Actions: Inspire

Hiking The Pacific Crest Trail: Mile 395 – Day 24 - Colin Arisman

Note: The Pacific Crest Trail is a 2650-mile wilderness pathway that stretches from the Mexican to the Canadian border across California, Oregon and Washington. Colin Arisman, a 23-year old Vermonter, is thru-hiking the trail and will be posting updates on Muscles Not Motors as he makes his way northward.

On April 18th I began thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail with Casey Gannon, a life-long friend and fellow Montpelier native. At 5:30 in the morning we arrived at the door of a hiker from San Diego who had thru-hiked the PCT in 2009 and now provides rides to the trail…

Catching up with Liz Stephen, Off-Snow - Carrie Baker

Carrie Baker, one of our in-house Spokes at Muscles Not Motors, sat down with Olympian, cross-country skier and MNM Spoke Liz Stephen to talk about her rockin’ ski season that just ended in April. During Liz's short visit home to Vermont, they enjoyed some spicy Thai food on a sunny day – a nice contrast to Liz’s winter on snow. MNM: Liz, welcome home for a short break before you start up your season again! We followed you and the entire U.S. team this season and it seemed like a home run – can…

Practicing Mindfulness While Climbing - Tina Centofante

As a mountain biker, I live for the adrenaline rush of going downhill. There’s just something about finding the flow of the trail, gliding past the trees, and feeling my bike absorb obstacles while my body moves to find balance. This creates a certain sensation that I basically need on a daily basis. But in order to go down, I need to climb up some sort of hill first. And sometimes it’s hard to find a “flow” while slowly grinding up a long hill, whether it’s techy singletrack, muddy logging roads,…

Getting Motivated to Ride to Work - Matt Williams

So here's the thing, I tell myself: My commute to work by car is 15 minutes on the highway. My commute to work by bike is 30 minutes on a quiet, picturesque dirt road. It should be easy, but guess which way I get to work every morning? Right. I know, and repeatedly tell myself, that it's pretty easy to get up 15 minutes earlier. I also tell myself, and rightly so I might add, that I'm always crunched for training time, and that by riding my bike to work I'm basically getting a free half hour in,…

Breaking Trail for the Camel’s Hump Challenge - Tristan Von Duntz

Once a year, backcountry (or “BC”) skiers gather in Huntington, Vermont, to circumnavigate Camel’s Hump in the Camel’s Hump Challenge (CHC), and to see a different side of one of the state’s most iconic peaks. The CHC skiers get the chance to try their skills on the mountain and see some of Vermont’s most beautiful backcountry, but the CHC also has a greater purpose than simply skiing: Skiers raise money to support the Vermont chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Four years ago I skiied the…