One minute shy of 10 O Clock AM this motley crew landed in E. Burke, VT. Bought ride tickets, changed into their finest kits, and drove up to park on top of Darling Hill. Offloaded bikes and gear. Tthen one car went back down to the main parking lot so there would be a car at each end. Hey, made sense at the time. As it turned out, no matter what, someone ends up being punished on the pavement somewhere.
Sometime close to 10:30 AM the group lifted off. Headed up to the upper trails, "Fenceline", "Coronary", etc. They finally located "Tap n Die". Grins were had by all. Still fresh and full of piss n' vinegar, the five followed their noses to "Sidewinder". More grins and now it was time to head over to the other side..................The other side, oh yeah, that's right - the other side -- The Coolest Dude gulped hard.
The Cool Dudes who led the drive up, now were sucking up the rear. The Coolest Dude on the the red Rip 9 was tapped and he knew it. Though he still looked cool with his coordinated hydration pack and bike, inside he was a sufferin bastard. With quips like "Don't matter how fast you are, it's how you look that matters" floating through his mind, he fell into slow-slow mode and pushed on. They had been out there 3 hours already. The Coolest Dude knew it was going to be a painful ride back to town.
"Kitchel" was closed. The group broke up. The lowlifes from Sanford headed back into the jungle and the Cool Dudes found Darling Hill ASAP. 1/2 mile of pavement up and they could collapse next the the car. And they did.
4 plus hour slog that I would gladly do again. What a great day in the woods of Vermont.
Later.........................................
