Last weekend I picked up a new KTM 200 and spent a couple days doing the normal bike prep routine. In their great wisdom, KTM no longer supplies a spark arrestor on their enduro bikes. WTF?! So I ordered an aftermarket one. Apparently it's a popular S/A I chose, because it's back ordered for another week or so. What a dilemma, brand new bike that's not legal to ride on any public land and my 5 acres is getting really boring. Thankfully our neighbors to the north do not require spark arrestors, so off to Canada I went yesterday for the official maiden voyage.
The most hard core of my hard core riding buddies, Scott, joined me yesterday at Chipmunk Creek. He's the one who regularly scares away riding partners because they don't like the endless technical, butt-whooping trails he drags them through. Me, I love it! Neither of us had ridden this particular area in about 3 years and Scott had been there only once for a race, so we weren't exactly familiar with the trail system. I knew enough to be dangerous and pointed us toward what I knew to be the biggest hillclimb (steep, uphill singletrack for nearly 2 miles) and subsequent nasty, rock infested downhill in the area. As we started down the downhill we noticed a new trail off to our left. It was marked "Palo's Easy Out". I balked at taking the easy way out, but Scott wanted to check it out and promised that if it was lame we'd loop back around and ride the other trail. The trail name was apparently a joke. This was a fresh cut trail through the trees that was close to a freefall in a couple areas. The flatter stretches of trail were nice & tight, lots of rock & some tree roots. It took a dip down through a dried up creekbed (or would that be waterfall?), popped back up the other side and into more sick, tight stuff. Scott & I were pumped and laughing about how we really wanted to ride with this Palo guy. The trail came back out of the trees and dropped into the dry creekbed and ran down it. I got to a spot where it was necessary for me to slow way down and pick the lesser of all evil lines through some huge boulders when I heard somebody yelling at us. Off to our left was a guy wearing a packback and carrying a pulaski and a guy on a CRF 250X. We told them how excited we were about finding the "Easy Out" and inquired as to what they were doing. Turns out they were building a new trail that bypassed most of what we had just ridden. The Honda rider said that if we liked the "Easy Out" we should follow him. He looped us downhill and back around to the freshly cut trail where we went by about 4 guys with various trail bulding tools in hand. It was a killer little stretch of trail. Apparently we were saying all the right things and passed the initiation test, because the guy on the Honda (Paul) invited us to ride with him.
The first thing he drug us through was called "Keller's Downhill". This was one of those downhills that makes your arms shaky from holding your body off the gastank and handlbebar pad. We're talking A and AA-level riders only on this thing. It had a couple of cool creek crossings as well as we rapidly made our way down a draw to the lower elevation trails. After a couple of quick connections on more moderate trails we went into a rock strewn trail covered in moss and tree roots. You had to keep you toes up and your eyes & mind focused all the while taking a beating from the large roudn river rocks. Just when it was getting to be a little tiring we came out to the river bank and paralleled the river for about 1/3 mile (picutre below). This was a welcome relief. We took a short breather about then and it finally occured to me. "Are you Palo", I asked. Mr. Honda smiled and saide that he and his friend Carlos had built the "Easy Out" and just blended their names to come up with Palo. Too cool, the guy we thought would be so fun to ride with was awho we were riding with! And he did not disappoint. He showed us all the new trails his club had built over the last 3 years or so and some of the hard-core favorites.
About mid-way through the ride Paul asks us if we're afraid of heights. Scott & I kind of looked at each other and said no. That was Paul's free ticket to trying to scare us to death. He took us over a 6 foot high ramp with a near vertical drop off the back side (picture below) and over a 50 foot high bridge with no guard rail or kick board. Those were the warm ups for the real show. His motorcycle club spent two years constructing the most elaborate aluminum ramp system around a huge rock that's about 20 feet in the air and steep. It has no particular purpose other than to entertain, as the rock is in the middle of a clear cut, so you can build trail pretty much anywhere around it. I can't really describe it, so just check out the picture of Scott descending it.
After the big ramp Paul had to take off and Scott and I were on our own again. We were very greatful for Paul's offer to give us a guided tour and his faith in our riding ability. It made for some huge smiles. Anyhow we managed to find even more good stuff within the trail system that challenged and entertained us hugely until dusk. I dropped the new KTM once in the rocks, so it's no longer a virgin. Me and it got along very nicely. Scott & I laughed and smiled all day about all the kickin' trails we were treated to and the outstanding luck we had in finding "Palo" to ride with. Doesn't get much better than that.
The most hard core of my hard core riding buddies, Scott, joined me yesterday at Chipmunk Creek. He's the one who regularly scares away riding partners because they don't like the endless technical, butt-whooping trails he drags them through. Me, I love it! Neither of us had ridden this particular area in about 3 years and Scott had been there only once for a race, so we weren't exactly familiar with the trail system. I knew enough to be dangerous and pointed us toward what I knew to be the biggest hillclimb (steep, uphill singletrack for nearly 2 miles) and subsequent nasty, rock infested downhill in the area. As we started down the downhill we noticed a new trail off to our left. It was marked "Palo's Easy Out". I balked at taking the easy way out, but Scott wanted to check it out and promised that if it was lame we'd loop back around and ride the other trail. The trail name was apparently a joke. This was a fresh cut trail through the trees that was close to a freefall in a couple areas. The flatter stretches of trail were nice & tight, lots of rock & some tree roots. It took a dip down through a dried up creekbed (or would that be waterfall?), popped back up the other side and into more sick, tight stuff. Scott & I were pumped and laughing about how we really wanted to ride with this Palo guy. The trail came back out of the trees and dropped into the dry creekbed and ran down it. I got to a spot where it was necessary for me to slow way down and pick the lesser of all evil lines through some huge boulders when I heard somebody yelling at us. Off to our left was a guy wearing a packback and carrying a pulaski and a guy on a CRF 250X. We told them how excited we were about finding the "Easy Out" and inquired as to what they were doing. Turns out they were building a new trail that bypassed most of what we had just ridden. The Honda rider said that if we liked the "Easy Out" we should follow him. He looped us downhill and back around to the freshly cut trail where we went by about 4 guys with various trail bulding tools in hand. It was a killer little stretch of trail. Apparently we were saying all the right things and passed the initiation test, because the guy on the Honda (Paul) invited us to ride with him.
The first thing he drug us through was called "Keller's Downhill". This was one of those downhills that makes your arms shaky from holding your body off the gastank and handlbebar pad. We're talking A and AA-level riders only on this thing. It had a couple of cool creek crossings as well as we rapidly made our way down a draw to the lower elevation trails. After a couple of quick connections on more moderate trails we went into a rock strewn trail covered in moss and tree roots. You had to keep you toes up and your eyes & mind focused all the while taking a beating from the large roudn river rocks. Just when it was getting to be a little tiring we came out to the river bank and paralleled the river for about 1/3 mile (picutre below). This was a welcome relief. We took a short breather about then and it finally occured to me. "Are you Palo", I asked. Mr. Honda smiled and saide that he and his friend Carlos had built the "Easy Out" and just blended their names to come up with Palo. Too cool, the guy we thought would be so fun to ride with was awho we were riding with! And he did not disappoint. He showed us all the new trails his club had built over the last 3 years or so and some of the hard-core favorites.
About mid-way through the ride Paul asks us if we're afraid of heights. Scott & I kind of looked at each other and said no. That was Paul's free ticket to trying to scare us to death. He took us over a 6 foot high ramp with a near vertical drop off the back side (picture below) and over a 50 foot high bridge with no guard rail or kick board. Those were the warm ups for the real show. His motorcycle club spent two years constructing the most elaborate aluminum ramp system around a huge rock that's about 20 feet in the air and steep. It has no particular purpose other than to entertain, as the rock is in the middle of a clear cut, so you can build trail pretty much anywhere around it. I can't really describe it, so just check out the picture of Scott descending it.
After the big ramp Paul had to take off and Scott and I were on our own again. We were very greatful for Paul's offer to give us a guided tour and his faith in our riding ability. It made for some huge smiles. Anyhow we managed to find even more good stuff within the trail system that challenged and entertained us hugely until dusk. I dropped the new KTM once in the rocks, so it's no longer a virgin. Me and it got along very nicely. Scott & I laughed and smiled all day about all the kickin' trails we were treated to and the outstanding luck we had in finding "Palo" to ride with. Doesn't get much better than that.
