so, stiff and i just returned on monday night (8/15/06) from a little east coast resort DH/FR mini-tour. here is a summary with a few (non-riding) pictures describing the trip.
- 5 days and 5 resorts
- about 30 total hours of driving
- about 10,000 feet of descending each day
day one: wednesday night - thursday night
stiff and i left DC wednesday night and headed off to york, PA to meet up with his friend and eat some ribs (at the texas roadhouse) and crash. we left early the next morning to arrive at diablo freeride park in vernon, nj to ride most of the day. we left around 4pm after some strong thunderstorms closed the lift to head up to saratoga springs, NY to crash at a friend's place, drink some beer on their front porch and have very good pizza (with eggplant & riccotta cheese).
day two: friday
we get up early to head off to whiteface mountain which is a big mountain with long descents. it was the biggest mountain i've ever ridden, but a bit of disappointment since it has a relatively new biking program and the trails were confusing to find and not very flowy. it was still a good place to ride with nice views. we got food and beer at the hungry trout to make our plans for our next destination which we decided would be quebec. against the advice of a local drunk, we headed for the border where we got through without any issue and pirate camped (slept in the the back of the van) at some camp site near bromont.
day three: saturday
we got breakfast at a diner-like place (complete with a side of lard for my toast) and are the first ones to arrive at bromont . for a "pimple" of a mountain, we believe the place is currently the "whistler of the east". the trails were AMAZING and there was lots of variety with a very fast lift. we rode until about 5:45pm and used the extra $5 we paid to access the waterpark and got cleaned up and hit up a few slides. fun, fast, technical trails with really well built stunts spread throughout. i will definitely be returning to bromont for riding. as much fun as it was, we made the decision (regretfully, we should have stayed for another day) to go for our lofty goal of 5 resorts in 5 days and left quebec after getting food and beer at a local microbrewery. back to saratoga springs, ny...
day four: sunday
we get up early to have some brunch with our hosts in old town saratoga springs. we say our goodbyes and head off to plattekill for a 1/2 day of riding. the trails were fun to ride and the terrain was steep with lots of loose shale rock. we ended up enjoying the current race course the most because there was a long smooth flowy section that was just what our bodies needed after 3 days of riding. we got some pizza at a local dive and made a trek back to vernon, nj which was the resort we started with. we parked at an appalachian trail head and slept it the van.
day five: monday
breakfast at our favorite local diner (the mixing bowl) and then arrive at diablo way too early (we thought they opened at 9am and not 11am). stiff did a little work and i did some bike maintenance. rode diablo from 11am - 4pm hitting just about every single trail on the mountain before our bodies were completely wrecked and useless. packed up the van for one last time and headed home. we arrived back in DC at around 10pm right as the driving timer on the van clicked to 29:54.
we didn't take any time to snap pictures of riding. i only took about 10 pictures the whole trip. i guess my hands were too tired from braking to grab a camera and we were always on the go! here are a few random shots:
arriving at whiteface mountain:
the unreadable whiteface trail map:
double rainbows spotted as we wait in line to cross the border into canada:
the very useful bromont trail map:
the confusing plattekill trail map:
the soccer mom van (2 bikes on rear trunk and 2 bikes plus gear loaded in the back to save gas):
recap
i feel like i've been lifting weights non-stop with every muscle in my body for the last five days. it feels great to be this exhausted. there was no real carnage from the trip and very minimal bike maintenance and damage. well, i did discover at whiteface that i had managed to bend the bottom shock mount on my big bike, so i just rode the heckler the rest of the trip. the heckler has to be the best and most versatile frame i've ever owned.
diablo
diablo is rocky and gnarly with fun and well built stunts. the gongola is super fast and the mountain drains very well. your body can certainly take a big pounding lapping it out here with the possibility of riding a constant rock garden down the mountain depending on your routing. one of our favorite runs were bmw to stigmata to dom's denial to the deck drop.
whiteface
whiteface has a LOT of potential. it definitely felt like an up and coming bike program. our biggest problem was with the crappy copy of a trail map we were given that just made it nearly impossible to find the trails. there are also a lot of off shoot trails with out a direction once one of them comes to an end. all in all, the trails could have been a lot more flowy in some sections but it was nice to get a 20-30 minute descent. there is another lift (closed for summer) that goes to the very top of the mountain with lots of open "whiteface" rock that we really thought made the mountain unique and wanted to check our for possible trail use. hopefully, they can scout that out and expand the bike trail access in the future.
bromont
go to bromont! very well designed trails and it was also cheap! the lift was $29 canadian dollars for a day and for an extra $5, you get full access to the awesome waterpark (season pass is $113-$148 depending on when you buy it and $182 for both waterpark and bike season pass). the mountain isn't very big, but they have lots of variety on the trails, well built stunts, and a bike park with some good progression drops, jumps, and a wall ride. the map was easy to follow and the trails were well marked.
plattekill
we had the most fun riding the new DH course for this weekend since we were pretty worn out from riding and driving non-stop. our biggest complaints were the trail map, the ever intersecting trails, and slooooowww lift. otherwise, i didn't get a fair assessment since we only got to hit it up for about 6 runs after a late start. lots of trails with gnarly steeps, drops, and shifting shale.
- 5 days and 5 resorts
- about 30 total hours of driving
- about 10,000 feet of descending each day
day one: wednesday night - thursday night
stiff and i left DC wednesday night and headed off to york, PA to meet up with his friend and eat some ribs (at the texas roadhouse) and crash. we left early the next morning to arrive at diablo freeride park in vernon, nj to ride most of the day. we left around 4pm after some strong thunderstorms closed the lift to head up to saratoga springs, NY to crash at a friend's place, drink some beer on their front porch and have very good pizza (with eggplant & riccotta cheese).
day two: friday
we get up early to head off to whiteface mountain which is a big mountain with long descents. it was the biggest mountain i've ever ridden, but a bit of disappointment since it has a relatively new biking program and the trails were confusing to find and not very flowy. it was still a good place to ride with nice views. we got food and beer at the hungry trout to make our plans for our next destination which we decided would be quebec. against the advice of a local drunk, we headed for the border where we got through without any issue and pirate camped (slept in the the back of the van) at some camp site near bromont.
day three: saturday
we got breakfast at a diner-like place (complete with a side of lard for my toast) and are the first ones to arrive at bromont . for a "pimple" of a mountain, we believe the place is currently the "whistler of the east". the trails were AMAZING and there was lots of variety with a very fast lift. we rode until about 5:45pm and used the extra $5 we paid to access the waterpark and got cleaned up and hit up a few slides. fun, fast, technical trails with really well built stunts spread throughout. i will definitely be returning to bromont for riding. as much fun as it was, we made the decision (regretfully, we should have stayed for another day) to go for our lofty goal of 5 resorts in 5 days and left quebec after getting food and beer at a local microbrewery. back to saratoga springs, ny...
day four: sunday
we get up early to have some brunch with our hosts in old town saratoga springs. we say our goodbyes and head off to plattekill for a 1/2 day of riding. the trails were fun to ride and the terrain was steep with lots of loose shale rock. we ended up enjoying the current race course the most because there was a long smooth flowy section that was just what our bodies needed after 3 days of riding. we got some pizza at a local dive and made a trek back to vernon, nj which was the resort we started with. we parked at an appalachian trail head and slept it the van.
day five: monday
breakfast at our favorite local diner (the mixing bowl) and then arrive at diablo way too early (we thought they opened at 9am and not 11am). stiff did a little work and i did some bike maintenance. rode diablo from 11am - 4pm hitting just about every single trail on the mountain before our bodies were completely wrecked and useless. packed up the van for one last time and headed home. we arrived back in DC at around 10pm right as the driving timer on the van clicked to 29:54.
we didn't take any time to snap pictures of riding. i only took about 10 pictures the whole trip. i guess my hands were too tired from braking to grab a camera and we were always on the go! here are a few random shots:
arriving at whiteface mountain:
the unreadable whiteface trail map:
double rainbows spotted as we wait in line to cross the border into canada:
the very useful bromont trail map:
the confusing plattekill trail map:
the soccer mom van (2 bikes on rear trunk and 2 bikes plus gear loaded in the back to save gas):
recap
i feel like i've been lifting weights non-stop with every muscle in my body for the last five days. it feels great to be this exhausted. there was no real carnage from the trip and very minimal bike maintenance and damage. well, i did discover at whiteface that i had managed to bend the bottom shock mount on my big bike, so i just rode the heckler the rest of the trip. the heckler has to be the best and most versatile frame i've ever owned.
diablo
diablo is rocky and gnarly with fun and well built stunts. the gongola is super fast and the mountain drains very well. your body can certainly take a big pounding lapping it out here with the possibility of riding a constant rock garden down the mountain depending on your routing. one of our favorite runs were bmw to stigmata to dom's denial to the deck drop.
whiteface
whiteface has a LOT of potential. it definitely felt like an up and coming bike program. our biggest problem was with the crappy copy of a trail map we were given that just made it nearly impossible to find the trails. there are also a lot of off shoot trails with out a direction once one of them comes to an end. all in all, the trails could have been a lot more flowy in some sections but it was nice to get a 20-30 minute descent. there is another lift (closed for summer) that goes to the very top of the mountain with lots of open "whiteface" rock that we really thought made the mountain unique and wanted to check our for possible trail use. hopefully, they can scout that out and expand the bike trail access in the future.
bromont
go to bromont! very well designed trails and it was also cheap! the lift was $29 canadian dollars for a day and for an extra $5, you get full access to the awesome waterpark (season pass is $113-$148 depending on when you buy it and $182 for both waterpark and bike season pass). the mountain isn't very big, but they have lots of variety on the trails, well built stunts, and a bike park with some good progression drops, jumps, and a wall ride. the map was easy to follow and the trails were well marked.
plattekill
we had the most fun riding the new DH course for this weekend since we were pretty worn out from riding and driving non-stop. our biggest complaints were the trail map, the ever intersecting trails, and slooooowww lift. otherwise, i didn't get a fair assessment since we only got to hit it up for about 6 runs after a late start. lots of trails with gnarly steeps, drops, and shifting shale.
