We wake up to a complete repeat of the previous day. The view is great, breakfast is the same (oatmeal & banana & PB, eggs, coffee), and we hang out while the day warms up. Pretty much a rinse and repeat of the previous day. The one difference is that I make the eggs with the leftover kielbasa, oh and also that Iggy tries to make coffee and it blows up and goes everywhere.
We start at the visitor center again today and we’re greeted by Nelson and his son. Nelson is an old school mountain biker from NJ who goes back to even before my time. A long time ago Nelson used to ride for MTBNJ but his XC days are over now. He’s been quiet on the scene for the last 5-10 years so it’s nice to see them out there.
Today’s plan is to hit a lot of the highlights again.
We start Uptown, Herbs, then at the top of the road we take a right which is a deviation from our normal. We hit Pound Cake to Fence Line then climb up Coronary to the 3 Ts. We used to hit those trails when we had the rental a few years ago as that was the way to/from the house. But the past 2 years we haven’t done that house and haven’t ridden those trails, so we decided to check them out to see if anything had been changed. They have not changed.
We choose a single T today which was Tap N Die. Utah tries to drop Michael but is unable to, because he’s a top-level enduro racer, even if he is only 15 years old, or whatever he is.
From there we do Eager Beaver for the first time of the weekend, which is odd as it’s pretty much how we connect almost every day. We do the full tour on the other side, which is up Hogback, down Piggyback, up Hogback again, down Sidewinder, up West Bench, across to Bear Back, back up half of West Bench, then to the lemonade stand for the last time of the year.
As it turns out, this is the last day of the stand and D gets a lemonade and we split 2 cookies, both of which are less than amazing. Every time I am here I get a cookie and every time I am disappointed. I need to learn from this.
From the stand, Nelson and his son head to the car to drive over to Moose Haven before hitting the road to go home later in the day. They came up the night before which is both a little crazy and a little awesome.
After we split out we go to the other side and hit Jaw and Cow Path, then do a little loop of Culver & Knob which is not the normal stuff for us. Since we’ve been here 3 times this year, it’s only fair to try and see some of the lesser ridden trails. But again, none of these are really worth going out of the way for, though Knob has a fun downhill at the end.
Unfortunately this is the point in the trip when D’s knee starts to hurt and it will nag her the next 2 days (and into the future it still lingers). This is an injury from a crash she had in a race a few weeks ago and her leg is still pretty beat up from this. It almost surely looks like it will cut her day short a bit.
We cobble our way over to the shop & food truck on top of the hill and on the way, my front tire takes a hit. When we get there, Utah manages to fix it with a plug and a small bottle of Stans that D has in her pack, while we eat lunch. The knobs on my tire are perhaps a tad long in the tooth, though since this picture was taken I have probably run them another 100 miles without incident.
While Utah works on my bike, Kirt gets food and I get espresso and D finds some Advil. We all have our roles here. I opt for the bean burger today and it’s delicious! This will be our last trailside meal at KT in 2019. As I write this (literally from terminal 107 at Newark Airport) I look forward to my first 2020 trailside meal.
After lunch, we head back up to Heaven’s Bench before we start to wind down the day.
From the top we head down and roll into Ridge, but when we get to the road D calls it a day and Utah, 26er, and Iggy all roll out with her. The 3 of them plan to go to the downhill park but I have no desire to do that. In the end that was the right decision because it was beyond crowded. Kirt and I stay out and keep riding for another hour.
We head down Rim then take East Branch but we explore the other way this time, which is the opposite of the way we would normally go. In the end this brings us out to the Culver/Knob loop we did earlier, which is something we could incorporate into future trips. From there we turn around and go back, then finish off East Branch in the usual direction.
From there we head up Widowmaker, then down Pines. At the bottom we hit up Riverwood and Leatherwood then we round out day #3 with Kitchel #3. It was nice to hang out with Kirt for a bit and catch up. I always enjoy talking with him.
Strava link can be found here.
Relive video:
After the ride Kirt tries to get a beer at the Tiki bar but as the season is winding down, the taps are all running out and nothing remains that he’s interested in, so we hop in his car and head back to the condo where they have beer he likes.
Back at the condo, D is watching TV while Utah, 26er, and Iggy have all given up on the downhill park and decided to climb the big mountain, which is something I did a few years ago and have little desire to do again, at least not today. I shower up and relax for a few hours, which is nice.
We get dinner at the lodge on the hill above us, which is where we had dinner with the boys last year when we were passing through on the way back from Canada. Food is fine, but mostly forgettable.
We go back to watch the Yankees game but again it’s too late and we are all in bed by 11:00. The plan is to wake up at 7:00 and be out the door by 9:00 because we all have to drive home after the ride tomorrow.
And thus ends yet another excellent day at Kingdom Trails.
Traveling Normandy 