the Eel
~SPONSOR~
- Sep 23, 2000
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I went out to Hungry Valley all by my lonesome on Sunday ... and who should show up but Kiwi, Adam, and Adam's buddy Tyler. We had a fun day and covered alot of ground considering Adam's only been on a bike about 6 times. 44 miles in about 8 hours ! Any seat starts to feel uncomfortable after that many hours !
We did 2 loops. An early morning run of about 25 miles through the valley floor, and a later loop of about 19 miles through the forest. Yes, we did take Adam into the forest on only his 7th ride, and while he did provide several SPECTACULAR get-offs, he bucked up and completed the ride on the pegs and with a smile on his face.
We also learned about pigeon enduros from a veteran pigeon racer.
Tyler and Adam were cracking me up - they weren't afraid to try anything ... but I guess youth is blind that way. They did hillclimbs and downhills that I didn't touch with a 10 foot pole when I was at their level of experience. "Tienen cojones grandes !"
They weren't too pleased with the hardpack and sand in the valley. They each had a few good washouts and sandplows. They put on a pretty good show on Backbone on one nasty hillclimb. Adam tried it 3 times and each time he would stop just short of the top - and would start sliding back down. Kiwi kept asking him why he didn't power all the way to the top and Adam just kinda ignored him. Pretty funny. I think Adam kick started his XR 200 about 200 times during the entire day - they named the bike well ! Every time he dropped it (and he dropped it many, many times) it would flood and require several dozen kicks. Not fun. But it was fun to watch Tyler and Adam dogpaddling all the time in the sand. Ahhh - hideous memories of my first sand rides ! Other than that the 1st loop was pretty uneventful. Beautiful weather all day and Kiwi and I did a few fun little sandy hillclimbs during one of our rest stops.
Loop 2 was where the fun really began.
Good hillclimb action and we also threw in the Tejon and Goldhill forest trails. The hill by the powerlines was where we stayed for about 30 minutes. Lots of good get-offs and Adam almost jumped off a steep hill. He was blasting up the hill and made the lip when he saw there was a massive drop-off right over the top. He jumped off just in time - his front wheel was hanging over the side - just spinning !!!!! Good save ! Funny thing was I didn't know this when we climbed up to see if he was OK - and I almost went over myself ! Then Kiwi peer-pressured me into riding down the steepest hill I think I've ever actually rode down (after he blasted up it, of course - the guy loves to climb). It was a spooky thing.
The forest beat us up pretty good and Adam tasted dirt several more times. He and Tyler were tired but seemed happy when we got back. A challenging ride for them and a fun day for all of us.
See you next time fellas !
We did 2 loops. An early morning run of about 25 miles through the valley floor, and a later loop of about 19 miles through the forest. Yes, we did take Adam into the forest on only his 7th ride, and while he did provide several SPECTACULAR get-offs, he bucked up and completed the ride on the pegs and with a smile on his face.
We also learned about pigeon enduros from a veteran pigeon racer.
Tyler and Adam were cracking me up - they weren't afraid to try anything ... but I guess youth is blind that way. They did hillclimbs and downhills that I didn't touch with a 10 foot pole when I was at their level of experience. "Tienen cojones grandes !"
They weren't too pleased with the hardpack and sand in the valley. They each had a few good washouts and sandplows. They put on a pretty good show on Backbone on one nasty hillclimb. Adam tried it 3 times and each time he would stop just short of the top - and would start sliding back down. Kiwi kept asking him why he didn't power all the way to the top and Adam just kinda ignored him. Pretty funny. I think Adam kick started his XR 200 about 200 times during the entire day - they named the bike well ! Every time he dropped it (and he dropped it many, many times) it would flood and require several dozen kicks. Not fun. But it was fun to watch Tyler and Adam dogpaddling all the time in the sand. Ahhh - hideous memories of my first sand rides ! Other than that the 1st loop was pretty uneventful. Beautiful weather all day and Kiwi and I did a few fun little sandy hillclimbs during one of our rest stops.
Loop 2 was where the fun really began.
Good hillclimb action and we also threw in the Tejon and Goldhill forest trails. The hill by the powerlines was where we stayed for about 30 minutes. Lots of good get-offs and Adam almost jumped off a steep hill. He was blasting up the hill and made the lip when he saw there was a massive drop-off right over the top. He jumped off just in time - his front wheel was hanging over the side - just spinning !!!!! Good save ! Funny thing was I didn't know this when we climbed up to see if he was OK - and I almost went over myself ! Then Kiwi peer-pressured me into riding down the steepest hill I think I've ever actually rode down (after he blasted up it, of course - the guy loves to climb). It was a spooky thing.
The forest beat us up pretty good and Adam tasted dirt several more times. He and Tyler were tired but seemed happy when we got back. A challenging ride for them and a fun day for all of us.
See you next time fellas !
