Trails in the sky

I learned yesterday that Ray Peters has left us - he's gone on to blaze new trails in the afterlife. I won't wax on about what a selfless and dedicated individual he was - I'm sure you'll hear that a lot. But if you're ever wandering around the trails on your bike, and you happen to start riding up Icy Hole of Death, pause a moment at that first sustained little climb in the clearcut (where the incline will force a lot of riders to pause anyways :) . See those cut logs to either side of the trail ? The crosshatches on some of the wood you ride over ? Ray Peters made those cuts. He helped me out one day when I was building that trail - lugging in an 18" saw with all his safety equipment - and together we hacked and cut our way through the deadfall, opening up the trail. So reflect a moment on his life, and maybe how he affected your life, and then float down that trail, so named because of my own brush with death, a place where we'll all be riding some day.