Man were do I start.
I had such a good time at the Six Days of Michigan. I didn’t ride the event I helped work part of it. I was up there for day 5 at Drummond Island. The West Michigan Trail Riders were hosting the 60 mile ride on the island as well as a 180 mile dual sport ride from St Ignace to Detour. We had our work cut out for us. This years crew consisted of trail boss Joe Daugherty, Scotty Chaffie, Jim Cmore, and me. Joe rides a 520 KTM, Scotty is on a 450 KTM, Jim is sporting a WR426, and I had Skippy (CRF250X)
For Jim and I this was our 1st time helping with the 6 days. We are thinking of ridding the event next year so this is a good preview of what we are in for. Scotty has been helping Joe with the 6 days since like 1990 I believe.
Wednsday night.
So anyway. Jim and I got up to Joe’s place at Detour around 9:00pm Wednesday night We set up our tent and settled in around the campfire to get the rundown from Joe on the next 2 days activities. Thursday Jim and I were going over to the island to pre-ride the entire event and make sure that all the marks were still up and there was no questionable areas were people would get lost. Joe and Scotty were going to go over the dual sport portion and check that over. We all then hit the hay in preparation for a big day ahead. I gotta tell ya, camping at Joe’s place is awesome. His summer place is right on lake Huron. As I laid in my tent I could hear loon’s singing and the waves lapping up on the beech all while a cool breeze blows thru the tent. Does it get any better.
Thursday morning
After a great breakfast by Pat, Joe’s wife, Jim and I loaded our bikes into the back of my truck and headed for the island. It saves money by putting the bikes in the truck and not bringing the trailer across the ferry. We had to check out not only the trail marking but the road leading up to the trail head. There were 4 guys that went over to the island about 2 weeks ago to mark the island so that was done already. We were just getting all the last minute stuff done.
Here is a map of the trails on the island.
map link
There are 2 loops that we were running them on. The 1st loop ran from #2 to 1 to 4 to 5a to 7 to 6a to 6 to 11a to 12 to 14 and out. That amounts to about 14.5 miles of trail and would take most around 1-1-1/2 hours to ride.
There is a gas stop about 2 miles down the road west of #2. That was to be our half way stop and lunch break. The country store was aware of the riders coming thru and had made special preparations for them. Very nice of them.
From there the 2nd loop heads back in at 14 and went 14, 15, 11, 9, 10, 17, 19a, 20, 21 back east down Sheep Ranch road to 19, 18, 25, 25a, and finish at 27. This amounted to around 17 miles and took us around 2-1/2 hours to get thru. You may be thinking 2-1/2 hours to ride 17 miles, man you guys are slow. Well if you have never rode the island before you are welcome to try it. You will find that our pace is about the norm for the conditions.
So anyway Jim and I stopped at the store and explained to them what we were doing there and for permission to leave our truck there as we pre-rode the island. We geared up and headed down the road to #2. Neither Jim or I are plated. But from what I understand that doesn’t matter in that county. As long as you are not on any highways its not a problem. Nice. They should adopt that rule around here. Once in the trail we were greeted by 2 nice big slimy mud holes. Might as well dive in and get it over, this is Drummond after all and this is probably only the start of the mud. But to our surprise this is pretty much the end of the mud. The trail was in beautiful shape. Well good for Drummond anyways. It’s a nasty little Rock of and island to ride anytime. The lack of mud is just a plus. This loop went by pretty fast and was marked very well. This is my favorite section of trail to ride. Lots of great single track and a few 2 tracks to let you wind down a little. It started to get hot outside while we were on this loop. The only way to stay cool is to stay ridding. Which isn’t the easiest thing to do considering how hard you have to work to get thru the trail. It’s a tough balancing act for sure.
After a break at the corner store and refueling we headed back out to 14 and dove in. This loop was a little worse than the other. And we expected that. A few notable sections in here were 20 to 21 and the killing fields. 20 to 21 is just plain nasty. Lots and lots and lots of rocks, roots, skider tracks, and uneven bumpy terrain make getting into any kind of groove impossible. We came out of there beat up and sweating profusely. The other section called the killing fields is aptly named cause you are ridding thru large grassy fields. The grass is waist deep and the trail is about 12” wide. Sounds nice doesn’t. The killing part comes into play cause 1” of the trail and hidden by the grass is large boulders, rocks, and stumps. Its ugly, Really ugly. In other sections of the trail you can see were riders have taken alternate lines, but not here. Everyone stays on the trail, or else. But staying on the trail isn’t all that easy cause on the trail are rocks that try to throw you off the trail. Fun stuff.
We did come across a few quaders that were doing trail maintance out there. We stopped and chatted with them and explained what were doing so they wouldn’t be taking down any of our marks. You would think that they would be aware of the 6 days coming thru but they weren’t. We did find some sections were there were marks down and the trail had actually been blocked re-routed from were it should be. We fixed these sections and remarked as needed.
Eventually we pop’d out at 27 and headed back. Overall the trails and marking were in excellent shape. There really wasn’t much that we needed to do except ride hard and have a great time. Which we did for sure. Skippy performed flawlessly. The Scotts Dampner was a godsend.
We jumped back on the ferry and hit Joes place at 5:00pm. Joe had already left for Mackinaw City for the riders meeting. Jim and I jumped into lake Huron to clean up and headed off after them. When we got to the campground I really didn’t expect to see anyone I would know. But there was a friend of mine from thumpertalk walking down the road. We stopped to talk. I looked in my mirror and here comes Chris Huber driving in. I waved at him as he drove by. Then just as I was taking off again there goes “Lost in the woods” Dave ridding by on his Peddle bike. Jeff Ferdette had named Dave a few years back after Dave got a group lost. Dave also proved his name to us as he got us lost in Colorado a few years back.
So anyways we found the riders meeting. As we drove in Bill Chapin started giving us some grief about being registered. I explained to him that we were the sweep crew and he lightened up a little and let us by, what a prick. We found Joe and gave him a trail report from the days ride. When the meeting started Joe went up and told the crew what they were in for and the conditions of the trail. Some were a little skeptical after last years ride. It had been a mud fest. But Joe assured them that it was relatively dry. One guy not believing him asked how current is your information and Joe informed him about 2 hours ago. That seemed to shut the guy up. Lol.
As I looked around I saw a few familiar faces as well as a few TT members that I think I knew. After the meeting I walked up to a chap and sure enough it was Wrooster. We chatted a bit and he wandered of to fix his bike (steering was a little tweaked from a tree incursion earlier in the day.) It was funny, they have colored pop sickle sticks that they pick up on the trail that proves that they rode the trail. We had them and he wanted a few. I laughed and told him no such luck. He wasn’t getting out that easy.
So we just wandered around a bit making a few new friends and catching up with old ones. It was fun. About 9:00pm we headed out to get some food and get back to Joe’s. We had an hours ride back to Detour and an early morning so we needed food and sleep.
Friday aka D-day (Drummond day)
We woke up early, around 7:00am, and got our gear together. We had to be on the ferry by 8:30am. We had the sticks and had to get to the checks before the 1st riders came thru. They were told that the 8:40 ferry is the 1st one so we were good. We stopped by the school parking lot in Detour were the riders were parking so they could ride across on the ferry. There were a few folk there. So we stopped to chat and give a few pointers. It was fun giving them pointers about the route and mileage that they would see. I felt very helpful. We headed over to the ferry around 8:20 and got right on. I looked in my mirror and there was WRooster behind me. I steped out and chatted a bit with him as well as take a few photo’s.
photo #1
photo #2
photo #3
Once off the Ferry Jim and I made a bee line in the truck to put up the checks. I noticed Jim following me instead of the arrowing. I pulled over and sure enough he didn’t know were he was going. I redirected him and fended off another attempt to get some check sticks and we were off again. Once the Marks were up at 14 and 15 we ran over to the actual staging area at 13. We had seen some riders heading that way and wanted to get the feel for what they were doing. The kids ride was also going to meet at 13 so I wanted to figure out what they were up to.
On the road back to the Ferry I stopped at the gas stop to talk to Wrooster. He was waiting for his brother in law who was at 13 getting ready. Wrooster’s wife was dropping him off at the store and going sight seeing while he rode.
We got back to the ferry and settled in for a little wait. The riders were told that the 10:40 ferry was the last one for them and we would be taking the marks down shortly after. I got a call on the FRS radio I had and Joe informed me from the mainland that the last group was on the ferry that was docking. I grabbed my camera and snapped off a few shots as they rode off.
photo #1
photo #2
photo #3
photo #4
photo #5
We started taking the arrows off on the road in. We stoped to get one and noticed 2 bikes on the side of the road. They were part of the kids ride and were running late. We gave them the run down on were they should be and sent them off. They were pretty gratefull that we knew what was going on. Continuing on we came to the 4 corners gas station and there were a large group of riders there. Someone had a flat and I cought this fella there helping fix it. Go figure.
photo #1
photo #2
A few coments were said about were is Ferdette for a contest when you need him.
One of the guys walked up and asked “are you yzman?” He knew I was doing sweep and figured out who I was. I cant remember if he is a DRN guy or a TT’r. Sorry I am not good with names. Once we chased them out we continued taking markes off up to #2 from the Ranger. We headed to the Gas stop down the road and unloaded the bikes. Here is were the fun begins.
Oh I forgot to mention that it was raining lightly from the moment we woke up Friday. It was supposed to let up by mid morning but it was still looking gloomy. If the rain did stop it would be good as it was dusty the day before and a little rain would help.
At #2 a few riders snuck in front of us. They just made it and scurried off down the trail. Jim and I took turns sling shoting past each other when one stopped for a mark. It was a nice easy pace and we were making good time. We came up on 2 riders, a guy and his wife. She had dumped her bike and was picking it up. We waited for them to get settled and gave some milage to the end for them for some encouragement. Only bad thing is I reset my ODO at the gas stop and not at #2 so my milage was off by about 2-1/2 miles. Oops. I told them they had 1-1/2 miles to go. 1-1/2….3-1/2 whats the diff…..lol
We continued on and got almost to #14 when I came apon Jim and his bike next to a tree. I thought he was just getting a mark but he was 90 deg to the trail. Then I noticed the big divot of bark missing from the tree next to him. I was like “Jim are you alright” I think he came back with something like “I can hear the bells”. He got thrown into the tree. Luckily the bike hit and not him he was fine. From there we hit #14 and down the road. Up to this point the trail had been incredible. Very little dust or mud. Just great traction. We zipped down to #13 to check what was going on. There were a few folk there. We asked what they were doing. Most were part of the kids ride and not part of our program. They were on a diff guided tour than what we were working on. They did mention that one of the adults on the kids ride had broken his arm and was on his way to the hospital in Cheboygan.
We headed down the road to the gas stop on;y to be met with heavy rain. Lovely. This is gonna suck. We got to the stop and there was Joe and Pat hanging out at Chucks place having lunch. We went in and got a bite to eat, on the CCC of coarse. By now it was really raining. This is really gonna suck. But we waited for a lul in the rain and geared up and headed out. The 2 miles of paved road in the rain really sucked. I had to grit my teath to keep them from chattering. But when we got neat the drop in at #14 for the 2nd loop it hadent even rained there. Strange. Joe and pat ran road sweep in the truck for us. This helped as we only had to worry about the trails at this point.
We swept from 14 to 15 to 11 to 9 to 10 to 17 were Joe was waiting. He commented that he was surprised how close the trail was to the road as he could hear us. He could even hear us talking at one point. He thought it was strange that we would talk as we rode. I explained to him that I wasn’t ridding and talking. I was laying on the ground and talking. Darn tree roots anyways. We unloaded all our marked and headed in at 17. When we got near to 20 I spotted another rider. I was like great we are gonna me trailing this guy all day. It was also around there that sweat started running into my eyes and burning bad. We popped out at 20 and Joe was gone. Pat said that he was gonna help and sweep 20 to 21. Good cause that was a nasty section. Joe would latter regret doing that. As we cleaned goggles and chatted with Pat a few bikes rolled by. Ahhhh sweet 2 stoke smoke.
Just as we headed out to #19 it started to rain. HARD. The cold icy fingers as the cold rain invaded my crotch was most unwelcome. We were soaked in the 1 mile to #19. We dove in there and fought our way on. The rain was a downpour. The rocks and roots were positively greasy. You couldn’t even think of using the throttle for fear of sliding out. Jim had to ditch his goggles early cause they were fogged up. My anti fog progrips faired slightly better but I finally had to loose them also. This is were things got really difficult for me. I really didn’t want to ride without goggles but I had no choice. The rain was weighting the leafy branches down low. They would slap you right in the face. I wear contacts. A wet leave slap can easily float a lens outta my eye. Only way to avoid this is to put your head down and close your eyes when you go thru the tree branch. Not a very safe way to ride in this sloppy rocky terrain. By this point The SDOM riders were probably done. They either missed the rain or cough very little of it. I couldn’t help thinking that I would of loved to take a few of them thru with us. This rainy slop is the Drummond I know. And I was loving it. I may not have admited it at the time but it was a riot.
At one point I pulled up next to a tree to grab a mark. Hey there aint no ground under my foot. Slamo, down I go. Handguard has some personality don’t it.
ouch #1
ouch #2
Somewere in here I remember turning my damper up like 3 clicks to try to keep the wheel under me. It didn’t work. I hit a slimy offcamber log and slamo down I went before I could even blink.
I came around another corner to see Jim hitting a offcamber log and slamo down he went over the bars. I skidded to a stop laughing my butt off. You notice a theme forming here. We were having a blast. But out energy was going away fast. Joe was going to meet us at 27 and sweep the road while we rode back to the truck. But to our surprise we beet him there. He showed up minutes latter. He was suprised and happy to see us. He was thinking that we were really gonna struggle in there, which we were, and that he was gonna have to unload his bike and come in looking for us.
We made the slow, long, wet ride down the paved road to our truck. Man that was cold. We loaded up, changed and headed to the Ferry. Once back on the mainland we invaded Scotty’s hotel room for a few hot showers and hit the Villager restraint bar for some appetizers and…..beverages….compliment of the CCC. We told tales of the days ride. Scotty about the dual sport sweep he did with Lost in the woods Dave and us on the island. It was a riot. Scotty told a tale about how some riders came up to him asking were they were. Scotty pulled out his map looked at Dave and asked were are we? Dave strikes again. The locals at that bar are the cream of the crop. I love that place. I will be back in that bar for sure. Joe seems to be pretty well known there. Strange……
Well that is pretty much it. Sorry I didn’t take too many photo’s.I was having too much fun to stop. Joe was really happy with the help he got from all of us. In past years he had got no help or lousy help. This is the 1st year that he really didn’t have to do anything. I think he felt like he should be doing something. But we had it under control. Kinda like the changing of the guard. But with us taking care of the ridding part he was able to drive around and make sure that everyone was doing ok and on the right trails.
Joe heard comments like the best marked trails of the 6 days. That is nice to hear that we put on a good event. It was really gratifying being able to answer peoples questions and help them out when needed. I really enjoyed it. I will be back to do this again.
I had such a good time at the Six Days of Michigan. I didn’t ride the event I helped work part of it. I was up there for day 5 at Drummond Island. The West Michigan Trail Riders were hosting the 60 mile ride on the island as well as a 180 mile dual sport ride from St Ignace to Detour. We had our work cut out for us. This years crew consisted of trail boss Joe Daugherty, Scotty Chaffie, Jim Cmore, and me. Joe rides a 520 KTM, Scotty is on a 450 KTM, Jim is sporting a WR426, and I had Skippy (CRF250X)
For Jim and I this was our 1st time helping with the 6 days. We are thinking of ridding the event next year so this is a good preview of what we are in for. Scotty has been helping Joe with the 6 days since like 1990 I believe.
Wednsday night.
So anyway. Jim and I got up to Joe’s place at Detour around 9:00pm Wednesday night We set up our tent and settled in around the campfire to get the rundown from Joe on the next 2 days activities. Thursday Jim and I were going over to the island to pre-ride the entire event and make sure that all the marks were still up and there was no questionable areas were people would get lost. Joe and Scotty were going to go over the dual sport portion and check that over. We all then hit the hay in preparation for a big day ahead. I gotta tell ya, camping at Joe’s place is awesome. His summer place is right on lake Huron. As I laid in my tent I could hear loon’s singing and the waves lapping up on the beech all while a cool breeze blows thru the tent. Does it get any better.
Thursday morning
After a great breakfast by Pat, Joe’s wife, Jim and I loaded our bikes into the back of my truck and headed for the island. It saves money by putting the bikes in the truck and not bringing the trailer across the ferry. We had to check out not only the trail marking but the road leading up to the trail head. There were 4 guys that went over to the island about 2 weeks ago to mark the island so that was done already. We were just getting all the last minute stuff done.
Here is a map of the trails on the island.
map link
There are 2 loops that we were running them on. The 1st loop ran from #2 to 1 to 4 to 5a to 7 to 6a to 6 to 11a to 12 to 14 and out. That amounts to about 14.5 miles of trail and would take most around 1-1-1/2 hours to ride.
There is a gas stop about 2 miles down the road west of #2. That was to be our half way stop and lunch break. The country store was aware of the riders coming thru and had made special preparations for them. Very nice of them.
From there the 2nd loop heads back in at 14 and went 14, 15, 11, 9, 10, 17, 19a, 20, 21 back east down Sheep Ranch road to 19, 18, 25, 25a, and finish at 27. This amounted to around 17 miles and took us around 2-1/2 hours to get thru. You may be thinking 2-1/2 hours to ride 17 miles, man you guys are slow. Well if you have never rode the island before you are welcome to try it. You will find that our pace is about the norm for the conditions.
So anyway Jim and I stopped at the store and explained to them what we were doing there and for permission to leave our truck there as we pre-rode the island. We geared up and headed down the road to #2. Neither Jim or I are plated. But from what I understand that doesn’t matter in that county. As long as you are not on any highways its not a problem. Nice. They should adopt that rule around here. Once in the trail we were greeted by 2 nice big slimy mud holes. Might as well dive in and get it over, this is Drummond after all and this is probably only the start of the mud. But to our surprise this is pretty much the end of the mud. The trail was in beautiful shape. Well good for Drummond anyways. It’s a nasty little Rock of and island to ride anytime. The lack of mud is just a plus. This loop went by pretty fast and was marked very well. This is my favorite section of trail to ride. Lots of great single track and a few 2 tracks to let you wind down a little. It started to get hot outside while we were on this loop. The only way to stay cool is to stay ridding. Which isn’t the easiest thing to do considering how hard you have to work to get thru the trail. It’s a tough balancing act for sure.
After a break at the corner store and refueling we headed back out to 14 and dove in. This loop was a little worse than the other. And we expected that. A few notable sections in here were 20 to 21 and the killing fields. 20 to 21 is just plain nasty. Lots and lots and lots of rocks, roots, skider tracks, and uneven bumpy terrain make getting into any kind of groove impossible. We came out of there beat up and sweating profusely. The other section called the killing fields is aptly named cause you are ridding thru large grassy fields. The grass is waist deep and the trail is about 12” wide. Sounds nice doesn’t. The killing part comes into play cause 1” of the trail and hidden by the grass is large boulders, rocks, and stumps. Its ugly, Really ugly. In other sections of the trail you can see were riders have taken alternate lines, but not here. Everyone stays on the trail, or else. But staying on the trail isn’t all that easy cause on the trail are rocks that try to throw you off the trail. Fun stuff.
We did come across a few quaders that were doing trail maintance out there. We stopped and chatted with them and explained what were doing so they wouldn’t be taking down any of our marks. You would think that they would be aware of the 6 days coming thru but they weren’t. We did find some sections were there were marks down and the trail had actually been blocked re-routed from were it should be. We fixed these sections and remarked as needed.
Eventually we pop’d out at 27 and headed back. Overall the trails and marking were in excellent shape. There really wasn’t much that we needed to do except ride hard and have a great time. Which we did for sure. Skippy performed flawlessly. The Scotts Dampner was a godsend.
We jumped back on the ferry and hit Joes place at 5:00pm. Joe had already left for Mackinaw City for the riders meeting. Jim and I jumped into lake Huron to clean up and headed off after them. When we got to the campground I really didn’t expect to see anyone I would know. But there was a friend of mine from thumpertalk walking down the road. We stopped to talk. I looked in my mirror and here comes Chris Huber driving in. I waved at him as he drove by. Then just as I was taking off again there goes “Lost in the woods” Dave ridding by on his Peddle bike. Jeff Ferdette had named Dave a few years back after Dave got a group lost. Dave also proved his name to us as he got us lost in Colorado a few years back.
So anyways we found the riders meeting. As we drove in Bill Chapin started giving us some grief about being registered. I explained to him that we were the sweep crew and he lightened up a little and let us by, what a prick. We found Joe and gave him a trail report from the days ride. When the meeting started Joe went up and told the crew what they were in for and the conditions of the trail. Some were a little skeptical after last years ride. It had been a mud fest. But Joe assured them that it was relatively dry. One guy not believing him asked how current is your information and Joe informed him about 2 hours ago. That seemed to shut the guy up. Lol.
As I looked around I saw a few familiar faces as well as a few TT members that I think I knew. After the meeting I walked up to a chap and sure enough it was Wrooster. We chatted a bit and he wandered of to fix his bike (steering was a little tweaked from a tree incursion earlier in the day.) It was funny, they have colored pop sickle sticks that they pick up on the trail that proves that they rode the trail. We had them and he wanted a few. I laughed and told him no such luck. He wasn’t getting out that easy.
So we just wandered around a bit making a few new friends and catching up with old ones. It was fun. About 9:00pm we headed out to get some food and get back to Joe’s. We had an hours ride back to Detour and an early morning so we needed food and sleep.
Friday aka D-day (Drummond day)
We woke up early, around 7:00am, and got our gear together. We had to be on the ferry by 8:30am. We had the sticks and had to get to the checks before the 1st riders came thru. They were told that the 8:40 ferry is the 1st one so we were good. We stopped by the school parking lot in Detour were the riders were parking so they could ride across on the ferry. There were a few folk there. So we stopped to chat and give a few pointers. It was fun giving them pointers about the route and mileage that they would see. I felt very helpful. We headed over to the ferry around 8:20 and got right on. I looked in my mirror and there was WRooster behind me. I steped out and chatted a bit with him as well as take a few photo’s.
photo #1
photo #2
photo #3
Once off the Ferry Jim and I made a bee line in the truck to put up the checks. I noticed Jim following me instead of the arrowing. I pulled over and sure enough he didn’t know were he was going. I redirected him and fended off another attempt to get some check sticks and we were off again. Once the Marks were up at 14 and 15 we ran over to the actual staging area at 13. We had seen some riders heading that way and wanted to get the feel for what they were doing. The kids ride was also going to meet at 13 so I wanted to figure out what they were up to.
On the road back to the Ferry I stopped at the gas stop to talk to Wrooster. He was waiting for his brother in law who was at 13 getting ready. Wrooster’s wife was dropping him off at the store and going sight seeing while he rode.
We got back to the ferry and settled in for a little wait. The riders were told that the 10:40 ferry was the last one for them and we would be taking the marks down shortly after. I got a call on the FRS radio I had and Joe informed me from the mainland that the last group was on the ferry that was docking. I grabbed my camera and snapped off a few shots as they rode off.
photo #1
photo #2
photo #3
photo #4
photo #5
We started taking the arrows off on the road in. We stoped to get one and noticed 2 bikes on the side of the road. They were part of the kids ride and were running late. We gave them the run down on were they should be and sent them off. They were pretty gratefull that we knew what was going on. Continuing on we came to the 4 corners gas station and there were a large group of riders there. Someone had a flat and I cought this fella there helping fix it. Go figure.
photo #1
photo #2
A few coments were said about were is Ferdette for a contest when you need him.
One of the guys walked up and asked “are you yzman?” He knew I was doing sweep and figured out who I was. I cant remember if he is a DRN guy or a TT’r. Sorry I am not good with names. Once we chased them out we continued taking markes off up to #2 from the Ranger. We headed to the Gas stop down the road and unloaded the bikes. Here is were the fun begins.
Oh I forgot to mention that it was raining lightly from the moment we woke up Friday. It was supposed to let up by mid morning but it was still looking gloomy. If the rain did stop it would be good as it was dusty the day before and a little rain would help.
At #2 a few riders snuck in front of us. They just made it and scurried off down the trail. Jim and I took turns sling shoting past each other when one stopped for a mark. It was a nice easy pace and we were making good time. We came up on 2 riders, a guy and his wife. She had dumped her bike and was picking it up. We waited for them to get settled and gave some milage to the end for them for some encouragement. Only bad thing is I reset my ODO at the gas stop and not at #2 so my milage was off by about 2-1/2 miles. Oops. I told them they had 1-1/2 miles to go. 1-1/2….3-1/2 whats the diff…..lol
We continued on and got almost to #14 when I came apon Jim and his bike next to a tree. I thought he was just getting a mark but he was 90 deg to the trail. Then I noticed the big divot of bark missing from the tree next to him. I was like “Jim are you alright” I think he came back with something like “I can hear the bells”. He got thrown into the tree. Luckily the bike hit and not him he was fine. From there we hit #14 and down the road. Up to this point the trail had been incredible. Very little dust or mud. Just great traction. We zipped down to #13 to check what was going on. There were a few folk there. We asked what they were doing. Most were part of the kids ride and not part of our program. They were on a diff guided tour than what we were working on. They did mention that one of the adults on the kids ride had broken his arm and was on his way to the hospital in Cheboygan.
We headed down the road to the gas stop on;y to be met with heavy rain. Lovely. This is gonna suck. We got to the stop and there was Joe and Pat hanging out at Chucks place having lunch. We went in and got a bite to eat, on the CCC of coarse. By now it was really raining. This is really gonna suck. But we waited for a lul in the rain and geared up and headed out. The 2 miles of paved road in the rain really sucked. I had to grit my teath to keep them from chattering. But when we got neat the drop in at #14 for the 2nd loop it hadent even rained there. Strange. Joe and pat ran road sweep in the truck for us. This helped as we only had to worry about the trails at this point.
We swept from 14 to 15 to 11 to 9 to 10 to 17 were Joe was waiting. He commented that he was surprised how close the trail was to the road as he could hear us. He could even hear us talking at one point. He thought it was strange that we would talk as we rode. I explained to him that I wasn’t ridding and talking. I was laying on the ground and talking. Darn tree roots anyways. We unloaded all our marked and headed in at 17. When we got near to 20 I spotted another rider. I was like great we are gonna me trailing this guy all day. It was also around there that sweat started running into my eyes and burning bad. We popped out at 20 and Joe was gone. Pat said that he was gonna help and sweep 20 to 21. Good cause that was a nasty section. Joe would latter regret doing that. As we cleaned goggles and chatted with Pat a few bikes rolled by. Ahhhh sweet 2 stoke smoke.
Just as we headed out to #19 it started to rain. HARD. The cold icy fingers as the cold rain invaded my crotch was most unwelcome. We were soaked in the 1 mile to #19. We dove in there and fought our way on. The rain was a downpour. The rocks and roots were positively greasy. You couldn’t even think of using the throttle for fear of sliding out. Jim had to ditch his goggles early cause they were fogged up. My anti fog progrips faired slightly better but I finally had to loose them also. This is were things got really difficult for me. I really didn’t want to ride without goggles but I had no choice. The rain was weighting the leafy branches down low. They would slap you right in the face. I wear contacts. A wet leave slap can easily float a lens outta my eye. Only way to avoid this is to put your head down and close your eyes when you go thru the tree branch. Not a very safe way to ride in this sloppy rocky terrain. By this point The SDOM riders were probably done. They either missed the rain or cough very little of it. I couldn’t help thinking that I would of loved to take a few of them thru with us. This rainy slop is the Drummond I know. And I was loving it. I may not have admited it at the time but it was a riot.
At one point I pulled up next to a tree to grab a mark. Hey there aint no ground under my foot. Slamo, down I go. Handguard has some personality don’t it.
ouch #1
ouch #2
Somewere in here I remember turning my damper up like 3 clicks to try to keep the wheel under me. It didn’t work. I hit a slimy offcamber log and slamo down I went before I could even blink.
I came around another corner to see Jim hitting a offcamber log and slamo down he went over the bars. I skidded to a stop laughing my butt off. You notice a theme forming here. We were having a blast. But out energy was going away fast. Joe was going to meet us at 27 and sweep the road while we rode back to the truck. But to our surprise we beet him there. He showed up minutes latter. He was suprised and happy to see us. He was thinking that we were really gonna struggle in there, which we were, and that he was gonna have to unload his bike and come in looking for us.
We made the slow, long, wet ride down the paved road to our truck. Man that was cold. We loaded up, changed and headed to the Ferry. Once back on the mainland we invaded Scotty’s hotel room for a few hot showers and hit the Villager restraint bar for some appetizers and…..beverages….compliment of the CCC. We told tales of the days ride. Scotty about the dual sport sweep he did with Lost in the woods Dave and us on the island. It was a riot. Scotty told a tale about how some riders came up to him asking were they were. Scotty pulled out his map looked at Dave and asked were are we? Dave strikes again. The locals at that bar are the cream of the crop. I love that place. I will be back in that bar for sure. Joe seems to be pretty well known there. Strange……
Well that is pretty much it. Sorry I didn’t take too many photo’s.I was having too much fun to stop. Joe was really happy with the help he got from all of us. In past years he had got no help or lousy help. This is the 1st year that he really didn’t have to do anything. I think he felt like he should be doing something. But we had it under control. Kinda like the changing of the guard. But with us taking care of the ridding part he was able to drive around and make sure that everyone was doing ok and on the right trails.
Joe heard comments like the best marked trails of the 6 days. That is nice to hear that we put on a good event. It was really gratifying being able to answer peoples questions and help them out when needed. I really enjoyed it. I will be back to do this again.
