As weather systems converge and merge with Hurricane Sandy to threaten the east coast with flooding and power outages, I reflect on a wonderful 10 days of mountain biking culminating yesterday in the northeast corner of Hanover. This series of rides started Wednesday October 17 with a loop through the Beaver Meadow area of Norwich and Sharon: up Chapel Hill, over “Thunder Ridge”, through the woods to Ruella. The pond just before we turned off Chapel Hill Road for the long climb through the woods was beautiful with late fall colors.
Thursday we headed for Millstone Trails, a wonderful area in Websterville (Barre, Vermont) with many spectacular overlooks across Vermont and down into giant quarries. If you click the image below you can see photos from that trip.
On Sunday it was back to Beaver Meadow and for a different loop—different from the last ride and different than we planned. Seems one of us, me, made a slight navigational error then an error in judgement that resulted in a 13 mile ride through Sharon rather than the intended 5 mile ride. But I had good company, Hutch stayed with me the whole way, though he was quite tired near the end. Here he is running alongside my bike as I rode along Downer Road.
Frenchs Ledges was our destination for Tuesday. This is a wonderful spot not far from the center of Meriden with overlooks into the valley around Kimball Union Academy. I had hiked the area before a number of time, once finding and photographing a beautiful long-tailed weasel, but this was my first time doing it on a mountain bike. I rode with folks who knew the trails very well. They and the trails were a pleasure. I certainly plan to return often on bike and XC skis.
A relatively short but somewhat hilly ride followed on Thursday around the Root District of Norwich. We rode mostly along double-track trails with some challenge pieces along abandon woods roads. Part of the ride was quite wet—actually a very fun stretch of water and mud. Riding with this Norwich group has taught me to love mud, or at least not fear it.
On Thursday we headed to the extensive trail network on the north and west sides of Mount Ascutney in Brownsville, Vermont. The ski area is closed, but the network of well-marked trails on the side of the mountain is great. There are trails for all skill levels from easy down in the valley to very challenging up on the mountain.
Finally, on Saturday afternoon, a group biked and hiked Tunis Road and the new mountain bike trail being constructed in the Hanover Town Forest off Goose Pond Road. This was a trip jointly sponsored by the Hanover Conservancy and the Upper Valley Mountain Bike Association.
A side show of photos from these trips except for Millstone and Hanover follows. To see photos from these other two trips click the highlighted words in the previous sentence.
