Dave P, the Stowe crew and myself did 2 hours on last Tues. and the trails were great. It most likely the best time of the year to ride, cool, dry and no bugs. We started with “Round About” and “Side Winder” across the road. What is cool, this is an area that is not visited much so the trail is fresh from spring. These trails have good flow, are tech and are narrow. Try them if you come up. Then we crossed the road and got onto the Millstone Grind loop, this trail is particularly well kept (by myself), and is open, so you get some speed making the tech stuff at speed real fun. Ride this slower, and it is a good medium level trail. Fast it rips, after all it is the the race course! Then we headed down locomotion, which in my humble opinion is the King of Flow (KOF) at millstone, you definitely get the vibe, sort of like Rasta Man at Perry Hill. If you don’t know what the vibe is, it is the feeling you get when you seamlessly link the corners, keep your speed up and ace the technical with a unbeatable feeling of rhythm. (my deep thought of the day) Once in the corner by the road we crossed over to hunt down “Fellowship of the Ring”. I was on a 1998 Independent Fab with 90 mm of travel, but I was able to hang to the 120mm plus Stowe crew, however it was like riding a 26″ wheeled shopping cart. I left my 2009 Kona 29er hard tale at Bicycle Express for an upgrade to a 20mm axel. The Fellowship is less flow’y, and suits a rider who likes rock drops and tight tech corners. If you can muster the ambition to do it there is a great view at the tip of an old grout pile (granite waste, Scottish). We loved it. Back across the road we did switch back and winding wood. I am not a fan of winding wood, flat, ultra curvy, but it is very beautiful to walk or ride at a moderate pace. I am a racer and I can’t go fast with that many sharp corners. Too each, his or her own. Now for the awesome new bridge off of Grand look out. I am still amazed with how cool it is, and no one gets tired of it. The Down Hill. DH after the bridge is dry now sinse last ride on Sunday. This allowed us to pick up the speed which makes this trail awesome. You do have to climb some just after the bridge and before the down hill, so keep it in a low gear. At the bottom we hit the road back to the parking lot. This the best part. We went to get some hippie food down at LACE in Barre, we are never disappointed, you have to go! It’s in the old Homer Fitz store on main street in Barre. Its were healthy food meets tasty grub. This does on happen often The make a mean burger for those carnivores and they have great bird seed-and-bark for vegans and vegetarians. Seriously, they have food for all palates. On that note, ride Millstone, it gets better every peddle stroke.
andy