“von Trapped with the Dirt Divas” - 06/25/10 - Stowe, VT

- Trailhead: Behind The Trapp Family Lodge (can you hear the music, the sound of music?  “the hills are alive with the sound of music”) Google Earth File (some GPS issues, so not a full track)

- Riders: T (Blue Dirt Diva), Anna (Pink Dirt Diva), Mark, OMMB

- Distance: 8.1 miles

- Temp: 77
- Weather: clear, dry
- Trail Conditions: perfectly groomed trails, the type of trail that can only be found where trails are privately maintained
- Technical Level: mostly intermediate single track with one MF climb (by choice) attempt to the cabin, lots of cool switchbacks and whoop-dee-doos
- Wildlife: one huge turkey (no not OMMB) and a deer (related to the Hosta thief in our yard)

- Whoops, Yikes, and Oh Sheets: an early whoops by Mark who decided to exit his bike rounding a turn, somersaulting for a perfect 10!  Then a late (maybe 50 yards from the end of the trail) Yikes by T who cut a switchback too tight and nailed a large rock and log…catapulting (or possibly trying a cartwheel) off her bike…another perfect 10!  Thankfully both had no major damage, but T’s front brake lever mount got wasted!  Bike shop at the lodge had a replacement…good to go for Kingdom Trails tomorrow!

Notes: T and I decided to detour from our plans by leaving a day early to surprise Mark and Anna at the Trapp Family Lodge.  They suspected we might do this, but it was fun to sneak up on them anyway.  The Trapp Family brews their own beer so we stopped in for a sampler of 4 beers and a cheese plate (all delicious).  It made for a great excuse to call them up and clue them in on our visit.  After celebrations at the condo and the lodge, OMMB was a bit shabby in the morning.  Hitting the trails sounded like a good way to fix things up.  The Trapp’s actually hire professional trail planners (yes there is such a thing) to develop the trails all around the mountain.  Nice long singletrack...and challenging climbs if you choose to ride to the cabin at the top.

Tidbits:

- Thanks to Mark for leading the way, it was a relief for OMMB to nurse his hangover without needing to know where to ride. Mark's Swedish guide (aka Sherpa “hop hop”) took over for him when the need for beer became too great! Thanks Anna! She took us on some more fun single track that unfortunately ended with Teri’s thrashing over rock and log.

- Did we mention how good the Trapp brewed beer is? Awesome!
- After a great ride, the afternoon was complete with (you guessed it) a beer and lunch at The Shed. Then we were off to points northeast for camping at Brighton State Park, Island Pond, VT…

Happy Trails,
OMMB and T

PS-if you hum the theme to "The Sounds of Music"...a rainbow appears over the Trapp Family Lodge