Camp Chaos Fall Challenge

[KTM Mike]

Ok – I will start out with an apology – I am sorry that not all of our friends on MTR could be here! I knew we could only accommodate just so many people here at Camp Chaos – so I did not do an open invitation like I did this spring. This get together was the direct result of all the fun we had back in June with a similar ride. Many had asked about doing another this fall – so of course I had to oblige! CR250@winters (Mike K) upped the ante quite a bit with his suggestion of a little “private” Hare Scrambles – which became part of the plan. I contacted all the prior participants back in June and various others who had seemed particularly interested back then. Again, my apologies to all you MTR’s who were not here – but based on the prior turn out and response, an open invite would likely have resulted in way more people here than what I was prepared for! As it turned out we had plenty of people here with a total of 30+ people, 24 who did some riding.

With that off my chest – I still wanted to share with everyone all the fun we all had! This will take a few posts to get done – so grab a cup of coffee and read on. Some pics will follow later as well.

Friday Evening:
The fun started Friday evening when Cr250winters (Mike K) and KX250MiRider (Steve K) arrived. We did some final arrowing, ribboning, and staking out the woods loop and grass track. A few hours later 3KDXXR2 (Curtis, his brother Doug and nephew Al) showed up, followed by Woodsy, Larry and Aaron, then MWiessenborn wife Marie and daughter Emily, then later yet Comrade Mikhail. Some quick intros, some time around the campfire bench racing and telling lies, then finally getting to bed sometime after 1:00 AM!

Saturday Trail ride:
Morning seemed to arrive all to quick, but soon the sound and smell of two stroke and 4 stroke was around and the riders started playing around on the grass track and woods loop. Smit Dog and Zach, Meterman with 3 other riders, Joel, Inca (Young Ted) and Connie arrived Saturday morning. We swapped out a rear tire for Mikhail to get his new to him YZ250 a bit more woods ready (thanks Larry for providing the tire!) A quick bit of discussion and the larger part of the group headed north to the Atlanta Trail system, while Smit Dog, Zach, myself and my two boys Mark and Mitch, and Comrade Mikhail headed south towards Hunt Creek. The southern crew had a nice ride and then turned around part way into the Hunt Creek loop in order to be back in time for the Hare Scrambles fun. The northern crew well, lets say that some directionally challenged individuals led them for quite a bit longer ride than I think most were expecting! They all returned here around 3:30 or so, just in time for the Hare Scrambles fun to start. I am sure the Northern Crew will have some tall tales to tell of their ride.

(continued)

 

[KTM Mike]

Camp Chaos Fall Challenge:
Up next would be the Camp Chaos Fall Challenge. The course was a total of about 3 miles, about equally split between the woods section and the grass track. Since the last big get together here, I had modified the grass track by breaking up a few straight sections with a bunch of curves, and “redefined” other curves with hay bales, ribbon and stakes. The woods loop was cut down from 2.5 miles to about 1.6 miles making for a bit more enjoyable and fun loop to ride, and shorter lap times to keep the various spectators better entertained. The group all voted for a 1 hour event and before long we were off on the parade lap. From the parade lap, Comrade Mikhail determined the lack of a first gear about made it impossible for him to ride. (there were several short but steep rough hills, with no real approach areas to get up much momentum).

About 4:00 we got the fun rolling again. A quick bit of pairing up some team riders, combined with various individual riders left us with a total of 14 people joining in. The team riders ended up being Mark C (Meterman) and Curtis (3KDXXR2), Doug and Steve (KX250MIRider), myself and my son Mark. Riding solo were Aaron, SmitDog, Inca, Dave F. Larry, Woodsy, Mike K (CR250winters), and Mark W. What I thought was particularly neat was that we had riders ranging from 12 years old (my son Mark) up to 77 years young (Young Ted of course!)

The start was done in two waves – first up being Aaron, Bill, Ted, Dave, Curtis, Steve, then 4 minutes later, myself, Larry, Woodsy, Mike K and Mark W. The various team rider’s partners eagerly awaiting their turns. My perspective on much of the racing is somewhat limited as I was kinda busy riding myself, so I base much of this on what I was told during the bench racing, and from what I could tell from the pics my wife took, and of course based on what I was seeing as I rode (so of course the tale seems to all revolve around me!). I am sure some of the other riders will chime in with other details of their ride.

Zach rang the big dinner bell to signal the dead engine start. Dave F. and Bill both were serious about the hole shot, but Bill’s inside line proved faster and Bill was off into the woods with the rest of the crew giving chase. The second wave then charged off at the ring of the bell. Myself and Mark W. were first off the line, but my 2 stroke was just pulling harder than Marks YZ250F, so I pulled the hole shot. I was actually kinda worried early on – I fully expected to have a first turn crowd to deal with, particularly a certain monster of a KX500 ridden by my buddy Woodsy! Early on I actually was looking over my shoulder periodically – worried that somehow Woodsy or some one else was right on me waiting to pounce on a poor line choice and pass me! I eventually realized I was essentially all alone and hunkered down and decided I would get as far ahead of the other nuts as I could!.

By the time I came out of the woods and into the field for the first time, I had passed a couple of the first wave riders, and saw SmitDog and Aaron on the grass track, with Aaron almost ready for the woods again. I blasted through the grass track, occasionally peaking back to see who was breathing down my neck – I was still in pretty good shape and feeling great! I decided to ride two laps before tagging my son into the chaos. My second shot at the woods went well, I passed a couple riders early on into the grass track (I think I really startled Doug, Dave and Mark C!). I handed off the reigns to my son at the end of my second lap. Mark S charged into the woods, eventually returning to the grass track unscathed. A few riders had gotten back ahead of him by then, but he was still moving quite well. While I had a break for 15 minutes or so, I got to watch some of the action on the grass track. Aaron had pulled a significant lead over Bill, and Bill had a rather large lead on anyone after him. He finished his lap, and I head out to do two more. I passed a couple riders again, accidentally hitting Doug in the back tire on one turn (sorry Doug!) – but he later said he did not even realize it! On these two laps, I would see many more riders on sections of trail that would parallel the sections I was on, urging me to pick up the pace even more – particularly when I would see Woodsy coming along behind me! I never did end up with anyone actually pressuring me from behind though. I then tagged my son back into action, and he headed out for another lap. During his lap, the hour ran out and riders began to come dragging into the finish (though Curtis did do a nice demo of a failed wheelie).

(continued)

 

[KTM Mike]

Top 5 final results were Aaron in a commanding first place, with SmitDog not to far behind, followed by Mike K., Woodsy and my son Mark and myself. Doug/Steve, Mark/Curtis, Dave F and Ted rounded out the finishers with 2 DNFs safely accounting for all the riders. I get to go into Proud Dad mode for a moment here – I was quite proud of my son Mark doing this with me! He normally would avoid such a “competitive” seeming situation, but not this time! He did just fine, with his only crash being during the parade lap! And we were only 3 minutes out from the likes of Mike K and Woodsy, some pretty quick riders indeed! Good Job Mark!

Awards, great food and bench racing:
Not to be outdone by any for real Hare Scrambles Events, Camp Chaos even had some trophies to award (thanks to Woodsy!). Woods presented a couple special awards – one to Young Ted for being such the inspiration, another to Mark W. for his successful victory over cancer (it sure is great to see you riding Mark!), and another to Camp Chaos for hosting all these stinky nut case bikers. (it is my wife that really deserves that one – without her help and “approval” none of this would be happening here! Thanks Sheila!)

A few other special awards were the Camp Chaos Fouled Plug award to SmitDog, the Bent Handlebar award to Zach, the Broken Clutch Basket award to Mikhail, the Snagged Ring award to Al, the Huge Circlip award to Larry, the Monster Master Link award to Joel and the Training Wheels award to Woodsy.

Oh, I cant forget the outstanding T-shirts that Steve K had printed up – perhaps some one can post a pic of one if they got one (I did not).

Soon growling stomachs took over and a huge feast was quickly laid out – talk about some good eating! Everyone pitched in something and boy did we have some outstanding contributors! Some serious bench racing and camp fire watching soon took over, but the tired riders all were sound asleep much sooner than the night before!

Sunday Trail ride:
Sunday morning started out a bit dreary – not actually raining, but certainly threatening. Various riders played around on the grass track and woods loop, with Curtis managing to take in the “long play” version of the woods I think he was glad the Hare Scrambles used the short version! Neal (2big4aKDX) arrived and eventually the group got together to head out to the trails. We had a total of 15 riders (Mark W, Ted, Larry, Woodsy, Aaron, Doug, Curtis, Al, Bill, Zach, Neal, Mikhail, Mitch, Mark S and myself), and headed north to ride the Atlanta B loop.

In typical Woodsy form, he got lost early on, with Larry then SmitDog (unsuccessfully!) doing chase to get them back on track. A quick bit of trail side repair to Mikhail’s kick starter, and eventually Woodsy and crew joined back in with the group. Frequent stops seemed to be the rule of the day, making for a much longer ride than expected. One such stop was in a particularly whooped out bit of trail on the west side of the B loop. The whoops had gotten the better of Al, leading to some serious bark sampling by the headlight on his KDX. Unfortunately, his wrist was also a victim of the tree. So Al, Curtis and Doug headed back to Camp via some ORV route and back roads. Later it would be at the B loop cut off. Woodsy, Aaron, Larry and Neal were riding out front, yet it was quite clear no one had made the cut off! The rest of the group took a long break and waited for them to eventually figure out the error of their ways – which they did and sheepishly returned!

(to be continued)

 

[KTM Mike]

With the remainder of our group back together, we headed across the B loop cut off towards the east side. Right where the cut off joins the east side, a nasty bunch of roots had Zach’s bike hung up. Mitch climbed off his quad to help him over, to return to a motor that absolutely would not start! A quick bit of diagnosing revealed absolutely NO spark. All the tricks in my tool bag were used up, with the engine pronounced Dead at about 3:45 PM. Soon Neal and Bill came back looking for us. They headed out with Zach, Mark and Mikhail to go get a truck – just as the rain started! Mitch and I stayed to begin the hard push out to the next road crossing. It took quite a while to push the quad through ¾ mile of trail, but we did eventually arrive at the road crossing. The rain had turned into a full tilt thunderstorm by this point, so Mitch and I occupied ourselves playing in the mud making little dams and levys to control the flood in the road! (our levys did fail by the way). Just as we were both starting to get rather chilled, Neal arrived in our truck to save the day! We managed to get both Mitch’s quad and my bike in the back of the truck and headed home. We arrived home just as Ted and Connie where heading down the driveway. The only Chaos Campers that remained were Woodsy, Larry, Aaron and Mikhail – all inside snug and dry chowing down some chili and the many left over munchies everyone had brought!

All in all a great weekend. My odo battery died so I don’t know my total mileage – but my son logged a total of 95 miles between the two days. The northern crew certainly logged way more with their rather indirect routes they took! One hopefully minor injury (Al), lots of sorry muscles for everyone, and lots of big smiles!

 

[ComradeMikhail]

Nice writeup Mike. Can't wait to see some of the pictures! I had a blast, thanks to you and your family for doing so much hard work in preparing for this event, and then putting up with us all through the weekend. This was definately my best ride to date, and I hope we can do it again sometime!

 

[Asrith]

Well I also look forward to this next one, all I have been doing in my spare time is getting the ktm worked thru. She will be ready soon. Good write up.

 

[SGJ_Johansen]

Mike,
Good write up sounds like you guys had a blast. Save me a invite for spring 06. I will need to blow out the cobwebs from the 200.

Brian

 

[CR250R@WINTERS]

Wow Mike, that is a great write-up! I almost thought I was reading something from Woodsy! All I can add to it is………….that was FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN. Many thanks to you and family.

Can you believe how many people have mentioned that this was the most fun and best weekend they have ever had! I think we have created a monster of an event. I can’t wait to see some pics, my wife didn’t really get that many because she was too busy chasing the boys around.

CAMP CHAOS FALL CHALLENGE ROCKED :)

 

[KX250MiRider]

A+ for sure

Great write up Mike, Camp Chaos was nothing less than awesome. Thanks again to your family for the hospitality and putting something like this together. I look forward to next year.

 

[3KDXXR2]

Im going to start getting in shape to put in a better showing at the challenge next year. Curtis ( Yeah right )

 

[MWEISSEN]

Great write-up Mike. This was the best weekend I've had in awhile, and it's really great to FEEL great enough to ride more than a few miles.

I didn't have time to put up some pictures last night as originally thought, I was too busy cleaning out the trailer and three very dusty bikes.

I'll be posting the pictures on a separate web site. This will allow me to put up high-resolution pictures, and allow people to get prints sent to them from any shots they want.

I'll have to post a couple "special" shots here though as well. No words will be needed, they'll be self-explanatory.

To those in the pictures, you know who you are, and I CAN STILL be bought!!

More later, time to go back to work :(

 

[CR250R@WINTERS]

trophy time

Ha Ha Ha, I think I remember a couple priceless pics taken during trophy time. :laugh:

 

[meterman]

All I can say is AWESOME. It's Tuesday night and I am still a little sore.

 

[dparker]

Well, here is the story on the new kid aka Lumberjack. He had more fun than he thought he would after all he is a firm Track addict. His Uncle Curtis had been telling him for 2 years how great the Michigan woods are. He had a blast!!! loved riding though the woods and all the constantly changes conditions. He is a convert and will be back for more. But only after his two broken bones, arm and finger (Bad Bad Mr Tree) heal.
We are most likely done for the season but are already thinking about Yamaha YZF 250's. Thanks alot Mark!!!
Mike- I can't thank you and your wunderful wife enough for having my son and I to your place. You helped make memories that will last a lifetime. And to all the other great MTR people we met you are all the best. Special thanks to Woodsy and Larry for there encouraging words to Lumberjack.

Doug

 

[KTM Mike]

You are all quite welcome!

Hey - its not like I did not have any fun either! I wont hide from the selfish motivation derived from the good feeling I get when i see all those HUGE smiles on those faces!

Brian - consider a spot reserved for you next year - though it will most likely be in the fall not spring.

Doug - sorry to hear about Al's wrist. Sheila said it was already looking pretty ugly by the time you left. A hard part of riding, but none the less, part of riding and learning! I have had more than my fair share of such injuries! I am sure he will be back on a bike before long.

I will leave that extra special pic to post to Mark W., but will go ahead and post a few here myself. First up is a shot where you can really see how dusty it was! Comrade Mikhail was finding out the hard way in this first pic taken during the parade lap. The next pic is a nice one of SmitDog grabbing the holeshot in the first wave of the start. The last is one that shows the crowd in the first turn - from left to right Steve K (KX250MIRider), Curtis (3KDXXR2), Aaron, the engergizer Ted, and Dave F on the right edge of the shot up close. (I really like this shot - makes it almost seem like a for real race doesnt it?!)

 

[KTM Mike]

Second Wave start pics and Kaw's do fly!

I was quite suprised to realize I was out in front at the start in this next pic! Mark W. was pushing his YZF to stay in the hunt as well. The next pic shows the first turn battle for the second wave of riders., with Mark W out in front, then Larry, and Mike K (CR250winters) struggling to get in the action.

The third pic clearly shows that Kaw's and Woodsy and can fly (be it at low altitude...but it does prove Woodsy can get not only the front wheel off the ground!)

 

[KTM Mike]

Not only can woodsy fly, he can corner to! More Flying Kaws and Failed Wheelies!

The next shot proves that when Woodsy has the front end on the ground, he can even set up for a corner!

Curtis does a good job of reinforcing the idea that Kaw's can fly, but then seems to prove Kaws dont like their front ends up in the air to much! Seems he was a bit over enthusiastic in celebrating the end of the HareScrambles!

 

[KTM Mike]

Tooo Many Cabbages! Young Ted represents the Pumpkins!

Ok - yep...ANOTHER Cabbage! Man, it just seems there were way to many Kaw's here. Steve K. shows off yet another, as does my son Mark. Young Ted does his best to represent the pumpkin patch however - note the concentration on his face!

Those last two pics really show just how broad a range of people make up our off road riding brotherhood - my son at age 12, Young Ted at 77. I am so impressed with both of them. What really struck me was the HUGE smiles on their faces when they finished up the Hare Scrambles.

 

[KTM Mike]

To Many Miles + To Much Sweat + Dust = Woodsy Banished Outside?

So, what happens when Woodsy logs to many miles, pumps out to much sweat, and eats to much dust? He gets banished to sleeping outside under a canopy? No, not really. I have NO CLUE why he decided to do this - he had several comfy options, yet his pick was to sleep outside like this! He actually seemed to sleep rather well - he was about the last person to wake up Sunday morning!

And the final shot I have is a group shot of the Camp Chaos Campers. Pictured are

back row:Comrade Mikhail, Larry, Lumberjack Al (AKA "One arm"), his dad Doug (Dparker), 3KDXXR2 Curtis, Aaron, KX250MIrider Steve, and his brother CR250@winters Mike, Camp Chaos Head Counselor KTM Mike, Pinecone Zach and his dad, SmitDog.

kneeling: the remainder of the Camp Chaos staff - KDX Mark, YamaMitch, my beautiful and amazingly understanding wife Sheila. Connie and Young Ted, and our buddy Woodsy! And mugging around up front is our soft terrian dog, Metzler.

Not pictured - the Weissenborn crew Mark, Emily and Marie (they were all still getting their beauty sleep - it worked just dandy for Emily and Marie. Evidently Mark needed more shut eye!), Joel, Meterman and his brother and another buddy and Dave F.

 

[Tom Dixon]

Sounds like it was a blast!!! Man, reading about all of this riding makes me want to head north and pound the dirt!!!! D@mmit!!! A big :cool: For the Camp Choas staff for being such great people.

 

[MWEISSEN]

Chaotic pictures

Pictures are worth more than words....

 

[MWEISSEN]

More Chaotic pics

 

[MWEISSEN]

Still more....

 

[MWEISSEN]

And finally....

 

[MWEISSEN]

Almost forgot these!