Journal Archive from March

March 24, 2001

What a fun day we had today! I was really excited this morning that Wendy was going to try snowboarding today! So we had breakfast and headed to Stratton. We arrived late morning, got all our rentals and signed up for a learn to ride package. It was pretty good because you got two lessons and all the equipment for the day! So we met our really excellent instructor. Her name was Denise Paz, (if you are looking for a lesson ask for her!) and she kind of took to us. It was pretty funny because we found out her fiancée/boyfriend was the other instructor that was teaching our group. The lesson went on, we were having a good time and learned some great tips. Wendy had the same learning curve that I had in the beginning. It was a huge thanks to Denise for helping Wendy get over that first learning hump. Then everything fell into place for her! It's just too bad everything seems to come together when you are too exhausted to take one more run. . Hopefully I can get her to go at least one more time before the season is over, but I think she still likes skiing better. Over all by the end of the day she was making turns and had really good balance on the board. For me I had some super pointers from Denise and every run I take I'm feeling more and more stable on that thing!

March 23, 2001

I'm pretty tired right now because it was a late trip up to VT tonight. It's definitly bedtime. Other than coming up here to do a little boarding this weekend, not too much happened today! The plan is tomorrow Wendy and I are going snow boarding at Stratton. It will be my second time and Wendy's first! I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

March 22, 2001

It is a usual New England day today with yet another Nor' Easter. This one only brought rain, buckets and buckets of rain. Everything is pretty well flooded. You look out at the front lawn you see a large snow pile, a pool of mud, a large snow pile, a pool of mud. If it was snow, we would have had another 2 feet if not more! The rain just washed everything away, and in a few days I'm sure it will dry up and finally be spring! Then it's time to get some quality natural riding in. Tonight was a brainstorm session between Tim and I at the local pizza establishment called Pyzzz. This pizza has to be the best around.....well besides my own of course! We were working on this years trials season, thinking of how we can make it bigger and better, forecasting where this sport is heading in the next few years, and eating lots of pizza. You know, the usual. Then the Karaoke DJ set up. No, I didn't go sing, came close though. On another trials related note, Tim dropped off for me a new Threshold Design Magura Fitting Press from JR Muckel! JR is that very famous machinist in the trials and BMX world who owns Threshold. If you look at a trials bike I'm sure you'll find his craftsmanship somewhere. You'll notice either one of his brakeboosters, or his super beefy bashrings. OK, back to the Fitting Press! This is one tool that any Magura owner, trials or otherwise, should not be without! Of course when I got home I had to try it out. So in my tool box I had a collection of broken crossover lines from this past season. No, I didn't brake all these lines. You all know how retentive I am about spare parts. So if someone broke a line at a comp or something, they usually came to me to see if I had a spare. If I did, I'd just trade them the new one for their broken one. Now I have all these barbed fittings rolling around in my tool box. What a perfect chance to give this thing a whirl! The tool looks like a c-clamp. On one side the tube clamps in, the other, the fitting sits in a press. Screw it together and the fitting is pressed in and looks as if it was from the factory! Very fast repairs also. The longest part for me was cutting the tubing, but after that was done, I made three crossover lines in two minutes time! That's pressing in SIX fittings! If you don't have one you can get it from Tim at Trialsin USA or contact JR by phone 717-786-0947 or email at jrmuckel@desupernet.net. Well tomorrow is Friday so I think this weekend is looking up for a little bit of last minute skiing/boarding. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

March 19, 2001

I finally have one set of demo pictures completed. This set was from the VeloNews VeloSwap that was held at Wachusett Mountain October 21, 2000. It is a few months old but some pretty cool shots! Also my multimedia section can truly be called multimedia now with the few video clips I added. Click HERE to see the VeloSwap pictures. I plan on working on a set a day so hopefully tomorrow I should have another demo posted! Also the new additions to the demo section are coming along pretty well. I'm hoping to have one of the new items completed this weekend for some testing and practice! Once it's proved for use I may sneak in a few shots of it on the website somewhere!

March 17-18, 2001

OK, so I took a week off. I know, I didn't mean to slack off. I do have some cool news for ya' from the weekend. I finally got the new software to make my imaging device for my computer work. I won't mention the name of the company, but it took them a total of three weeks and a lot of back and forth support to get this solved and all they needed to do was get me the new version! Well it works now and I'll have many new photos up over the next few days! Also over the weekend I was buried in projects. Garage, new floor in the bathroom, but the fun one is a few new 'toys' for my demo setup! I can't wait until they are completed. I'm not going to spoil the secret yet, you'll just have to wait and see at one of my next demonstrations. I also heard the next issue of Singletracks Magazine should be pretty cool with coverage from our last demonstration at Harpoon Brewery! I can't wait for that. Overall this was a short post but with many things happening. I should get myself more under control over the next day or two. I also promise I won't skip as many journal entries as I did this past week.

March 11, 2001

Another perfect day of skiing....I mean boarding! I think I'm going to convert now! I have been skiing for so long I have been looking for something a little more exciting. Boarding is not as easy as I thought. I figured I'd just hop on the thing and go, well not exactly. The first run was a little harsh. I had Dave and Pete giving me pointers, but it was still tough going with many harsh falls. BUT by the end of the first run, starting from the summit (so there were many falls in between), I was turning in both directions. The second run was much better, with less falls (not much less though), but I started to actually carve my turns now. It was such an amazing feeling! By the last run of the day I think I only had 5 falls total, and I hit my overall goal for the day. I can't wait to get back out there and try it again. We were all so exhausted from the past two days of hard skiing, we headed back to the apt. had dinner, packed, cleaned and now we are back home. I can't wait until next weekend now!

March 10, 2001

Yes it was amazing skiing! We got to Stratton Mountain little after 8 this morning. Everyone got geared up and we were on the slopes before 9. For the first runs of the day we were skiing in powder up to our knees and the snow was still coming down! It has been a long time since we have had a winter like this one. The snow is so perfect for skiing. So we skiied, and skiied and skiied some more, now we are all very, very tired. We also had an added visitor this evening, Dave Lemieux showed up! He is one of the guys I sometimes go riding with and is always competing in the EFTA series. He came by to do a little boarding tomorrow at Magic Mountain. I also decided I am going to try boarding tomorrow! I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

March 9, 2001

It's snowing again! I don't mind because right now we are sitting in my apartment in VT. It was a rough drive to get here though, so I'll start at the beginning. Pete and Tim decided to head up this weekend also, so we met at the house around 4:30 to get on the road. We still had some packing to get done and get Nero's stuff together, so Tim decided to head up with Pete right away. The snow was beginning to come down a bit harder now, so it was better for them. We got on the road about 45 minutes later. The traffic didn't get bad until we hit rt. 91 north and the snow was really flying. Even then we were moving at a good speed. Everything was normal until we were about 30 minutes from the house, then we got rear-ended. Well the vehicle that hit us was a 2001 Toyota SUV that looked like it doesn't even see wet roads, driven my a NY woman. No, I'm not stereotyping anyone, but I won't go any further. Everyone was OK and the trucks were driveable, that's all that mattered. We finally arrived at the apartment, our friends Joe, Tammy and Tom were already there, but no sign of Tim and Pete who left an hour earlier. Finally the phone rang and it was Pete, and they were back on track after a Tim detour! They showed up a little later. We are all here now, playing Nintendo and getting ready for bed. There is so much fresh powder everywhere, tomorrow is going to be amazing skiing!

March 7, 2001

It's been a few days since my last note. Well lot's of stuff happened this week. First we were dumped on with about two feet of snow. There is allot of it! When I look out the window there are snowbanks from 4 to 5 feet in height! So there is no outside riding once again unless I practice snowbank hops. Tonight Pete and I went to the skate park to get in a little riding time. That place has changed allot. Not much for trials left there except one area where a side of a ramp is exposed. This is a great place to work on ups because it starts out about 2 feet and gradually increases to four. Other than that I have been working on my jumping abilities. They are coming along little by little, my mini ramp riding is definitely getting a bit better. Also last night I ran into an old crew I used to ride with all the time! Most people know the Goat-Man Mike Koza, and also a friend by the name of Scotty-D, an awesome flatlander. Click on his name to check out his site. Really awesome pictures! Other than that it was an early night, I think we'll be heading back tomorrow for a little jam along with Trev. See ya' for now!

March 4, 2001

This morning Trev, Pete and I hit the road to Boston and the Harpoon Brewery. The drive went pretty fast and very easy considering all the stories I hear about this particular area of Boston and South Station. It is the heart of the 'Big Dig' where there are many detours and loads of construction. Overall it was a piece of cake! We arrived at Harpoon around 10:00 in the morn, and the first thing you noticed was the smell of beer in the air! Are we in heaven I was saying? Then I awoke from the roar of a 737 passing low overhead landing into Logan. It was super cold, so thank goodness the event was held under a large heated tent. We unloaded the trailer and set up the equipment. Just enough time to get some warm up in before the people started to arrive and the band began to play. Our first show was at 2:30 after the band, Sans Cherubs, first set. So we were on! The first show kicked! We rocked the crowed like you wouldn't believe! It was very exciting, we were all getting into the music on my demo CD, above all we were just going off on the section. Huge gaps, plenty of jumps, daring balance beams, busting out huge moves on the triangles, well if you weren't there I think you missed it! The first show lasted about 18 minutes then there were some awards given by NEMBA, and the band came back on. There was more partying, more Harpoon to be drank (not by the riders though....well at least not till after our last show), and plenty of awesome BBQ by Red Bones! My stomach was craving food after the first show, so I hankered down on some chicken and ribs! After a little rest we bundled up and headed outside to do a little riding along the pier. We didn't get any pictures unfortunately, but all I can say is there was some amazing stuff. On the next sunny day, we are heading out there for a photo shoot! This location is going to make some awesome poster pictures! We headed back in to rest a little before the next show. We went on again around 4:00 with a pretty good finish up show. We had Trev pulling about a 8+ foot gap between the 5.5 foot box and the 2.5 foot box! Sweet stuff! Half way through the show I tweaked my wrist pretty good on a drop. I was pretty freaked out and just did what I could! So this cut back a little on this show but it still ended great. Right after the last show we were able to talk to many people, well until the tent people came! They were already taking everything down. So we rushed and packed up all the equipment. It didn't take too long which was nice. After that we were lucky to have a tour of the brewery and hear about their gospel of beer, written by Harpoon! Their company slogan is great 'Love beer. Love life.' now if we can just add into that Love bikes! he-hee After a little more chatting with the people who work at the Brewery, we jumped in the truck and headed home. Above all, thank you to all the people at Harpoon, Happy Birthday Nicole!, and to Philip and the crew at NEMBA. You guys are great and really know how to host a party!

March 3, 2001

I couldn't wait to get another post up because the page looked so bare. Today was getting everything together for tomorrow's show at Harpoon Brewery. It's pretty exciting because this is the kick off to the season! From here on in it's on the open road performing shows wherever there are events needing a little spicing up! he-hee Tomorrow will be a great time with an incredible group to perform for.

March 1, 2001

Another month goes by. Just to remind everyone this Sunday go check out the NEMBA's year end St. Patty's day banquet at Harpoon Brewery! Of course there will be trials shows happening! Wow, how many plugs can I get in in one journal entry, well of course Ted Wojcik will be there with a few displays, along with live music, and food by Boston's famous Red Bones! Remember it is free to all NEMBA members, but if your not a member they'll let you sign up at the door!

Other happenings, I have been trying hard for the last few days to get pics up from some past shows, Motorama, and vid clips. I have been having problems with the capture device I use, and hopefully I'll be receiving the new software in the mail next week. We'll see what happens though it has been a long adventure with the tech support of this particular device. But I should have these images up real soon! I'm sure everyone wants to see new fresh pics, especially of the stock bike in action!