Northeast Kingdom 2011

The other weekend (Columbus Day weekend), Ginger and I ventured up into the NorthEast Kingdom to ride our bikes for three days. A much needed break from the house and crap at work. The last time I rode the Kingdom Trails was back in 2007 when I was trying to fix my pinched sciatic nerve. This was certainly a must need trip.

The weather was phenomenal... sunny all weekend. temps around 50/60 in the morning and topping out in the low 80s (actually a high for northern VT in Oct). Trails were tacky in the morning and dry throughout the rest of the day. Perfect conditions. Crowds were fairly large as Peter chose to hold Canadian Thanksgiving that same weekend. It was also prime time for leaf peepers so Vermont was quite busy that weekend.

We shot up there after work on Friday. Rode just about all day on Saturday, mainly the Darling Hill area. Sunday we meet up with Emile and his wife and rode with them for a few hours in the morning. Then went our own ways and met up with George for an afternoon of riding.

The top of 'Webs'

 Flying through 'Webs'

'Sidewinder' didn't exist last time I was there. It is pretty much 'Tap & Die' on steroids.

The beginning of the morning chaos.

George took us on some trails that were less frequented. It was a nice break from the crowds. The crowds actually weren't that bad. Very tolerable considering you would encounter groups of riders ever 15 minutes or so.

Apparently Sasquach has found his way into Vermont.

Doesn't get much better than this... Actually it does. One trail meanders in and through a maple tree grove. Lots of maple syrup being harvested while you duck around the syrup lines running from tree to tree.

Burke Mountain off in the distance.

You ride on some roads that look like this in the Vermont 50.

We bid farewell to George and rested up for another day of riding.

Day three we opted to stay up near Burke Mountain. We had a free lift ride at Burke so we took advantage of it.

Burke Mountain Ski Resort just opened their new bike park this past summer. Now you, too, can ride a lift up and fly down Burke with your DH/AM/whatever bike you are riding. They even built a few man-made trails which are pretty sweet.

Yes, I rode my hardtail. Actually navigated the downhill routes pretty well (didn't clear any table tops though. That's for next time... On another bike.).

Such a great weekend to officially kick off autumn, the best time of the year to ride.