Sports Blog Home

Categories

• Outdoors
  
  • Boating
    
  • Canoeing & Kayaking
    
  • Fishing
    
  • Hiking & Trails
    
  • Hunting
    
  • Mountain Biking
    
  • Parks
    
  • Rock Climbing
    
  • Running
    
  • Skiing
    
  • Travel
    

Recent Entries

• The 2011 Bassmaster Classic
• More on Hot Ditch, saltwater angler registry
• More on menhaden
• The South River Project
• More on the citation sensation

Syndicate

• RSS 2.0
  
  
• 
  
  
• 

Monthly Archives

• May 2012
• April 2012
• March 2012
• February 2012
• January 2012
• December 2011
• November 2011
• October 2011
• September 2011
• August 2011
• July 2011
• June 2011
• May 2011
• April 2011
• March 2011
• February 2011
• January 2011
• December 2010
• November 2010
• October 2010
• September 2010
• August 2010
• July 2010
• June 2010
• May 2010
• April 2010
• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008

The Colorado ski trip continues. Early in the week, it was downhill at Winter Park, Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge; yesterday and today it was a cross country adventure at a place called Beaver Meadows in the mountains north of Fort Collins (The key to all this, by the way, is having friends in the right places. Not staying in resorts makes an expensive habit like skiing downright affordable). Seven of us stayed in a cabin (no electricity, no water, wood stove for heat) that you had to ski into and out of. That’s the cabin above with me and Lila, our friends’ dog. We skiied to the main lodge at night for dinner and back to cabin by the light of a nearly full moon. This morning we had fresh powder and some back-country trails all to ourselves for more skiing (picture below).

By the way, somehow I managed to fall far more on the CC skis than the downhill ones. It’s a lot more difficult than it looks.

I got an email today from Brian Knight, the media relations director for Primal Quest, one of the premier adventure races in the world. I’ve attached part of it below. Pretty exciting stuff for area adventure racers.

Williamsburg, VA – On Saturday, May 10, 2008 Don Mann and Dawn Taylor-Mann, the producers of the Primal Quest Expedition Adventure Race, will usher in a new addition to the world of adventure racing, the Primal Quest Sprint Series (PQSS).

The Primal Quest Sprint Series offers fast-paced adventure racing for teams of two and features the classic adventure racing disciplines of trekking/trail running, mountain biking, and paddling. Teams will also face special events like a cargo net climb, ropes bridge, low crawl, and straight out of Don Mann’s Navy SEAL Training events, the infamous log PT!

PQSS race courses do not require certifications and are perfect for new adventure racers, runners, bikers, triathletes and other traditional athletes.  They will also remain fun and challenging for more experienced teams who can use the PQSS as tune-ups for longer competitions.  Top finishers will complete the courses in about four hours, while less experienced teams will finish in approximately six hours.  The two person teams can choose to race in either the co-ed, female, or male categories.

The first PQSS is Saturday, May 10, 2008 at Pocahontas State Park, just 20 miles from downtown Richmond. Registration for this event opens March 1, 2008.

 

It pays to be well connected.

My wife and I are out in Colorado visiting friends who moved out here from Richmond last summer. Our friend Jill is from Fort Collins, and her parents own a cabin in the Rockies near Winter Park. Today we’re skiing Winter Park and Mary Jane. Yesterday we made the two-hour drive to Steamboat Springs (the above pic was taken at around 10,000 feet at the top of Steamboat’s highest chair lift) to get a taste of their champagne powder and what one woman said was “North America’s best tree skiing.” Tomorrow could be Breckenridge. Who knows? The mountain world is our oyster!

If you ever get the chance, spend the extra cash and take a trip out here in winter. Better yet, do what we did and make friends with someone who lives out here. It’ll give you an excuse to keep coming back.

Feel free to comment with any suggestions you might have for towns to visit, mountains to ski and things to do out here. We could always use a tour guide for our trip through the Rockies.

In late January I wrote about Fred Barnes, an angler from Chesapeake, who broke the state record with a 73-pound, 3-ounce striped bass. Yesterday, Barnes’ record was made official. The fish was a 22-year-old female, and is viewed by state fishery regulators as proof two decades of size and catch limits are working.

“This is what those regulations are all about,’’ said Jack Travelstead, chief of fisheries management at the Virginia Marine Resource Commission. “This is what they were meant to do. Anglers can look forward to even larger fish. This record won’t last.’’

The fish fell a little more than 5 pounds short of the International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record—a 78-pound, 8-ounce striper caught off a New Jersey beach in 1982 by Albert McReynolds.

The previous state record was a 68-pound, 1-ounce fish caught in 2006 by Clay Armstrong of Mechanicsville.

 

While most of us were hiding inside from the gale-force winds this past Sunday, loyal reader Bill Steinbach decided it’d be a good day to go out fishing. Considering the 8-pound largemouth bass (above) he caught, he’s glad he did. Maybe Bill should be fishing with Virginia-native John Crews in South Carolina at the Bassmaster Classic.

Here’s Bill’s story:

“I went fishing yesterday with my buddy Tom Garrett at a private pond in Louisa, despite the fact that there were sustained winds of 45 mph with gusts up to 65.  It was all we could do to keep from getting blown into the pond, but man was it worth it.  In three hours I caught 26 bass and 2 crappie.  Tom caught 6 bass all between one and two pounds.  A good day of fishing by normal standards, but he stopped fishing because, according to him, it was more interesting watching me. 
I also caught another 5 1/4-pound bass that I did not take a picture of.  No need when it was the fourth largest fish of the day!  In addition, I hooked another large fish that I fought for a few minutes and lost.  I lost it because it snapped my hook in half! The two crappie were two pounds (13in) and 1 3/4 pounds (12 in).  If I had known at the time that the largest of the crappie was a citation, I would have taken a picture of it.  The eight-pound bass is also a citation in Virginia.  All fish were caught on spinner baits. Two citations of different species on one day.  What a trip!”

I met up with Jimmy McMillan (red hat above) and Charlie Bowman this afternoon on the Buttermilk Trail to talk to them for an upcoming column. Jimmy and Charlie are both avid mountain bikers and have put in countless hours in the park this past fall and winter making these trails more fun and more sustainable. It’s because of the efforts of guys like Jimmy and Charlie, as well as Nathan Burrell, Wayne Goodman and countless others (mostly Richmond MORE members), that these are being hailed as the best urban trails in the southeast by Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine (November 2007 issue).

The above pic was taken just down the hill from the modern-looking house on Riverside Drive. There’s also a big trail-building project going on on top of Belle Isle. In a week or two, I’ll have a column in the T-D about all that’s been done in the JRPS and what’s planned for the future.

Welcome, folks, to the first of many posts on the T-D’s brand new Outdoors blog.

My hope is that this will become a communal space for outdoors enthusiasts of all stripes – from bass anglers to rock climbers to mountain bikers to kayakers and hunters and everyone else in between. If you love exploring Virginia, be it on two wheels, in running shoes, or with a shotgun in your hands (though hopefully not all of those at once), this is your space as much as it is mine.

Every week I get emails with pictures of a big buck someone bagged or a beastly largemouth bass they hooked. Keep them coming. If you went hiking and snapped a picture of a bobcat or a black bear, or caught a great sunrise at the beach, Mount Rogers, the James River, etc., send those in too. You can find me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

I want this space to be a starting point for all manner of discussions. When interesting things come to my attention – an update on hunting-related legislation at the General Assembly, a cool kayaking video on YouTube, a new mountain bike race in the area—I’ll bring them to your attention via this space. Our fair commonwealth has a huge and varied community of outdoors lovers. It’s hard to satisfy everyone and every niche with two articles a week in the Times-Dispatch. Hopefully, this blog will help to fill in the gaps. I’ll be posting often, so check back regularly.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: That’s my dog Ruby you see above in a picture from a recent trip to Pocahontas State Park. She’s a mutt of undetermined but clearly noble lineage rescued from the Richmond Animal Shelter. If I’m outside exploring, chances are she’s with me.