As you may have read in a few posts I put up last week, I was heading to The Kingdom Trails in VT this past weekend with the Three John's, my neighbor Pat and couple of other terrific guys Josh and Scotty that started riding with us in our little group. All I can say is if you haven't been to the KT's yet, GET THERE!!!. It is really different riding from here, but not in a bad way, but in a "Wow, this is Friggin Cool" way.
I don't have much time to tell about the whole trip now, but I will tell you about a few of the highlights quick. On our way up last Thursday we stopped at John Weller's (aka Jubber) brother's place in Hartford, CT and rode a very, very, hot and humid 95 degree 12 miles on a trail system called Grayville. 3 of us (including me) nearly went to the hospital with Heat Exhaustion, but we sucked it up after a thunderstorm came thru and cooled things down a bit. At one point we were asked if we wanted to ride for 15 minutes more or a half an hour. With my buddy John Thomas (aka JT) giving that 1000 mile stare and as toasted as I was, I made this statement, "I'll speak for JT, he wants to do the 15 minutes." And with that comment I became the unofficial "Life Coach" to the members of this little group, and the source of many of the jokes we shared for 4 days. The atmosphere was set! We finished this ride, got fed by Jubber's sister-in-law and we continued to the KT's.
Connecticut Crew
To Be Continued..........
Part 2 - The Hicknic and the Irony
So, after we leave CT we know we have a good 3 - 4 hour drive in front of us. That's OK though, because we ate big at Jubber's brother's place, stopped at Dunkin for coffee and gas was good to go. Interstate 90 is a lonely drive after 9pm in VT and one thing you don't notice right away is that there are no billboards. I never realized how effective a tool a billboard is when you have spent 5 and a half hours in a car and talked about just about everything you have an interest or curiosity about. So my cousin Johnny calls us in the trailing car and says, "So, what's going on." Clearly it sounds to me that most, if not all of his passengers have abandoned him in favor of dozing off. I reply, "Not much. So, are they all asleep?" "Well, Jubber's barely hanging on." Johnny replies. Then he says, "I'm getting pretty Hungry!!" This is where I need to give some dietary history on Cousin Johnny. When he says "I'm Hungry" that means if we don't get some food to his mouth stat, he'll start eating his passengers. At this point of the trip I break out the map to try and get an idea of how far we have to our Exit. "We passed exit 18, the next 3 or 4 should be good to get food cause we are passing St. Johnsbury" I say. All I hear is a "MMMmmmmm" I say, "What?" Johnny says, "OK, I"m gonna get off at the next one that has a blue food sign." "OK. Sounds good." and I hang up the phone. Sign points left for food....1 mile - no place open.....mile 2 - Downtown St. Johnsbury still no place open....mile 3 - outskirts of town no places period. Phone rings. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe it." Johnny says. I say, "What did you expect, it's 10:30pm in upstate VT on a Thursday night." We turn around and I say as we U-turn, "Why don't we just pull over in some well lit area on main st. and eat the food and snacks Pat and I brought." Johnny excitedly replies, "You brought FOOD?!" I didn't even get a chance to respond and Johnny was already pulling over right on the very empty and quiet Main St. St. Johnsbury. We jump out of the cars, open the tailgate, throw the cooler lid into the back seat and Pat hoists the 2lbs package of Smoked Turkey to Johnny's mouth. I had to move quickly to pull Pat's hand away from the jaws of the famished lion. It was close, but Pat still has his hand. Just as we all began to snack the local policeman slowly drives by and we wave......thankfully, he waved back. So, there we were in the middle of Old New England having a Hicknic Picnic.
After we fill our craving someone asks, "how far do you think we have to go?" Pat replies, "We got off at exit 21 and we need to get to exit 23. Should be about 15 minutes or so? We get on the highway again and in what felt like less than 10 minutes or 10 miles we get to our exit and what is the first thing we see - a McDonald's and it's still open at 11pm....Pat and I laugh really hard at the Irony.
To Be Continued..........
Mike if you don't have a mental picture I can't help you out this time, but the good news is my story isn't over and I have more pictures to share.
Part 3: The House....Something's missing
It's shortly after 11pm and we finally get to the house. As I open the door I am met with the satisfying smell of new carpet and the brightness of fresh paint. I turn on the lights and we do what everyone does when they arrive late - we sprint to the bedrooms hoping to claim the sweetest nights dreams in the best bed. I find my slumber for the week and JT shouts from the other room, "Do you guys have curtains?" I look up at the huge window parked right above my bed, "Dammit, NO!" I reply. I hear Johnny laughing from his room, because he also is curtain less. We all begin to congregate in the living room wearily laughing that there are no curtains in the whole house. "Well I guess we are going riding early tomorrow." someone says. Then you hear "Hey, anybody see the thermostat?" Scotty shouts, "I got one in our room. It says 74!" I reply, "I found one here in the Kitchen, but mine says 76. Doesn't seem like it's working!" Then it hits us as Scotty concludes for all of us saying, "I don't think there is any AC?" Thank goodness it rained a little down in Mass and pushed out much of the humidity from upstate VT. The temps were certainly bearable for sleeping; now I only hope that my room is facing West.
Part 4: Location, Location, Location - The House Part II
Well, my room wasn't facing North, South or West and the Sun comes up early in VT in the Summer. I crawl out of bed at 5:30am after 40 minutes of trying to find the darkest place under my pillow and, surprisingly, JT is already up making coffee. Their room faces just a bump more toward the East than mine. The morning is pretty typical for a trip like this. Slowly everyone rises from bed, makes their way to the coffee and sits down discussing breakfast options. What made this morning different though was the growing number of mountain bikers pedaling up the street right in front of the house. This is plenty of motivation for us to get to breakfast, stop at the local market for beer and groceries for the Throwdown Meals competition between Pat and JT. After a phenomenal breakfast at the Miss Lyndonville Diner Pat, JT and I go to the market for the food and drink while the other guys go to the KT Welcome Center for our passes, maps and riding directions. About an hour later we converge back at the house and the flow of riders on the road is steady and now they are going up and down. As we gear up for our adventure most everyone is taking a peak at the map and asking, "So, where are we on this map?" Jubber points, "Right Here!" His finger is resting on a spot immediately next to a trail that I have heard stories about and seen on YouTube multiple times. It is a trail that many of you VMBer's have ridden and dream of riding again. It is one of the locals favorite trails here in the Kingdom and it is literally a stones throw away from the fire-pit in the back yard.
Yes, It's Kitchel !!!!!
Part 5: Darling Hill Side
It's time to ride and the guys down in the KTWC highlighted a route that takes us away from Kitchel and up Darling Hill and starts at a trail called Harp. It will be a few hours before I see Kitchel - Did I mention Kitchel is right in the backyard of our rental house. I won't go through the whole trip but I will share as many pictures as I can. One thing I will mention is all of the places you guys and gals told us to hit - we did - and they were all as good as you said. My personal favorites on the Darling Hill Side were Kitchel (of course), Tap and Die, Sidewinder (which I tried to video, but failed) Webs and Old Webs and the bridge on Jaw was friggin cool as hell (but I don't have a pic) The baby Coyotes were cool too.
Here's some pics
To Be Continued.........
Part 6: Throwdown Meals - Pat's night
Prior to leaving for VT several members of this group began trash talking about how well they can cook and it was quite entertaining how good a meal can sound when you read what someone will cook in an email. But actually cooking a meal is a whole different ballgame. I was at least smart enough to just read the trash talk cooking emails rather than respond; because obviously I can't cook. Well, it's the first night after a long 4 hour 18.77 mile ride up on Darling Hill and we are hungry. It's Friday night and Pat has decided to Throwdown first. As we are all getting our gear cleaned up and jumping in and out of the showers; Pat has prepared a fiercely hot salsa to dip into as an appetizer with lots and lots of fresh cut tomatoes. Pat brought the dip out front of the house where a few of us were sitting in the shade listening through the trees to the Hoots and Hollers of riders cruising down Kitchel. After we chow down about as much chips and salsa as our taste buds can handle Pat calls us in for dinner. He has made two heaping bowls of bow-tie pasta with massive turkey sausage in a garlic, olive oil and basil sauce. A side of tomato salad with onions and balsamic vinagrette and fresh Italian Mushroom bread. Delicious!!!! The bar was set!!
Post meal down time
Part 7: Burke Mt. Side
We slowly get up Saturday morning and take our time to get ready for today's ride out the front door, cross the street and head over to some climbing and downhilling up on Burke Mt. ski area. But, of course everyone agrees that we need to do a warm up ride on Kitchel. At the bottom of Kitchel we go into the village to get a pass for the 7th member of our group, Josh, that arrived late Friday night. While in town it was decided that we should ride the route that was given to us backwards rather than in the advised clockwise direction. The reason: The last trail we should be riding is only half a mile away from the KTWC. So the last shall become first and he first trail we hit is called Burnham Down and it begins right next to a Cemetery. Could be an Omen? Shortly into this ride I realize the reason for the word "Down" in "Burnham Down"...... is because going up it sucks!! It just kept going up and up and up for about 2 miles or so. However, once it flattened out it had some really cool bridges that wound through the boggy forest. I didn't get any pics of these bridges, but the other guys did and I will try to get at least one picture on here. Finally we get to the top of BD and of course there is plenty of confusion as to which direction to turn since we are going backwards. Did I tell you that BD is such a new trail that it isn't on the KT's map, so, it was a toss up which direction to go. Well, we went the wrong way for about a mile or two. Once we get back on track - guess what - more climbing except now it is on one of the ski areas few paved roads. God, I hate riding on the road especially going uphill. 2 miles later we finally get to some singletrack. After, yet more climbing we finally get to the top of Dead Moose Alley. Yes, Dead Moose Alley, Baby!! I turn on the video camera and away we go. Less than a mile in Josh pops his chain. Doh!! Thankfully it was an easy fix with a quick link and the only mechanical issue any of us would have the whole trip. Back on our way and DMA starts heading dowhill and it's tight and it's fast and it's just simply Silly Grin 
fun. I loved it!
Now we are all at the bottom of DMA and we need to get to a brand new trail called J-Bar that is all downhill and built by our property owner. Unfortunately, we need to climb back up hill near the top of DMA and then go across to the west side of Burke on a CCC road. At the top of J-Bar and about mid mountain we stare out at a phenomenal view of a huge dome like mountain in the distance - awesome. OK, time to go down again. All I can say is what a ride, Baby!! My max speed was 22mph through tight flowing moderately technical singletrack that lasted for the better part of 2 or 3 miles. It was AWESOME! My personal favorite trail of the whole trip. Made all the damn climbing worth it.
Some pics at the bottom of J-Bar.
From the J-Bar we decide that it is time to head back for a late lunch and maybe go back out for more riding before it starts raining. Wahoo, more downhill riding! We mount back up and meander through the Burke Mt. base area and quickly find our way to the top of Burnham Down (would've sucked to get lost twice). Burnham Down is WAY BETTER going down than up. 17. 25 miles later we roll into the driveway just as the rain begins to fall. Pat's Throwdown Meal leftovers become a late lunch and a fuel up for the three John's who head out into the rain for more riding. Pat, Scotty Josh and I were content with our full bellies and cold beers.
To be continued.....Only 2 parts to go.
Part 8: The Shuttle Run
So after The Burke Mt. ride the three John's decide to go and ride after the late lunch that Pat's leftovers provided. It is raining now and Pat, Scotty, Josh and I stay behind with cold beers, full bellies and now clean bodies. After a while Pat suggests we go down to the Pub Outback for some mingling with the locals. The Pub Outback is a very cool place, because it is in an old barn. Very Vermont and with a cool vibe, but it isn't very busy - most likely due to the rain. We order a few Trout River Red's which is the local brew in the Kingdom. We toast our ride and finish the first beer and now it's time for the second beer. Josh decides he wants to order some wings for our group. "Sure Josh, I'll never say no to wings!" As soon as we put the order in Josh's phone rings. It's Johnny and Jubber wanting a shuttle ride to the top of J-Bar. Here is how the conversation went on Josh's end of the phone: "Sure I'll drop you guys off at J-Bar." "How soon will you be here?" "When you drive down I'll meet you out front." End of conversation. Josh gets up, finishes his second beer and then orders another just as the wings arrive. He pays for beer and wings in one move and then eats one wing as he gets his change. "I'll be back in 5 minutes" he says. Pat and I continue talking and eating and drinking and suddenly realize there are only 5 wings left out of 2 dozen. Even more perplexing, Josh has been gone for about 15 minutes - give or take a few. That is much longer than a shuttle up to J-Bar should take. Pat and I decide to get the last 5 wings doggie bagged and head back to the house for some free beer. As we are walking toward the car and ready to cross the street; we are surprised to see Josh and Johnny and Jubber standing under the awning. The 2 John's are holding mostly wet towels and sitting on their bikes. Josh is looking at us with one of those "Can you believe these idiots" smiles on his face. The missed communication was this: Johnny and Jubber thought that Josh had his car at the pub; and Josh was under the assumption that Johnny was going to drive his car down and Josh would shuttle them and drive it back. Now Pat and I are laughing for 2 reasons: 1. The pathetic look on all of their faces and 2. That was 15 minutes all 3 of them could have been eating wings and drinking beer that was already paid for. So, now we have to stuff 5 guys, 2 bikes and gear in a Subaru Outback. Did I mention that I was the poor bastard that had to sit between the two 6 ft. plus, wet, smelly guys. What was only a two mile drive seemed like 20 in that cramped backseat. I felt like a worm in a compost pile. Boneheads!!
To be continued........