Riding up Mt Burke

I ride up Mt Burke at least twice a year. Mt Burke is located in the north of Vermont, it is know for its skiing and the Kingdom trails, an area of mountain bike trails on and around the mountain.

For the last few years we stayed in the Bike Barn in East Burke during Memorial and Labor day weekend. I ride up Mt Burke at least once in the long weekend. Last weekend I went on Saturday morning.

I recorded the climb as well as the descend with my GoPro Hero 8. Here the route of the ride from the Bike barn to the top and back. The route is in total 11 miles.

And here a profile of the climb's elevation. The climb is 2420 feet.

There are several Strava segments up the mountain but the one I always use is the called Burke the climb. The segment starts just after mountain road forks into tool road. The segment is 2.32 miles long, climbs 1741ft and has an average grade of 14.2%. Last weekend I rode up in 30:01, my best result was 28:21, giving me the 92nd place on the segment. In comparison Ted King has the KOM with 20:07, and my townsman Jay Gump is 2nd with 20:38.  QOM is my friend Pamela with a time of 25:35.

I made a 2 min timelapse of the effort climbing up. In the timelapse it is good to see when the roads gets a little less steep as the video seems to speed up.

The climb start pretty steep 14-17% then after the campsite and the toll gate evens out for a while before hitting the wall a steep 0.2 mile segment of 17%. Along the way the tree cover occasionally opens up to show beautiful vistas. Sometimes the grade drops below 10% and it is important to keep power on the pedals to keep up the speed.

The last few corners are pretty steep as well, so it is better to take them a little wider, although I sometimes stand and power thru them. Once you see the skilift chairs just above you, you are almost there, just two more corners. When you see the windmill you reached the last corner and can prepare for the final sprint to the skilift. And sprinting I did to the point that I almost had to throw up. Took my a couple laps on the top parking lot to get my breath back.

The way down is pretty tricky, not only due to the steepness but also the sharp corners and the many frost heaves. The wall section feels especially treacherous in making the turns. After the wall it is a long straight section where you can build up speed but don't forget to slowdown for the gate, as it may be closed. There is a sign about the gate, start braking there :-)