A Weekend of Riding

Saturday's ride to Hyde Park was pretty fun. We included 4 trail systems in the 30 mile trip.
The first was Bear Claw, a trail that used to see a lot of use, but has since faded away over time. This is such a shame, as it is one of the more technical shorter rides we have around here. We found the tail to have a few large trees fallen in inappropriate places. After that, the trail became hard to read. Hopefully, the trail will get raked out this year.
We decided that in the best interest of getting the ride done in a reasonable amount of time, we would bail out of Bear Claw.
The next trail system was the perfectly manicured Stowe Town Loops. Always a great time.
Next up was two trails I haven't ridden in a few years, Tony's and Tamarack. They are best ridden the other way, but we decided to climb them. Tony's features some really excellent twisty and technical singletrack through pine and hardwood forest, and Tamarack takes you though hardwoods and rocks. Lots and lots of rocks.
The Bandersnatch handled it with aplomb.
Then there was a lot of road riding with a stiff headwind. we made the trip in just under 3 1/2 hours.


Sunday morning was spent at the Kingdom Trails in East Burke VT. We did a spectacular loop on the Darling Hill side, and rode Poundcake, Fenceline, Webbs, Toadies, Sidewinder, Old Webbs, Worth It and Kitchell. We really had to boogie as rain was threatening. By the time we got to Worth It, it was full on pelting down, even under the canopy. We couldn't of had the timing any more perfect. The ground hadn't yet become slick, we were on that fine balance of tacky and sloppy. It was pretty amazing, we definitely stole the best part of the day.


The best part of this weekend, is the time I've spent on the Bandersnatch.
Holy Cow! I really love the way this bike handles. Wet Cat geometry is for real.
I'll divulge more in the next post, which will be a detailed review of this frumious beast.