I ran into one of the trail-builders at the trail head, and I talked to him and scratched his old dog. It was cool to talk. He rode my bike around and decided he wants to get a new bike. I got to complement the massive amount of work and thank him. Then he tipped me off about another possible area to go ride, hopefully I will do that tomorrow.
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All posts for the month July, 2016
The quarries at Millstone Hill produced marble and granite. They still do make cut stone here. But a lot of the mountain is covered in abandoned mines, quarries, and tons of rusting equipment, cables, winches, spars and on and on.
In recent times it’s also become covered in hiking, biking and recreation trails.
Artists have been busy up there and if you keep your eyes peeled, you’ll find all kinds of little things.
The quarries have beautiful deep water which are like amazing stone swimming pools and you can go for a dip.
You can also just walk around to cool off. All the stone and water make it feel like you’re standing in front of a fridge door, even in the heat of summer. What a nifty place!
The city of Montpelier Vermont is pretty cool. It’s the state capital. It has a very artistic vibe. They have a Land Conservancy, a Culinary Arts Institute, an Arts College and a big foundry that creates public fountains. (And probably a lot more neat stuff too.) Everybody walks and bikes everywhere. They have bike paths and bikes lanes. It even has a pedestrian scramble crosswalk in the downtown.
Check your brakes and read on.
Since 2008, I think I’ve done about 5 trips to Vermont’s, Kingdom Trails.
In the early days, it was a small, sleepy village with a decent set of trails. A lot of the trails had fun design but there was a niggling sense that there were lots of small issues. As the place was growing in popularity and gaining a lot more bike traffic, any spots that had trail construction issues were highlighted. It was good, it was big, it was fun, but it had a few rough edges.
Anyhow, over the years, the place has improved dramatically and now, delivers on all its promise. It’s a busy fat-tire resort which is highly polished. It’s well worth the trip. They even have Iced Vermont Coffee Company coffee in the General Store!
This post isn’t about that.
After a lot of rides here, I finally cracked the code on this east coast destination. Hiding here is a, top-secret, Big Mountain-style ride. It’s there, lurking right out in the open. But it’s completely off the radar for some reason.
The Carrabassett Valley is an absolutely astonishing locale for mountain bikers.
Here’s the view from about 1/2 hour away on the highway.
It’s got big terrain!
Corner Brook has a ton of interesting trails plus a ton of frogs.