A beautiful day to be had! I was supposed to ride in the Dave Blumenthal memorial ride. This was a ride Dave came up with that consisted of every imaginable hill in Montpelier, a 37 mile gut-wrenching ride that included 5,300 ft in elevation gain as a way to train for the great Tour Divide. Unfortunately I woke up with a sore wrist and decided to sleep in and see what the day was to bring. So Sarah, Odin and I decided to celebrate Dave's extraordinary life by still riding but touring Hinesburg State Forest, at a slower, less elevation-y, more dog-appropriate pace. This is a great trail system in the town forest of Hinesburg that has trails maintained by the Fellowship of the Wheel, a great organization that helps maintain and lobby for trail use in some great locations in Vermont. So we set out and rode a two hour loop that consisted of trails the likes of The Back Door and Dragon (we think, we're not entirely sure where we were at all times). Once you are up on the ridge, there are breezes, views, and changing forests, plus fun rocky sections of trail to challenge yourself on. Upon starting our descent from the ridge we met a nice family: Dad, Mom, dog, and three young sons. What a great thing to do as a family! Maybe that will be us one day...maybe with just one third the amount of kids, anyways. The trails were a blast, the day was gorgeous, and the after-ride grub was some of the best (fresh streaks on the grill, beans from a neighbor's garden, pilaf, and salad: mmmmm, yummy). In all, it's a day to be remembered, marking lives to be remembered.
Happy trails!
very nice. sounds like a good ride had by all. i'm hoping that Big Dave's Ride becomes a annual (albeit brutal) affair. slight correction from Dave's original post:
ReplyDelete"Ride stats:
37.2 miles
5300′ elevation gain"
gotta give it it's full credit!
-kip
Oh snap! thats even more impressive/ brutal! Thanks Kip!
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