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…
vermont
Total climbing: 670 m
Total time: 02:16:37
Download file: perry hill.gpx
Total time: 02:16:37
So the guy from Millstone told me to go check out Perry Hill, near Waterbury VT.
His description made it sound like a flow trail or something. He described it as a descending trail that had some berms and some tough downhills. But a “flow” trail this was not. The berms were on the climbing trail! The descent was anything but a machine-built sidewalk…
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.
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.