DYDR '06 Spring Ride

[CaptainObvious]

Another great DYDR gathering. Non-stop laughter at the campsite Friday night and just a great ride on Saturday. Once again we learn much about each other around the campfire. For instance, a bike should never be rested on its side in the dirt for service (ala Rooster). JasonJ told a ½ hour story about the “Dollar Store” that included a 3-second reference to said Dollar Store. An awesome story - as all of Jason’s stories are. I just hate having to go to bed when I camp with this group, you’re bound to miss-out on a great story.

Saturday we woke to a perfect day for riding. My day didn’t start too well though.

After warming up my bike I checked the oil. The dipstick was dry. That’s strange, I just serviced the bike and there wasn’t oil all over my garage floor. Maybe I mis-measured?

So I add 4 oz, restart the motor (which appears to be running fine) and recheck. The dipstick is still dry. Add 4 more ounces, then 4 more, then another 4. I add a full quart of oil and the dipstick is STILL dry. Houston, we have a problem.

So, as usual, it’s DRN’ers to the rescue. “Maybe the oil filter is clogged or not installed correctly, causing a flow problem?” A good assumption. We lay the bike on its side, in the dirt…

Opps, can do that! Rooster offers the ramp to his trailer as a service bay.

The oil filter is clean and installed correctly. Next idea?

It was suggested by RM_Guy that we remove an oil line to see if there is oil pressure. I sure hope there is because I’ve had the engine running for 10 minutes this very morning. Rooster removes the bolt in the head that is next to the oil feed line to the head. If my oil pump is bad, we shouldn’t see any oil flow. I start the engine and oil shoots-out the hole. Good thing. So where what’s up here? Don’t know and don’t care, the bike isn’t getting ridden today. I load it back up onto my pick-up and say “have a good ride guys, I’m going home”

Then Rooster says the most magnificent words I have ever heard in all of my life…

“Why don’t you ride my spare bike?”

Rooster, brought TWO bikes. He offers me his YZ250 for the day while he rides his WR250F. I said “great”, “thank you”, “that’s awesome”, “wow”…you get the idea. But even better, he then offers me a choice! I said something like, “well, every time I ride a YZ250 I crash it” and he said ”OK, so you’ll be riding a WR250F today”. Even better.

So we hit the trails. I’d love to give a ride report, but we covered just too much ground. It was just a perfect ride. Moreover, I just loved the WR. A much better woods-weapon than my YZ250F, which has a great suspension – for an MX track.

In the end, I had a better day because of an oil problem. I was thinking about a new aluminum-framed YZ250F in the fall, but I might keep the YZ-F and buy a new WR. It was just that good.

Rooster, once again, thanks for the ride.

I had to leave after lunch for some family stuff, but it was OK. I rode so hard in the morning that I just didn’t have anything left in me. I was glad to be going home early. I got a full-day ride in. I was able to ride much harder on the WR than I could ever dream of on the YZ.

On the way home I stopped-off at a bike shop that I use, RRP. I explained my problem, and the mechanic seemed a bit stumped. We started it up and sure enough, it still showed a dry dipstick. He said, take it for a short ride. In 20 feet it started spewing oil from the overfull line. So it did have oil in it. He seemed a bit stumped. I’ll find-out next week what it was and report back here.

 

[sick 96 250]

great write up :cool: It def was a great time and an interesting night with the stories around the fire. Jason's story about the dollar store had me laughing still the next day over how long it took to tell, the pink bike with flat tires and the fact the dollar store played a 5 sec part of the whole thing. At one point everyone was off track because no one knew where he was going with the story. If i also recall I remember Rooster meeting the ground face to face, then squeaks joining him :rotfl:

The day was perfect for riding on Sat, a little hot but still and all around awesome time, me and my buddy basically just broke away from the group and decided we were going to go get lost. I also learned that I tend to not crash, foul plugs and ride pretty good when i'm not grouped up, not one crash out of me or a fouled plug, i think i have seen the light. I guess i tend to worry to much about who's in front :coocoo: At one point we were kinda lost and had a general idea where we needed to go then all of a sudden 10 dirt bike riders come out of nowhere, sweet we just ran into the DYDR guys that went out and now they can lead us back to the parking lot. We had lunch then set out again although not as aggressive this time around. Overall it was one of the best rides I have had yet, got muddy as he!! although it did seem like a small group showed up for camping but it still turned out awesome.

CO, that stinks about your bike and hopefully its an easy solution to fix, that bike was to nice for it not to get dirty, i dont even think the dust in the parking lot stuck to it :laugh:

Till next time, everyone ride safe and have fun, see ya'll at the next Paragon trip. I remember someone saying the fall ride was in Feb? :nener:

 

[JasonJ]

Super Splendiferous weekend of riding and camping with really some of the coolest bunch of people you want to meet this side of the moon. First off, no one hurt, no bikes broke. Even CA’s oil issues seemed to work out for the better thanks to Rooster and the cosmic circumstances that caused him to fail to sell his trusty thrust master YZ witch he now seems to have a new love affair with. The weather was great, yeah it was hot, I mean when we stopped riding, I felt woozy hot. I could barley shove down a hot dog and lunch on Saturday, and I likea da hot dogs! My only regrets Saturday were I did not get a chance to ride with everyone. We just seemed to keep missing Dave RS and Scooter all day and they were only there one day and they don’t camp out with us because PK snores so bad,,,,,,, and something about an odor,,,, I don’t know. The camping was totally awesome despite the relatively small group the stories are just to die for. Even on Sat night when it looked like only 6 tired riders might turn in early, a fresh and always boisterous Trigger man rolls in with nectarines, corn and some fresh stories to keep it interesting! Dude slept on top of his trailer still attached to that ridicules small car he pulls it with! That was a Kodak moment!
Riding wise we did it all. I set out with RM guy and CRF guy and had some nice warm up time and pausing after a section of single-track RM guy’s combustion convoy calibrated ear herd the rest of the group off in the distance. Sure enough we were then joined. We had a nice big group for a while as we rode more single track and then started mixing it up. We found riders that had got separated and we more or less rolled in for lunch as one bike group. Man I was tired, hot and beat. But an hour in the shade and some cold drinks and I was ready to roll. We rolled out in smaller groups after lunch and it was very cool since me RM guy and CRF guy had a nice quick pace we all felt comfortable with and we covered a lot of ground and trails. We would keep running into DRN riders and hooking up and considering the size of the park that is quite a cool thing! I had made some major setting changes to my WR fork considering the problems I was having after replacing fork seals this year and I went back to the basic settings I had written down in the back of my manual when I was happy with the bike. Well, what a difference! I really got happy with the bike and was not in fear for my life anymore despite my more than tired (tires). Man what a difference a few clicks can make in the bike, and what a difference in your speed, riding, and comfort level when you’re not fighting the bike all day.
Sunday riding was just as fun. We had a smaller group and we all headed out together except for Sq and Rooter who broke out on a newly-weds ride. Unfortunately we had no major agenda for the morning so when PK shrugged his shoulders and gestured for me to take the lead, I just started riding. I have been all over Paragon but I do NOT know trail names, numbers, colors, or any of that junk, I just go That A Way. Well that a way shortly had us descending Sleepy Hollow hill, down in a rocky Ravine, then climbing up what we later determined was Hummer hill. I knew we were pushing most of the guys pretty hard when I passed PK who just needed to take a time out on the hill. I got to the top to find CR Dave and I were quite alone. Seems the rest of the crew passed PK only to create their own logjam further up the steep switch back slopes. There was quite a battle going on down there but there was no way we were walking down that monster hill in the heat only to have to walk back up! We just yelled to make sure all were ok. It’s a long way to the top if you want to Rock and Roll in the heat and you’re picking your bike up or even stopping on this monster! I think we found a new Howie hill to make men out of new Paragon riders! One by one the battered bikers trickled to the top hot and haggard. PK decided to make a new line straight up the hill and that was fine but his line happened to run directly between where CR Dave and I were standing! Trigger seems to have thought He would be able to climb the hill much better if he laid his bike over and dumped some gas out. Only problem was the gas went on his pants which set his loins ablaze in irritating prompting him to drop trough on top of the hill and soak himself with his camel back to relive the dry, itchy, burning sensation :moon: . That’s a good picture! Get some Mono-stat man! Hummer hill shall now forth be called, Broke Back Mt! My buddy NRB was making good progress up the hill when he happened upon the dead and dying DRNers and wisely deiced to route around the hill. We started out to look for him and decided to search a few new sections of single track to find him :) . Turns out he was not waiting for us there. He could however here us working the woods so it did not take him to long to find us. We made our way to the mine shaft aka the red neck AC and after about 10 mins we were actually chilly in the 90+ degree humid heat. We started heading in and blasted a few more trails on the way in at just about noon. We racked em up and packed em up and said our good byes. And rolled home. Dam I wish the AC in the Van worked, Dam I wish I didn’t have the driver side window taped closed. Dam I wish my Van was not black. Did I mention it was hot!

 

[sick 96 250]

I didnt realize trigger was going up sat night untill i passed him on 309 for the way home, gave a few honks while he was walking away from his car going into some place at the top of a long long uphill. I figured he was prob getting antifreeze or something to keep his car from overheating. That sleepy hollow hill, I think thats where PK led us to go to the mine shaft and I just denied that request and I set off a different way, that boulder of a downhill is something you dont do as a last ride in my book.

Jason, i was wondering if you were going to make it with the heat and your van, i noticed that sweet tape job you did on your driver side window, at least the moto guy on your hood had a good breeze :rotfl: You fix that plane yet as well? Now that was funny, two crash landings into the ground then once its up and flying you hit a telephone pole, what are the chances :laugh:

 

[RM_guy]

Man, I had a fantastic time...even though I was the only one there Friday. No problem though, I hooked up with some great families and rode all day.

I wish I could have stayed for Sunday, for anything to have seen Mike camped out on his trailer!! Jason, and CRFguy and I had a steller day riding Saturday. 34 miles in all with some nice high speed stuff at the end. ...and I did make it up Howie hill OK :)

As usual it was great to see everyone again. Too bad I didn't gte a chance to ride with everyone but at least we were able to hook up for lunch. I look forward to the next one!!

Well I gotta go. There's some stuff I need to pick up at the dollar store!

 

[biglou]

We need more pictures!

 

[squeaky]

What a fabulous weekend! Rooster and I left Little Rhody at 9 a.m. Friday morning to arrive at Red Ridge at 3 p.m.; we had a nice, leisurely drive with little to no traffic.

We had a bit of confusion with the woman running Red Ridge, she couldn’t seem to find a reservation under Dirtrider.net or Dave Howe, and she also seemed to have a strange agenda with mixing the “Jeepaholics” with the dirtbikes…so she put us in a different camp site than usual. But, it worked out really well since PK, Dave, and Rob showed up in the “Sissymobile” complete with heat, a/c, and a microwave, and our new campsite had electric and water hook-ups.

Great times around the fire Friday night. Jason’s story about the dollar store was classic, especially the part about the pink and purple little girls Huffy bicycle…and the “Pump 4 I can see you’re pumping gas, but what are you pumping it into??” I am still laughing about that!

Woke up Saturday morning to a BEAUTIFULLY sunny day. Got to the park, geared up, and while the “men” worked on Gary’s bike, Dave and I took off on a little warm up loop, which was great for me, since I always need a good warm up. We then met up with the rest of the group and rode some really great new trails and some single track, some of which I wasn’t too fond of. We broke for lunch, then Rooster and I took off on our own for the afternoon. All in all we logged 35 miles on Saturday, which is great!

Saturday night was pretty uneventful, until Trigger showed up towing his bike with his little Ford Aspire! That cracks me up every time I see it! Him and Jason start roasting his “closed corn” over the fire, and then decide it’s too hot when they pick it up off the fire so they throw it in the cooler with the cans of Schmidt’s beer! Great times every time we all get together! I wish we could do it more often!

Sunday was another great day. Rooster and I were packed up and headed to Paragon before 8:30; we were really motivated to get a couple of good hours of riding in before we had to head home. So we got to Paragon, geared up, and we hit the trails by 9 a.m. we were ALL over the place! It was so awesome! We headed to the play area for a bit of a warm up, then Roo took me to that ridge trail that overlooks the play area. That was high up, and scary! He played around on some of the hill climbs while I made my way back down the trail into the play area. Then he decides it’s time for Squeaky to conquer Turtle Hill, going DOWN. :yikes: Well, I did it! I took the advice from everyone about going down hill. I get my bike into first, I let out the clutch, I keep my hands off the front brake, I get my weight over the back fender, and down I start to go. I was freakin’ out I was so nervous!!!!!! But I did it, and that’s all that matters. I covered the rear brake, and used it a bit, but for the most part I just let the engine do the work. And I made it down in 6 minutes without stalling, tipping, crashing, or falling. What a rush! We then headed down to the mine shaft and cooled off there for a bit, then continued on our way. We logged 23 more miles in 2 hours. We were flying! It was awesome! I haven’t ridden this well ever! We found ourselves on a trail that we thought was a triple green, but we either read the trail marker wrong or went the wrong way because it was nothing but a rock garden the whole way. But we both, as tired as we were, managed to tackle the trail get back out to Hall Road and make it back to the parking area by 11. We were packed up and ready to go by noon. We got home around 6 p.m. last night, completely exhausted and unmotivated.

All in all we had a great weekend and are totally looking forward to doing it again! Maybe we could plan another group ride in late August or something!

 

[Papakeith]

DYDR spring ride 06

We arrived at the campground late Friday night. We had been delayed by a blown camper tire and lack of a lug wrench (tire iron for squeaky). DRock, Unplugged, and I were greeted by the usual crew: Sick_96 (what the heck is your friends name again?), CO, Rooster, Squeaky, JasonJ, and RM_guy. I think there may have been one or two others, but I was busy setting up camp and popping the top on a daddy-pop.

Once I was settled around the fire Squeaky came over and handed me a card. “I have to give this to you now. Happy Father's Day!”
I opened up the envelope and read the card. I was happy that she had though enough of me to even get me a card. But, when I opened it up there was a wad of cash staring up at me. Oddly enough, it was enough cash to pay for my riding fees for the weekend :yeehaw: Tell me. . . How fricken cool is that?!!! Sammy and Roo, Thank you!

(Sappy moment. Scroll down a bit if you don’t wanna read it)
Thankfully it was dark and the rest of the crew couldn’t see the tears welling up in my eyes (yes, I’m sappy like that). Then I got a nice hug from her and we went back to the merriment of the evening. Seeing the woman that Sam has become makes me prouder than any man has a right to be.

On to Saturday.

The RI contingent was a bit rusty since it’s been raining up our way since mmmmm February? If I had to guess, I’d say that not one of us had thrown a leg over our bikes in almost two months. It only took a few bobbles and we mostly shook off the rust and were back into some sort of decent riding form.
The shining moment of the morning ride was watching squeaks attack a downhill without hesitation. No, that’s not right. That was a bright spot for sure, but the crowning achievement was watching her ride into a rock garden with authority. She picked her line and rode straight at the two foot tall rock in front of her. That was just the beginning. That rock was followed by three more pointed rocks spaced far enough apart to swallow her front tire if she let off the gas. Well, she stayed on the gas and just rode from point to point until the rocks gave up and let her get back down to the dirt :aj: . I have never, I mean never seen her ride with that level of confidence. It was pretty sweet to see.

After our morning ride and lunch break, we headed out for some more adventures. We made it as far as the play area before Dave (DRock) laid his bike down and started grabbing his wrist. He was cramping up. His arm was all locked up and his fingers were either splayed out or pulled tight. He should have ended his day right there. But, Dave is not a quitter.

After trying to reason with him for 15 or 20 minutes we gave in and continued the ride. Sick_96 and his buddy showed up and decided to join us for a romp. Our mission: To ride down the mountain and hang out at the mine shaft to cool off. We decided to take nice easy trails and wind our way down. Great plan, right?

You all know the saying; the best laid plans of mice and men. . .

Mistake # 1 Continuing with DRock knowing that he was probably dehydrated or suffering from heat exhaustion; Most likely a combination of both.

Mistake#2 Not consulting a map as much as we probably should
This mistake got us to the top of a large downhill. This downhill has a drop off in the center of it and is strewn with large rock its entire length. We got there by accident. Dave and I both stopped at the top of the hill looking down. We were at the entrance to what we affectionately call Sleepy Hollow. Both Dave and I knew what lay ahead if we went down this path. I knew that Dave was in no condition to take this trail on. Here’s how the conversation went.

I said, “Dave, we are NOT doing this trail today. We’ll hit it tomorrow when you’re fresh!”
Dave said, “What? You want me to go down first? OK.” And down he went.

This brings us to:

Mistake #3 Following Dave (there must be something about the name) Rob (Unplugged) and me dutifully followed Dave down the hill. Once at the bottom we wave to Shawn (sick_96) and friend. Sick’s friend was ready to go down the hill. Sick_96, being the only smart one in the group, thought better of the decent. He and his friend let us know that they would head off on their own. And with that, we were three.
Sleep Hollow is mellower than it used to be. That’s not to say that there aren’t some potential show stoppers, but once the jeep/quad crowd found this area they moved many of the large rocks out of the way to make it easier for them. As hot as I was I wasn’t complaining.

Mistake #4 (a follow up to mistake #2) We had a choice. There was a fork in the road. To the left was a docile rock garden that was presently occupied by Jeeps. To the right was a path I didn’t quite remember that was jeepless. We went right. It wasn’t until I started to enter the path that I noticed the blue three sign at the entrance. Blue three is a whisker shy of Black in trail lingo. We should have gone left. But we continued. Hey, I never claimed we were the brightest riders on the planet! 

This trail was rock garden hell. The trail head consisted of three turns right left right, and then the dirt was replaced by approximately 200 yards of baby head and larger rocks. Gardens like this will stall you out quicker than you can say “LINE!” The only way through is to get your front wheel light, stay on the throttle, and pray. I did just that. I pretty much just held on and went for it. 200 + yards later I found myself back on dirt, amazed that I had just made it through.

Dave followed in short order. He was not well. He stopped, put his head down on the bars and said, “I have no idea how I got through that.” He was a bright shade of red. I was starting to regret letting him continue with this ride. Damn the me.

Rob made it through as well. Rob tends to just hang in the background. He makes it through without any fanfare or fuss. He just keeps going. He’s really become a pretty good rider since I met him.

Anyway, back to the ride. We were getting close to the promised coolness of the mine shaft.

The remainder of this trail isn’t too bad, just more generic roots, rocks, mud, and puddles. We even had a river crossing.

Mistake #5 Not finding out at the outset what is going on in the park.
The trail dumped us out on the bottom of Turtle Trail. Turtle trail is a stones throw away from the mine shaft! We’d made it!

And then we saw the yellow caution tape and the man with a radio.
“Sorry guys, the mine shaft is closed today. We’re having a dedication ceremony for our new water filtration plant.”
“WHAT?” I said. “We just rode through all of that and we can’t go sit in there?.”
“Nope, you have to go that way. And keep it slow, there are pedestrians around here.”
“GGGGAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!” Here we are near exhaustion, a stones throw from the natural air conditioner and we were being turned away. Damn the man!

We had no choice but to carry on. Since we were in no condition to take actual trails, we rode the perimeter roads back to the truck and called it a day. I’m happy to report that Dave, once re-hydrated and cooled, would make a full recovery by later that evening.

My bike took a real beating this weekend. Beaten or not, it never left me stranded. The rear wheel bearings are shot, my tires have many shredded or missing knobs, and my shock sprung a leak.

Note: Dave and Lori were certainly missed. It just didn’t feel the same without them there. Still fun, but different. Before the ride, Lori had posted on the damn Yankee forum telling me to take over the job of leader of the death rides. I think I did OK for my first attempt, even if it was unintentional.

 

[JasonJ]

We need more pictures!

NRB in the Hollow of sleep. Just...... want...... to lay down

 

[JasonJ]

DYDR Caption contest?

 

[JasonJ]

Can you spot the rock in this picture?

 

[JasonJ]

How YOU Doin?

 

[DaveRS575]

Wow...where to begin.....

Me, My buddy Kevin (Grizzly Adams lookin guy who Keith said sounded like someone familiar) Steve (young kid with an 80 over YZ, Mike with the RM and our friend Kid Jonny on Mikes old KDX250 got in late Saturday morning, so we missed everybody except for Scooter. Our timing seemd to be off all but one time with the group as each time we came in, it seemed everyone had just left out or vice versa.

Dan took the four of us out to do the new singletrack for our first ride on Saturday morning, and what a great ride! These are great trails, except for the one section where the singletrack isn't even quite that yet and bark busters were making the trail for the most part! LOL

After lunch on Saturday, we went out on our own and accidently got split into two groups while heading toward the mine shaft (don't ask) Kevin and I ended up going down trail 34 then on to 51...well... If Eugene had been with us, he would have LOVED this trail! We ended up loving it shortly after we finished with it, but not enough to go back the next day and do it again! Very cool trail though, definately some of the roughest, nastiest, rockiest terrain I've ever voluntarily ridden on, that I can say for sure, and I'm definately going to want to do it again!

We did go back on Sunday, I even saw triggers car and trailer there, but again, our timing was just a bit off I guess... It was hotter than the hinges of hell, and all of us got pretty badly sunbured in the parking lot just getting ready, and packing up. We also had some mechanical issues, and a generally rough morning start fo a variety of reasons, like blackberry brandy, tequilla, beer, and only a few hours of restless sleep after a night of debaucherous carrousing the streets of Hazleton looking for a decent place for the young ones to pick up some girls (we didn't find any girls, but did find more than enough alchohol to make us not care anymore), We did then have to contend with Mike's 1991 KDX 250 suddenly start fouling plugs every 30 minutes or so. (Not mine) and made for a slow, "standing around in the hot sun cleaning spark plugs" kind of day but we did manage to go out to the coal dunes and had several hours of awesome riding there, wrapping up and getting out of the park around 3:00 or so.

Sorry to have missed riding with all of you. I was happy to see you, if very briefly the one lunch break. Maybe next time I'll get the guys out a bit earlier to synch up. :cool:

Great ride.... WHEN ARE WE RIDING AGAIN?????

I'm very seriously considering July 4th weekend, since the 4th is a tuesday this year.....

 

[CRFGuy]

Saturday

Had a great time with all you guys as always! Spent the day riding with RMGUY and Jason and we all had a good time seemed like we were all matched pretty good as far as riding types and covered plenty of ground. Jason I'm going to hold you to showing me around the trails outside of Paragon. Just let me know when you can make it and if your Van won't do it or you need a ride that's No Problem either. There's plenty of room on my trailer and I pass right by you in the way to the Hwy.

 

[JasonJ]

and if your Van won't do it or you need a ride that's No Problem either. There's plenty of room on my trailer and I pass right by you in the way to the Hwy.

Man, a free ride to free riding? You throw in a 1/2 used set of tires and a few hot dogs and you tell ME when YOU want go :laugh: ;) :nener: . Did I mention I like hot dogs?

 

[CRFGuy]

Funny thing is I have a half used set tires front 80/100-21 and a rear 110/100-18 your welcome to, as to the dogs your on your own they just came off my bike but their way better then what your riding with now.

 

[scooter1130]

as to the dogs your on your own they just came off my bike but their way better then what your riding with now.

the dogs just came off your bike? :rotfl:

 

[CRFGuy]

A little extra mustard and I'm sure they wil be fine

 

[Trigger1911]

Got up late saturday night and had agood time at camp, as always. The straglers looked pretty haggered! This was a very short trip. Only rode for 3 hours but it was worth it, I think.

1) Gasoline on your nuts burns like hell!

2) A DRZ400 IS a VERY heavy bike when it is on top of you! Thanks Matt.

3) I got a mild concussion when my head hit the tree from the DRZ flling on me. Its teusday and I still have a headache.

$) Thanks all for the memories

 

[JasonJ]

I don't understand for as good a rider as Trigger is he seems to fall off his bike and land on his head every ride. Your like the Travis Pastrada (sp?) of Paragon man :whoa: .

 

[WoodsRider]

I REALLY did not need to see that picture of Trigger about to squeeze out a deuce.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Update...

The bike shop has no idea why I had a dry dipstick. They changed the oil and then checked it...low-and-behold...it was fine. They did extract over 2 quarts of oil...and they did confirm that it wasn't returning prior to the oil change.

But now all is good. Or is it?

Just something else to worry about while riding.

 

[DaveRS575]

That's funny.... I've never had a problem like this with a KDX...

:nod: :laugh:

 

[JasonJ]

Update...


Just something else to worry about while riding.

Dont worry brother, I got you covered, if you have issues you can always ride MY spare bike. Its not for sale though so forget about it :nener: