Capital Crescent Bike n' Brew

Well, it finally happened for real. After setbacks from inclement weather a few weeks before, the Capital Crescent Bike n' Brew went down on Sunday, April 26, 2009. The Virginia extreme team, comprised of NORSA triathletes Matt White, Russ Morton, and Jon Spurlock, biked up the trail to meet up with the Maryland Bn'B participants. Dressed in full kits and riding their road bikes, the extreme Virginians blasted the word "leisurely" right out of the Bike n' Brews' usual lexicon of descriptors.

Guest participant Steve-o was way too busy with law school finals coming down the barrel this week to do the full CCBn'B, but he joined up with the Maryland crew, comprised of Tom and NORSA newbie, Allison Tully, outside his driveway to bike to Fletcher's Boathouse for a partial Bn'B. After meeting the Virginians just north of the DC border, the team was complete with a full compliment of six riders.

Setbacks were not completely out of the picture as Russ blew a tire before getting to the C&O Canal. Matt White, despite earlier having been abandoned in the rain by Russ, decided to stay behind until the flat was fixed up. The rest of the crew biked to catch up to Spurlock who had led the pack and not noticed that Russ had flatted out. Jon, however, had already decided to wait up for the others since he'd been caught up at Fletcher's Boathouse for the Creekside Anglers' annual DC fly-fishing event for which the canal had been stocked. While waiting for Matt and Russ, the rest of the NORSA bikers saw a pretty cool chameleon on the gangplank near the boathouse.

Finally, unable to wait any longer, Spurlock biked back up the trail to meet up with Matt and Russ and returned with them in tow shortly thereafter. Russ, unsure of his tires, and Jon, who hadn't read the event e-mails closely and who had decided beers at the marina was not extreme enough, decided to bike directly back to their vehicles in Virginia rather than complete the Bike n' Brew. Steve had to part ways to get back to studying for his finals. The remaining party of Matt, Allison, and Tom pushed on to Georgetown, the Arlington Memorial Bridge (where they saw a black Northern water snake by the trail), and beyond towards Reagan National Airport before finally arriving at Daingerfield Island.

After resting for a while, the crew hung out and enjoyed some frosty cold "20 oz." beers that were served to them in 16 oz. plastic pint glasses. Despite Indigo Landing's shysteriffic fluid measurements, the beers were actually still not a bad price. Good times were had by all and after a few cold ones, the bikers decided to call it a success and head home. Future Bike n' Brews are certainly not out of the question, so come out and join us next time around.

Shakori Hills!

From Friday April 17th to Sunday the 19th, NORSA members Alan, Adam, Taylor, and Jana, along with friends Matt, Brian, Cindi, Britt, and Andrew, were joined by fellow hashers Sponge, Gypsy, Slippery, Rover, Scrub, and Elickser for the Spring 2009 Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in central Chatham County, North Carolina. The event takes place on a farm designed specifically for the purpose of hosting the festival where participants camp out all weekend long. This was the second and third Shakori Hills for much of the NORSA crowd.

Featuring multiple stages, activity tents, a dance tent, local vendors, artisans, and thousands of North Carolina's finest hippies, the festival is a weekend-long celebration of bluegrass, zydeco, country-western, folk, and reggae music. Over fifty bands participate, including past staples Donna the Buffalo, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Del Mccoury, Scythian, Boulder Acoustic Society, Eileen Jewel, The Horse Flies, the Red Hots, Old Crow Medicine Show, and many more. This year's headliner was Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, who won a Grammy award in 2002 for their work on the soundtrack for the motion picture "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Three days of the festival can get somewhat expensive, but fortunately there are opportunities to volunteer for free passes. A three hour shift gets you one free day pass. The NORSA crew (along with many others) worked parking shifts. Alan, Adam, Taylor also showed their appreciation for nature by working compost shifts both Saturday and Sunday. The festival seeks to minimize their impact on the environment by composting and recycling as much refuse as possible. All vendors use bio-degradable utensils, plates and cups. Compost volunteers get to drive a sweet Datsun truck around the festival and, besides collecting compost, educate festival goers about the benefits of composting.

The spring festival was a success. Special thanks to Jana for organizing and picking out a sweet and central campsite.

Mock Bike-n-Brew 2009

Saturday April 11, 2009:

The NORSA spring bike-n-brew features an easy 15-mile ride from Bethesda, MD along the Capitol Crescent and Mount Vernon trails to a local watering hole near the Reagan National airport in Arlington, VA.

Team NORSA members Steven S, Matt, and Russ gathered near Francis Scott Key bridge on a gray Saturday morning to ride to the rendezvous point in Bethesda. In true NORSA fashion, the event was advertised as "rain or shine." Russ showed up on time (for his NORSA debut!) Matt was late.

The three departed on what would be a cold and soggy ride, with temperatures in the mid 40s F and under a steady drizzle. Then, in his anger at Matt's tardiness, the god Poseidon unleashed new storm clouds, and the fury of the four winds befell the cyclists. Unflinching, they advanced in the onslaught, but Poseidon took aim with his mighty trident and punctured Matt's tire. As Matt set to work on the repair, the other two continued as the god of the sea pelted them with heavy bursts of spring rain.

Needless to say it was still raining when they got to Steve-o's house. No other NORSA members (including Tom, Steve-o, Adam, and the Neil) were willing to ride in such conditions. Hot tea was poured for all. Russ wore a woman's coat to stay warm. Matt contemplated the idea of moral causation, or karma. Everyone else went to brunch. Tom was unsuccessful at ordering a bagel sandwich.

Russ and Steven S. rode home in the rain. Mock bike-n-brew was a success in that there was minimal biking and brews. Stay tuned for upcoming actual bike-n-brews!

Jackson Hole 2009

NORSA mainstays Adam, Matt and Steven have returned from their ski trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Early in their trip, they learned that name requires some clarification. “Jackson is the town, the Hole is the valley,” as one local put it. So naturally, the three stayed at the Inn at Jackson Hole, located in Teton Village, which is at the base of Jackson Hole (the ski resort), on the western edge of Jackson Hole (the valley).


Jackson Hole sits more than 6200 feet above sea level in the northwest corner of Wyoming. Roughly half of the valley is contained in Grand Teton National Park, which itself is just south of Yellowstone National Park. Jackson Hole is surrounded by stunning mountains including, of course, the Grand Tetons. The name “Teton,” believe it or not, is derived from the French name for the main range, “les Trois Tétons." That is, the three breasts.

Jackson Hole is one of the steepest ski resorts in the US. It has the longest continuous vertical rise of any ski resort in the US at 4139 feet. The mountain itself tops out at 10,450 feet. Adam, Matt and Steven enjoyed 8 full days of skiing on their trip out west. They generally stuck to the double-black runs at the top of the mountain, especially enjoying the Alta chutes, Tower Three chute, and their adjacent runs.



Shockingly, one run proved too scary for the extreme team to even attempt. Corbet's Couloir, located just under the Tram (“Big Red”), had a huge cornice built up from weeks of winter storms. Tackling Corbet’s under these circumstances involved a guaranteed freefall before the run “relaxed” into a typical double-black. Although a 14-year-old girl did Corbet’s before their very eyes, the three decided it was not worth the risk. Fortunately, the girl was a child prodigy and egos were kept fairly intact. (These next 2 photos are of Corbet's)


































Such rigorous back-to-back workouts are not possible without the aid of a decent hot tub. Luckily, the Inn came well equipped. At the end of every day, they enjoyed a good soak, usually for the better part of an hour. The outdoor hot tub provided an interesting atmosphere. Typically, it would have been described as a “sausage fest;” however, a fellow skier introduced a much better phrase into everybody’s lexicon: “c*ck soup.” Once, the hot tub was closed to have the water changed. The stories exchanged in the hot tub were more entertaining than your average ski trip.






















After giving their legs a chance to rest in the hot tub. Adam, Steven and Matt patronized the many restaurants of Teton Village, such as the Mangy Moose, Cascade Grill and Alpenhof Bistro. One of Matt’s newer, cooler friends also happened to be at Jackson Hole that week. He and 17 other people rented an extraordinary house at the base of the resort, and hosted Steven, Adam and Matt for dinner a couple of nights.























After eating, the three would usually watch whichever Rambo movie was on TV that night and go to sleep. In the morning, they were awoken by the comforting voice of Chuck Norris in Walker Texas Ranger, which inspired them to ski another day.