Mountain Biking - Sundays ride pics at Fort Duffield

West point, KY the location of a civil war natural earth fort is the location of some killer single track with jumps thrown in, crazy nonstop climbs, downhill course with plenty of jumps and a slolam course. This place has it all and it borders Fort Knox and knob creek gun range. So when you stop to take a breather you normally hear tanks, 50 cal's, machine guns and other high powered fire arms blasting away in the distance.....:D

Choose the slideshow to see all the pics the fastest. They show small pics but you can also see them in full size if you want.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36909654@N00/sets/72157602139534302/

looks fun

shweet!

Definitely on my list of places to check out in the area. Have you checked out the park up in Florence? I am hoping to get up there next week.

Definitely on my list of places to check out in the area. Have you checked out the park up in Florence? I am hoping to get up there next week.


No I haven't. If your ever around Louisville or plan a trip up be sure to check out www.kymba.org

I've on there and singletrack.net, and have been using them to try and find new places to ride around here. Been trying to get up to Capitol View about once a week, I just wish Lexington had anything.

Hey RICO, what way would you recommend to the top? We're heading there Thursday and we'll only have a few hours once we get there. Definitely checking out the DH course, any recommendations as to what else to hit up?

I might try to ride out and meet you guys. The trails are marked very well. Red and Blue are the main XC trails. They basically make a circle around the parking lot and you can't get lost. each trail is about 4-5 miles in length but cross each other several time so you can make several rides changing things up. You'll see yellow markings for the Slolam course and you simply can't miss the downhill course. The down hill course ends at the parking lot, you find it with ease.

Thanks for the tip. We'll be leaving Lexington around 2:30 so probably getting there around 4-4:30 if you do end up out there. It'd be nice to meet some more riders and in area, and especially have someone around that knows their way around. I will warn you though, we can be pretty slow at times out there ;)

You guys on XC bikes or downhill bikes??? The XC trails are not heavy bike friendly at all. Hell there not XC friendly, lots of climbing and very little recovery time, but this is at a race pace. Leisure riding its not that bad I don't guess. I think you guys would like waverly park or Otter better to be honest, unless your on big sussers then Duffield is then place.

We're trying to figure that all out at the moment. His bike's in the shop so it's looking like he might be on my bighit which would put me on my surly 1x1. Not a very good pair for anything, but we have to take our riding time when we can get it.
I will head take a look at waverly & otter though to see what else is over there.

That looks like some sweet riding!!!

How do you like that KHS ride? Ive been considering them.

Haha, then you should see the rest of what's around here.

awesome pics! looks like a real nice riding area.

I was being rhetorical, but then again I'm sure you knew that.

Those trails look very yawn-worthy.

Just the facts...

You want a good snore...(enter Tater's voice)...stop down yonder here when you're 'round Kansas way. Only thing be keepin' ya from'a'yawnin' is da dadgum spider webs and swarms of gnats.

I'd give jabberwock's left nut to ride the trails on your site.

How do you like that KHS ride? Ive been considering them.

I love it.

Those trails look very yawn-worthy.

Just the facts...

You've never rode them so you don't have any facts.

That's never stopped him.

Did you race at the 12 hours of Canal Loop this year? If you didn't, you missed a sweet race. They gave away a SS bike and plenty of other prizes in the drawing. One of the riders on my team got some sweet magura brakes.

I've always wanted to ride Fort Duffield area to just check it out. If you get my way, we'll do North/South, Canal Loop, Pennyrile, PNT, Barkely, Ben Hawes and some others.

Are you racing Race to the Canal (formerly BEC) this year? One of the few point to point races around. It's 30+ miles for sport/clyde and North/South + canal loop for expert/pro for around 42-44 miles.

We went to The Scales on Sunday. Nothing technical but fun for a close trail.

What are the specifics on Duffield? You got a GPS map and distances for it?

edit: I just checked Motioned Based and there is a listing for Fort Duffield that shows it is only about 4.5 miles long with ~500 feet of climbing and ~200feet of that is is before the first mile? Is that right?

Rico.....didn't you have that same handle on the KYMBA forum? I know that handle and is that where I've seen it? You still racing? Did you do White Lightning this year? What about Youngers? Youngers was a mud fest this year.




You've never rode them so you don't have any facts.

I've ridden enough trails and taken enough trail pictures to understand that those trails look very yawn-worthy.

The "facts" are right there on the screen.


Next time your out taking pics and riding trails do us all a favor and huck off a 200 foot cliff...:D

That's never stopped him.

Did you race at the 12 hours of Canal Loop this year? If you didn't, you missed a sweet race. They gave away a SS bike and plenty of other prizes in the drawing. One of the riders on my team got some sweet magura brakes.

Are you racing Race to the Canal (formerly BEC) this year? One of the few point to point races around. It's 30+ miles for sport/clyde and North/South + canal loop for expert/pro for around 42-44 miles.

edit: I just checked Motioned Based and there is a listing for Fort Duffield that shows it is only about 4.5 miles long with ~500 feet of climbing and ~200feet of that is is before the first mile? Is that right?

Rico.....didn't you have that same handle on the KYMBA forum? I know that handle and is that where I've seen it? You still racing? Did you do White Lightning this year? What about Youngers? Youngers was a mud fest this year.

I did not do the 12 hour race but plan on it next year.

Yes, I will be at LBL later this month for the final KY series race and camping at hillman ferry.

Duffield has tons of climbing. None of that sissy gradual climb, It's either straight up or straight down. I've been down there and spoke with people that have rode the carolinas, out west, Tenn, Texas, etc. and they say the climbing in KY is unreal compared to all these other locations.

Yes I'm the same guy as on KYMBA. I've race 8 races this year, white lighting and youngers where 2 of them. Youngers was nothing compared to the mammoth cave race. that was a mudfest like no other and I hope to never race in those conditions again.

The motionbased data doesn't really backup the claim of tons of climbing though. 500 feet for 4.5 miles? Youngers had that just climbing to the top of the ridge and that was the first mile or so.

Has the trail changed or more been added?

You HAVE ridden North/South haven't you?


BTW, how has the points series been going? KYMBA's website keeps changing and I just haven't been keeping up. Car wreck in march and other great things keep happening.




I did not do the 12 hour race but plan on it next year.

Yes, I will be at LBL later this month for the final KY series race and camping at hillman ferry.

Duffield has tons of climbing. None of that sissy gradual climb, It's either straight up or straight down. I've been down there and spoke with people that have rode the carolinas, out west, Tenn, Texas, etc. and they say the climbing in KY is unreal compared to all these other locations.

Yes I'm the same guy as on KYMBA. I've race 8 races this year, white lighting and youngers where 2 of them. Youngers was nothing compared to the mammoth cave race. that was a mudfest like no other and I hope to never race in those conditions again.

It may not be a total height of more than 500 feet, but going up and down constantly through that 500 feet still leaves you tired at the end of the day.
Other than a light sprinkle as we reached the parking lot it stayed clear all afternoon. The DH course was fast and flowed well although shorter than I'd imagined. It was my first time riding someplace with jumps and I had a blast, even without hitting any of the bigger stuff. The Grand Slalom course really wasn't my cup of tea but was interesting to go down once to check out. Sections of the two cross country trails were both fun and technical enough to maintain interest, albeit overgrown in certain sections. (Definitely more webs across the trails than other places I've ridden.) I appreciated how well marked the trails were, and I love anyplace with maps in the parking lot, but still found the trail connections at the top a bit puzzling (couldn't figure out how to reach one section of the blue trail without riding up then coming back down the same way.)
I'm definitely looking forward to getting back again soon, hopefully after a few more outings I'll be able to man up to some of those bigger gaps :D