Reader Athlete: Michael Smith

Sky Barsch

MICHAEL SMITH

Age: 41
Residence: Rutland
Family: Great family of close friends
Occupation: IT consultant
Primary Sport: Mountain biking

VS: You are heavily involved in Pine Hill Park. What have you learned from being part of a grassroots project?
MS: Aleve is an amazing pain reliever! Actually, my experiences with the park have been perhaps the most enriching of my life. At a certain point you become aware of what you might leave behind in this life. Now, almost 2,000 people use Pine Hill Park per week, and that’s a wonderful legacy. Some of the very best things you do in life you’ll not get any money from. I have met so many excellent people along the way. Their generosity and hard work, largely in anonymity, gives me faith in the human race. The project, which has now encompassed some 17 years of my life, has used all of my faculties, both physically and intellectually, and has given me purpose.

VS: Looking back, is there anything you wish you knew ahead of time for this type of organizing?
MS: No, not really. I wouldn’t change anything. If I had known how many thousands of hours I would spend on it, I might not have ever started it. Though a tremendous amount of work, it has been a great adventure and has unfolded just as it was meant to, I suppose. The surprises, people, and lessons learned along the way, I would never trade.

VS: What is the latest news out of the park?
MS: This summer, I had 27 kids everyday for six hours to pickaxe on the trail system. We put in four new trails with some 7,000 man-hours of labor. I’ve been sprucing up the website (www.pinehillpark.org) to show off the progress on our new 100-foot suspension bridge, and we now have a 501(c)3 organization in support of the park called The Pine Hill Partnership.

VS: How do you think Vermont is doing in terms of access for mountain biking?
MS: I’ve served as vice-chair for the Vermont Mountain Bike Association for a while now, and have seen the development and enthusiasm for mountain biking throughout the state from the front lines. VMBA is a grassroots organization, and in just the last couple of years has gone from six chapters statewide to 21. The number of quality, well-built, sustainable trails has been increasing. VMBA chapters have 11,000 man-hours into trails around the state this year alone. I think landowners’ and organizations’ perceptions have changed quite a bit. They are much better educated on mountain biking’s impact, and now see it as a great economic opportunity to attract people to the state, to retain more of Vermont’s youth, and to get people healthy and fit.

But there is more to be done. The state needs to do more to recognize mountain biking as the huge resource that it is. Matt Swartz, VMBA’s chair, and Patrick Kell, our executive director, have been trying to keep the pressure on. If Vermont misses this as the opportunity it is, it could well go to some other state with the foresight to see it. Still, I’m optimistic. This state has led the country in so many areas. Mountain biking is a perfect fit within the state’s ethos, aspirations, and resources.

VS: What bike are you riding now?
MS: An Intense 6.6.

VS: What is your favorite type of trail?
MS: A fast, flowy, athletic singletrack.

VS: What’s your advice to mountain bikers who have the intermediate blues?
MS: Ride with people better than you. Watch their lines and how they weight their bikes. Watch where they slow down, and where they let it go. Explore some new trails! Ride at Pine Hill Park (of course, I’m a bit biased, but make sure you hit the new Halfpipe trail). Pittsfield has been working with fervor on their new singletrack system, and of course there’s Killington mountain; all are within the Rutland area. Invest in a great bike. Bike technology has come so far in just the last couple of years. I’d suggest getting Virtual Pivot Point rear suspension that doesn’t bob, disc brakes, and lighter materials. I’ve got a Manitou Nixon front fork that I can adjust to any height on the fly with a button on my handlebars. I can lower it to go up hill, put it all the way out for the down hills, and anywhere in between. The technology has really elevated the sport and the experience a great deal. Also, I’d recommend joining a local chapter of the Vermont Mountain Biking Association. This brings you into a community of like-minded individuals.

VS: Have you had any good falls?
MS: Want to see my scars? How much time do you have?

VS: Do you do any road biking?
MS: I’ll usually do a week or two in the early spring on the road just to get my legs going. But I prefer the woods by a large margin. My fate is in my own hands there, rather than someone driving an SUV, talking on a cell phone. I like how engaged I am on a mountain bike—what line am I going to take, how I’m going to get over that log or around that rock. I never get bored in the woods, and the only noise is from the trees.

VS: You run your own business. What is it?
MS: I am an IT computer consultant. There are a lot of small businesses around Vermont that can’t afford a full-time IT professional. I travel about setting up business and individual’s Apple Mac systems, then I show them how they can use their hardware and software to save time and get their jobs done faster. Then they can get out and go skiing or mountain biking instead of sitting behind a computer screen!

VS: How did you get interested in computers?
MS: I was an uber-geek as a kid, when computers were just emerging. I just never had the Coke bottle glasses. I started college as a computer science/philosophy major and then one day came out of a 17-hour computer lab marathon with my eyes crossed, vowing I would never go into it. But having moved back to my origins here in Vermont, working for myself provides me the flexibility of time to devote to my work with Pine Hill Park and to enjoy the great outdoor experience that the Rutland area and Vermont have to offer. These three hats give me a nice balance in my life.

VS: What do you do in the winter?
MS: My recent passion has been trying to master the carving board—hard boots and plate bindings on a very stiff and narrow form of a snowboard. I was a ski racer growing up and live for that fast, fully carved turn. The rush this type of board offers, of putting your cheek just a few inches above the snow while your extended fingers syncopate on fresh corduroy, is amazing. They were big for a time back in the early ‘90s, but I think they’re going to make a comeback. Just too much fun...
— Sky Barsch