In the Kingdom

Rider: Chris Lee

Thankful

 We had a really great time this past week catching up with family, good friends, and some of the beautiful places we grew up hiking and biking in northeastern Connecticut. We really are from a beautiful spot; we are so lucky to have had access to the outdoors like we did. Look where it has brought us! We're very thankful for that.

Sun? Is that you?

It's hard to believe, with the wet summer we've had so far, that we were lucky enough to get a long weekend full of sunshine. How did we get so lucky?

With a rare couple of days off and that strange bright light in the sky, we crammed a lot of action into one long weekend. There were the traditional events like the Montpelier parade and fireworks, and our annual hike into the Green Mountains to look down from a favorite spot onto the fireworks display down below. This year, we were joined by friends Jeff, Meghan, Dudli, Jase, and Levi for a speed hike up the mile or so to our vantage point - darkness was approaching as we got to the top, just in time to eat some dinner, have a drink, and watch the show.

 

 

 

And this year, our traditional hike to fireworks followed a tour of the Burke Mountain side of Kingdom Trails led by Jeff and Meghan. It was nice to ride some new stuff and to see there is actually quite a bit of climbing that can be done out in the Kingdom! We had only ever ridden the rolling singletrack over on the Darling Hill side. 

It was a jam-packed weekend full of activity, and it was nice to have one more day off to relax in my hammock and rest my legs.

My extended family.

As you can see my extended family is pretty darn big!

In the Kingdom with some old and new friends.

I found myself in the company of some good old friends from home and some new ones as well . Here's to good times and more to come, I know I'll be expecting you sometime soon. I swear that's not a hippy house behind us....Ok who are we kidding that place is awesome! Till next time.

Cheers!

In the Kingdom

With warm temps, rain and snow dumping everywhere but here one can simply not help thinking about riding. Last season was a wet one especially for mountain riders. Thinking back however to all those great rides with good friends puts things in perspective. Yes it was wet, yes we complained alittle and looked forward to the winter season wich is oupon us. We love where we live and well, we live where we are because well....its Vermont. Sure vermont is cloudy, cold, muddy and challenging at times but it's also beautiful, sunnyand deep, yes we do have "some" powder days and we love it. So heres to all of you that have deep snow, bluebird skies, powder days and big lines.

I'm Tristan von Duntz I'll be happy to listen and hear about steep lines and snow as it absolutley burries you up to your waist, as fresh powder hits you in the face. I can only listen as I'm busy taking what I can get here; in Vermont. Till next time ride well and take care of yourselves and remember its not necessarily where you are but what your doing there and if its not fun give it some time or try something else.

My new temporary look?.

So this is the second time now that I have been stung by a bee in the Kingdom. The first was on my knee while riding the second time above my left eyebrow hence my new look. This probably means carrying lots of benadryl and an epupen yeah! So here I am in sequential order and yes the first picture of me does resemble sloth from the Goonies movie one of my favorite movie heroes.

Fun With Bikes

We spent Friday morning riding at Kingdom Trails in East Burke. It was great riding overall and we went back and did Kitchel a second time, with the camera, to capture the fun. Unfortunately, Noah broke his bike, but he still finished the trail. Check out the video!

Millstone Hill Touring Center

Kingdom Trails in East Burke, Vermont is still my favorite place to ride (http://www.kingdomtrails.org/). But look out trails, there's a new number 2 in town. Hmmm...a new #2? That didn't come out right.

Anyways, Millstone Hill offers some excellent riding. And in the spirit of backyard adventures, we shot up to Grand Lookout at the end of a 2-hour ride. This sunset over Camel's Hump and the valley below was so worth not being able to see a thing on the trail back down to the car. Boy was it dark - and muddy!

And for those of you who want more than just some romantic sunset pictures, check out the shot of the bridges at the top of Millstone's newest trail: Rollercoaster. WOWza.

Happy trails!

Oh, and check out http://www.millstonehill.com/touring/.

In the Kingdom

With less than ideal but classic New England conditions at Kingdom trails in East Burke, we loaded up the bikes and headed out. Mike, Sarah, PJ and I were ready to see what could be had; as usual we were not disappointed. Check it out.