- May 31, 2002
- 1,229
- 2
I guess gxdragon just about summed up the day for Friday in his report, except for the first section of single track, where i was leading the way, and the tree in front of me started moving....i thought it was someone comiong the wrong way, but then a bear came down out of the tree. i stopped and waved down the others, so they would not startle him more than I already did. I don't think they actually saw the bear, since when I turned back around after stopping them, the bear was gone. It was not a big bear, I would say about 125-150lbs, about half the size of the ones I am used to seeing here in NJ.
On Saturday, jmics, and Eugene both showed up each with a friend, unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to ride with them. NRB was also there Friday and Saturday with his wife.
Saturday turned into a search and recovery day for me. First thing in the morning, I offered to assist a family to help them find their ATV that broke a rear axel on Saturday. The reason I say we had to find it is because the kids were out riding Friday while their fathers were back at the truck.....a case of more people than toys, so they had to take turns.....Anyway, when the kids broke down, they moved the ATV off the trail and tried to find their way back, they finally got back, but could not say exactly where they broke down, so we knew the general area, and went out to search first thing Saturday morning. We found the quad on a trail named "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and made repairs so we were able to tow it over all the rocks and out of the park.
Then it was time to break for lunch, and then head back out on the trails. I took a ride towards the river to cool off, and when I got there, there were a couple of bikes stopped on the other side of the river. I crossed the river, and found that one of them, a KLX400 I think, had dumped in the water, and sucked water into the cylinder. We pulled the plug and tryed to get out as much water as possible, but still no luck with getting the bike started, so we headed back to the parking lot to get a tow rope. When we got to the parking lot, NRB (Nathan) and his wife were there after a day of riding, and Nathan offered to go back and help with recovering the bike, so off we go back on the trails. When we got to the bottom of Turtle trail, there was a girl standing alongside a Gasgas by herself, so while the others went on, I stopped to see if she needed help. It turned out that her boyfriend fouled a plug in the Gasgas, so she stayed there, while he took her KX back to get another plug. We talked for a while, since it turned out she works at the dealer where I bought my KTM.
Unfortunately, while talking to her, I missed seeing just how helpful Nathan is......when he said that he would help, nobody expected him to actually show the downed rider what he did wrong by duplicating his fall in the river and drowning his bike. Now we had 2 bikes that wouldn't run, and only 1 tow rope. nathans bike was not under water long, so there was hope for getting it started. We took off his gas tank, and removed the plug, then flipped his bike over and worked the kick start to force out the water, still no luck. Fortunately, the group we were helping also had an ATV with them(they are good for some things), and he pulled the 2 bikes out of the rocky area and up to level ground, 1 at a time. once on level ground, he was able to pull the bikes to bump start them. Nathan went first, and his bike started pretty easily, and he took off down the trail to make sure everything ran OK. The KLX was a little harder to start, but it did get started, and we were back to the parking area to call it a day. Just remember, if you ever drown your bike in a water hole, and your not sure why you fell, If you ask Nathan, he may be nice enough to show you what you did wrong.
Sunday was uneventful, and I don't think there were any other DRN riders there.
Dan
On Saturday, jmics, and Eugene both showed up each with a friend, unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to ride with them. NRB was also there Friday and Saturday with his wife.
Saturday turned into a search and recovery day for me. First thing in the morning, I offered to assist a family to help them find their ATV that broke a rear axel on Saturday. The reason I say we had to find it is because the kids were out riding Friday while their fathers were back at the truck.....a case of more people than toys, so they had to take turns.....Anyway, when the kids broke down, they moved the ATV off the trail and tried to find their way back, they finally got back, but could not say exactly where they broke down, so we knew the general area, and went out to search first thing Saturday morning. We found the quad on a trail named "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" and made repairs so we were able to tow it over all the rocks and out of the park.
Then it was time to break for lunch, and then head back out on the trails. I took a ride towards the river to cool off, and when I got there, there were a couple of bikes stopped on the other side of the river. I crossed the river, and found that one of them, a KLX400 I think, had dumped in the water, and sucked water into the cylinder. We pulled the plug and tryed to get out as much water as possible, but still no luck with getting the bike started, so we headed back to the parking lot to get a tow rope. When we got to the parking lot, NRB (Nathan) and his wife were there after a day of riding, and Nathan offered to go back and help with recovering the bike, so off we go back on the trails. When we got to the bottom of Turtle trail, there was a girl standing alongside a Gasgas by herself, so while the others went on, I stopped to see if she needed help. It turned out that her boyfriend fouled a plug in the Gasgas, so she stayed there, while he took her KX back to get another plug. We talked for a while, since it turned out she works at the dealer where I bought my KTM.
Unfortunately, while talking to her, I missed seeing just how helpful Nathan is......when he said that he would help, nobody expected him to actually show the downed rider what he did wrong by duplicating his fall in the river and drowning his bike. Now we had 2 bikes that wouldn't run, and only 1 tow rope. nathans bike was not under water long, so there was hope for getting it started. We took off his gas tank, and removed the plug, then flipped his bike over and worked the kick start to force out the water, still no luck. Fortunately, the group we were helping also had an ATV with them(they are good for some things), and he pulled the 2 bikes out of the rocky area and up to level ground, 1 at a time. once on level ground, he was able to pull the bikes to bump start them. Nathan went first, and his bike started pretty easily, and he took off down the trail to make sure everything ran OK. The KLX was a little harder to start, but it did get started, and we were back to the parking area to call it a day. Just remember, if you ever drown your bike in a water hole, and your not sure why you fell, If you ask Nathan, he may be nice enough to show you what you did wrong.
Sunday was uneventful, and I don't think there were any other DRN riders there.
Dan
