What an amazing time last weekend at KT. Robyn and I met up with irishblue76, Badcrumble, and mattandkerri (both). We started the weekend off by meeting at the Trout River Brewing Company for pizza and beer. After a lively dinner we headed up to the Burke campground. On Saturday morning we parked at the Inn at Mountain View Farm and headed down Poundcake. This trail is alot of fun. I'm liking it more and more. Matt announced that it was his favorite trail he's ever ridden. We then proceeded to Coronary Bypass. This trail has really worn in nicely. The sweeping turns flow really nicely together. We all really enjoyed the rollercoaster like section. At the bottom Matt again announced that now this was now his favorite trail (this would happen a few more times throughout the day). We then did the Pastore Point trails and stopped at the lookout so everyone could gawk at the view. Then we grunted up Coronary. I had gotten some shock oil on my front rotor so I was pretty much riding without a front brake. So since we were near the cars we headed back so I could try and clean it up. After a few minutes it wasn't getting any better so Matt and I ran into town and I took it to the shop while he got subs for everyone. After a short lunch break and gab session we were back on the trails (me with new front break pads). We proceeded to Tap n Die. The entrance to the trail had been blown out by a logging skidder. That was really depressing. I scouted down to see how much trail it had destroyed and was delighted to see the trail turn away only maybe 50 feet down the skidder trail. This trail is simply amazing. We had ridden it last year when they first opened it and even though it was really soft and the turns weren't fully developed we still liked it. Now that it is all broken in it is one fantastic ride. Its like a well choreographed dance of sweeping turns the whole way down. Towards the bottom there are a few huge "Sidewinder" like turns which are a little worn but still ride great. There were big smiles all around at the bottom followed by several minutes of gushing. We were tempted to climb back up to do it again. But instead we cruised down River Run to Webs. This trail is amazing as well. Its through an open pine forest so the trail is all packed pine needles weaving throughout the trees. Claire mentioned how she like how her tires sounded rolling over the trail. It sounds like a roller coaster! Then we continued down River Run to Dry Feet then to West Branch. While Robyn continued on West Branch the rest of us headed up Hog Back to Sidewinder. Hogback is a nice climb. It starts out a little steep and then goes into gradual switchbacks which dont really feel much like climbing at all. But then it points upward for the last bit to the start of Sidewinder. Before heading down I gave a huge speech on how to ride this crazy trail. Everyone seemed confident so I headed down. And yes, this is one crazy trail! It starts off innocently enough but soon turns into a fight for dear life! The trail snakes up and down the sides of a ravine. After a few quick downhill turns the trail straightens out and points steeply downhill. Your natural instinct is to drag the brakes to check your speed since that much speed doesnt seem right in such a thick forest. But when you look up you notice that the trail then shoots back up. This allows you to let go of the brakes and let the uphill slow you down. This scenario continues several times down the hill. The g forces between each turn are insane. Ive ridden this trail several times and every time Im amazed at how hard it is to keep from being sucked down onto the top tube when heading back up the banks. They dont look that steep but at that speed it is pretty intense. When I got to the bottom I ran back up to take photos and video of the others. As I was walking back up I could hear Claire cursing the trail and saying something like this is terrifying! Apparently she heeded my advice and didnt brake at all for the first hill. Well, I had forgotten that it was a little bumpy and my AM bike handles it better than her trail bike. She said she doesnt know how she made it down but she continued through the first two turns. The second turn is probably the worst but it was enough to scare her off her bike. She walked past the third turn and rode the rest of the way down. The other girls had similar experiences and skipped the harder turns but easily rode the smaller turns. We met back up with Robyn at the bottom and after everyone stopped shaking we climbed up the new switchback West Branch trail. The other option is the straight up the hill, 30% grade, death climb. This climb is tough in first gear and is probably faster to walk. The new trail takes much longer but barely feels like youre climbing at all. Before you know it your at the top. We took a snack break at the bottom of Webs and I proceeded to play on the skinnies and teeter totters they had set up there. The one skinny over the log pile changes every time Im there. This time there was a turn at the top and I didnt take the whole thing seriously enough. I lost balance and casually went to put my foot down. Unfortunately, there was nothing there to step on! I fell about 4 feet into a hole of timbers. No real damage just a bunch of bruises. I felt really stupid for that. I promptly got back up and tried again. This time I did it without falling. After dusting myself off we climbed up Old Webs. This trail is like Webs but much longer and faster. Plus there are a few nice little jumps about half way down. This trail also ended up towards the top of everyones list. The bottom is really cool because if you crank through the turns are really fun. There is one in particular that I thought as I was approaching that I really had to make sure I did this smooth. It was a sharp turn and if I clipped the left tree I was going to go straight into the tree on the right. And these were big trees! It would have been ugly. But I slipped through with only a slight scrape on my pack. By this time everyone was getting pretty tired so we climbed up Boarder to Darling Hill Road. Beth took the road back to the cars. The rest of us proceeded down the VAST trail where it dipped in and out of the woods on single and double track trails with a few fun little jumps. This snowmobile trail is pretty straight so we were able to hit speeds of over 30mph! We stayed on VAST all the way back to East Darling Hill Road.
After getting cleaned up we went out to the Pub Outback for dinner. They have really improved their menu and everyone really enjoyed their meals. This was followed by another night of chatting around a nice fire at the campsite.
The second day started out with us breaking down camp. The cooler temps were nice but the overcast sky had us wondering if we were going to be able to ride. It drizzled on and off in the morning but never rained on us. I was originally planning on riding the fun trails on the Burke side but since the Darling Hill side was what makes KT truly special we decided to head back over there. Beths ankle was feeling a bit sore and with the chance of thunderstorms she didnt want to risk slipping and hurting it further. So she went home. Matt had left the night before so he too wasnt on this ride. Everyone else was still a bit tired from the day before so we skipped the right side and headed straight to Tap n Die. Again, we all had a blast dancing down this amazing trail. We then rode the same route back to Old Webs except this time we didnt do Sidewinder. Old Webs was such a great time that after riding it once we rode back up to do it a second time. We then again climbed Boarder to Darling Hill road. I was tempted to take some of the trails down but decided to save peoples legs for Kitchel. We again blasted down the VAST trail but this time we turned onto the Beat Bog trail. This is another one of those climbing trails that doesnt really feel like much climbing. When we got to Kitchel we were greeted with a sign warning us of heavy machinery at the bottom. This had us concerned but we headed down anyway. To our dismay the best part of the trail which was quick sharp banks had been all but completely destroyed.
Kind of a bummer of an ending.
We had lunch at Bailey and Burke before saying goodbye to KT and heading home. We all talked later how the high seemed to linger for the rest of the day even though we were stuck in cars. The memories of the beautiful sweeping turns will have to suffice until next time because there is nothing like KT anywhere else.
Here is my gps info for Saturday (I forgot to restart the timer for part of the VAST trail so it is actually longer, faster, and more downhill than what was recorded.
Here is my gps info for Sunday.
Here and here are a couple short video clips.
Here are all my pics (I haven't customized the show yet). Below is a sampling.
After getting cleaned up we went out to the Pub Outback for dinner. They have really improved their menu and everyone really enjoyed their meals. This was followed by another night of chatting around a nice fire at the campsite.
The second day started out with us breaking down camp. The cooler temps were nice but the overcast sky had us wondering if we were going to be able to ride. It drizzled on and off in the morning but never rained on us. I was originally planning on riding the fun trails on the Burke side but since the Darling Hill side was what makes KT truly special we decided to head back over there. Beths ankle was feeling a bit sore and with the chance of thunderstorms she didnt want to risk slipping and hurting it further. So she went home. Matt had left the night before so he too wasnt on this ride. Everyone else was still a bit tired from the day before so we skipped the right side and headed straight to Tap n Die. Again, we all had a blast dancing down this amazing trail. We then rode the same route back to Old Webs except this time we didnt do Sidewinder. Old Webs was such a great time that after riding it once we rode back up to do it a second time. We then again climbed Boarder to Darling Hill road. I was tempted to take some of the trails down but decided to save peoples legs for Kitchel. We again blasted down the VAST trail but this time we turned onto the Beat Bog trail. This is another one of those climbing trails that doesnt really feel like much climbing. When we got to Kitchel we were greeted with a sign warning us of heavy machinery at the bottom. This had us concerned but we headed down anyway. To our dismay the best part of the trail which was quick sharp banks had been all but completely destroyed.
Kind of a bummer of an ending. We had lunch at Bailey and Burke before saying goodbye to KT and heading home. We all talked later how the high seemed to linger for the rest of the day even though we were stuck in cars. The memories of the beautiful sweeping turns will have to suffice until next time because there is nothing like KT anywhere else.
Here is my gps info for Saturday (I forgot to restart the timer for part of the VAST trail so it is actually longer, faster, and more downhill than what was recorded.
Here is my gps info for Sunday.
Here and here are a couple short video clips.
Here are all my pics (I haven't customized the show yet). Below is a sampling.
One more week!!!