Happy Trails

This has been a slow season thus far for mountain biking (MTB), but we did manage to get our second ride in last week, and it was on a new trail. MTB is pretty popular in this area for a number of good reasons: people are fitness oriented, there are many outdoor enthusiasts, and there is plenty of terrain that fits the bill, i.e., mountain and forest trails. Up to this point we've exclusively ridden the Ascutney trails, which for the record are amazingly extensive and well maintained. However, there have been some personal and political issues with the natives and some of the trails have been closed off to the public. Most of the mountain is still open, but a section of the beginning is gone, and we love riding in that part. Plus, it makes it harder to access the rest of the trails.

With this in mind, we are venturing out and trying new places. We had heard about other trails in the area, and there are quite a few, but they are somewhat obscure and not too many people know about them. This could very well be due to the fact that we don't have too many friends who trail ride, but that's beside the fact. The other day we decided to broaden our horizons and investigate some of these new trails. At first we went without our bikes just to see if we could find them, and find them we did. There is one popular spot in Lebanon that we drive by almost every day on the way to the big city, right across from the Wilder dam. There is another sequestered way up in the hills in Hartford, near Quechee.

Just last week we took the plunge and went riding over in Lebanon, and at first I thought nothing could be as challenging as Ascutney because of the ascents (it's a ski hill, after all). I was wrong, however, because the Lebanon trail was pretty rough in terms of terrain, even thought it was fairly flat. The forest is nice and we only rode one trail, which was nice, right along the lake. It was raining so we didn't get as crazy as we would have liked, but suffice it to say that I was feeling those bumps in my rigid frame MTB. I'm still pining for a suspension, but it will happen in due time.

At least we tried something new. I think N still prefers to ride Ascutney, and it's understandable, but it's also nice to break new ground.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Martin Jurik for the pic.