We just got back from our trip to Marquette. It was supposed to be the Team PTP training ride but work got in the way for our team mechanic NAPPER. Tommy Dixon was given the honor of being first alternate which he gladly accepted while wee wee was running down his pants. I will have photos soon but the digital disc that comes with the throw away camera is a “send it in” deal that won't be ready until Wednesday.
We learned two new phrases while up there and got to see MAGOO, our most excellent trail guide demonstrate them both on our Friday night warm up ride. “Kitty-whampus” through the trail Friday night picking himself off the ground several times but going “faster than disaster” but I’m getting a bit ahead of my self. We arrive 4PM at the Bass Lake trail head and in a few minutes a 300 Gasgas rider introduces himself as barkbuster67 - “WALT” Walt said he was going to ride with us but had a few things to do to the bike. Magoo arrives, we suit up and off we go on our 26 mile UP adventure. 5 of us through the sweetest single-track you can imagine and no freaking whoops. Pretty technical for ORV stuff and a blast. MAGOO and WALT were after each other and riding like the wind and apparently Magoo caught a few gusts as he did some Kitty-whapmpus moves.(KITTY-WHAMPUS = all over the place bouncing off stuff) I won’t go into detail about all the dismounts because I didn’t get to see most of them. We finished our ride and sucked down a beer in celebration. (‘cept for little Tommy of course) WALT shows us his trailer and “Walt Disney” he isn’t –there lots of really great pictures in his trailer with zebra skin rug flooring but it ain’t rated “G” NAPPER would love it I’m sure. Walt was an immediate hit with TEAM PTP!
We had a fine dinner at a Northern Lodge that name escapes me but all the 3 prettiest girls that live in the UP work there we decided. Tommy sure liked the visit. We left there and headed for the staging area for the Loose Moose National Enduro to camp excited to taste the technical terrain in the morning. Walt wasn’t going to join us because he wanted to go shoot at some feathered thing, drink beer and stuff. We were in training and wouldn’t consider it. We left Don Marsh a voice mail because he was to join us for the ride. On the way to the camping area I decided to call our buddy Napper and recommend he save a LARGE BOX so we can pack up some the extra fun we were having and ship it to him but he didn’t answer his phone so I called AL “Orange Fury” Randt to deliver the message.
We set our alarm clocke for the morning and hit the sack. MOring arrives and we drink some coffee and wait like kids at Christmas…..we talked to a few of the locals riding there and Magoo finally arrives. (Don chickened out!) After throwing his bike off his truckfor him and help getting him dress we decided to hit the Mini Mountain first and do the first loop from the enduro. FREAKING AWESOME! Words cannot describe this stuff so we have pictures to share. We make a stop at the famous 8 foot DROP OFF that was in the enduro creating parking lots of riders at the top. Magoo takes it first and we all do it one after another. WE have pictures to prove –piece o cake! We talk Magoo into riding up it and he made it kinda. The bike was shooting to the sky and his feet were flying off the back as the bike lurched backward but stayed on top but bouncing off the tree. Pretty cool-glad it wasn’t me! We took pictures of the drop off and verify that it is in fact at least 7 feet. We took off and ride the coolest stuff and finally make it back from the first loop. I think we rode like 14 miles and were gone almost 2 hours and we weren’t goofing around much. Up and down rock faces, ledges, tight trees –it was a blast if you didn’t have to go fast! We were just besides ourselves with excitement.
Back for lunch and we meet a guy named Stan from Oregon. He decided to take his KTM 380(!) out on the big mountain with us. We rode the “A” section that was the final test for the national A class riders. WOW-AWESOME! This stuff is up and down rock ledges where you have to hit a stump perfect to jump over the lip. Piece of cake! No really, we all pretty much cleaned all the 124,674 obstacles except for 2-3 apiece. IN general it was a huge success and not damaged bodies or bikes. Words cannot describe the stuff we rode but we have pictures to prove it. It is unbelievable –technical and a real work out. We meet up with some guys on the mountain that were from the Traverse City- Kalkaska area and they followed us back. Now that our big mountain loop was finished it was get a drink and off to the moon rocks!!! Waa Hoo! We started off with the famous “A” off camber section and it was freaking gnarly! It give us the most trouble of the day and we all had a bobble or two in some spots but no damage, just a couple retries. Stan had had enough and bailed off. I was a cagy fox and spotted the trail guide going by about 100 feet away and decided to go right instead of wait for the carnage to clear on the face of a rocky lipped, root infested hill climb. When the others caught up we were faced with an immediate left hand turn and an 10 foot rock face climb –we were concerned but we all smoked up it. Piece of cake!
I finally got to ride just behind the trail guide and was having a blast going over moon rock after moon rock the size of small buildings. (We have pictures to prove it.) Tight choice single track and then BAM!, a moon rock or three to conquer. The guys that were tagging along with us were good riders but were on MX bikes and had to bail or run out of fuel. The final sections of the day were just the 4 of us. It was so awesome. We have pictures to prove it.
After the ride we return, never in our lives been so tired riding 55 miles that took us from 10 AM to 6 PM to do. We felt like we rode 100 miles but this stuff just demanded your constant attention and energy to do and get it right. What a fantastic work out. Magoo said we rode all the most technical stuff they have there and we pretty much did it with huge smiles on our faces the entire time.
We had Freddy burgers and Brats for dinner, a few beers and some quality bench racing until like 10 PM and Magoo headed home and we hit the sack and slept like babies.
I WANT TO THANK MAGOO FOR HIS HOSPITALITY AND BEING OUR TRAIL GUIDE -IT WAS A MEMORBALE TRIP WE WILL NEVER FORGET. THANK YOU SIR!!! :cool:
We learned two new phrases while up there and got to see MAGOO, our most excellent trail guide demonstrate them both on our Friday night warm up ride. “Kitty-whampus” through the trail Friday night picking himself off the ground several times but going “faster than disaster” but I’m getting a bit ahead of my self. We arrive 4PM at the Bass Lake trail head and in a few minutes a 300 Gasgas rider introduces himself as barkbuster67 - “WALT” Walt said he was going to ride with us but had a few things to do to the bike. Magoo arrives, we suit up and off we go on our 26 mile UP adventure. 5 of us through the sweetest single-track you can imagine and no freaking whoops. Pretty technical for ORV stuff and a blast. MAGOO and WALT were after each other and riding like the wind and apparently Magoo caught a few gusts as he did some Kitty-whapmpus moves.(KITTY-WHAMPUS = all over the place bouncing off stuff) I won’t go into detail about all the dismounts because I didn’t get to see most of them. We finished our ride and sucked down a beer in celebration. (‘cept for little Tommy of course) WALT shows us his trailer and “Walt Disney” he isn’t –there lots of really great pictures in his trailer with zebra skin rug flooring but it ain’t rated “G” NAPPER would love it I’m sure. Walt was an immediate hit with TEAM PTP!
We had a fine dinner at a Northern Lodge that name escapes me but all the 3 prettiest girls that live in the UP work there we decided. Tommy sure liked the visit. We left there and headed for the staging area for the Loose Moose National Enduro to camp excited to taste the technical terrain in the morning. Walt wasn’t going to join us because he wanted to go shoot at some feathered thing, drink beer and stuff. We were in training and wouldn’t consider it. We left Don Marsh a voice mail because he was to join us for the ride. On the way to the camping area I decided to call our buddy Napper and recommend he save a LARGE BOX so we can pack up some the extra fun we were having and ship it to him but he didn’t answer his phone so I called AL “Orange Fury” Randt to deliver the message.
We set our alarm clocke for the morning and hit the sack. MOring arrives and we drink some coffee and wait like kids at Christmas…..we talked to a few of the locals riding there and Magoo finally arrives. (Don chickened out!) After throwing his bike off his truckfor him and help getting him dress we decided to hit the Mini Mountain first and do the first loop from the enduro. FREAKING AWESOME! Words cannot describe this stuff so we have pictures to share. We make a stop at the famous 8 foot DROP OFF that was in the enduro creating parking lots of riders at the top. Magoo takes it first and we all do it one after another. WE have pictures to prove –piece o cake! We talk Magoo into riding up it and he made it kinda. The bike was shooting to the sky and his feet were flying off the back as the bike lurched backward but stayed on top but bouncing off the tree. Pretty cool-glad it wasn’t me! We took pictures of the drop off and verify that it is in fact at least 7 feet. We took off and ride the coolest stuff and finally make it back from the first loop. I think we rode like 14 miles and were gone almost 2 hours and we weren’t goofing around much. Up and down rock faces, ledges, tight trees –it was a blast if you didn’t have to go fast! We were just besides ourselves with excitement.
Back for lunch and we meet a guy named Stan from Oregon. He decided to take his KTM 380(!) out on the big mountain with us. We rode the “A” section that was the final test for the national A class riders. WOW-AWESOME! This stuff is up and down rock ledges where you have to hit a stump perfect to jump over the lip. Piece of cake! No really, we all pretty much cleaned all the 124,674 obstacles except for 2-3 apiece. IN general it was a huge success and not damaged bodies or bikes. Words cannot describe the stuff we rode but we have pictures to prove it. It is unbelievable –technical and a real work out. We meet up with some guys on the mountain that were from the Traverse City- Kalkaska area and they followed us back. Now that our big mountain loop was finished it was get a drink and off to the moon rocks!!! Waa Hoo! We started off with the famous “A” off camber section and it was freaking gnarly! It give us the most trouble of the day and we all had a bobble or two in some spots but no damage, just a couple retries. Stan had had enough and bailed off. I was a cagy fox and spotted the trail guide going by about 100 feet away and decided to go right instead of wait for the carnage to clear on the face of a rocky lipped, root infested hill climb. When the others caught up we were faced with an immediate left hand turn and an 10 foot rock face climb –we were concerned but we all smoked up it. Piece of cake!
I finally got to ride just behind the trail guide and was having a blast going over moon rock after moon rock the size of small buildings. (We have pictures to prove it.) Tight choice single track and then BAM!, a moon rock or three to conquer. The guys that were tagging along with us were good riders but were on MX bikes and had to bail or run out of fuel. The final sections of the day were just the 4 of us. It was so awesome. We have pictures to prove it.
After the ride we return, never in our lives been so tired riding 55 miles that took us from 10 AM to 6 PM to do. We felt like we rode 100 miles but this stuff just demanded your constant attention and energy to do and get it right. What a fantastic work out. Magoo said we rode all the most technical stuff they have there and we pretty much did it with huge smiles on our faces the entire time.
We had Freddy burgers and Brats for dinner, a few beers and some quality bench racing until like 10 PM and Magoo headed home and we hit the sack and slept like babies.
I WANT TO THANK MAGOO FOR HIS HOSPITALITY AND BEING OUR TRAIL GUIDE -IT WAS A MEMORBALE TRIP WE WILL NEVER FORGET. THANK YOU SIR!!! :cool:
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