GETMETOCA
Can't Wait For Tuesdays
- Mar 17, 2002
- 4,765
- 0
Just got back from a great ride at Hollister Hills with KTMChick and Mick, Jennifer and Pierre, and Frank (Treefinder). This was my first time riding in Hollister so I was not sure what to expect!
I got up at 5:30 am, loaded all my stuff into the Silverado, made breakfast, got ready, and hit the road at about 6:45 am. The ride over from Modesto was only about 2 hours or less. I had to call Karna&Justin the night before because I am SO BAD with directions. I had fogotten to PM Dirt Bike Dave (He doesn't know it, but he's my main source for SUPERBLY detailed directions to any riding area in CA!) That was okay because Karna's directions worked out just fine.
I get to the sign that says "Hollister Hills SVRA- 4 miles" and Jennifer calls me on my cell. The hills are causing a bad connection but I did hear "Load..... Bikes.......Leaking Oil...." before she was cut off. Jennifer and Pierre are about 45 min to an hour away from Hollister so I just hoped that it meant they would just be late and not have to forfeit the trip! We've had trouble getting together to ride so I was really looking forward to seeing them!
I get to the park and get a map from the park attendant and find the designated meeting spot. Turns out the Annual Pass I bought at Carnegie works here too because its the same State Run off road park system. Woo Hoo! I make a mental note to splurge on a $30 pedicure since I saved $4 today at the gate. :D
I unload my stuff, put on my gear and start up my bike. I've just put on my helmet and gloves, ready to go out for a little easy ride when I turn to see Jennifer and Pierre driving up!! KTMChick and Mick were right behind them. Frank pulls in about 10 minutes later. We're all here!
After everyone's ready, we all head to the TT track to do warm up laps and that's fun. I find I have a tough time with right hand corners, in fact I really suck. Can't stick my foot out, I'm all jerky and "not smooth". We're all having fun though, so it really doesn't matter.
Time to get to the trails. The trails are nice and wide, but whooped out pretty good. The one thing I notice is that if one were to "miss the turn" its mostly a pretty steep drop off for God knows how many feet. Certain pain and mangling, to be sure. I slow down a bit to maintain control and resume my usual place at the bottom of the pack. Mick and Pierre and Frank are taking turns leading all of us or hanging back to make sure I take the right trails. Thanks guys! Frank's been here plenty of times and has good suggestions for trails to take. We go on a total of three rides today. Two before lunch and one after.
The first ride takes us up to the top of the hills. Once there, we attack one steep looking hill that looked ominous from the bottom, but wasn't so bad after all. We then take a little breather at the vista and enjoy the view.
This gives me time to practice my french vocabulary on Jennifer and Pierre. Turns out my pronunciation is very poor, for when I said "haricot verts" (green beans) Pierre responded with a quizzical look and "pardon?" I gave up after that. I think I need to stick to the French tapes, least I butcher this beautiful language. :ugg:
I notice that the breeze we were feeling earlier seems to have left us and its getting quite hot. We get back down the hill then try another trail on the other side of the park. The trails are narrower and there are less whoops, but more switchbacks. Another good ride with no mishaps on my part so far. Highly unusual! KTMChick is riding smooth and strong as usual, she's very graceful on a bike, makes it all look easy. Jennifer is doing great and looks in control! Since she's in front of me most of the time, I can see all those Oregon Ride School skills kicking in for her as she negotiates turns and obstacles in the trail.
We get down to the main road and the others decide to go get sound tested at the ranger's station. (I think they waited on purpose til most of the riding was over before they went to be tested :debil: ). Mick, who's exhaust has been described by others as having "A Doppler Effect" opted to go ride on the MX track. I was having a great time watching him nail the jumps, he's hell-on-wheels and his riding style has a lot of...STYLE?
Mick rides over to me and sees my apparent interest in the track and tells me "Come On!" I take a look at how many people are on the track (for their safety, not mine ) and determine that it's not too crowded. Mick says to stay behind him and he's only going to take me over the jumps that aren't going to kick out my back tire, whatever that means. He has me watch a guy going over that jump and see what happens when his back tire gets kicked out. Okay, I got it! I tell him, my M.O. is to "roll" over the jumps and he's okay with that, in fact I bet he figured as much.
Talk about FUN!!! WHOOOOOOHOOOOOO! I was going a little faster than I did the last time I was on a track and Mick said I got "a little air" on one of the jumps but I don't remember.
We join the others at the sound check and Frank lets me try out his KTM EXC400, so we switch bikes and head back to the vehicles for a lunch break. Thanks Frank! Nice ride! I especially liked that fancy starter button! Would have come in handy today a couple of times. I'm getting good at the downhill roll-pop into gear thing.
After lunch and a break, we go back up another hill, this ride will be a little shorter. We're all going around the side of a hill and I look across the way to the trail a little below us and I see a bike and a rider standing at the edge of the trail looking down into the gulley. Then I see what appears to be a bike and jersey colors down in the gulley. My heart's panicky and I'm thinking my worst fears about those steep cliff-like drops if a rider were to........ :(
Everyone in our group ahead of me stops and helps. Turns out there IS rider and a bike down in the gulley below the trail, but he's okay! Frank just happens to have a couple of tie downs in his tool bag and the guys jump down into the gulley to hook it up to the back tire. Pierre pulls with help from the 4 people down below trying to push upward; its VERY steep. We girls step in and help pull a little too. Finally, the bike and all the guys are back on deck. I asked the guy who fell what happened and he said that his back tire slid off and he was able to throw his body away from the bike and avoid going down the gulley with it. Good for him! I slow down the rest of the day after that (slower than I was before :D )
We say our good-bye's around 4:30 PM, and head home. A great day, an great ride! It was good to see everyone again!!
I got up at 5:30 am, loaded all my stuff into the Silverado, made breakfast, got ready, and hit the road at about 6:45 am. The ride over from Modesto was only about 2 hours or less. I had to call Karna&Justin the night before because I am SO BAD with directions. I had fogotten to PM Dirt Bike Dave (He doesn't know it, but he's my main source for SUPERBLY detailed directions to any riding area in CA!) That was okay because Karna's directions worked out just fine.
I get to the sign that says "Hollister Hills SVRA- 4 miles" and Jennifer calls me on my cell. The hills are causing a bad connection but I did hear "Load..... Bikes.......Leaking Oil...." before she was cut off. Jennifer and Pierre are about 45 min to an hour away from Hollister so I just hoped that it meant they would just be late and not have to forfeit the trip! We've had trouble getting together to ride so I was really looking forward to seeing them!
I get to the park and get a map from the park attendant and find the designated meeting spot. Turns out the Annual Pass I bought at Carnegie works here too because its the same State Run off road park system. Woo Hoo! I make a mental note to splurge on a $30 pedicure since I saved $4 today at the gate. :D
I unload my stuff, put on my gear and start up my bike. I've just put on my helmet and gloves, ready to go out for a little easy ride when I turn to see Jennifer and Pierre driving up!! KTMChick and Mick were right behind them. Frank pulls in about 10 minutes later. We're all here!
After everyone's ready, we all head to the TT track to do warm up laps and that's fun. I find I have a tough time with right hand corners, in fact I really suck. Can't stick my foot out, I'm all jerky and "not smooth". We're all having fun though, so it really doesn't matter.
Time to get to the trails. The trails are nice and wide, but whooped out pretty good. The one thing I notice is that if one were to "miss the turn" its mostly a pretty steep drop off for God knows how many feet. Certain pain and mangling, to be sure. I slow down a bit to maintain control and resume my usual place at the bottom of the pack. Mick and Pierre and Frank are taking turns leading all of us or hanging back to make sure I take the right trails. Thanks guys! Frank's been here plenty of times and has good suggestions for trails to take. We go on a total of three rides today. Two before lunch and one after.
The first ride takes us up to the top of the hills. Once there, we attack one steep looking hill that looked ominous from the bottom, but wasn't so bad after all. We then take a little breather at the vista and enjoy the view.
This gives me time to practice my french vocabulary on Jennifer and Pierre. Turns out my pronunciation is very poor, for when I said "haricot verts" (green beans) Pierre responded with a quizzical look and "pardon?" I gave up after that. I think I need to stick to the French tapes, least I butcher this beautiful language. :ugg:
I notice that the breeze we were feeling earlier seems to have left us and its getting quite hot. We get back down the hill then try another trail on the other side of the park. The trails are narrower and there are less whoops, but more switchbacks. Another good ride with no mishaps on my part so far. Highly unusual! KTMChick is riding smooth and strong as usual, she's very graceful on a bike, makes it all look easy. Jennifer is doing great and looks in control! Since she's in front of me most of the time, I can see all those Oregon Ride School skills kicking in for her as she negotiates turns and obstacles in the trail.
We get down to the main road and the others decide to go get sound tested at the ranger's station. (I think they waited on purpose til most of the riding was over before they went to be tested :debil: ). Mick, who's exhaust has been described by others as having "A Doppler Effect" opted to go ride on the MX track. I was having a great time watching him nail the jumps, he's hell-on-wheels and his riding style has a lot of...STYLE?
Mick rides over to me and sees my apparent interest in the track and tells me "Come On!" I take a look at how many people are on the track (for their safety, not mine ) and determine that it's not too crowded. Mick says to stay behind him and he's only going to take me over the jumps that aren't going to kick out my back tire, whatever that means. He has me watch a guy going over that jump and see what happens when his back tire gets kicked out. Okay, I got it! I tell him, my M.O. is to "roll" over the jumps and he's okay with that, in fact I bet he figured as much.
Talk about FUN!!! WHOOOOOOHOOOOOO! I was going a little faster than I did the last time I was on a track and Mick said I got "a little air" on one of the jumps but I don't remember.
We join the others at the sound check and Frank lets me try out his KTM EXC400, so we switch bikes and head back to the vehicles for a lunch break. Thanks Frank! Nice ride! I especially liked that fancy starter button! Would have come in handy today a couple of times. I'm getting good at the downhill roll-pop into gear thing.
After lunch and a break, we go back up another hill, this ride will be a little shorter. We're all going around the side of a hill and I look across the way to the trail a little below us and I see a bike and a rider standing at the edge of the trail looking down into the gulley. Then I see what appears to be a bike and jersey colors down in the gulley. My heart's panicky and I'm thinking my worst fears about those steep cliff-like drops if a rider were to........ :(
Everyone in our group ahead of me stops and helps. Turns out there IS rider and a bike down in the gulley below the trail, but he's okay! Frank just happens to have a couple of tie downs in his tool bag and the guys jump down into the gulley to hook it up to the back tire. Pierre pulls with help from the 4 people down below trying to push upward; its VERY steep. We girls step in and help pull a little too. Finally, the bike and all the guys are back on deck. I asked the guy who fell what happened and he said that his back tire slid off and he was able to throw his body away from the bike and avoid going down the gulley with it. Good for him! I slow down the rest of the day after that (slower than I was before :D )
We say our good-bye's around 4:30 PM, and head home. A great day, an great ride! It was good to see everyone again!!
