Life

Is a circus - or so it seemed as I rode to circus practice the other day with all of the necessary ingredients - a pad, practice fire staves and a bit of humor! Did I miss anything?

Family and Community

The topic of "community" is important at Dartmouth. From the day I arrived on campus, meeting the people on my freshmen trip and then meeting my freshman floor community, I searched for an understanding of community. But, what in the world is community, and how do you find it? Was it in the multitude of group meetings I attend every week? Or my classmates? For me it wasn't any of these. I didn’t really sense "community" during my freshman year, not the chilling, shooting the shit, unfiltered conversation, comfortable "community" that I wanted.

I actually didn’t find it until I moved off campus. If you have read many of my post , then you  know that the "Pebble", my off campus house, is a pretty special place. It has a backyard, a kitchen and a chest freezer. I will come back to the chest freezer in a bit. Even more special than the place itself, are our neighbors and the people surrounding the pebble - the "Cooldesac" as we call it. These amazing people started a tradition of "family dinners" during my sophomore year. Each dinner was cooked by whoever felt like it, and the ‘family’ invited was everyone people could possibly think to invite. Needless to say, food was enjoyed in quantity, which is where the handy dandy freezer came in.

Every time you deal with dinner + college kids, it always seems to come down to petty splitting of pennies and dimes for chipping in. With the chest freezer and bulk food costs, the cook could just grab food out of the house freezer and not worry about whose label was on the bag of chicken. This resolved tensions, and created an atmosphere of "community"  that translated into hours of eating, sharing stories, joking and general merriment during each get together -- at least once a week. From that point, the events grew. We almost never have a group of people who all know each other, and when we do, it is just as well. It took the right place, food and environment to foster my special community. What makes yours?

Easy Commute

I made a pact with myself. With an engineering internship for the fall term, I looked forward to working, but I also had something to prove. I wanted to learn about working as an engineer, but more importantly, I wanted to prove to myself that I could continue to have an active lifestyle while doing so -- by biking to work every day. After looking at maps, I saw that I could mountain bike commute over Burnt Mountain from Hanover to Lebanon, NH.

That meant weaving  around rocks and roots moments after waking up, heading to work only to pant uphill by headlamp for three miles before dropping into windy singletrack for a wild ride down.

The commute became the highlight of my day. Not only was the ride a fun and challenging one, but by riding the same track every day, I watched the season change day by day.

The ride was not without some mishaps. On day one, I carried my bike through a swamp only to exit the trail network on the wrong side of the mountain, slogging to work an hour late. On day three, I took a sapling down on the way home with my handlebars, sending me flying. On day four, I broke a chain halfway to work and pushed my bike the rest of the way. By day five, after going over the handlebars so perfectly that my bike landed, perfectly balanced, wheels still spinning, on my back, I was getting used to recounting my commute to my co-workers. I don’t know if they fully believed me, but I felt bad for anyone that didn’t have the chance to adventure every day and see some stunning fall colors.

Then there was Heat!

The walls went up. The paint was on. The window was set. And so ended my weekend, but I couldn’t let it sit there without finishing the sauna. So I woke up at 6, ready to saw at 7. I figured people were waking up around that time. Or at least they would be now! From then on, I worked during the 2 hours before work and until 9 a night. To say I slept well would be the understatement of the century.

 

The insulation went in pretty easily if not "itchily" - I swear I will be old before all the fiberglass fibers come out of my jacket. Then I tacked the vapor barrier over the insulation. I can’t tell you how blinding it is to be in a room working with a headlamp staring down a mirrored surface.

With the sauna looking like a 1970’s attempt to make a room look larger, I started working on the floor and stove, putting in heat shields where the stove would sit and marking out where the pipe would poke through the ceiling. Sensing the end, I took a day off work, recruited some friends and hammered on the white pine siding for the inside of the sauna. The reason for white pine over cedar was mostly based on cost; pine was 4 times cheaper than cedar and just as mildew resistant. With each section, we were a little closer to firing her up. By 10:30 at night, I had the stove in, the paneling up and the last piece of the bench installed. I couldn’t even sneak in a sauna before I fell asleep.

First there was a shed

I had a project itch; this happens every so often. Usually it is correlated with an unfinished project sitting in my garage. This time though the source was an unstarted project and its potential. The potential was killing me. You see, I had a wood stove sitting in my garage. Just a stove, but with that stove I envisioned an amazing project. I imagined an escape from sore skiing muscles, from NE cold, from stress. I saw a sauna. Not just any sauna - a wood burning sauna made from scratch - designs and all, ready to be moved out when I graduate in three years.

So I got to work measuring, drawing and creating specs. Drawn out, priced and ready to start in a week,  It was the most prepped I have ever felt before starting a project. With time ticking, I ordered parts and recruited help. On a beautiful Saturday, with five friends, we started the sauna. My goal was to get the frame up.

The foundation was set with cinderblock porch supports. The floor was insulated with foam, and protected from critters with hardware cloth. My design idea was to minimize cost and weight, so I could jack up the floor and pull a trailer underneath to move the sauna when I graduate.

The walls went together with room for a window and a simple galvanized shed roof.

Then the osb siding went on, with a final coat of brown paint so my neighbors wouldn’t notice our new addition to the culdesac. By the end of the day we had a shed! I guess this completes step 1, and by the time the sauna is ready, I will sorely need a sauna!

Bike on!

It's not like I am totally out of breath. It's that I went from riding flats to climbing so hard that my lungs hurt. They don’t like what I’m doing to them, but they can suck it up. Because the hill can’t be that high, right? I am in the east.

I am reminded of this every time I go riding in New England. I assume that since I am in the east the hills will be small hills, and riding should be short and easy. One would think that I would understand that with trail names like "the spine" and "coronary" that the reality would be different.  So, here I am on another NE mountain bike ride, with a pair of lungs that are in the midst of mutiny. I finally top out over the first pitch, but the flats also have a way of reminding me that I am on an eastern trail. I stand on my pedals attempting to get enough torque to continue moving through a combination of slick roots and ill-placed rocks. It is almost a relief to reach the next hill, until I remember that my lungs and I were in the middle of an argument. By the time I top out on the measly 550’ ‘peak’, I’m just about exhausted, and that was just the uphill of lap 1.

NE downhills are similar to going down the Heavenly Daze ski trail in Steamboat on a crowded day, after a few inches of fresh snow at mach speed. By that point everything that had once been nice and flat was now a long irregular bump line topped off with a crowd of people, skis, gloves, and other ‘things’ to dodge. (Not that I would ever bomb Heavenly Daze in peak season!) Similarly, on the bike trails every speck of dirt that has ever been flat has washed away, and all that is left on the trails are rocks and roots waiting to snag my tire out from under me. So I hang on, willing my bike to go straight.

One would think that after all this I would hate NE riding, but I surely don’t. In fact, after riding over every rock and after making it down each pitch in one piece, I usually have a perma smile that doesn’t get washed away with the dirt after my ride.

Pannier!

I have been thinking about building this piece for a while: a bike pannier that can hold any size pack. From hand drawing, to a solidworks sketch, to a looks like prototype, then to this! It still needs some testing and some work to be sure, but I’m pretty happy!

New floors!

After living off campus at the Pebble for over a year with constant New Hampshire humidity and very suspect carpeting, hard to tell what the original color was, I decided that it was time for a Pebble renewal. Long story short, my roomates and I moved out of the house, slept on our neighbors’ floor the last week of summer term, replaced the decrepit old carpet with new linoleum and rigged our beds into murphy beds. Behold the unfolded and folded murphy bed pictures. Double the floor space, Not bad, eh?!

DMBC

Dartmouth does things in a very interesting way. We have been getting a lot of publicity recently about frats, hazing, sexual assault among other unsavory topics, but that is only about 5.8% of the picture, if it deserves that. The other 94.2% of real Dartmouth students’ lives consists of many other aspects that really should be getting more attention. We have outstanding academics, a great relationship with our business school, churning out entrepreneurs left and right. We have great clubs, doing everything from gamlan to circus. We have the only student workshops for jewelry, woodworking and pottery in the Ivies, open to all students and faculty - I met an amazing retired medical school professor who has mentored me in my woodturning - , and we have our amazing setting. Along with that amazing setting comes the Dartmouth Outing Club (DOC).

I’m not saying that the DOC is the biggest thing on campus, but it is a highly influential student club and another unique aspect of Dartmouth, differentiating us from the other Ivies. In the DOC, students run the show: organizing, leading, driving, even cooking for all trips. This means that we are responsible for risk management, and in the worst case, getting help in the woods. That said, we have a really amazing safety track record, pointing to our risk management process. For example, for the mountain biking part of Freshman trips, we created our own 2 day mountain biking skills course. Since mountain biking has solid footing within Murphy's Law, perhaps more risky than setting foot in a frat basement, we managed the risk by developing a common biking language, planning, and adapting when conditions changed.
 

We started our "crash" course with some drills. Our goal was to keep everyone safe and having fun, so we didn’t want to skip anything. We had "trippies" get bikes, fit them, then went over getting on and off a mountain bike, which is often different from getting on and off a road bike, especially when you need to do so on a sidehill, or before you go over the front end! After that, we did platform position, which became our favorite word. It is the stance in mountain biking that every biker should get in when they aren’t pedaling. It puts the biker in a great position to break, go over obstacles, and not go over the handlebars. From there we rode around, going through different drills of stopping starting and turning.

Once comfortable on their bikes, we brought the trippies to the skills course that we had built earlier that week. The course had bridges, logs and a teeter totter, everything that we would need to practice looking ahead, getting momentum, using platform position, and making a quick exit off the bike, basic mountain biking skills. And that was just day one.

Day two, we brought our trippies up Oak Hill for a morning ride. We brought them on a singletrack route, consisting of intermediate riding terrain. With our first group, we didn’t really know what to expect. Our biggest concern was safety. We went over getting off the bikes one more time before heading up the trail. We stopped before each stretch, summarizing what would lie ahead, and then rode with leaders stationed intermittently to cheer the trippies along. The trails that we covered were in no way easy.When we got to the bottom after our first full trip with everyone smiling, it was awesome. One of the kids turned to me and said, "This was better training and more fun than a one on one lesson that I had had in Moab" -- not bad for a student run shindig. 

This student run program and many others like it are part of the heart and soul of Dartmouth. The way that the college was established makes the student body a very independent group and this has fostered over time. This summer, as president of the Dartmouth Mountain Biking Club (DMBC), I had the opportunity to work on the budgeting, marketing, and maintenance for the organization. And my story is not unique. Dartmouth has fostered so many amazing programs and projects inside the DOC and out. Colleges have drinking problems; our culture has drinking problems. Dartmouth is one of the only Ivies that still has frats, so we are singled out. I’m not defending frat culture, or blaming it. I’m just wondering why the media thinks that frats are the only thing that Dartmouth is noteworthy for. Because from my experience, there is a lot more.

Freshman Trips

Imagine you are a freshman arriving for your first day at college. You don't know any of the people you will share your academic and social life with for the next 4 years, only know a little about the school, and hell, you need a map to find your dorm. That was my experience two years ago.

after my freshman trips!

Now imagine you are an upperclassman with two years of school experience organizing and running a freshman orientation program, trying to make freshman more comfortable, knowledgeable, and confident for their first college experience. Also, you are tasked with continuously improving the whole orientation experience. That is freshman trips at Dartmouth which I was fortunate to participate in as "mountain bike croo" this fall.

Let me explain how "trips" are run at Dartmouth, so things make sense. Freshman trips are a student run program. This means that everything from buying toilet paper to cracking hundreds of eggs for breakfasts is all done by student volunteers. How many volunteers?

- There is a director and co-director, who work on the vision plus the nitty gritty details.

- There is a head safety chief who makes sure that all trip leaders have safety equipment and are trained for emergencies.

- There are trip leader trainers who train all 250 trip leaders so they not only safely lead their freshmen, but also facilitate conversation and team building on trips, and continue engaging with their "tripees" upon return to campus.

- Then there are the many trip croo’s. Hanover croo (Hcroo) does gear rentals, the first dinner and breakfast for the new arrivals before they head off on their trips. Plus they coordinate transportation, perform a safety show, and help the leaders – a lot of work.

- Then there are the specialized croos: Climbing croo facilitates the climbing trips. Grant croo lives at the Second College Grant and helps the kayaking/canoeing trips. Vox croo lives halfway between the White Mountains and Hanover, serving as a first response team for hiking trips. Oak Hill Croo, my croo, facilitates the mountain biking and ropes course trips.

- After their time with hiking/biking/kayaking croos and their trip experience, the trips end up at the Mousilake Ravine Lodge where lodge croo helps them meet the other freshman in their section, bags up their gear and sends them off to school.

dinner on the last night at the lodge!

What happens on the individual trips is a valuable experience. The trip leaders prepare freshman  for what it truly means to live with 900 other college student on a campus. This means being able to "show off" talents when appropriate and listen at other times. Tripees spend hours telling stories, getting to know each other and learning how unique everyone is. Even though Dartmouth students are all driven and smart individuals, they come from tons of different backgrounds. One of the many goals of trips is to discover – that everyone doesn't arrive with the same outlook, and this is a very good thing.

bike work was never ending! even with hair dye in

As a member of the Oak Hill croo, we were not only tasked to teach freshman how to safely mountain bike and navigate the ropes course, but also to keep in mind all of the deeper (and more important) goals of trips.

As a further challenge, this was Oak Hill croo's first year; we had a lot to prepare. There were five of us on croo, and all summer we worked on becoming ropes course certified. I pushed through a proposal to build a mountain biking skills course, and the minute my last summer final exam ended, I started building the course. The course consists of two bridges, two logs and a teeter totter. In the future we hope to add many more features, so that any biker can come out of the skills course a better rider.

the skills course coming together!

With the skills course complete, it was time to change into uniform – the most ridiculous looking clothing and hair you can ever imagine and helmet covers to boot. As upperclassmen in a position of ‘authority’, we didn’t want to seem intimidating, so we dressed to impress!

L to R Lorin,Evan, Brett, Peety, David -- spice girls raid

After getting into gear, we prepared as a team to perfect our routine. With each incoming trip, we started off with a raid. A raid is a silly way to break the ice that is much more than a "hi". For one biking trip, we dressed up in our best greaser outfits and performed a greased lightning skit.

greased lightning raid

After the raid, we led a warmup. This is really important; we don’t want tripees feeling awkward on their bikes, so we WOBBLE. The wobble is both a really silly dance and also a really good bike warmup – what do you know!

the wobble!

Once we are all warmed up, we get on the bikes, start working on skills and get to know everyone.  I met a freshman that started writing computer code in fourth grade, one that writes a poem every day, and one that had to decide between living with her mom and attend a bad school or her dad and attend a good school. The incredible stories and backgrounds shared during water breaks and waiting for the next riding challenge made me reflect about how I interact with people I meet for the first time. With each trip I improved at remembering names and getting to know individuals.  And after each trip came through, I would get to know the members of our croo a little better. As a team, we chased off curious skunks by blasting the wobble, made dinner in the fire when we ran out of stove fuel, and went for quick ‘showers’ in the pond.

a turning drill

Each day we would have groups from 9-1, 2-6, and then a campfire chat from 8-10. On top of this, we planed, debriefed, and fixed bikes. Each night I went to bed exhausted and woke up drowsy, but each time I saw the next group of freshman dance the wobble for the first time, or smile after nailing a skill, or thankful that someone wanted to hear their story it gave me a rush of energy.

I know that I am going to crash after trips, hate the world and sleep for days, but I don’t care. Right now is for freshman. And when I finally wake up, I am going to be really happy to get to know the 17’s a little better, because in two years they are going to be running the place.

Oh, and if you are still confused about what the WOBBLE is, check it out here.

Fiery wedding!

Not mine! My good friend Shauna got married today to her perfect guy, Dustin, in one of the most beautiful ceremonies ever. Beautiful because, well, you will see the pics, and it was also a great reunion of old friends. The Pines Lake, NJ clan, all friends from when we were months old, hung out all day, danced the night away, talked and had a grand time.

Oh yeah, and I performed double staves in the barn as the party heated up. Literally!

Memory lane

‘Stuck’ in Burlington, Vermont, I stayed with my dad’s old UVM college roommate, Greg. During dinner, I shared stories of college life, and Greg shared with me stories of my dad’s college life. I would say that it was definitely a fair exchange! After all the grief the my dad gave me a year ago for moving off campus, Greg showed me where my dad lived, and I think that my place is nicer. Can I get any second opinions out there?

In search for double days

I was invited to the first of my friend’s weddings this year (woah!), and en route to the bachelorette party, my flight was cancelled. Bummed was an understatement, but I decided to try to make the most of being stuck. I was stuck in Burlington, Vermont after all, so I rented a SUP from the Gear Exchange (best shop ever), and proceeded to paddle along Lake Champlain. Lake Champlain itself is beautiful, but the cliff bands that line it are breath taking. They are most definitely climbable, and I can see a double day of climbing and paddling this summer. Anyone want to join me?

Graduation

The 13’s. It’s funny because I don’t see myself ever lumping a group of people together and generalizing. Usually it isn’t possible. Usually it isn’t true. But the 13’s. They have been some of my best friends at Dartmouth, great mentors and as a group, just straight up amazing people. I really look forward to seeing all of them bring their infectious energy into the ‘real’ world, and as much as I will miss having them around, I know that they are itching for the next big adventure.

Bike Nats!

It is a Dartmouth spring tradition for biking and nording – Beer Nats. There are three events, and all end in hilarity. The particular one you are looking at is the criterion – three laps of the organizer’s choice with two catches. The first requirement is that the rider needs to drink a beer by the time they finish, and the second is that the last lap is naked. Don’t worry! It is all in the name of good fun!

Senior week bbq

Senior week is here and I am tagging along with the seniors for fun. Tonight we went up to Emmi’s family place in Vermont. Vermont is just straight up beautiful, and after chasing some cows for a while (and getting chased), we went to make some grub. We all laughed over the gender separation that naturally happened in the process - boys at the grill, girls in the kitchen -  but enjoyed the handmade burgers nonetheless!

Bonk

Today I biked at one of the coolest places: the Northeast Kingdom near Burke Mountain in Vermont. Kingdom developed because mountain bikers were cutting illegal trails on the farmland surrounding Burke for years, and the trails were rumored to be awesome. The landowners got together and decided that it would be beneficial to make biking at Kingdom a legit thing. With tons of trails, and maintenance, Kingdom has a bike following that goes from day-trips to weddings.

Rob and I with two of our Nordic skiing friends, Leif and Russ rode the trails. Trying to keep up with Rob and the Nordies, I was worked, full out sprinting to keep them within a sight line. After two hours, I bonked. With three energy bars, I pushed on. To be honest, the riding was too good to stop. By the fourth hour, my legs had enough lactic acid to make bonking look like a piece of cake. When we got back we were rewarded with the best banana splits ever. I would call that a win!

Family portrait

The culdesac where I live has transcended itself. It is no longer just where I live; it has truly become a home. We now call it the cool-de-sac, and I don’t know if I’ll ever live in as cool a community again. We have family dinners every Sunday night, starting the meals with our highs and lows of the week (or an arbitrary time period), and an intro question, varying from the funniest thing you know about Sam Streeter (one of the cool-de-sac members), to your favorite superhero. On almost any other night, someone is cooking up a big pot of something, with enough for everyone and anyone. On a cold afternoon, there is usually a fire going either inside or out, with a large group of friends, and you never know when an impromptu dance party is going to start up. With the term coming to a close and most everyone graduating from the cool-de-sac and entering the ‘real’ world, we decided to get a family photo. From L to R: Rob,Wylie, Rosemary, Hilary(bottom), Ellen, Sam, Hannah, Me!

Final Circus performance

With the term almost to a close, it was time to show off what our young circus club could do with a final showcase. Here are some of the videos! I did a double staff performance:

And a single staff spin:

Hannah and Jacob did acrobalance:

And Jacob did a single staff spin:

Women in the wilderness bike trip!

Today, we had our first full day women in the wilderness bike trip of the term. Since there were four of us going and a mountain bike club event going we decided to join forces. With four guys and four girls, it was definitely the most gender balanced mountain bike ride I had ever been on!

With such a large group and varying skills, there was a lot of potential for an extremely boring day for some and a hard day for others. Somehow, this didn’t even happen. Everyone was pretty stoked on the speed and the riding was just straight up fun! It looks like there might even be a contingent interested in a spring break bike trip next year!