Constant climbing (Burn Burn Burn!) to Scenic Ride on the Ridge Top to Epic, Raw, and Washed Out Decent!
Continued from the previous post: All Sunday Morning We Spent Just Fixing Our Bikes
Sunday’s Afternoon – It’s Time to Have Some Fun!
Trent and I had never ridden on Spencer Gap and Trace Ridge Trails before. We heard about this trail system from some bikers whom we met at the trailhead of DuPoint State Forest. They told us that they loved this trail system. It had all kinds of terrains, and very fun downhill.
Bent Creek Gap to Spence Gap and Trace Ridge Decent | Asheville, North Carolina
Distance 11.3 mi, Elevation 1,579 ft, Moving Time: 1:53:46, Energy Output: 543, Elapsed Time: 2:55:12
More information of this ride is here. https://www.strava.com/activities/1301226372 And if you want, you can follow Trent’s Strava too!
We parked at Bent Creek Gap in Bent Creek Experimental Forest area. The parking area is just right by Blue Ridge Parkway. You will notice some sick graffitis under the bridge (Blue Ridge Parkway).
We started our ride at 2.16 pm on Wash Creek Road heading to Spencer Gap Trail. The ride on Wash Creek road was easy and mostly down.
It took me almost an hour to get to the top of Spencer Gap.
The work began when we hit Spencer Gap Trail (5000B sign).
Spencer gap trail is not a hard trail. But if you ride up like the way we did, you will be climbing pretty much the whole way. We got to the top at 3.08 pm.
From there, we hit Trace Ridge Trail.
The trail is ranked mostly under black diamond or an expert trail. I knew why. There is some crazy uphill (rocky, rooty, and steep) and a lot of scary downhill (washed out, rocky, and even more steep).
Trent likes the trail a lot. Me? hmm… I will need a pair of knee pads and elbow pads before trying to ride down there the whole way. I got 2 big giant bruises on my left leg that lasted for the next 2 weeks. But I’m ambitious to be better and come back to conquer it one day! On that day, I walked a lot.
We finished our ride at 5 pm. and headed back to Atlanta. However, on the Blue Ridge Parkway as we were headed home, we saw the moon in the way that we had never seen before. It looked almost like the sun; very orange and bright and big. Today, they call a typical full moon as Super Moon! We stopped there to enjoy it. Trent took an opportunity to make him a hot coffee as well. Then it was really the time for us to head back home. We got home around 9 pm.
Weekend well spent!
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