Excuses, No Excuses - Per Tonn

It was one of those snowy early mornings where I was sitting around with my one-year-old son Elliot. (Actually, he is crawling more than sitting these days.) It was cold outside, 10ºF at the most, yet relatively nice and almost sunny. Too much other stuff to do around the house? Tired legs? Feeling kind of cold already, even in here? Well, there are a million excuses not  to go outside in the winter, but admittedly the biggest reason for me so far has been ‘the lack of daylight.’ The problem with that was that it…

Mountain Biking Gains Another Fan – the Dan Smith Trail - Per Tonn

For Thanksgiving this year we had our good friends from Toronto visiting. My friend is into biking as much as I am, and I was looking forward to riding with him again – it’s been a while since we last got to ride together. So where to take him, what to show him? Which one of my favorite rides around central Vermont? Then I had the idea to introduce him to mountain biking. He has never been on a mountain bike, and for sure not on some twisty and ‘turny’ Vermont single track.I borrowed…

Gravel Grinding at its Best – the Fall Classic Brevet -  Per Tonn

This past Sunday my friend and I decided to take part in the Fall Classic Brevet Ride, a 200km/130mile, 50% dirt trip through the northwestern part of Vermont. It was going to be one of the last longer rides he and I would get to do together before he becomes a dad, and oh yes: it was long.

Start time was 7 a.m. sharp on Sunday, September 30th at the Old Spokes Home in Burlington, and given the almost-constant rain in the three days leading up to this ride we had not really decided whether or not…

Follow the trail to the end - it’s well worth it! - Per Tonn

Summer seems to finally be here in Vermont! Yesterday I went on another hiking adventure with my little son. I packed him up in the carrier after breakfast and off we went, up to the College of Fine Arts and down the trail to Sabin's Pasture. Sabin’s Pasture is this weird big empty field between Barre Street and Towne Hill Road. We've been up there a couple of times - the first time when I was walking on Sabin Street and suddenly felt the urge to be on a trail. So I asked the next…

The Place where People get Swallowed by the Woods - Per Tonn

There is this place in the middle of Montpelier, Vermont where people seem to get swallowed by the woods. There are really only two main intersections in town, and I'm talking about what's at the south-west corner of one of them. It's the intersection of Routes 2 and 12, or where Main Street/Northfield Street (up the hill to National Life) meets US-2.

While waiting at the light I have seen people sort of disappearing into the woods on what looks like a set of stairs made of rocks. Today I decided to go and find…