Greetings from scenic Vermont!
 

I just thought I'd share a pic of my bike I took today. It should be a postcard! Those buckets on the tree are for collecting maple sap, to boil down to maple syrup. Yeah, it's sugaring time!

I had it painted to match the color of Vermont license plates, and built it up from a frame specifically for Vermont back roads, mostly the dirt kind. And yes, I live in Vermont, I'm not some flat lander...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...y/HPIM3949.jpg

Where's the snow. Sap's running yet. ?.

nice bike. what did you start with, what changes did you make?

sap is running well here in CNY.

The sap runs in late winter. As in February. The season is all but over now. Nice pic, though.

"nice bike. what did you start with, what changes did you make?"
The frame is a 1998 K2 Arcadia, and everything but the frame has been changed.
Here's a before picture-
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...136484%3C/a%3E

"The sap runs in late winter. As in February. The season is all but over now."
They have maple trees in Michigan? The sap here in Vermont usually runs until mid April. The annual Vermont Maple Sugaring Weekend for tourists is always the last weekend in March.

nice improvement, the bike looks far better now than in its stock form (IMO)

and there are maple trees everywhere :p

Agreed, looks better now and looks like a fun ride too :) I love riding country dirt roads! Jealous!

Ah, VT. I love the place. My son went to UVM and I've spent many a wonderful time there. Must say though, the VT State Police do not always love me when I'm up there on my Ducati. :)

oh man. what i'd give to have dirt roads sometimes (although not in the winter...but they're fun :P ) I have to get up to VT sometime.

dirt roads are fine here in winter. and spring and summer and fall. but then we have our current fifth season, mud season. most dirt roads are rideable right now, but some are a rutted muddy holy mess, hardly passable in a car.

I've done a lot of cycling in Vermont over the years. The combination of good roads, sparse traffic and outstanding scenery make the state ideal for riding. We have a cottage close to the Vermont border so it is a short hop down to great riding. I ride routes back and forth over the Quebec/Vermont border and sometimes drive into the state to ride around the Stowe-Smuggler's Notch area.