Last year, i told Atkinson i should come down and visit... but things never happened. This year, i had to give it a try! We were having an ADSVMQ weekend because our group work a lot together on various mountain bike projects but we hardly have a chance to ride together... So i invited everyone in Jay for a 3-day weekend on trails that they've never been.
We started out saturday morning by meeting Patrick Kell (VMBA) at Stark Mountain bike shop (Corner of route 100 and 17). Cloudy skies indeed but Patrick told us that the loop stayed pretty dry with the rain they got in the last week. Short shuttle to the top of Stargecoach Rd and off we were for a great loop. We started out on East Loop and Chain Gang. According to Pat, this trail is the first trail in Vermont that was built illegally and turned legal... Lots of flow through rocks and roots, jumping and pumping all the way down, what a blast! The girls in the back had a bit more trouble as the trail was a bit too technical for their likings but they manage.,, Back on the road to "Far Away" or something like that, i really cool downhill in the pines that would take us back to the road to climb german flats rd. and the inferno of a climb on the Catamount Trail.
The climb wasn't that hard... it's a long climb but there is some good flow to it with a few ups-and-downs and we got to the top by stopping 2-3 times... By that time, we were still dry and even tough we've seen the sun poke through a couple of times, the skies weren't too promising!
I don't know how we got from Sugar Run to Enchanted Forest.... but we did get to ride it all the way to Cyclone... When we got to the cyclone, rain was coming down and made things real interesting... It calmed us down a bit... The trail was great... we could see the hard work VMBA-VYCC and Mad River Riders have put together!
At the end of our ride, we met Atkinson at the shop. Everyone in our group had a blast!
Big Thanks to Patrick Kell for guiding us around and to John for pushing me to make a move down south of I-89! Hopefully, next time it will be sunny and warm! We spent 2 days in the sun at Jay on Sun. and Mon... Ah well! Good thing we finished it all at the Alchemist in Waterbury!
See you at the festival!
:thumbsup:
We started out saturday morning by meeting Patrick Kell (VMBA) at Stark Mountain bike shop (Corner of route 100 and 17). Cloudy skies indeed but Patrick told us that the loop stayed pretty dry with the rain they got in the last week. Short shuttle to the top of Stargecoach Rd and off we were for a great loop. We started out on East Loop and Chain Gang. According to Pat, this trail is the first trail in Vermont that was built illegally and turned legal... Lots of flow through rocks and roots, jumping and pumping all the way down, what a blast! The girls in the back had a bit more trouble as the trail was a bit too technical for their likings but they manage.,, Back on the road to "Far Away" or something like that, i really cool downhill in the pines that would take us back to the road to climb german flats rd. and the inferno of a climb on the Catamount Trail.
The climb wasn't that hard... it's a long climb but there is some good flow to it with a few ups-and-downs and we got to the top by stopping 2-3 times... By that time, we were still dry and even tough we've seen the sun poke through a couple of times, the skies weren't too promising!
I don't know how we got from Sugar Run to Enchanted Forest.... but we did get to ride it all the way to Cyclone... When we got to the cyclone, rain was coming down and made things real interesting... It calmed us down a bit... The trail was great... we could see the hard work VMBA-VYCC and Mad River Riders have put together!
At the end of our ride, we met Atkinson at the shop. Everyone in our group had a blast!
Big Thanks to Patrick Kell for guiding us around and to John for pushing me to make a move down south of I-89! Hopefully, next time it will be sunny and warm! We spent 2 days in the sun at Jay on Sun. and Mon... Ah well! Good thing we finished it all at the Alchemist in Waterbury!
See you at the festival!
:thumbsup:
