The Last Day of the Season

The crazy weather that has inundated Vermont in 2011 continues with unseasonably warm temperatures going into December. The MTBVT crew decided to take advantage of the seasonal extension to explore the State’s newest loop system: Norwich Trails across from the Norwich Military College. The trails are located on the defunct ski hill in the town and master builder Brooke Scatchard has been working on them since the fall. They’re still not completely finished but he offered to give us a sneak peak anyway.

This is a chronological look at our day.

7:15 a.m. We’re late. T-bo sleeps in and then realizes his camera equipment is spread across two counties.

7:30 a.m.T-bo, Brooke Scatchard, and I swill coffees and fart.

8:02 a.m. Tattoo Jay answers his door sporting eye boogers and T-bo’s 70 to 200 lens.

9:16 a.m. We eat cold pizza while driving through the bush country between Morrisville and Montpellier

9: 50 a.m. Arrive at the trailhead for our 8 a.m. start. T-bo strips nude for all the military college boys to see and dons his riding tights.

10:15 a.m. We ride up the Norwich Trails access road and encounter a group of cadets stoking a campfire in the middle of the trail. Scatchard rips ’em a new one despite the fact he is armed with a tire lever and they have machine guns. However, they do promise to never light a fire on the trail again.

10:45 a.m. We lap a section of perfect berms past three cadets sporting 60-pound packs and M16s. They would rather be us. T-bo monkeys up a tree and bangs off a bunch of shots, including one of us riding past the poor grunts and laughing.

11:10 a.m. The temperature spikes to a balmy 38 degress. The sun nukes the trails turning the top layer of dirt into mud the consistency of half-congealed bacon fat. Scatchard drifts around multiple corners. I eat dirt. Literally.

12:10: p.m. We finish our ride and laugh at our brownie-battered butt cracks. The sun in shining so we pop the beer cans and eat more cold pizza.

12:35 p.m. We visit Capital Grounds and order some beveys. Barrista is cute.

12:42 p.m. T-bo and I visit Onion River Sports in Montpellier to talk with Tristan and get some beta for the trails here. We decide to go hit Sparrow Farm Trail and take more shots.

12:52 p.m.: T-bo’s wife calls and says he has to go pick up some paint in Morrisville before the store closes at 3:00. We decide we have time to do it all but we’ll have to hurry.

1:01 p.m.: T-bo and I sit at the bar at Three Penny Taproom drinking Hill Farmstead James, one of the best black IPAs we’ve ever had. Bartender is cute.

1:43 p.m.: We’ve sped through Montpellier and arrived at the trailhead. I ride the beginning of Sparrow Farm Trail and Ryan runs around the field banging off shots and complaining about how out of shape he is.


2: 23 p.m.: We make fun of the skate skiers on Rte 12 in their neon K-ways and lulu lemons.

2:33 p.m.: T-bo decides he has enough time to take a picture of some sheep in a field. The sheep are cute.

2:40 p.m.: T-bo wonders aloud whether his physical therapist can fix the problem he refers to as his “gas leak.” I open the window of the truck to air it out.

2:57 p.m.: We arrive in Morrisville just in time to pick up the paint.

3:23 p.m. Back at headquarters and we’re stoked that not only did we get a late season ride in, but we rode trails that very few people have even heard of yet. We drink beer to celebrate and toast Brooke for a job well done.