Video: Transition Bikes Makes Vermont Spring Look Amazing in 'Further On'

Apr 29, 2022 at 8:40
by Transition Bikes  

Most mountain bikers share a common appreciation for spring, but only a few experience the long and harsh winter of Vermont. The time spent waiting for the days to grow long and the snow to melt means Alex and Ella cherish this time of year more than most. A feeling captured so beautifully in this film.

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"The forced time off in the winter renews my love of riding every year. I’m not sure there’s anything better than a fresh trail in the spring, it’s like a powder day that somehow gets better with each run. We harnessed that stoke and pushed ourselves when making this film. Each day was; 5am alarm for morning light, dig, nap, eat, dig, set cables, shoot, beer, late dinner, repeat. Building, riding and filming this was a passion project for all involved, it was both wildly exhausting and rewarding." -Alex

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"For me, it’s hard to resist a fern covered forest, especially with the thoughts of a narrow, loamy singletrack running through it. So when I found this zone buried deep in the woods of southern Vermont, I knew we had something special. When dirt started to fly off tires and the sun hit that golden hour mark in the sky, we knew we had something special going." -Henry (Backroad Creative)

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Riders: Alex and Ella Mcandrew
Video: Henry Miles
Photos: Brooks Curran

Author Info:
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Member since Feb 17, 2009
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65 Comments
  • 34 1
 That’s late May early June in Vermont for those ferns to be so thick. Alex and Ella got the hype going for this spring with that vid . Still dealing with brown leaves and ticks as buds and blossoms start to pop. Ticks are gnarly already this season, be aware people
  • 12 0
 Can confirm that this is June footage. Maybe even late June for East Burke.
  • 8 1
 @aks21: Didn’t they say Southern VT?
  • 3 0
 Spring is about optimism, so this works for me. Got the first trail ride of the season in this past weekend. Yew!
  • 4 0
 This is the raddest video I've seen in a while.
  • 7 0
 Yup, this looks more like early June to me tbh. Summer in VT, best three weeks of the year!
  • 1 0
 @Chuckolicious: Southern VT is still pretty close to Northern VT. Small state, long winter.
  • 6 0
 @bonkmasterflex: southern VT winters are much shorter than northern... there was no ferns growing up north when we filmed the bulk of this.
  • 2 0
 @bonkmasterflex: Heh... I know, I'm basically there. But conditions at Burke can be drastically different from conditions at Woodstock or Northfield. Let alone Claremont (yea, NH, but like 10 feet from the border).
  • 1 0
 @brookscurran: Sorry if I'm thick, but did you mention where this was? If not, and keeping secret, understood.
  • 24 8
 For Vermont, that bike is a freeride bike... which would be super cool. I wish that transition did a 135-145mm version of that bike so it was a bit more balanced up and down. It sure does rip the downhills though. Nice trails! You guys captured that Vermont light really well in those photos.
  • 8 41
flag likeittacky (May 1, 2022 at 8:56) (Below Threshold)
 No, it is not. The Sentinel is an All Mtn. Rig (150/160) not a Freeride bike.
  • 10 6
 Forgot to say there are plenty of resorts in VT that a Sentinel is right at home with and the bike is fine for trail riding especially underneath the right rider as demonstrated by Alex.
  • 10 4
 @likeittacky: I don't think we're on the same page definitionally here.
  • 13 0
 Guess you’ve never ridden Bolton
  • 9 0
 You can drop the travel on a sentinel to 140mm in the rear! Probably just what you're looking for
  • 3 0
 @5afety3rd: or Killington maybe?
  • 1 0
 Stay tuned…
  • 1 12
flag SterlingArcher (May 1, 2022 at 21:11) (Below Threshold)
 @likeittacky: do you hear yourself in your own head or just spew words as they’re generated
  • 3 22
flag likeittacky (May 1, 2022 at 21:51) (Below Threshold)
 @SterlingArcher: Do you blow others or just yourself
  • 7 1
 @SterlingArcher: Great edit, but no need for the negativity. Come on, guys...
  • 3 0
 @andelinc: Right on. If you’ve ever interacted with Alex and Ella, they embody positive vibes and stoke to ride bikes.
  • 9 1
 I'd say the Sentinel is pretty sweet for all things VT- Rode all of Kingdom Trails in a day on my V1 (100+ miles)- same bike I took to the Whistler EWS the month before!- Thanks! We spent a lot of time building and setting up shots just based on that golden hour light!
  • 2 0
 I'd love to see the Smuggler make a comeback, maybe 130/140. That and a Spire would be a hell of a combo.
  • 1 0
 @krystianj: I think 130/140 would be perfect for Vermont; I have a 130/140 Kona Satori myself. I think for the people as a whole, a bit more travel would be useful. Maybe 135-140 rear and 140-150 front. Vermont has a lot of really punchy stuff and Sentinel is a bit damp. You could definetely be fine on that 120mm Transition, but you end up at Highland or Burke etc once in a while when you live there, so personally, I'd target a bike with a bit more travel. The Sentinel would do really well at those locations, but it would be too much for regular trails. Being in a place where the bike does both options pretty well is somewhere between the two options that Transition currently offers in 29". Outside of Enduro or dh, New England lends itself to steeper head tube angles due to tighter, lower speed trails and well-groomed bike parks. There isn't a lot of high speed sandy stuff where really long raked out bikes accel most.The climbs are very steep. The turns are very sharp. And it is hard to flip on the downs.
  • 2 1
 @VTwintips: terrain does not dictate the bike, the rider does. Go ride a big(ger) bike and smile
  • 1 1
 @5afety3rd: if that were true, you'd have people on mountain bikes for the tour de france.
  • 11 0
 Alex is the man, absolute nicest and most down to earth guy. Last September I drove up to the top of Burke Mt in a cold rain, and was marveling at how steep the toll road was (from my car!). I passed a lone rider and thought of asking if he wanted a ride up, but he was moving at a pretty good clip so I didn't stop. He arrived at the summit shortly thereafter I did (he must have been HAULING), and I spoke to him a bit asking him about the trails from the peak which I hadn't ridden. He was happy to chat and give me some intel. It turned out to be Alex McAndrew, Pro EWS racer and local legend. He couldn't have been nicer, and the rain picked up and he dropped in off the top. Saw him at the Sugarloaf Enduro a few weeks later and he remembered me. What a legend!
  • 10 0
 Few things better than VT singletrack and the dappled sunlight through the trees followed by all that the local gastronomy has to offer. Been a few places with my bike but VT Summer = impeccable vibes.
  • 11 1
 Man that's a treasure of loam for New England! Defiantly different from what i know of the rock n root riddled land.
  • 4 0
 We definitely have plenty of rocks n roots, but more and more trails are getting built in spots with good dirt or in away that removes the roots n rocks. NE flow is real
  • 1 1
 Defiantly for sure!!
  • 2 0
 If you know, you know. There's gold in them there hills, you just have to go find it!
  • 10 1
 Ain’t it still VT mud season?
  • 2 0
 Up north yes. Dry and dusty in CT for a while now…
  • 3 0
 For sure. I see nothing like that out my window right now. Then I realized that he probably filmed that last summer.
  • 2 0
 I'd say we just moved past mud season last week. Warmer weather and winds dried a lot of terrain out, and most trails have opened in my neck of northern VT.
  • 1 0
 @jaytdubs: Nice! I've gotta head that way and ride sometime soon. Lived in Burlington for a year about a decade ago and have nothing but fond memories of the late Spring and Summer in VT (winter/mud season are tough though!). Even growing up in the shadow of Downieville I remember being blown away by the kingdom trails system.
  • 1 0
 Trails are just starting to open in drips and drabs. Many are still closed, but it's been a dry spring so far, so things will open up very quickly once the leaves pop and the trees start sucking up more water.
  • 6 1
 Hey, want to bring some of them trails or trail building skills to Mass, Southern NH Thanks
  • 5 1
 Nothing quite like the the sea of green and dark ribbons of dirt in Vermont!
  • 4 1
 Between the black flies, mosquitos and ticks, Vermont is a great place to live and ride if you don't have blood. I got out while I still had some left.
  • 2 0
 Show me a riding location that doesn't have a few drawbacks. And really, in comparison to most places, the stinging/biting insects in VT aren't that bad.
  • 3 0
 There is nothing amazing about a 6 month riding season. Unless of course if you enjoy the cold weather activities!
  • 3 0
 A 6 month riding season is a bit of an exaggeration, last year I got in 7.5 months in northern VT, but it can become a 6 month season if you get an October snow dump.
  • 4 0
 Sad to say it but climate change seems to have made the bike riding season longer over the past 10-15 years. April-November seems like the new June-October.
  • 3 0
 Mountain bikes: May-October/November

Gravel bikes: March-May & October-December

Fatbike: December-March

+ backcountry skiing, xc skiing, resort skiing, ski-joring, shot-skis, iceskating, icefishing, smirnoff-icing, ect.

Plenty of good riding to be had!
  • 1 2
 I believe those are the green mountain trails in Pittsfield (close to Killington) great network that doesn't get much traffic. GMT trails are open, but like others have said this was probably shot last spring in late May or June. No leaves on the trees of ferns yet.
  • 1 0
 Really? I don't recognize any of those trails from GMT, but if they're brand new that would be sweet. They also mention "deep in the woods of southern Vermont" which is a bit of a stretch for Pittsfield. Maybe the crew will confirm. I'd love to check these out.
  • 2 0
 @VtVolk: I have a feeling these were probably built on private land. I also don't think they are the GMT. The trails in these vids look like proper downhills, while the GMT seem to have a lot more XC style trails from when I last rode them in the fall. And nothing that I know of like that exists in southern Vermont unfortunately...
  • 1 0
 100% not GMT, but those are fun trails!
  • 2 1
 Glad to hear "Bronze Radio Return" on an edit. I grew up nextdoor to the lead singer Chris Henderson in Belfast Maine, happy to hear the Northeast getting some love!
  • 1 0
 We saw them in Burlington after using them for Patrolling the Kingdom and got to hang afterwards- good crew!

www.pinkbike.com/video/426831
  • 1 0
 My bad, I saw the Green Mountain Protune logo at the beginning and thought it was Green Mountain Trails
  • 3 0
 SO SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • 2 0
 no way that is VT spring. Not nearly wind, gray and mud.
  • 1 0
 @Ironchefjon you must suspend your disbelief when you read PB. Otherwise your logic and common sense will make you realize you are indeed correct.
  • 1 0
 Kudos for adorable dog footage.
  • 2 3
 needs more dog
  • 2 0
 the smell
  • 1 0
 I can smell it through my screen. It smells so lovely.
  • 1 0
 Maybe it’s slate valley in poultney?
  • 1 0
 Just Beautiful
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