Eric's Ride Log

Erinna and I just got in from a fun and fast paced loop around Spencer / Trace. We parked at t he gate at Spencer so our day started with a warm-up on singletrack. We hit the steep climb pretty quickly and I was feeling good . I cleaned all the way to the nasty rooty section where a tree was down. Thank goodness! My heart was about to explode. The climb the rest of the way up Spencer was fun as always. There are some pretty steep ups but the trail more or less climbs at a easy rolling sort of way all the way to Trace. I was able to get a few photos of Erinna along the way.

Here's my beautiful wife-to-be, enjoying the warm early spring afternoon:

Here she is negotiating a little creek crossing on Spencer:

More Spencer goodness:

and finally, some new camera fun at the Spencer / Trace intersection:

Erinna and I were both feeling GREAT on the climb. We both cleaned just about everything, including the off camber rootballs and little steep ups. After the Trace intersection there's still another climb left and we didn't rest at all, we just attacked it. I pushed really really really hard and got to the top and could hardly cath my breath. Erinna got there moments later and next on the agenda... the Trace Ridge downhill. Screamin' fast, not so tech, ass haulin' 2000' in 2 miles downhillin' was next. We both continued to feel great and I gapped every little here to there I could find and giggled out loud more than once because of how far out there I was letting it all hang... I tried to not touch my brakes unless I really needed to and ya know what happens if you do that? The trail becomes a blur, rocks and roots and turns come at you so fast, time stands still, thoughts vanish, there's just a rush of air, images, and feelings, then, you're in the parking lot at the bottom.

Erinna got there once again only moments after me and wearing a huge smile. We decided to head right back up to the Jeep and wee kept the pace high but comfortable. We chatted the whole way up, well, until te road got steep after the first gate, and the gravel was over in about 15 minutes. Total time out: 1:10. Total value of the experience: One miiiiillion dollars.