@contesstant I hear you. Our trails here on Ascutney opened last weekend and I thought I was in fair shape, having done a lot of long road climbs. I was NOT ready. Ascutney is steep, and though the trails are well-built with excellent switchbacks, it's still long, gradual climbing interspersed with short, punchy climbing over obstacles. A great high-intensity workout, for sure, though!
You'd love some of our trails: our Trail Boss has an affinity for putting small jumps wherever he can, just for fun. Once on a long descent, he said "follow me" and showed me every little place to catch air the whole way down. Nothing big, just cool little features to pop off. Sometimes I'll ride a trail I know very well only to discover that he's put in a fun little mini-tabletop out of the blue. Definitely makes the climbing worthwhile!