Eric's Ride Log

Erinna and I went met up with a bunch of folks this morning for a 2.5 hour ride starting at the Horse Stables. We got there moments before being officially late and were ready to go pretty quick. The start up Clawhammer wasn't easy, especially since we've both been off our bikes. The group stopped at Maxwell and we took a quick breather readily. The next 3 miles up Clawhammer went by fairly fast. Erinna stopped to take off a layer while the group continued on and Jonathan and I took a moment to catch up and wait for Erinna to catch up. We made it to Buckhorn Gap more or less as a group.

Clay, Joe, Jody,Jonathan, Clealan, Scott (arriving from he other direction), Erinna, and Dennis

Just as we got there a guy came rolling up Buckhorn trail. He said hello and 'Is this the group that started at the stables?' Umm, yeah, it was the the guy from the mtbr forum that was going to try to meet us after starting in North Mills River! He started at 10 o'clock, we started at 10 o'clock, that was the only plan. He started miles and miles away from where we started. How cool is that? Here's Jonathan and Scott right then:

We decided to head on up to the shelter from there. It was occupied so we continued on to the next gap. The climb past the shelter was tough. Again, I felt the lack of time on the bike lately. Anyway, Everyone was grouped together, there wasn't anyone waiting ahead or anyone lagging behind, so I was fine. Here's Jonathan and Jody:

I did try hard and did clean a couple of the steep ups, but the group was all about having fun, not racing. Here's a shot of Joe heading up to the first desent of the day:

O.k, thats all for now except for a few more photos...

Quick Rest at one on the knobs:

Scott from Indy:

4 of 9 riders were on 29ers:

Get it Clay! Clay Faine setting up for some of the hard stuff on Bennett: