the Eel
~SPONSOR~
- Sep 23, 2000
- 1,747
- 0
Scene: Gorman, CA - Hungry Valley SVRA
Players: PlaceLast - old-school trail boss / endo supreme
Gyrros - portmaster / rock lover
PlaceLast Jr. - the chronicler / cinema verite
Greg - rock eater / '93 CR's Rule !
the Eel - snowman / the instigator
Act 1: 9 AM suit up and the old school trail boss says the forest is open. From Edison Campground to Sterling Canyon Trail to Tejon Trail to What-A-Trail to East Frazier Trail to Edison Campground. I tried and tried to get them to go up Arrastra but they would not do it. GoSpeedRacer's Gorman Death March was just too much for us. We did do some slippin' and slidin' in the snow and John Gill pulled off two massive endos on some big roots. I swear the bottom of his back tire was 2.5 feet in the air and fishtailin' - and his front tire was on the ground ! Somehow he rode it out. We both got a good laugh out of it. Gyrros was rippin' around on his newly ported and bored KX 265. Very nice. Greg has the coolest sounding of the bikes - 1993 CR 250. Plus he can ride very quickly over large obstacles as Act 2 will clearly show. David is just waiting patiently to get some good photo ops. Silent but deadly. I could not believe the forest is open this time of year. It's a little dusty but otherwise perfect. Gyrros and Placelast were actually banging bars - no kidding - on the Frazier fire road. I took that opportunity to zip by them and pull the trigger - only to slide out in the snow about 10 feet later. Misfire ! Hence - Snowman. A good loop and the Husky ran well for the first time in some while. Put my first new top end in it all by myself - my first time at it - and boy was I proud. Yup - amazing how tiny, tiny achievements can feel so good. Careful up in the forest - there was quite a bit of traffic.
Act 2: The good stuff. One time we had the pleasure of riding with Kiwi and Farmer John at Gorman, and we took them partway up a little creek - I believe it's called Maxey Creek. It was very rocky and narrow, and we had to duck clawing branches and such. We eventually came to a halt at a 4 foot rockface that was nearly vertical. Once facing this your bike was just barely fittng into this small space - your back wheel was up against a steep hill, and your front tire was at the base of the rockface. Pretty hard to get any momentum so we all called it a day and chalked it up to a fun little adventure. We took that opportunity to tease Kiwi about
"carnage" and this and that. Well John was kinda goading me a bit about this trail since I had goaded him about Arrastra. Amazingly everyone was game to give it a try today - and since Gyrros and Greg were none the wiser :p we decided to give it another look. We got in as far as the rockface and I decided to give it a try. I fell back and over several times since the bike would just loop out but with some helping hands I got up. Well that opened the floodgates as John realizes the illusion has become reality and what manly old school trail boss is gonna let the day go by without getting up the rock - if some young punk can do it then so can PlaceLast. And sure enough he did - in fact he was the only one who rode up it unassisted. We all got through it and rode up that rocky creek for about 100 yards. It took an hour. Greg was by far the fastest through that mess and I got the prize for most times standing in 2 feet of water. My boots were fishtanks - two muddy fishtanks. Some of the most fun I've had in awhile. And Gyrros even smiled when we got out. Contact PlaceLast Jr. for the videotape - only $19.95 + tax. :) Just kidding about the for sale part but I can't wait to see the video.
Great riding with you guys - as usual.
Players: PlaceLast - old-school trail boss / endo supreme
Gyrros - portmaster / rock lover
PlaceLast Jr. - the chronicler / cinema verite
Greg - rock eater / '93 CR's Rule !
the Eel - snowman / the instigator
Act 1: 9 AM suit up and the old school trail boss says the forest is open. From Edison Campground to Sterling Canyon Trail to Tejon Trail to What-A-Trail to East Frazier Trail to Edison Campground. I tried and tried to get them to go up Arrastra but they would not do it. GoSpeedRacer's Gorman Death March was just too much for us. We did do some slippin' and slidin' in the snow and John Gill pulled off two massive endos on some big roots. I swear the bottom of his back tire was 2.5 feet in the air and fishtailin' - and his front tire was on the ground ! Somehow he rode it out. We both got a good laugh out of it. Gyrros was rippin' around on his newly ported and bored KX 265. Very nice. Greg has the coolest sounding of the bikes - 1993 CR 250. Plus he can ride very quickly over large obstacles as Act 2 will clearly show. David is just waiting patiently to get some good photo ops. Silent but deadly. I could not believe the forest is open this time of year. It's a little dusty but otherwise perfect. Gyrros and Placelast were actually banging bars - no kidding - on the Frazier fire road. I took that opportunity to zip by them and pull the trigger - only to slide out in the snow about 10 feet later. Misfire ! Hence - Snowman. A good loop and the Husky ran well for the first time in some while. Put my first new top end in it all by myself - my first time at it - and boy was I proud. Yup - amazing how tiny, tiny achievements can feel so good. Careful up in the forest - there was quite a bit of traffic.
Act 2: The good stuff. One time we had the pleasure of riding with Kiwi and Farmer John at Gorman, and we took them partway up a little creek - I believe it's called Maxey Creek. It was very rocky and narrow, and we had to duck clawing branches and such. We eventually came to a halt at a 4 foot rockface that was nearly vertical. Once facing this your bike was just barely fittng into this small space - your back wheel was up against a steep hill, and your front tire was at the base of the rockface. Pretty hard to get any momentum so we all called it a day and chalked it up to a fun little adventure. We took that opportunity to tease Kiwi about
"carnage" and this and that. Well John was kinda goading me a bit about this trail since I had goaded him about Arrastra. Amazingly everyone was game to give it a try today - and since Gyrros and Greg were none the wiser :p we decided to give it another look. We got in as far as the rockface and I decided to give it a try. I fell back and over several times since the bike would just loop out but with some helping hands I got up. Well that opened the floodgates as John realizes the illusion has become reality and what manly old school trail boss is gonna let the day go by without getting up the rock - if some young punk can do it then so can PlaceLast. And sure enough he did - in fact he was the only one who rode up it unassisted. We all got through it and rode up that rocky creek for about 100 yards. It took an hour. Greg was by far the fastest through that mess and I got the prize for most times standing in 2 feet of water. My boots were fishtanks - two muddy fishtanks. Some of the most fun I've had in awhile. And Gyrros even smiled when we got out. Contact PlaceLast Jr. for the videotape - only $19.95 + tax. :) Just kidding about the for sale part but I can't wait to see the video.
Great riding with you guys - as usual.