Last weekend, we took another family trip up to Kingdom Trails. We’re absolutely in love with this huge network of beautifully maintained trails and pump tracks! There are downhill trails over at Burke Mountain that we stay away from (our risk aversion has grown since having kids) but otherwise we are starting to get a pretty good lay-of-the-land.
We’ve been staying at the Wildflower Inn for our last few trips. We like it because (1) it’s located in the middle of the trail system; (2) it’s directly next to the Village Sports Shop Trailside, which boasts a lovely little espresso/beer bar (The Hub) as well as top-notch bike rentals (AND I found my beautiful, battleship-gray Stumpjumper ST Carbon here, so I’m now loyal for life); (3) a stay comes with breakfast included, and the breakfast options are lovely! It’s not luxury accommodations, but it’s not camping; someone changes my linens every day and cleans the bathroom for me; and the location and service can’t be beat.
Enjoying some post-ride libations at The Hub
On this trip, we brought our sitter for two days and arranged childcare for our last day. This meant that my husband and I got a short evening ride in our first day; a long ride on Saturday exploring the trails new to us – up White School and Ware’s Davis; down Farmjunk and Nosedive, and back along the river on White school; and another longer ride on Sunday morning bumping around the trails on the East side of Darling Hill Rd. In the afternoons, we picked up the kids and bumped around the pump tracks – both up near the Trailside shop and also down the hill in East Burke – and, on our last day, took a leisurely ride across Bemis, a relatively flat beginner trail that runs between the Wildflower Inn and the Mountain View Farm.
So how did it go?
Me and the Juliana Furtado
Friday and Saturday, I rode an XS Juliana Furtado. I’m just a smidge over 5’2″, which means I usually fall in between an XS and S frame in most bikes, depending, of course, on standover height. I enjoyed the XS frame; for once, I didn’t feel like the bike was a machine that I had to keep under control, but found it a quick, nimble companion on the trails. I learned to ride on a very basic Trek hardtail, and I like climbing [it hurts me a little to write that, but I’m little and strong and I can house most men I ride with on climbs], so I had my rear shocks set pretty firm. I was happy with the responsiveness over roots and rocks, but felt super comfortable and stable on berms and downhills. So comfortable, in fact, that on Friday I completely bit it coming down Beat Bog, catching a root at a weird angle and flying headfirst over my bike. I landed on the side of my face, took a few minutes to recover, and still set a PR on the trail. After that, I was a little jumpy about roots on descents, but we had a nice ride around Riverwood [my favorite trail – twisty and narrow, with lots of trees and little berms that are good for practice leaning the bike] and climb out on Heaven’s Bench.
We didn’t ride this trail, but we sure were happy posing in front of the sign!
Saturday, we descended Heaven’s Bench – I haven’t done this since my first KT ride over a year ago, when I walked the berm, and this time was much more enjoyable! -and noodled around East Branch, giving Riverwood a second run and eventually climbing Beat Bog and then taking Kitchel – a berm-y, roll-y, adult-amusement-park of a trail – down. We crossed the road and set off for the trail that just got officially mapped this year. White School always gives me a run for my money at the beginning, because I have a deep and abiding fear of bridges. I walked them at the beginning of the ride, but, determined not to get off my bike at the end of the day, did ride them coming back! Ware’s Davis is a fun [long] ride through woods and across fields; eventually, we took the left-hand trail onto Upper Pond Loop and managed to get ourselves to Swan Dive, Nose Dive, and Farm Junk. We decided to take the double-track up (a steep, boring, but short ascent) and come back down on Farm Junk. A little predictably, Farm Junk has a bunch of… farm junk all around the trail, but it’s a super fun descent with berms and narrow moments, and at one point I derailed my husband by pointing out a bedspring at the side of the trail. We had an enjoyable ride on Nosedive (not as steep as expected/hoped based on name, but still a fun ride) and took White School along the river to come back out. It was a beautiful ride, even if double track gets a little tedious at times.
Figuring out pedals on the pump track!
After we relieved our sitter, we took the kids down to the pump tracks in East Burke. We started on the balance bike track, because Charles is still getting used to his pedal bike. He gained some confidence pedaling over small rises, bridges, and turns, so we took them down to the first pump track, Leap Frog. This has been a perennial favorite of the kids; Charles killed it on his balance bike on our last trip. This trip, caution, pedals, and fatigue – the kids had been biking the skills park behind the The Hub all morning – meant a meltdown, some time spent digging in leaves while eating a granola bar, and a couple of successful runs. Even Theo, who took on the trail at 18 months with no fear, was tired and anxious. After refreshing with snacks, we made it over to the X-Mass Tree Loop, where Charles figured out how to keep his pedals moving to get uphill and finally enjoyed the newfound power offered by his pedals.
My new BFF and me at the bottom of Troll Stroll
Sunday, I traded out the Juliana for a lime green Specialized Stumpjumper Carbon. I rode the women-specific bike, which comes with Specialized’s women-specific saddle and slightly narrower handlebars than the men’s. This model of the Stumpjumper came with 140mm of suspension in the front shocks and 150mm in the back. I will admit that I expected a bit of a saggy ride, so I made my husband pack the shock pump. We set off down Fox Run, and I fell in love with the rear suspension. We came up River Run and Eager Beaver, and I fell in love with the ease of locking out the rear suspension (at perfect arm’s length between the handlebars and saddle, an extremely easy-to-find-blind flick of the adjuster). Coming down Webs, I found out that halfway-locked suspension on this bike is still soft but pushes off roots with the satisfying power I expect of a hardtail. And climbing out on Burrington Bench, even with my rear suspension half-open, I passed a gentleman who had the gall to ask me, “Are you sure you want to pass me?” as I dusted him. We came down Troll Stroll and I felt stable enough to ride the whole thing (a week ago, or a day ago, on a different bike, I’d have cried and walked). Climbing Burrington Bench a final time, I decided that, while the Juliana was a worthy, nimble companion, the Stumpjumper was my Horse of Power, a trusty steed that could fly like the wind and carry me securely on its back, with barely a hand on the handlebars.
A quick check at the Village Sports Shop: for sale was a battleship gray Stumpjumper ST [short-travel] carbon. I’m excited about this because I rode the lime-green demo Stumpjumper with the shocks half-locked besides the initial descent on Fox Run, so don’t feel I need quite as much travel in my suspension as the bike offers. I don’t downhill! This bike is the “men’s” version – the women-specific frame doesn’t come in ST, for no discernible reason – so the lovely folks who work there are cutting the handlebars down and putting a women-specific saddle on for me. We’re picking it up this coming weekend. I. Can’t. Wait.