steered directly into the oncoming corners and snowbanks. It was fun, definitely.



As the sun began to set, we exited the Jeep and began our hike in. It was a short jaunt to the cabin - about half a mile, but the deep snow made it challenging. When we neared the cabin, the smell of a wood fire welcomed us. Inside were Elmer and three of his friends. Along with our two dogs, it made for a cozy, but non-cramped stay.



That night we drank wine, stoked the fire, and got to know our new friends, Rachel, Mya, and Robert. The wood stove warmed the little cabin well, further aided by Elmer's restless nature through the night - resulting in several wood stocking missions. On Sunday morning Elmer and I hiked back to the Jeep to grab more supplies for our breakfast. I decided to bring the chainsaw for this trip, which made our restocking of wood a quick task.



Rebecca and I headed out midday on Sunday and the rest of the group stuck around for one more day of vacation on President's Day.

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.