What?...A Snow Day in October

So here I sit. The snow continue to fall. Bill, Mel, Myself, and Aspen just skied into Marcy Dam and now we are preparing to go for another ski around John Brown Farm with Scott, Kyle, and Margaret. We are so excited about skiing right now, the kind of excitement that can only come with the wonderful experience that is skiing in October.

Brad's Birthday

It's not every day one of your friends turns thirty years old. I guess that's why a ton of us went riding in a dumping rain storm. Despite the deluge, we all had a good time. Aimmee threw down a proper 30th for the boy afterwards. The following day I awoke to rivers running proudly. 2 laps on the Boquet before noon was enough for me for the day. Monday we grabbed the residual effects of the storm on Hull's Falls.

Right now I am enjoying my first snow day of the 08-09 school year. The plan to ski into Avalanche pass has already been set. It's going to be a good day, and a great winter.

Moose Race Results and Next Year's Format

This year's Moose Race fell on some hard times. There was a wedding, a funeral, and lots of people who said they were going to race but didn't. When all was said and done there were only two brave soldiers to show up for the race. They made it a one day mission from Vermont, because they know what it's all about. Not only are they bad-ass paddlers, they are good people.


Despite a close race Fred Coriell and Justin Beckwith were forced to call this year's event a tie due to an unfortaunte rescue scenario in the middle of crystal. Justin in his touring kayak and Fred in the Tornado stopped in the middle of crystal to help another person safely get shore.

Apparently after everyone was safely through crystal Justin routed his 14"+ boat through Magilla, an impressive feat no doubt. This is what I've heard from Justin and Fred, I was the one who had to be at a funeral in New Jersey.

Justin and Fred together have come up with next year's format. It is more involved than in the past but I am really excited about it.

• 2-day format
• Fowlersville-Crystal on Saturday
• Powerline-Magilla on Sunday
• Combined place finishes determines the winner (person with the least score wins)
• $5 buy-in to the racewinner gets a 30-pack of central New York's finest pilsner (Justin's favorite) and gets to decide the format for the following year
• If someone under 21 wins I will personally buy them a 30-pack of root beerIf you have any problems with this, win the race so you can decide its fate for the following year.

We Rode Anyway

Although it was snowing out today We rode anyway. Despite the fact that it was really cold and the trails were covered, we still kept our bikes rolling. It's amazing the difference that a couple of days makes. Over the weekend it was sunny and pretty warm. Today there was snow on the ground. About 1 month from today we will be skiing at Whiteface. I can't wait...

Moose Fest.

This year's Moose Fest. took on a slightly different character than it has in the past. The new format seemed to be a success as far as my eye could see. The whole thing is really all about reconnecting with old friends, doing some classic boating, and trying to beat Justin Beckwith in a freeking kayak race. This year we were lucky enough to have some really nice weather.

On Saturday I paddled with Demshitz, Jeremy took a lot of good pictures, and we had a good time casually floating down the river. I got to paddle the new Karnali, which I liked a lot, but its speed caught me a little off guard at Magilla.

Sunday, I had to go to a funeral so I left the race in the capable of hands of Justin and Fred. Aparently they were the only ones to partake. Due to a rescue scenario at crystal they called it a tie. It's hard to believe that Justin stopped paddling his touring kayak through crystal in order to help someone else. What a guy. As the story goes, he went on to have a stellar line through magilla in a 14+' long kayak. The tying racers will be coming up with a plan for next year's race in a couple of days.

all photos courtesy of Jeremy Laucks. He's got a cool website. http://www.chasingrain.com/

New Hampshire Mtn. Biking Mission

On Saturday morning Kyle, Bill, Adrienne, Eli, Digs, and myself departed on a two-state, three day mountain biking mission.

Our first stop was the Hinesburg trails in Vermont. This place was really well marked, really full of leaves, and really steep. The steep part was particularly difficult for Kyle because his brakes weren't working so well, which forced to use the feet down flinstones method of stopping.

Eventually we made our way up to New Hampshire, and found the sweetest camp spot high above North Conway that would become our home for the next two nights.

Sunday morning we awoke ready for an epic ride. What ensued was nothing short of epic. After climbing to the top of Cranmore resort, and black cap mountain we took a wrong turn on the descent and wasted a lot of time riding around on some not so great nordic ski trails. About 5 hours later, we were back on track headed back towards the top of black cap. The only trouble was we were riding up a single lane paved road with a 17% grade, and we had just ridden for an hour on the most hateful snowmobile trail ever. Sunday ended with a fantastic downhill back to North Conwya in the dark.

Monday we car-shuttled the good stuff we found the day before and headed home. There is some really good riding around North Conway. The moral of our story was, stick with the good stuff you know.

1st Moose Release and Other Fall Goodness

Fall is a great time of year. Weekend obligations seem to be fewer than the summer, and there is just a little less going on. That leaves time for doing other, different things than the normal summer/spring routine. Maragret and got a chance to go to Henderson Lake for a little overnight. It was great, but next time we are using lighter boats.

The other day we got our first snow in the mountains around Lake Placid. Around 1:00 the clouds lifted, and they revealed a nice dusitng above 3500 feet. Very cool. Can't wait for winter.

With the first weekend of October came the first Moose Release. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical of the river level. It turns out that 2.7 is still a good level. Especially when you are rolling with a huge crew. We must have had over a dozen people on the river with us that day. Including Nate Geoffery, straight out of Lake Colden, New York. A bunch of us fired off Magilla despite the lower than optimal flow. If you look carefully enough you can Justin McGiver's helmet as he is approaching the lip.

This weekend a rather large crew (Bill, Kyle, Mark, Adrienne, Kyle, Eli, and Myself) are heading to Vermont and New Hampshire to see how much great mountain biking we can do in one weekend. I can wait to see what kind of Shenannigans we run into.

Moose Fest. is Coming...Check out all the details

Oct. 17th and 19th the world will once again come together in Old Forge, New York to party, go kayaking, and enjoy life on the Moose River.





























I can assure that despite some changes to this year's festival there will still be great boating, racing, partying, and manufacturers present to check out new boats and gear.
















First and Foremost THE RACE!!!: All those willing and able to race should meet at Agers parking lot at NOON. We will meet there, and hold the race from sureform through magilla beginning at 1pm. Bring a long boat, short boat...who cares it's fun to go fast.





Fri. and Sat. night Pyranha will be stationed outside of Slickers to show off the new boats, and other significant offerings to the paddling universe.


















On Saturday at 4:30: Team Pyranha will be presenting a clinic on "How To Pack For and Overnight" the short clinic will be followed by a slide show and video, created from our shenanigans this summer in California. This will take place at Mountain Outdoor Supply Co. in Old Forge.





Now go pray for some more rain





see you there...





Matt