In an effort to explore more rides around the area I struck out with my friend David to Saratoga. He's ridden a bunch of the trails before, but this was my first time riding at Saratoga Gap. The first section really reminded me of riding in New York, with the leaves changing color, littered on the trail. They weren't easy, either. Lots of roots and rocks along a narrow strip of single track before it opens up on the backside of the ridge. From there the network of trail and fire road intertwine all the way up to Russian Ridge. David had to cut out early, but I forged on for one hell of a ride.
After circling around Russian Ridge I crossed over Highway 35 and dropped onto the White Oak trail, a super fast and fun twisty section of single track all the way down to the creek. From there it kept going further and further down the canyon, connecting with some fire road and back onto single track. It was pretty straight forward, especially with the GPX Navigator app I installed, loaded with a course I mapped out in Strava. Once I reached the near bottom of the canyon, I started the long climb out, back onto the main Saratoga Gap trail and back to the car, where I had a glorious Polish hot link and Coke for recovery. I had such a great time, and hope to get more of my crew out there.