SpeedyManiac
Member
- Aug 8, 2000
- 2,378
- 0
Today my dad and I went to Fort Shepard Riding area. We had a great time. We arrived just before noon and unloaded the bikes. There was only two other riders at the area when we arrived, a father (CR125) and son (YZ80). We headed up to the upper sand pit to play around. We buzzed around there for a few minutes then headed up a trail to a powerline to do some exploring. We found an old road that ended up going to the highway, so we headed back to the powerline. We went down another trail and cut off onto a tight singletrack trail we had never been on before. This trail was loads of fun for me but my dad had some trouble on it because of the weight of his bike. It was good practice because it was similar to the races I go in. There were some steep up and down hills that I rode easily, I've become a better, more confident rider from the race I entered last month. The trail winded along a bank for awhile until we came to a wider trail. My dad was having trouble on the tight stuff so we headed down to the road. We crossed the road and went over to a makeshift track with TONS of whoops. This area is all sand and bedrock, as it's right along the Columbia River, so it gets whooped out a lot. A small jump had been built up some more so I went over to hit it. It was really tiny, second gear half throttle put me over the jump. It was only around a 4-5 foot double and my bike was fine over it. At 145lbs, the XR's suspension works great for small jumps and aggressive trail riding. I rode around the track a couple of times, my dad got some pictures of me going off the jump and up a soft sand hill. I had to pin it in fourth gear to make it up this hill. It wasn't steep but it was extremely loose, the sand was a very, very fine powder. We left the track and cruised down the road following the river. I topped out my bike on a LONG straight stretch. My dad said I was going between 90 and 100km/h. My bike can go faster, because the road is loose sand so the tire can't hook up that well. We turned off onto a powerline road that is fun. It's pretty steep and switchbacks up the mountain side. I was in third and fourth gear up it, my dad said I was moving when we stopped at the top. We cruised along the powerline then went back on the main road. We crossed a dry creekbed. I thought it was weird since it's been raining/snowing here for the past week and the creek was full last time we were out here. We went down to a larger powerline and headed up the road to plot in on my dad's GPS. I came to one hill and stopped to wait for my dad. He went around the hill while I tried climbing it. It wasn't steep but was rutted and loose. I was almost to the top when the bike just started spinning. I turned around and headed back down to try the hill again. I made it to ten feet below the top when I spun out. I headed back down the hill to take to road around. We continued up the powerline, having a hoot. The terrain gradually changed from soft snad to loose rock and hard pack. We reached the top of the mountain about twenty minutes later. Last Sunday we had come from the other direction on the powerline to the top, so my dad wanted to finish mapping the road on his GPS. We turned around at the top and headed back down the powerline. We got onto another powerline road at the bottom and headed over to a hill to climb. We crossed the same creek we had crossed earlier down below, but now it was overflowing it's channel. Weird, because it was bone dry down lower. I climbed the hill no problem and then took a picture of my dad climbing it. He decided to try it again as I put my helmet and goggles on. He didn't make it up this time because it was rutted out more. I tried the hill again too and I made it, so did my dad this time. We headed back towards the parking area. We stopped at another makeshift track that had hills and monster whoops that could swallow minibikes no problem. I made one lap and said that was enough, the whoops were too big for my bike and me. I found a small jump that I hit then we headed to the lower sand pit. I almost crashed on the entrance trail to the pit. We tried a few climbs then I tried one that went up in steps. It wasn't big but the upper part of it was steep. The first part threw me sideways and I forgot to down shift so I made it partway up the second part, stopped and rolled backwards, almost crashing. We rode up to the upper sandpit after that. There were 3 guys on MX two-strokes in the pit when we arrived. We stopped and shut off our bikes to watch them for awhile. These guys were pretty good. One guy on a YZ250 was really good. He was riding a wheelie up a curved hill perfectly. He also wheelied almost everywhere he went. Another one of them was on a KX125 and tried a small hill to a curved loose gravel hill. He bailed and tumbled down the slope to the bottom. He climbed back up and got his bike down, then continued to ride around the pit. At one point two of them were jumping off a small drop off, clearing around 25-30 feet, landing on a loose sand hill that was amazingly steep, then riding it out. These guys were pretty good. We watched them for another few minutes then decided to ride around the pit. I went to a fun little hill climb that I went on a few times, followed by a choice of a few loose downhills. On my third time I made it up the hill no problem and went down the downhill fine too. As I headed up to the middle of the sand pit, I gassed it too much, hit a fairsized boulder and crashed. I fell on my left side, but didn't feel hurt. I picked up the bike which was still running and took off after my dad back to the parking area. There were probably 10-15 vehicles in the parking area. We packed up and headed home. My left side is sore now, especially my shoulder and left hand. It's starting to feel better, nothing's broken or anything like that. I had a great day, the weather was decent (ie. no rain) and the area was good.
