GETMETOCA
Can't Wait For Tuesdays
- Mar 17, 2002
- 4,765
- 0
Velosapiens joined me up at Forresthill this past weekend, lucky me - he's a superb ride bud, because he knows Forresthill like the back of his hand from coming up fairly often to mountain bike/dirt bike. Plus, he's got the necessary patience to ride with me. :confused:
We gel'd plans Friday afternoon to meet at FH around 3:00 pm Saturday. I got there a little early to check out the campsites. I notice a "loud" family taking over a good portion of the Sugar Pine camp sites, lots of bickering, yelling obscenities at the dog, etc. I choose a camp area as far away from them as possible.
We set up our tents, unload our stuff and hang out in the shade til it cooled off a bit. We ride later in the afternoon about 4:30 PM or so. I warn velosapiens explicitly that it's okay to leave me behind (afterall he's pretty fast) but to PLEASE wait for me at forks in the road as I am notorious for getting lost.
The last time I rode Forresthill was during the Training Wheels Enduro June 2nd. We start out just like the start of the enduro and it seems familiar to me again. This time, I seem to be going faster through the rocky stuff or maybe I just think I'm going faster because its familiar this time.
We basically ride all trails except 5&6 and parts of 3 because its closed for logging. I'm having a total blast and feel great. I'm remembering all the uphills, the twisty stuff, and velosapiens is true to his word and waits for me at every fork.
The great thing about riding in the latter part of the afternoon is that we hardly came across any other riders. We came upon one group of three coming down that big rubber treaded downhill. One of them was crashed. That was a little tricky, but I managed to stay upright and get past it and moved on. We end up doing 25 miles this day.
We get back to camp about 6:30 pm and strike up conversation with a family. I've already posted about the inexperienced girl on the YZ426F, so I won't go into detail again here. Well, I'm still kind of sad about that whole thing and it bothered velosapiens a lot too.
The loud family on the other side of the campground stirred up some more ruckus with one another then simmered down and went to bed.
The next day after breakfast, velosapiens asks one of the hooligans-on-a-quad to please stop stirring up dust where we are parked. A few minutes later, we're confronted by Grandpa from the loud family campers. The confrontation, if that, ended well, but we laughed about that all day.
We head out to ride around 9 am and I'm flubbing up on simple stuff, killing my engine on uphills, running off the side of the trail. At one point I was crossing a creek and didn't make it through the uphill twisty stuff on the other side. I crash then try to pick my bike up, but I'm on a steep trail and end up falling over, the bike on top of me. I was too tired and too stuck to struggle for too long. I took a long draw off my hydration system and just layed there looking up at the trees for a good minute til I regain enough strength to use my one free leg to get some leverage and shift the bike off me. I'm free, but roll further down the hill. The bike stayed put.
I end up dragging the bike by the wheel down to a more level spot then pick it up. I'm standing there next to my bike by the time velosapiens comes back for me. Glad he missed that scene!
No worse for wear, we finish 27 miles and head back to camp for lunch. Kali and Kevin are there! :) Its good to see them and we all take a lunch break. Kali's got new plastic and new graphics on her GasGas. Kevin's Husaberg always interests me and he has offered to let me ride it, but again I decline. Maybe another time. The girl on the YZ426F is still fresh on my mind.
We head out again, and this time its mid-day HOT and the dust is very thick with four riders in a row. I hang back and go at my own pace to avoid the dust. I'm glad velosapiens has someone faster to ride with. Kali makes sure I take the right forks in the road.
We get to the section on trail 3 where its this great, long meadow with nice waterbars every 25 yards or so. I used to roll over these in 2nd gear, too cowardly to try to hit them any faster. I decide to take them on in 3rd and get my first real jump. My first jump was very ugly, but air it was and I'll take it. :aj: After that, they got smoother and I was having the time of my life.
We do another 18 miles and head back to camp. Its about 4:30 when we all say our goodbyes and head home. We're all going to the Dave Woods off-road class in two weeks, so we'll see each other again then. Fun, Hot, dusty, tragic, great, tiring, exhilarating, exhausting, totally enjoyable - words that describe this weekend.
We gel'd plans Friday afternoon to meet at FH around 3:00 pm Saturday. I got there a little early to check out the campsites. I notice a "loud" family taking over a good portion of the Sugar Pine camp sites, lots of bickering, yelling obscenities at the dog, etc. I choose a camp area as far away from them as possible.
We set up our tents, unload our stuff and hang out in the shade til it cooled off a bit. We ride later in the afternoon about 4:30 PM or so. I warn velosapiens explicitly that it's okay to leave me behind (afterall he's pretty fast) but to PLEASE wait for me at forks in the road as I am notorious for getting lost.
The last time I rode Forresthill was during the Training Wheels Enduro June 2nd. We start out just like the start of the enduro and it seems familiar to me again. This time, I seem to be going faster through the rocky stuff or maybe I just think I'm going faster because its familiar this time.
We basically ride all trails except 5&6 and parts of 3 because its closed for logging. I'm having a total blast and feel great. I'm remembering all the uphills, the twisty stuff, and velosapiens is true to his word and waits for me at every fork.
The great thing about riding in the latter part of the afternoon is that we hardly came across any other riders. We came upon one group of three coming down that big rubber treaded downhill. One of them was crashed. That was a little tricky, but I managed to stay upright and get past it and moved on. We end up doing 25 miles this day.
We get back to camp about 6:30 pm and strike up conversation with a family. I've already posted about the inexperienced girl on the YZ426F, so I won't go into detail again here. Well, I'm still kind of sad about that whole thing and it bothered velosapiens a lot too.
The loud family on the other side of the campground stirred up some more ruckus with one another then simmered down and went to bed.
The next day after breakfast, velosapiens asks one of the hooligans-on-a-quad to please stop stirring up dust where we are parked. A few minutes later, we're confronted by Grandpa from the loud family campers. The confrontation, if that, ended well, but we laughed about that all day.
We head out to ride around 9 am and I'm flubbing up on simple stuff, killing my engine on uphills, running off the side of the trail. At one point I was crossing a creek and didn't make it through the uphill twisty stuff on the other side. I crash then try to pick my bike up, but I'm on a steep trail and end up falling over, the bike on top of me. I was too tired and too stuck to struggle for too long. I took a long draw off my hydration system and just layed there looking up at the trees for a good minute til I regain enough strength to use my one free leg to get some leverage and shift the bike off me. I'm free, but roll further down the hill. The bike stayed put.
I end up dragging the bike by the wheel down to a more level spot then pick it up. I'm standing there next to my bike by the time velosapiens comes back for me. Glad he missed that scene!
No worse for wear, we finish 27 miles and head back to camp for lunch. Kali and Kevin are there! :) Its good to see them and we all take a lunch break. Kali's got new plastic and new graphics on her GasGas. Kevin's Husaberg always interests me and he has offered to let me ride it, but again I decline. Maybe another time. The girl on the YZ426F is still fresh on my mind.
We head out again, and this time its mid-day HOT and the dust is very thick with four riders in a row. I hang back and go at my own pace to avoid the dust. I'm glad velosapiens has someone faster to ride with. Kali makes sure I take the right forks in the road.
We get to the section on trail 3 where its this great, long meadow with nice waterbars every 25 yards or so. I used to roll over these in 2nd gear, too cowardly to try to hit them any faster. I decide to take them on in 3rd and get my first real jump. My first jump was very ugly, but air it was and I'll take it. :aj: After that, they got smoother and I was having the time of my life.
We do another 18 miles and head back to camp. Its about 4:30 when we all say our goodbyes and head home. We're all going to the Dave Woods off-road class in two weeks, so we'll see each other again then. Fun, Hot, dusty, tragic, great, tiring, exhilarating, exhausting, totally enjoyable - words that describe this weekend.
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