It's been a few weeks since my last post. A lot has happened. My Brother had a new Baby. Totally Awesome! He's real happy and everything is going well.

Here is a Pic, Can you say WestSIDE! I am real close with my brother Brian and this is a very Special moment for me. My nephew's name is Kelly (after Kelly Slater) and he, like my brother and I, will surly love the ocean as well as our love for Bikes (both Moto and Mtn). His Mother Steff (aka KID) is doing great and shedding her Mom weight in record time.

It's been raining a shitload here in Seattle and Havent been on the bike for 2 weeks. This is real disapointing for me as it's my sole outlet for excercise right now and with work being real hectic (as usual) I need some sort of outlet. Luckily we got to ride today. Erik A. Had to take his truck into the shop tonight so I Led the ride in his Place. 7 Riders took to the trails in some great Sunny weather. After 2 weeks off the Bike and an Urban Session in the U district this Morning, IAB
Kicked My ass! We all regrouped at the 5 way and headed in. The trails
were a mess right off the Bat with a lot of Mud from the previous weeks rain. We moved over to Ice rose and Tour De Stump and the trails were a bit drier. Buck Horn was nice and Steve A and Travis F. both cleaned the Last hard climb. Congrats! We rode some other trails and finished with Schafer, probably me favorite trail at Tolt. After Schafer We realized that I had a Flat Tire and we tried to make it out but all of the sudden Lydia's chain broke so we changed my tire too. We all headed down IAB in a Downhill Bomb Fest. I opted to take the Log ride, even after telling my self things were wet, and crashed really hard about midway down. Dusted my self off and continued down to the cars. Great ride, Great people and Great weather...Although I am sick of the #$@$@ Mud!

On a side note, I received and Email From Vital Choice Seafood in Bellingham, Washington about some of my food photography images. They ended up purchasing two images and wanting up to 4 per month with reciepes for their website. This is great news and the extra money is great!

What great weather we have been having and the trails are really Dry!!! I posted our usual ride for Tuesday night in place of Erik A. as he was out due to his wife getting surgery. Bob B emailed me before the ride and said he a had a great Route for the ride and he would love to show us so I said that would be great! And GREAT it was! 17 riders ( yes 17) Took the Usual Route up Pink Ribbon, Up Bypass and to the fire road to the end of Mouse Trap or what I thought was Mousetrap. We Headed up the Trail I usually come down and this was a great climb with some tech and nice workout factors. We arrived at the Intersection for upper Outback and Bob B informed the Group that there were two ways down. Make a left and Right for Upper Outback or a Left and Left for a new trail that was called "Mousetrap". I was confused seeing that I thought we had just come up Mousetrap. I followed Bob Down Mousetrap and what a great trail it was! Bob Said that he modeled it after Rat Pac and it was quite loose and still needed some more riding but what a great trail. Plenty of Tech with a nice rock drop at the Bottom, this trail had it all. High Swoopy Berms with nice tech switchbacks. We then headed back to the Lower Outback Trail head and that I have been down many times before. Bob Informed me that we would veer left in a few yards off of outback and on to outhouse. I had seen this trail before but didn't know about it so never took it. Holy S*&*@! This trail was Soooo Nice! Fast, Lots of Flow and really GOOOOD! When Outhouse was over we climbed steakhouse back to the road. Steakhouse would be nice going down but a nice climb none the less. The glory of going back up steakhouse is that you can ride back down outback, thus getting two really nice sections of Downhill Flow. We rode outback all the way down to the skidder road and regrouped. There we smiles as far as the eye could see. We rode the skidder road to Full Bench. Bob Said that this was his favorite trail at Tokul west and I Can Understand why! Nice flow through the top sections that are followed by some of the most Tech switchbacks that you can imagine! Really Loose and Tight! Just how I like em! We cleaned the Bridge at the end of Full Bench and regrouped. Everyone seemed to be having a great time but you could see some were getting a bit tired but still having a good time. We then headed up the fire road to Bobsled. This trail was still relatively new at the start but got really good as it progressed. We then hit Monster Trail that was real FAST and Swoopy and I really liked that! Down Zoom Zoom to the SVT and some of us optioned for the trail after the SVT cutoff back to the cars and rode the Bridge at the top with a fast and Swoopy trail to a nice Drop off with two different options at the end. We met at the Parking lot across from the gun shop and everyone seemed to have had a great time. Total 13 miles, 1300 feet of climbing and a whole lot of fun! Props go out to Christine and Dave as they are real new to the club and did a great job with this more than "Social" Pace ride !! Thanks Bob for "Leading" Such a great ride and everyone else who came out. This was the best ride in a while...


P.S. We missed you "E" Tuesdays are not the same without you! Also best whishes go out to David E. Hope that your knee heals soon. And Where are you WALT!

Eric Floyd
http://www.floydphotography.com/

Today it was 85!!! Lovin the heat. The weather has been real nice for the past week and really wanted to take advantage of the Blue Skies and Drier trails. I recently had the linkage and Bearings overhauled by Fluid Ride in Seattle and really was itching for a ride. I decided to Ride Tiger Mtn in the Morning and South SeaTac in the afternoon. Yesterday was Mother's day and we did quite a bit of business at the restaurant and was really ready for some off time. I got to Tiger about 1:45 pm for a pretty late start. It was really hot in the Parking lot and there were no water puddles (a sign) of Dry Trails. I headed up the Fire road and the Heat was brutal. No Wind either! Finally arrived at the preston trail head some 40 mins later. I can really feel the extra 11 or 12 lbs of the Nomad compared to the Stumpy on these long fire road climbs. Next was Preston! This is where the Nomad leaves the Stumpy in the Dust! It is a dream going down and really performed well!! Headed over to Northwest Timber and was really feeling the heat! Continued on the Cleaned the whole trail but was tired when I got back to the Car! Packed up and headed To Center Cycle in Renton.

I have been talking to Shane about getting an Urban/Dirt Jump Bike for a while and today I Finally went for it. I ordered My Santa Cruz Jackal. Santa Cruz Has stock so it should be here in the few weeks. Pretty excited about this bike as I really want to explore the Dirt Jumps and Urban Riding that Seattle has to offer. I got a really good deal on it. I also sold some extra parts that I had laying around and a few Large Format Prints To people at work (For Mothers Day Gifts) so that pretty much funded the cost of the bike. This was nice! I will be starting to Commute to work on my Road Bike Two days a week starting next week but I will also take the Bus a few Hours early 2 days a week with the Jackal to Get a few hours Urban Riding in Downtown Seattle. I have been eyeing several lines, Stair Gaps, Skinnies, and Various other urban Style features in the past 6 months that I can't wait to ride!

So after ordering the Jackal I drove to South SeaTac for a night Ride. The days are real long so lights are not needed anymore. I arrived a few minutes late but caught up to the group just before they were entering the FlowPark. I had not eaten anything but a Few Gels and Cytomax all day so I was feeling a bit run down. Nothing like a few runs through the flow park to forget about hunger. I was nailing the drops and kickers perfectly! I hit a new line that was a little bigger than my usually and nailed it to. Some of the other riders commented that I was NUTS but I assured them that it was all good! Took about five runs through the park and really had a good time. I really wished I had my Full Face Helmet on though. It just makes me feel a lot safer when I am pushing my progression on Jumps and Drops. On a side note, the Nomad was loving the bigger drop today. I was very Impressed. There is also a new series of Dirt Jumps at the end of the Flow park and really want to try it out with the Jackal. After the flow park we rode the trails for about an hour and a Half and a great time. SeaTac has really Buff trails and some sections have some REALLY nice FLOW. Headed back to Issaquah after the ride to a wonderful Sunset and a great day of Riding! Tomorrow is Tokul west with 13 other riders. Should be a great time. I am thinking of taking out the Stumpy. It's Getting Lonely!

Eric

Okay...It's been a while and haven't posted. I rode Tiger when It was Dry and What great trip!! So Fast on the nomad and Loved it! What a great ride. No takers as it was a late post. But the Weather was Absolutely Beautiful!!!! The trails, especially Preston, were in Great Shape! Ran In To Brian Jones and Boomer At the Rock Wall on NW Timber. What A great Job that man has done as well as the others who have helped out on the trails on Tiger. I really Love the northwest, Especially in the Spring and Summer!!! Hooray! For Daylight savings time too! Rode Tolt and it was Fantastic Too.. Got A South Sea Tac Fix on Monday and Got some Flow time in the park and the usuall Drops were Fantastic with the Coil Shock and the New spring in the Van 36. Rode Tolt and Tokul and they were both Great. Tokul was awesome but had some problems with creaking in my bike so slowed me down on the way up. But the way down...What another story.... Was loving the NOMAD today...Lower Outback was like a Rail Road...The Lower Trails were also Prime and I pushed Real Hard..Didn't see any other riders for a while. I took all of the hard lines on the way down and Just relished in the moment! My Downhill skills are just beginning to open up...Can't Wait For http://www.whistlerbike.com/index.htm#!@#

Eric