Weekend riding in VT and NH

Saturday morning I picked up Mike D, aka Outdoor Addict for a trip up to Kingdom Trails for a day of riding. We left about 7:30AM and arrived at the home base for the FODOFT a bit after 9. Apparently they stayed up too late the night before and were just getting around when
we pulled in. After everyone got their gear together and all lycra'd up we made our way to the Darling Hill section of Kingdom Trails.

Craig and his 80's era bike, nice green machine

The morning started out wicked chilly with temps around 40 degrees. I was riding my SS 29er and figured once we started to peddle that I would be plenty warm. A few guys were decked out in jackets and the like, only to begin the stripping process about 10 minutes later.

Our trek started on Loop and then onto a black diamond trail called Pound Cake. (Name makes me think of the Van Halen song of the same name) Its a nice bit of singletrack and a couple technical spots. A good place to get warmed up. After a trip around Fence Line and some other nearby trails we started our way towards Webs and Riverwalk. Some new bridging down by the river is nice.

Our group was about 10 strong and at about noon we arrived at Sidewinder, which for many folks is one of the main reasons they come to KT in the first place. This pic was taken at the end of Sidewinder, as you can see, plenty of smiles.


the FODOFT Crew

After 2 trips down sidewinder and back up we started our way back towards the parking lot. Once we crossed Darling Hill Rd. we made a quick left onto a double black diamond trail known as Jaw. I had ridden Jaw earlier in the summer, well actually walked a bunch of it cause it was a complete mess. I had heard that some new bridging had been done and that it was in nice shape. I was skeptical but figured that I would give it a shot. It was great. All of the really crappy sections were now passable by nice new bridges. Great work by the KT trail crews. After Jaw we made our way up Sugar Hill to Ridge and finally out to Heaven's Bench which has some of the best Vermont views there are.

SUrviving the climb to Heaven's Bench


View from Heaven's Bench


After our pit stop at Heaven's Bench we headed to Bill McGill and made our way back to the parking lot. All in all a great day of riding at Kingdom Trails.


Mike D, Team GT



Mike and I drove back to North Conway and I called DEA to see if he was up for a ride on Sunday as he wasn't able to make it to KT. He was in so we met up Sunday AM at Wal-Mart to ride, doesn't everyone meet at Wal-Mart to mountain bike ride?

DEA was accompanied by Chris, a student from BA, a lacrosse player I believe. We had a good ride of a couple hours. It was fun showing them around some new trails they had not been on before. Sort of being a tour guide. After about an hour and a half my legs were pretty spent. There wasn't a lot of life in them to begin with from the day of riding on Saturday at KT.

Sven and his love for walking bridges

Both days the riding was great. Cool temps, dry trails and great riding mates. What more can you ask for but more of the same. Who's up for a ride this weekend???

JJ