Wanderings

Based on the tip from Scott, I decided to check out the trails at “Mad River” that are even better than the Perry Hill trails…

(Actually, what came first was a jaunt up to Montreal to visit with family for a couple of days.  We had a great time there.  Then the trails called, and we drove back to hit one last ride.)

We kind of dallied on the way back, stopping at a couple of stores and checking the sky.

There were intermittant showers but it seemed to be kind of holding – not getting any better, but not getting worse either.

Eventually we made the decision to head up to the trailhead which is pretty much the base for the Mad River Glen ski hill.  At this elevation we were completely inside the rain cloud and it was something like being hit with a constant spray of mist.  Everything was just oozing small water drops.  Hard to see any distance.  But it wasn’t really raining, there were no drops flying around.

I was having one of those tired days where I really felt like I didn’t want to ride at all.  Legs all heavy and mind feeling slow.

I was making mental bargains with myself and I even found myself considering riding only half of the trail system.

But my past experience says that being this tired, either this will (actually) be an awesome riding day or a very terrible one.  The problem is I can’t tell how things will go until I actually get started.  So I decided to start to figure out what the status really was…

I headed off on the bike, climbing the steep approach up the ski hill and it soon gave way to a kind of exhilaration.  This mountain biking thing is sooo easy.  It felt like a video game where there was zero effort.  Just add a jolt of will and suddenly the bike picks up speed.

This one was going to be one of the better days…a slight right turn and a steep drop-in, and suddenly I found I was weaving down a set of switchbacks.  Drops, slabs and rooty slides gave way to a steep loamer that is right out of the pacific northwest. Suddenly I was back at the bottom, psyched up, and ready to climb back up into the Green Mountain Nat’l Forest and check out the rest of the system…

Anyhow, the trails in this area are so awesome.  It’s like a collage of everything I love about mountain biking.  Big climbs, bigger downhills.  Lots of tech-gnar.  Some spooky sections.  A gimmicky cliff ledge.  Some steep dark drops.  Artisanal rock launches.  Deer jumping, friendly hikers with friendlier dogs.  Just so much to love.  Please go here.  This is filed under “epic”.