Killington Mountain Biking - Your Bike, Gravity, The Mountain, And You

I'm riding the gondola at Killington, and for once, I'm not holding my snowboard in my hands. The ground is not white. And I'm not wearing so many layers of clothes that things could get ugly in an emergency. That's because it's barely October, and I'm about to ride down this monster of a mountain on my bike.

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Fall foliage at Killington makes for a colorful riding experience.

Killington has a ton of access roads that you can fly down.

The hi-speed gondola whisks you away to the top, but not before giving you a few minutes to admire the view.

I've attempted lazy-man's riding (lift-serviced mountain biking) before, but it never quite worked out for me. Today was going to be different. The guys at my local shop are always taking weekend trips to killington. I have to hear it from them-- how sweet it is, how tech it is, how much fun it is.

I'm sick of it. So here I am, at the bottom of one of the most awesome trail systems in the Northeast. The colors of Vermont's higher elevations are in full swing this quiet Sunday morning.

The first riders I see in the parking lot have 6-inches of front and rear suspension, full-face helmets, and body armor. I feel like Pee-wee Herman at a Highlander Gathering. Then I see a small group of people that aren't so concerned about their personal safety (or lack thereof). Everything's going to be ok. So I pick up a full day lift pass for thirty bucks, unpeel it and wrap it around my brake cable.

The lift attendant took my bike and hung it on the back of the car, I got in, and up, up, and away. The view from the top of killington was even more amazing than it is in the winter time. The landscape was draped in reds, greens, oranges, and yellows.

It's all downhill from here, I thought.

But it's actually not all downhill from here, believe it or not. Only 98% I'd say. Am I being too critical? Maybe not when I say that this is one of the most fun days I've ever spent on a bicycle, but every Yin needs some Yang, right? Killington has so many miles of trails for riders of just about every ability that it's hard to choose what trail to take down. In that regard, it's not much different than snowboarding.

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