PART 3
Hopefully you folks aren’t losing interest with this writing.. PLEASE be patient with me as Writing a detailed account of all this stuff is very time consuming (EXTREMELY ENJOYABLE THOUGH) and I don’t type very fast!!! My daughter just came up and asked me to print her out a copy of the text – I did and it was TEN pages in length!! Now back to the Trail Tale!!
KIWI had long sense disappeared ahead of Ed and I on his 525. Years of riding his homeland of New Zealand had obviously fed his aquired taste for such ruthlessly rough terrain and it was amazing to me how quickly he traversed the canyon that I was climbing and began another section of another canyon in his attempt of climbing the mountain face. It amazed me how far over to my right (a full canyon) he had traveled and then came all the way back to a canyon on my left during a followup foot climb I was making. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe it would be possible to pick out a navigational point to climb to and climb in a straight line and thereby averting all the switchbacks and saving some time (here in Michigan if you do such a thing while riding its called “cheating” and can result in angry outbursts by your riding comorades - Mike Mauer has an actual name for those who cut trail - its something about a sharp something).
I started up the mountain face having picked out a huge outcropping of cactus that was just to the right or where I had last heard KIWI’s bike.. As I started to walk a couple things occurred to me.. First it became more and more obvious that there was NO WAY that a human being was going to force his way through those THORNY – PRICKLY – NASTY – STINGER LEAF covered bushes. They had literally grown intertwined together to form a natural barrior against ANYTHING that chose to attack them. I am sure that a GRIZZLY could plow his way through or a Mountain Loin could squeeze between the lower branches that had little tunnels thru them about 14 inches off the ground but for a full grown man (my wife does not agree with that statement – she keeps telling me I need to grow up) dressed in riding gear the ONLY thing those bushes would serve is as a TRAP to hold you there till a predatory species (somewhere a few notches up the food chain from man) could come along and enjoy the freshly trapped meal!! That thought REALLy did go thru my mind!!! The next thought that came to be was – what would happen to Ed and the Gas Gas if I did find a way to save a couple hours of climb time..
Fatigue coupled with a little fear coupled with a LOT of just plain being GEEKED can really play tricks with LOGIC.. IT really didn’t occur to me until I had gotten a way off the established trail how funny it would be to walk out of the bush an hour ahead of Ed who had left the only running bike we had between us back on the trail about 2 hours behind him.. I am sure that his appreciation for my helping him climb out of the ordeal would have not have nearly as fulfilling!!
As I turned back around to find the trail I laughed out loud as I thought about the look on KIWI’s face as we would tell him that we had decided to donate his Gaser to the mountains so Eds bike would have company.. Humor helps A LOT when your faced with crises!!
I found the trail and started to continue my walk. I found it a little frustrating when I realized how far to the right KIWI had ridden to get to the switchback that led to the west sid eof the mountain face. It seemed like I had walked about 45 minutes before I came to the bike again and ALL of the hike was in the WRONG direction - being away from where I heard KIWI!! As I crawled upon to the seat of the Gas Gas another thought occurred to me. What if I had chosen to attempt the “straighup” climb only to find out that KIWI’s motor noises were actually an echo and the he had actually made his ascent to the EAST not to the west like it sounded = OH MY GOODNESS!! I rested briefly – started the Gas Gas (again ONE kick) and took off doing some of the FUNNEST trials type trail riding imaginable!! Up over several neat rock faces, between two or three very tight boulder out croppings (the type I would LOVE to bring back to MI) and I was headed back to the west!! This section of trail became almost horizontal to the mountain and, had it not been for the totally uneven piles of boulders and complete non-compliance to motorcycling that the terrain constantly handed me it would have been almost possible to actually rest a little while standing upright on the pegs.. Of course if you EVER thought that was possible you would find yourself sliding back down the mountain face!! I rode up to Ed and he waved me by – I felt sorry doing so but I knew from other “pass-offs” that he would NO WAY let me give him the bike without riding on and leaving it in the trail.
I rode a couple hundred yard ahead and began looking for a place to park the bike. The terrain had changed into more upward climbing and then back down RADICALLY and I was having a very hard time finding a place to even think about parking the bike.. A few minutes later I decided to park the bike leaning against a rock with the front tire cocked and the tranny in gear. I shut her down and started my next assault on foot. As the bike disappeared from view and I was once again in total natural silence and enjoying the scenery it suddenly occurred to me of what could happen if the bike fell over because of my not stabilizing it properly. Then another thought came to mind..
A few years back I stopped into a new dealership in Michigan to look at the newly Marketed Gas Gas line. I entered the store with a buddy and began my natural “touchy/feely” of the new bikes (just CANT keep my pea pickin fingers off). I tipped one of the new Gasers up and I IMMEDIALTY heard a WHAM (like a HUGE mouse trap) come from down near my feet. I looked down to find the kickstand in its uppermost postion – note to self – WOW what a spring!! I sat on the bike, felt the shear craftsmanship of the new bike breed. My buddie yelped at me from the otgher side of the shop to come see the new Huskys.. I CAREFULLY pushed the kickstand down and ROLLED The bike backwards and made SURE the stand was DOWN. I stood by it for a second as I let go. I turned and walked away from the bike and got almost to the other side of the shop before the CRASH happened. I learned the hard way that Gaser stands have enough snap to them to actually move the bike forward – self propelling if you will. Thankfully the bike didn’t nock down the hole showroom of bikes!!
I began thinking about that happening as I walked AWAY from the Gaser on the mountain side. I suppose the worst that could happen is that Ed would find a bike a few hundred feet down the mountain and EMPTY of gas when he did finally get to it.. From that point on I made a pact with myself that I would MAKE SURE that that puppy was going NOWHERE and I did!!
As I climbed upward I came to spot in the trail that a VERY perculuar odor occurred. It kinda smelled like a pretty nasty mix of human waste and dead animal. It only lasted for a very short time (perhaps 10 minutes) and seemed to be moving across the wind that was blowing into my face. I really didn’t give it much thought until I was on my truck ride home and what occurred to me gave me the jeebers.. I will leave this "happening" in your mind for a while as I progress in the story because there is another piece of info that fits into it but just remember that I mentioned this “odor”!!
I crossed the section of boulders where the odor took place, went all most straight up between some HUGE boulders and thought about howmuch “fun” Ed was going to have climbing thru those!! IT wasn’t to long after that Ed came up to me on the bike, stopped for a second and explained to me that he was to the point that it was just as much work to ride the bike as it was to walk.. I said I knew EXACTLY what he was talking about!! He offered me a mouth wash of creekwater before he rode on and disappeared ahead of me..
I climbed over the boulder outcropping and found a surprisingly level area – the trail had returned to horizontal again. Walked a ways and came to the bike. Restarted again on the ride – went by Ed like I was a pro rider (yea right) and made great time for once!! All of a sudden the up mountain switchback hit again and I was once again in the harshest of harshest!! In the matter of 20 feet the trail COMPLETELY changed direction and complextion – AMAZING RIDE!!
I went about another 20 minutes of fairly difficult terrain and broke into an opening to find KIWI at an intersection talking to another rider – a LIFE SAVING fellow by the name of Greg!!
The first pic on this page is of a shot of the part of the mountain that ate Ed’s KTM. In this pic I am setting on a very steep and sharp switchback on a mountain face that over looks the distant KTM mountain. We are a LONG ways up and haven’t even begun our decent of VERY sharp switchbacks where Ed lost his oil. KIWI was very patient with me and gave me LOTS of time to get myself and the bike stabilized to the point ov being able to snap this pic. He had stopped briefly to point out the mountain peering between the trees!! WOW AGAIN – its shear BEAUTY was AWESOME and this pic REALLY does not do the scenery OR the ruggedness of the ride justice – PURE DIRTRIDING HEAVEN FOLKS!!
The second pic here is of Mr Lucky waiting behind me to take the pic of the mountain peering between the trees in pic 1. Notice that he is headed the opposite direction that KIWI is headed in the 1st pic. Remember too that I am on the switchback that leads down to KIWI and Ed is on approach to the change. Looking at the position of Eds bike it doesn’t look bad at all does it? Of course not and KIWI told me as we headed into this area that we were GOING to a little harder stuff – not that we were into the harder stuff so if you think this stuff aint that bad you are right.. Of course you might wanna take another look at the terrain in which Ed’s bike is sitting and look very closely at how those trees are growing as EVERY woodsman knows that trees grow straight up!! Oh yea, piece of cake guys – :p And the life threatening, bike killing goat trails haven’t even been ridden yet!!! I am still GEEKED looking at these shots KIWI!!
End of part 3 - Part 4 will be back on the MTR site!! ;)
Hopefully you folks aren’t losing interest with this writing.. PLEASE be patient with me as Writing a detailed account of all this stuff is very time consuming (EXTREMELY ENJOYABLE THOUGH) and I don’t type very fast!!! My daughter just came up and asked me to print her out a copy of the text – I did and it was TEN pages in length!! Now back to the Trail Tale!!
KIWI had long sense disappeared ahead of Ed and I on his 525. Years of riding his homeland of New Zealand had obviously fed his aquired taste for such ruthlessly rough terrain and it was amazing to me how quickly he traversed the canyon that I was climbing and began another section of another canyon in his attempt of climbing the mountain face. It amazed me how far over to my right (a full canyon) he had traveled and then came all the way back to a canyon on my left during a followup foot climb I was making. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe it would be possible to pick out a navigational point to climb to and climb in a straight line and thereby averting all the switchbacks and saving some time (here in Michigan if you do such a thing while riding its called “cheating” and can result in angry outbursts by your riding comorades - Mike Mauer has an actual name for those who cut trail - its something about a sharp something).
I started up the mountain face having picked out a huge outcropping of cactus that was just to the right or where I had last heard KIWI’s bike.. As I started to walk a couple things occurred to me.. First it became more and more obvious that there was NO WAY that a human being was going to force his way through those THORNY – PRICKLY – NASTY – STINGER LEAF covered bushes. They had literally grown intertwined together to form a natural barrior against ANYTHING that chose to attack them. I am sure that a GRIZZLY could plow his way through or a Mountain Loin could squeeze between the lower branches that had little tunnels thru them about 14 inches off the ground but for a full grown man (my wife does not agree with that statement – she keeps telling me I need to grow up) dressed in riding gear the ONLY thing those bushes would serve is as a TRAP to hold you there till a predatory species (somewhere a few notches up the food chain from man) could come along and enjoy the freshly trapped meal!! That thought REALLy did go thru my mind!!! The next thought that came to be was – what would happen to Ed and the Gas Gas if I did find a way to save a couple hours of climb time..
Fatigue coupled with a little fear coupled with a LOT of just plain being GEEKED can really play tricks with LOGIC.. IT really didn’t occur to me until I had gotten a way off the established trail how funny it would be to walk out of the bush an hour ahead of Ed who had left the only running bike we had between us back on the trail about 2 hours behind him.. I am sure that his appreciation for my helping him climb out of the ordeal would have not have nearly as fulfilling!!
As I turned back around to find the trail I laughed out loud as I thought about the look on KIWI’s face as we would tell him that we had decided to donate his Gaser to the mountains so Eds bike would have company.. Humor helps A LOT when your faced with crises!!
I found the trail and started to continue my walk. I found it a little frustrating when I realized how far to the right KIWI had ridden to get to the switchback that led to the west sid eof the mountain face. It seemed like I had walked about 45 minutes before I came to the bike again and ALL of the hike was in the WRONG direction - being away from where I heard KIWI!! As I crawled upon to the seat of the Gas Gas another thought occurred to me. What if I had chosen to attempt the “straighup” climb only to find out that KIWI’s motor noises were actually an echo and the he had actually made his ascent to the EAST not to the west like it sounded = OH MY GOODNESS!! I rested briefly – started the Gas Gas (again ONE kick) and took off doing some of the FUNNEST trials type trail riding imaginable!! Up over several neat rock faces, between two or three very tight boulder out croppings (the type I would LOVE to bring back to MI) and I was headed back to the west!! This section of trail became almost horizontal to the mountain and, had it not been for the totally uneven piles of boulders and complete non-compliance to motorcycling that the terrain constantly handed me it would have been almost possible to actually rest a little while standing upright on the pegs.. Of course if you EVER thought that was possible you would find yourself sliding back down the mountain face!! I rode up to Ed and he waved me by – I felt sorry doing so but I knew from other “pass-offs” that he would NO WAY let me give him the bike without riding on and leaving it in the trail.
I rode a couple hundred yard ahead and began looking for a place to park the bike. The terrain had changed into more upward climbing and then back down RADICALLY and I was having a very hard time finding a place to even think about parking the bike.. A few minutes later I decided to park the bike leaning against a rock with the front tire cocked and the tranny in gear. I shut her down and started my next assault on foot. As the bike disappeared from view and I was once again in total natural silence and enjoying the scenery it suddenly occurred to me of what could happen if the bike fell over because of my not stabilizing it properly. Then another thought came to mind..
A few years back I stopped into a new dealership in Michigan to look at the newly Marketed Gas Gas line. I entered the store with a buddy and began my natural “touchy/feely” of the new bikes (just CANT keep my pea pickin fingers off). I tipped one of the new Gasers up and I IMMEDIALTY heard a WHAM (like a HUGE mouse trap) come from down near my feet. I looked down to find the kickstand in its uppermost postion – note to self – WOW what a spring!! I sat on the bike, felt the shear craftsmanship of the new bike breed. My buddie yelped at me from the otgher side of the shop to come see the new Huskys.. I CAREFULLY pushed the kickstand down and ROLLED The bike backwards and made SURE the stand was DOWN. I stood by it for a second as I let go. I turned and walked away from the bike and got almost to the other side of the shop before the CRASH happened. I learned the hard way that Gaser stands have enough snap to them to actually move the bike forward – self propelling if you will. Thankfully the bike didn’t nock down the hole showroom of bikes!!
I began thinking about that happening as I walked AWAY from the Gaser on the mountain side. I suppose the worst that could happen is that Ed would find a bike a few hundred feet down the mountain and EMPTY of gas when he did finally get to it.. From that point on I made a pact with myself that I would MAKE SURE that that puppy was going NOWHERE and I did!!
As I climbed upward I came to spot in the trail that a VERY perculuar odor occurred. It kinda smelled like a pretty nasty mix of human waste and dead animal. It only lasted for a very short time (perhaps 10 minutes) and seemed to be moving across the wind that was blowing into my face. I really didn’t give it much thought until I was on my truck ride home and what occurred to me gave me the jeebers.. I will leave this "happening" in your mind for a while as I progress in the story because there is another piece of info that fits into it but just remember that I mentioned this “odor”!!
I crossed the section of boulders where the odor took place, went all most straight up between some HUGE boulders and thought about howmuch “fun” Ed was going to have climbing thru those!! IT wasn’t to long after that Ed came up to me on the bike, stopped for a second and explained to me that he was to the point that it was just as much work to ride the bike as it was to walk.. I said I knew EXACTLY what he was talking about!! He offered me a mouth wash of creekwater before he rode on and disappeared ahead of me..
I climbed over the boulder outcropping and found a surprisingly level area – the trail had returned to horizontal again. Walked a ways and came to the bike. Restarted again on the ride – went by Ed like I was a pro rider (yea right) and made great time for once!! All of a sudden the up mountain switchback hit again and I was once again in the harshest of harshest!! In the matter of 20 feet the trail COMPLETELY changed direction and complextion – AMAZING RIDE!!
I went about another 20 minutes of fairly difficult terrain and broke into an opening to find KIWI at an intersection talking to another rider – a LIFE SAVING fellow by the name of Greg!!
The first pic on this page is of a shot of the part of the mountain that ate Ed’s KTM. In this pic I am setting on a very steep and sharp switchback on a mountain face that over looks the distant KTM mountain. We are a LONG ways up and haven’t even begun our decent of VERY sharp switchbacks where Ed lost his oil. KIWI was very patient with me and gave me LOTS of time to get myself and the bike stabilized to the point ov being able to snap this pic. He had stopped briefly to point out the mountain peering between the trees!! WOW AGAIN – its shear BEAUTY was AWESOME and this pic REALLY does not do the scenery OR the ruggedness of the ride justice – PURE DIRTRIDING HEAVEN FOLKS!!
The second pic here is of Mr Lucky waiting behind me to take the pic of the mountain peering between the trees in pic 1. Notice that he is headed the opposite direction that KIWI is headed in the 1st pic. Remember too that I am on the switchback that leads down to KIWI and Ed is on approach to the change. Looking at the position of Eds bike it doesn’t look bad at all does it? Of course not and KIWI told me as we headed into this area that we were GOING to a little harder stuff – not that we were into the harder stuff so if you think this stuff aint that bad you are right.. Of course you might wanna take another look at the terrain in which Ed’s bike is sitting and look very closely at how those trees are growing as EVERY woodsman knows that trees grow straight up!! Oh yea, piece of cake guys – :p And the life threatening, bike killing goat trails haven’t even been ridden yet!!! I am still GEEKED looking at these shots KIWI!!
End of part 3 - Part 4 will be back on the MTR site!! ;)
