Auburn TROGS ride

Group rides with the trogs always turn out to be a blast, this one was no exception. On Saturday I met up with the trogs and some of my other riding buddies in Auburn for a great ride exploring the best that the Auburn SRA has to offer. You can check out the pictures from the ride here.
We started rolling out at about 9:45 AM and it was still cold enough that the ground was covered in frost everywhere it was shady. Fingertips and noses were numb and we needed to get our blood pumping so the Clementine Lake climb was the perfect cure. After 3 miles of continuous climbing up the Foresthill side of the ravine we were all pretty warmed up.

We stayed on the road past the parking lot rather than finish the Clementine loop and turned left onto the Clementine – Foresthill Connector Trail. The Connector Trail has such a bland name that you would expect it to be pretty boring. Instead it’s a great 4 mile stretch of rolling singletrack with a really fun descent in the middle. Rather than just connect the two trails this section of trail is great fun by itself and I enjoy it more than most of the Foresthill trail. The connector trail also has some of the best views in the Auburn SRA.

Our group was quite big, there were 9 trogs (including me), Eric, Danny, and my brother Kevin. When we got to the top of the Clementine climb Kevin was getting a bit anxious because we were running late and he had a lunch appointment 2:00 PM so he took off and about half of the group played chase trying to keep up with Kevin.

I stuck with the slower group to make sure noone got lost. We regrouped where the connector trail joined Foresthill Divide trail and then quickly split up again. I normally take the Foresthill Divide trail counter clockwise but we wanted to try it clockwise for a bit of a change. Going in clockwise from the connector trail you hit the best trail right off the bat.

At this point even the slow group was moving at a pretty good pace and we met back up with the fast group on the eastmost portion of the trail it crosses Foresthill Divide road. We were all pretty warm from riding but it was still cold out and my toes were almost numb from the wind chill.

As the group crossed the road and dropped down in to the southern half of the Foresthill Divide Loop I managed to snap one group shot as everyone was getting started. The second half

…. More coming ….