Wicked Good In Maine - Bradbury with Benjamin

There were many great things about this ride 1) first time riding with my nephew Benjamin who just purchased his first mountain bike earlier this year - and is now clearly hooked, 2) A beautiful day in the Maine woods (low 80ʻs, not a cloud in the sky, 3) my first NEMBA ride as an actual member 4) A sweet, fast, flowy 12 mile loop set up and tagged by NEMBA. There is no way we could have designed a better loop within the existing network this fun. For me, these are my kind of trails, everything I miss from my typical weekend rides in Seattle - Banner, Black Diamond, Tokul. The only thing that could have made this ride more fun would be some climbs. There are short pitches here and there, but nothing of any substance. Other than that, I loved this park - I loved the tight sharp twisty trails that make your head spin, I loved the centuries old stone walls and trails that crossed over them. The roots, the iconic New England rolling slick rock. By no means was this an overly technical network of trails, but it definitely made me work in a few places. The state park map is perfect and every trail is marked with a trail number. The exploring capabilities are endless yet itʻs impossible to get lost. I told Benjamin several times I was jealous of how close he lived to it; this is an evening ride for him. I used to tout about county parks in Seattle built specifically for mountain biking. Now I can taut about a state park that has essentially done the same - not to the extreme as Duthie, but still with killer bridges and burms.  We completed the 12 mile loop and decided to ride the mountain another day (I had a long drive ahead of me). From what Benjamin told me, the climb up to the summit is fairly easy. There are several options for the decent, all fun but quite short. I look forward to returning to this ride!!