Thank You, Steven Slater, For Your Inspiration To Update My Blog And For Having A Great Character Name For A 1980's Movie

I have no excuses for not posting for 20 days.  Except that I had a final interview with the school board at the Ripton Elementary School for the grades 5/6 teacher, I got the job, I've had issues with my endorsement areas and therefore my qualifications as a teacher of all subjects, I've gotten the go-ahead with the contract signing and paperwork, I've gotten a key to the school and I've brought my dogs into the classroom as of today to help make me feel at home.

For those of you who don't know (okay, anyone who reads this thing knows this; who am I kidding?), I went to graduate school at the University of Vermont this past year to get my certificate (license) to teach at the middle level with language arts and social studies endorsements, and with the ultimate intent to get my Masters of Arts in Teaching.  In Vermont, the "middle level" is designated as grades 5-9, even though there are various combinations of those grades and their categorizations as elementary/middle/high.  At my new school, grades 5 and 6 are designated as elementary, designed to continue to foster pre-adolescent education, to prolong the joy that is childhood.  At Williston, my intern site, middle school was grades 5-8 (apparently by the time you're done with fourth grade there, you're ready for Spin-the-Bottle, slow dances to Stairway to Heaven and a heavy bombardment of name-calling and puberty's-progress comparing, consequently leading to ones status as a social pariah...I seem to have digressed.  Anyway, I am now a teacher*  *license pending.

Perhaps these past few weeks of getting a job, in accord with the absence of hillclimb races, excuse me somewhat from my lack of posting.  But frankly, sometimes I kind of hit myself later on down the road of these blog projects because I never keep up with them.  They always seem like such a great idea in my head until I actually have to start executing them. This is supposed to be about hillclimbing on bikes and the Vermont Celiac life, and so far I've addressed neither of those two subjects in this post.  Let me get started.

On August 7th,  I finished second at the Gear Up For Lyme (a very clever name) Mt. Equinox Hill Climb.  The race generates money for Lyme Disease research and the event enjoys a great reputation for fine weather and a family-like following.  Jake Hollenbach decided he needed some rent money and registered day-of, as did I, to take the first mile prime of $500 and the win itself.  He made off with said $500, a night stay for two at the Equinox Inn in Manchester, and won a raffle prize of a dinner at the local sushi place; I got a medal.  I don't want to sound too bummed by this but...I guess I don't know how to finish that sentence.

Jake launched his ferocious attack with about 100 meters to go before the one-mile prime.  Knowing he'd have to slow up after such a rocket-propelled pace, I slowly reeled him in.  At 1.1 miles, I caught him, dropped the other two guys with us, one of them Ian Gordon, second place overall in the BUMPS series, and led the rest of the way up the climb with Jake right on my tail.  I thought Jake might let me take the win but with 500 meters to go, I heard the click of the gears dropping down the cassette and off Jake climbed, gaining 23 seconds on me by the finish.  I have absolutely no kick this year and that performance showed it.  Ian came in third place, just 14 seconds behind me.

The Skyline Drive up Mt. Equinox is a perfect climb for those that like a little variety.  It's not incredibly steep and it isn't very exposed.  The road opens into a spruce forest not very far below the course's finish line, just below the summit.  At mile four, it was difficult to keep focus, as I was faced with stunning early morning sunshine that lit the tops of the clouds and burned away the fog.  Just west of the mountain is a monastery which looked slightly imaginary in my race-scrambled brain.  The weather was cool but not chilly to begin the morning, but once on course, the sweat began to pour off of everyone.


What I liked most about this event was that the Manchester Rotary volunteers its time to help out and that the race director feels genuinely connected and indebted to the racers that support the event's cause.  He said it well just before the podium ceremony: "The 140 or so people that started today's race, I consider part of my family."  And that's truly how it felt, more so than the other hillclimbs I've done so far this season.


Thanks to Burke Mountain Hill Climb's Keone Maher and family for the ride down post-race (you're not allowed to ride your bike back down a la Mt. Washington).  Unfortunately, I won't be making the trip up to Burke for the climb this year because of the Green Mountain Stage Race, which happens during the same weekend (sorry, Keone).  Thanks also to Steve Francisco for taking some photos of the podium ceremony and for coming out to give me a scare on the climb for a bit (it's your first one of the season; you're only going to get better).  And thanks to Jake for passing me with 500 meters and making me look like I was going backwards.  Seriously though, Jake, thanks for making me go faster.

Oh, and what does this have to do with a disgruntled and extremely frustrated JetBlue flight attendant?  Nothing.  I just wrote this on the same day that Steven Slater's status went from ho-hum steward to pop cultural hero.