Eric’s Ride Log

Erinna and I went on a ride that fits both definitions above of extraordinary. The route and the time of day were not usual, regular, or customary and the overall experience was exceptional. We started at about 3PM on the first day of non-daylight-saving-time at Yellow Gap. The route: 1206->476->5018->Horse Cove Gap->Squirrel Gap->Laurel Creek->5015 back to Yellow Gap. 20 miles, 2800′ of climbing.

The ride started in beautiful Fall weather, in the low 60’s, low humidity, and bright blue skies. The warm-up was tough as I had not been on my bike in a week and have been recovering from a cold. The ride to Pilot Rock took longer than expected but we were rewarded with the presence or the KOP when we passed. We bowed our heads in respect to the King and took the left onto 476 moments later. We continued with no break onto 5018 and I started to find my groove on that climb. We took a breather at the overlook which is my landmark for knowing the climb is oh, 2/3-3/4 done…

… but when we finally made it to the end of that never-ending-road-of-grassy-gravely-death we just continued onto Horse Cove without a break. The sun was going down quickly and we only had one good light between us. I figured that if we made it to 5015 before dark everything would be fine…. or we would be safe at least. It’s amazing what a little anxiety can do for a ride. When the anxiety is in regards to making it out in time it puts a nice fire under my ass, and Erinna’s too. It wasn’t the fastest I’ve ever done Squirrel but it sure ranks up there. No breaks. If I got ahead of Erinna she was always there within a minute. She did excellent, especially considering how little time she’s spent on the bike lately. The woods were absolutely stunning in their beauty. The trees and understory were vivid yellow, red, and orange. Very little green is left out there but the colors have not yet started to fade.We moved quickly but the sun set even faster.

By the time we turned onto Laurel Creek it was pretty dark and the tech upper half was rather sketchy. At the bottom of the switchbacks we stopped for maybe three minutes and installed the commuter light on Erinna’s bike and pressed forward.   I took off ahead for the bottom of Laurel Creek, my catlike night vision was in full-effect, and made it almost all the way to the bottom before my sinces came too, or, my since of sight was gone… and rode to the creek crossing with Erinna. After almost falling in to the creek the decision was made to just get our feet wet and push forward. When we made it to Bradley Fields it was pitch-black dark out but our final task of the day lay ahead, the second never-ending-grassy-gravel-road-of death of the day. We took a long break at the bottom then set a 50 minute pace up the road. Along the way I was just ahead of Erinna so my shadow was riding ahead of me the entire way. I saw so many creature-eyes in the woods wondering who the hell we thought we were… and my eyes kept playing tricks on me as Erinna’s light danced back and forth across the road behind me….. right about the time we were both wondering if, this time, we really had found some ‘groundhog day’ loop where the road really was never going to end…. we were done. Beautiful evening to be in the woods… oh, and great company out there, too.