The alarm is off at 4:45 and I’m quickly up and scurrying to get the last few things loaded into the car, which in this case means the computer bags and the bikes. Today is the start of our yearly MTBNJ trip to Kingdom Trails up in Vermont. Much like every year, this is a day we look forward to like most kids look forward to Christmas. As a mountain biker, this is something you eagerly await. After much preparation and anticipation, the time to set sail had finally arrived.
With that, the time had come to start the journey north.
The road to Vermont is long, over 6 hours all told. The sun rises as we ride but despite the many miles of pavement, it’s not the time sitting in the car that makes the trip hard, it’s the miles remaining until we hit the trail that makes it a hard drive. Many of us go through this debate every year. Should we wake up at 5? Leave the night before? Just quit work and go up a week early? We all have this mental struggle. In the end, many of us woke up at 5, and were on the road by 5:30.
Despite the spring rains the day is beautiful. Is this an omen of things to come? Let me answer that question now. Yes, yes it is. The following 5 days of Vermont Awesomeness will be reflected in the beautiful weather that greeted us as we left New Jersey. Many of us traded texts and we all had an ETA between 11:15 and 12:15. Unplanned, it just worked out that way.
Starting at 11:15, we all slowly met up behind the welcome center right in town. Individually we checked in, got our passes, and found out that the new & amazing Moose Haven trails are closed. Sad, but the system is still awesome, and in the end, such a minor roadbump cannot deter what the week will bring.
After gearing up, we started the day with 12 people. From left to right:
Steve, Dominique, Iggy, Glenn, Magic, Dan, Bill H, Utah, Jeremy, Ryan, Joy, and myself (behind the camera).
Eager to take off, we shot out of town then headed to Uptown. And the rest, as they say, is proverbial history.
As always, we go up and over Darling Hill and make our way to the 3Ts, which represent the 3 trails that start with the letter T (Troll Stroll, Tap & Die, Tody’s Tour). These trails stand as the starting gate, the introduction, the prelude. To start any other way seems, well it seems just wrong. Nobody in the group suggests anything different than this. We head over to the 3Ts and hit Troll Stroll to start the madness.
As expected, it is awesome.
Another must-do gem in the trail system is Sidewinder. This is one of the most iconic trails in the area and if you’ve been to Kingdom Trails, you know it. If you haven’t been to Kingdom Trails, you may also know it but you don’t really know why. The trail is great, to be sure. But it’s over too fast for my liking. It needs to be 3 times as long. Or 6 times. Or 12.
Before we started down Sidewinder, Bill and his son Donovan rolled up to us to join the fun. They missed the 12:30 roll time by a few minutes and were out riding just behind us, as it turns out. Eventually, they found us and we finished out the day together. We started as 12, and were now 14 people.
After we hit much of the good stuff on that side of Darling Hill, we went up and over to Heaven’s Bench, then down Ridge to Rim to East Branch. That’s where we met te 15th member of the tribe, Jason.
After this we tooled around a little bit before ending with Kitchel. Always finish with Kitchel because it’s another iconic trail. Since it leads down the hill back to town, it works out for the best anyway.
The full Strava loop can be found here. And here is the general direction we took, for those of you scoring at home:
Uptown & Herb’s & road – to get up the hill
Loop to Poundcake to Loop – this was muddy so we would not return
Troll Stroll – awesome run #1
River Run to Bennington Bench – up the hill
Tap & Die – awesome run #2
River Run to Eager Beaver to West Branch – these are bottom/connector trails
Hog Back up, Piggy Back down, Hog Back up – awesome run #3
Sidewinder – awesome run #4
West Bench back up
Bear Back then half of West Bench up – awesome run #5
Webs to road – connector to the other side
Heaven’s Bench, Ridge, Rim – awesome run #6
East Branch to Vast to Widow Maker – up the hill
Pines – awesome run #7
Riverwood & Leatherwood – solid flowy trails
Kitchell -awesome run #8
Then back to the house, where we would spend the next 4 nights and 5 days.
Eventually, the rest of the crew would trickle into the house. I don’t remember what order they came in, but it was something like this:
Alex & mark were #16/17th to show up
Kris & Kai make #18/19
Jim & Capers #20/21
Tim rolls in as #22
And finally Karin rounds it out as our 23rd member of the crew for the first night.
Every trip, Iggy kicks off the dinner freight train with pulled pork. He and his wife cook it up in New Jersey then he brings it north and warms it up in the crock pots while we all clean up and settle in. Today was no different, with the standard Iggy & Mary-provided dinner for the first step of the trip.
Even though we got up early and knocked out 2.5+ hours of riding, most of the people here are stoked to be in Vermont and we stay up later than any other night, going to bed well after 11:00. After a few days here, we all start to drop by 10:00 but the first night is traditionally earlier than most.
This year we have a different house than the previous 4 years, and we also have far more people than ever before. We’ve really got this trip nailed, and every year, we have a pretty good return rate of people who realize how amazing the trails are. In addition to this, we flat-out have an amazing team and we get along so well that we rarely have any contention between people when we spend this sort of time together.
One of the focal points of this team is building a crew of riders who are good people first and foremost, and this comes out when we all get together to run races, to lead group rides, and to collect on the fruits of our labors and meet up every year in Vermont to enjoy Kingdom Trails together. This year will be the 5th year of the team coming up and riding the shit out of these trails.
And with that, another amazing Kingdom Trails trip has begun.
Traveling Normandy 