Lucas Brasil - Thy Kingdom Trails
Autor: Lucas Brasil | Publicado: 2014-10-28T10:50:00-07:00



Thy Kingdom Trails






















"At a business, the bottom line is profit." Knight says. "At Kingdom Trails, the bottom line are&nbsp;the trails. That’s what makes it so awesome." We were discussing the day over some Vermont brews, having just completed almost six hours of riding when he said that. It was such a simple truth. It was also incredibly profound. It was my final day after almost a week in East Burke and I was feeling rather overwhelmed by the impact the people and experiences had on me over the past six days. Consequently, for the first time on any of these East Bound and Down adventures, I wasn't ready to go home. Knight Ide was one of many folks I had the distinct pleasure of getting to know and was a part of perhaps the most impressive community I have yet had the privilege to visit. (lucas brazil)





The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont is a stunning part of the United States. Deciduous and evergreen forests cover the mountains, with tiny and picturesque towns nestled almost too perfectly in their valleys below. By early autumn, the Green Mountain State glows with a bit more of a red and gold hue as the air begins to clear and the views begin to expand. As you work your way north of Lyndonville on route 114, you'll see the mountain before you see the town. Burke Mountain rises over 3200 feet above sea level and just over 2200 feet from the road. Shortly thereafter, you'll see the bikes. They're on top of cars, hanging off of the back of truck beds, propped against virtually every building in town. They come in all shapes and sizes; from fully rigid single speeds to hardtails and 6" trail bikes to dual crown park rigs and they're all there for the same thing: the Kingdom Trails.





East Burke, VT holds a tremendous amount of value for mountain bikers the world over. There are over 100 miles of trails to ride in and around town in addition to one of the country's best bike parks looming high above the community. The Kingdom Trails Association is world renowned for its trail design and advocacy. Oh, and the views around these parts are endless. But if I'm being honest, none of those factors are what truly set it apart from the scores of other fantastic mountain bike destinations the world over. There are indeed other places with loads of singletrack, great trail crews and amazing views. The real value of East Burke lies in the people who call it home.







At Kingdom Trails, the bottom line are the trails. That's what makes it so awesome. - Knight Ide









In The Beginning...
...there was a ski resort. That should come as no surprise, as the ski industry was essentially built in Vermont. Burke Mountain has seen several owners come and go over the years, and throughout its sometimes delicate existence the mountain would bring weekend warriors during the winter months to East Burke. For decades, that was it for this place. Skiers on the weekends and not a whole lot else. There was an extensive Nordic trail system as well, but with so many alpine and Nordic options between here and the major markets, much of that traffic was heavily filtered by the time it reached East Burke. However, in 1988 one of those skiers was feeling inclined to try something a bit out of the ordinary.





In November of 1988, East Burke Sports opened up operations in town. It was initially opened as a ski shop, but owner John Worth, who had spent time in Europe operating bicycle tours, wanted to have something to do when the snow wasn't flying. "This shop [East Burke Sports] was opened as a ski shop. We weren’t sure what we were going to do during the summer," says John. "This was 1988 and mountain biking was so new. No one had them. But my friends and I were looking for places to ride and in the back of my mind, I knew that if we were going to start selling mountain bikes, we were going to have to have some trails to ride them on."





John and some of his friends began to explore the Nordic systems that were well established East Burke. It wouldn't take long for them to grew weary of those tracks and before singletrack was even a word, John and company began to rake, dig and design trails that they wanted to ride on. This would be the beginning of what is now one of the most legendary trail networks in the country. John would spend virtually all of his free time building trails and it wouldn't take long for word to spread of the rapidly growing network. He had permission to work on only 50% of the land he was using and grew nervous of the volume of people coming into town to ride them. Fortunately for John and the generations of riders that would inevitably follow, a man named Doug Kitchel caught wind of the trails and had a plan. "Doug Kitchel used to be the owner of Burke Mountain Resort and was an old politician that everyone loved," John recalls. "He was in his seventies at the time and comes up to me and says, 'Hey, I hear you have this awesome trail system that everyone wants to ride. How can we make it legitimate and step it up?' At the time I wasn't sure. I only had permission for maybe half of it. Some of it I wasn’t too worried about but other parts I wasn’t sure whose land I was on. At first I was worried about landowners shutting us down but he wanted to go and get all of the permissions for me. He went door-to-door and spoke with every landowner and&nbsp;no one said no."





In 1994, the Kingdom Trails Association was formed. Doug Kitchel helped put together the original board of directors, which included himself, John Worth, some of the landowners, a lawyer and a bookkeeper. The lawyer helped them acquire their 501(c)3 in-kind. The landowners who were a part of the board owned inns and farms and were happy to have their respective properties be a part of this operation. Eventually, John would leave the board of directors to become the first paid employee of the Kingdom Trails Association as the trails manager and designer. In 1996, the KTA developed the first trail map of the area. New, key staffers were brought on board over the coming years including Tim Tierney as the executive director and CJ Scott as a trail builder and eventual trails manager. By the early 2000's, the Kingdom Trails were a bonafide destination for mountain bikers far and wide.







I was worried about landowners shutting us down but [Doug Kitchel] wanted to go and get all of the permissions for me. So he did. He went door-to-door and spoke with every landowner and nobody said no. - John Worth