Work Day at the 500, March 15th

[DWreck]

Okay, here is my slightly longer ride report.

Thursday

The origin plan was for me to head to Jenks and pick up Crashnburn when I got off work at 3. As usual work ran late and all hope up making it to Talimena State Park before dark went out the window so we took our time and got there at about 8:30 in the evening. I fired up a lantern that had not been used in over 30 years and we managed to set up the tent and get inside minutes before the rain and lightning storm hit. Once it passed and we realized that we would probably live to see another day we heard tx246 and Mike pull in. We pretended to be asleep. After a while I really did fall a sleep and apparently snored a lullaby the rest of the night.

Friday

This was the part of the trip that I was really excited about. Approximately 5 years ago Jeff and I met JMD, tx246, Tony and several others for a ride that we have laughed about ever since. Everything went wrong and we rode about 12 miles, half of them on the pavement just trying to get back to camp. We have tried numerous times since then and I have never been able to make it until now. We were going to make it to Muse (38miles away) this time even if we had to carry our bikes.

As we woke up, geared up and had breakfast we got a call from JMD and Tom that they were running late so we relaxed and waited for their arrival.

to be continued

 

[Tony Eeds]

... snip ...

we managed to set up the tent and get inside minutes before the rain and lightning storm hit.

... snip ...

Friday

This was the part of the trip that I was really excited about. Approximately 5 years ago Jeff and I met JMD, tx246, Tony and several others for a ride that we have laughed about ever since. Everything went wrong and we rode about 12 miles, half of them on the pavement just trying to get back to camp.

... snip ...

Rain ... AGAIN :rotfl:

Thinking about Harley and his Yamaha in the creek still makes me laugh.

to be continued

tink
tink
tink

It has been ... like 10 hours ...

We're waiting ... ;)

 

[DWreck]

Okay I'm back.....Part 2

Once we had our crew we headed off somewhere around 10:30-11am with Tom sporting a helmet cam in the fog and immediately start encountering downed trees across the trail. My first thought was that someone had done this on purpose but JMD reminded us of the ice storm that had hit most of the state. Before long it became a game of seeing who could find the best line around or over the downed trees. One of my less successful attempted rewarded me with a sticker vine across the neck. Crashnburn had the best one while trying to go over an elevated tree on a down hill resulting in a spectacular endo. Dude, what were you thinking?

On the way there we stopped at a place called white rock that rewarded us with a spectacular view as the fog had burned off by now. Not to long after this as we stopped to make sure we had everyone in tow someone mentioned that we had almost spent as much time BSing as riding and we laughed and decided we better start putting down the miles. Gene's rear tire had other ideas and went flat. Fortunately he was prepared and had an extra tube. Before long we were off again this time being held up by a derailed chain on Tom's bike. They almost had it going again by the time we got back to them and my only thought now was FOOD! We took off again at a pretty good pace as the trail seemed to be a little easier and everyone had gotten a feel for the terrain. As we pulled into the store at Muse I see Gene pointing at his front wheel.....flat. Wow at least there was an air hose there.

We went in and I ordered way to much food and somehow managed to eat it all. Now I was ready for a nap. Poor Gene was finishing up his front tire repair and the bikes were fueled up and ready for the trip back. By now it was mid to late afternoon and we had a lot of miles to cover to get back and we took off like 6 men on a mission with the plan to ride back the way we came with no short cuts until the fear of darkness would get in the way.

We came close to making it but decided that we didn't want to mess with all the downed trees that were on the first couple of miles of trail and Gene took off with us in tow trusting his GPS to get us back to camp. We had lost JMD and Mike along the way as Jim took off on an alternate route. He also had a GPS and knowledge of the trails so we kept plugging along trusting that we would see them back at camp. We pulled back into camp as the sun was starting to set, satisfied in our 68 miles. As we were pulling up camp and getting cleaned up Jim and Mike pulled into camp. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to Jim and Tom as they were pulling out of camp before I made it back up there.

Gene, Mike, Donald and I headed north to Stillwater stopping for fuel and food and dropping Donald off in Jenks. We made it to my house at about 2:30am and quickly went to bed knowing tomorrow would bring another 50 miles at the 500.

more to come

 

[billyji]

I couldn't figure out how to post pics,so here are the links

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267755613_bvdDL-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267757663_UwaRm-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267752321_b8cNB-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267759103_GKFKQ-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267760249_8BtYw-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267761049_bHRUH-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267761892_sSBgB-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267762408_FfcYo-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267762972_vHUnZ-M.jpg

http://blacksheep4x4.smugmug.com/photos/267763668_EokpC-S.jpg


Mike Green

 

[Tony Eeds]

Oops ... I tried ...

I've never noticed, but apparently image tags are not turned on in here.

oops ... that didn't work either

 

[Lorin]

Wish I could have made more than the one day of riding, but I did really enjoy catching back up with the crew (both old and new). Reminds me how much I miss the group rides. Gene and Mike, we enjoyed having you at the house and you are welcome anytime (El agrees as well). How did the last day \ Monday go? Did you end up riding the Davis area?

 

[billyji]

Wish I could have made more than the one day of riding, but I did really enjoy catching back up with the crew (both old and new). Reminds me how much I miss the group rides. Gene and Mike, we enjoyed having you at the house and you are welcome anytime (El agrees as well). How did the last day \ Monday go? Did you end up riding the Davis area?

Hey Lorin

Good times for sure ! What a great bunch of friends. I appreciate being a part of it.
Thanks again for helping chase down the brakes. The grips sure helped too.
The food,drink and conversation was great ! Let me know if you are going to be near downtown Dallas mi casa es su !
Yes we did ride Crossbar ! I think we hit the long loop at 1530. About 2 miles from the end of the long loop I hit a squared off rock and detroyed my tube. With 18 lbs of air I still put 2 slits 1/2 inch long in it. Luckly we had this great aluminum stand to do a quick tire patch. Gene had a tube from the INT ride that we patched then headed out to the short course. I think we ended the day and trip with a 37 mile day......By the way it did not rain at Crossbar. It was actually a little dutsy !

Mike Green

 

[Lorin]

Cant imagine why the flats? Must be going too fast for the tubes to work correctly? Sounds like you guys are getting pretty good at "trail-side" tire repairs.

 

[tx246]

OK the long version of the story is here

http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=162666