Kennedy Meadows Ride Fest

[MrLuckey]

OMG - What a weekend, a million things to report but I can prolly only remember a dozen or so. Thursday the true hard core riders (Thumbs, ScarTissue, FremontGuy and myself) meet up and get our camps all set up. Friday sees the four of us go out for a short ride that turned very long :) I got to lead most of the way since I was the only one that had been there before. Ugh About 15 minutes into the ride up towards Jackass peak we came across a fellow rider in dire straights. Jackass has a new element in one its many rock sections that is NASTY. This guy was only about 6 ft off the trail but it was almost straight down and his fellow riding buddies were nowhere to be seen. After 3 of us helped muscle his bike up (while someone else took pics :) ) we were off again. The ride was going great until we again meet up with this fellow (this time with his kids) and they have a puppy who looks to be about 1.5 yrs old, 35-40 lbs. We were 20 miles from nowhere and this dog had a flat tire on his right rear. After much deliberation I somehow ended up with a dog across my lap, left arm around his neck and trying to ride trails. A few sections dictated letting go of the dog and grabbing the bars with BOTH hands - all the while trying to squeeze my new friend with elbows and knees. After about 17 more miles and me ready to die and give in we hand her off to a ranger and head back to camp. The next day sees DirtJunkie, Kali, Bob, GSR, Kip and others in camp and ready to ride. 54 miles of trail and a few get offs later lead a rousing night of absolute hilarity around a fire and great food. There isn't a soul in the crowd that isn't full of it has a 1,000 wise cracks. I would have to say that Kip probably wins for the most hilarious but he also gets the nod on being the most 'out there'. Sunday morning we saddle up for a short (1-2 hr ride) with DirtJunkie leading (big mistake) and end up on the most technical stuff I have ever seen at KM. Kip literally trashes his back tire before the halfway point and then proceeds to rip spokes out, put gashes in the tire and thrash the nice excel rim trying to get back to camp. Did I mention that it was ROCKY? Thumbs and Scar volunteer to escort him back and probably have some good reports on that endeavor. 3.5 hours later the rest of the us manage to limp back into camp. We made it up to 9909 ft in elevation and saw some stunning views, some were nature and some were bike related :) And now for the good ending - the rangers were unable to find the puppies owner so GSR and I gave them our info and she came home with us. We have named her 'Kennedy" since thats where we found her and I am hoping that we dont get a call from her parents in the next couple of weeks. Should have some pics up soon. Oh yeah -0 if the owners do call - they have to pay for my deep thigh bruise and bent Renthals that were sustained as a result of trying to ride 1 handed too long. If ever there was a time a Scotts Dampner would have been worth its weight in gold :( All in all I managed to log 130 some odd miles (90% of which were trails), cant find anything that isn't somewhat sore on my old worn out self, meet some great new riding buddies a had an awesome new addition to the family fall into my lap. AWESOME.

 

[KiwiBird]

Yeah, and I had just as good a time moving.

 

[gospeedracer]

Awww, Kiwi you didn't miss out on much. It really wasn't much fun at all. Just a bunch of old bores sitting around who couldn't ride if their lives depended on it. All in all it was a terrible, terrible weekend. :p

Feel better now? ;)

I must say that I think I am thoroughly spoiled now after having your camper to sleep in. I pitied the tent trash! :p Oh how am I ever going to go back to tent life?!!

I did manage to dump my bike off the same cliff on Jackass Peak trail that TTRGuy mentioned above. After an unsucessful attempt to get over a rockslide that was not there last time, I tried to bulldog my bike over in a very precarious position and lost it over the side. Problem was my brain forgot to tell my hands to let go! You see, I'm very attached to my bike. The end result was me tumbling down the cliff after my bike. If another rider hadn't come along about 2 mins after my trip down the side of the cliff I don't know how I would have EVER gotten my bike back up on the trail! After that I was so exhausted, the ride back was just down hill from there. :(

The evenings entertainment was interesting to say the least. Interesting things happen when you start to pass the Jack Daniels bottle around. :eek:

 

[fremontguy]

Yeah, Kennedy rocks (bitchen?). You all missed out on the best riding time of the day Sun. from 3-7:30pm. Put in another 40 mile loop around Black mountain. Funny thing when I was loading bike in truck, I noticed stock plastic Honda shark fin was ripped off completely from boulders in our special test sections:D Today there were cattle roaming in your vacanted campsites and it was 90 deg. at 9am. Took a nice exit back to the Bay area via Sonora pass. Looking forward to any trail pics, great weekend.

Forgot to mention that I was impressed by the good signage on trails there. By day 4, I had a pretty good handle on the layout and could follow map easily. Dirtjunkie earned 10 stars as trail guide in my opinion. Uploaded some boring pics here:
http://communities.msn.com/fremontguy/kennedymeadows.msnw

 

[longtime]

Not jealous. Nope. Not one bit. Fine with gimpin' around again and mowin' the lawn. Yessir. Not one bit jealous.

Scar told me all about it. Said it was really fun. Had a lot of good stories.

 

[the Eel]

Sounds like I missed a great one .... glad everyone got back in one piece.

When will you all be doing it again ?

 

[Ol'89r]

Originally posted by LongTime
Not jealous. Nope. Not one bit. .
Yessir. Not one bit jealous.

Me neither.:think

Mastersandblaster and Jim Mo67 came home all smiles. Said they had a blast. Going to have to change Jim Mo67's name to 'Dances with trees.' Forgot to tell you about those jumping trees up there Jim.

Scar, Thumbs, what did you guys think of that place? How about a ride report, or at least a campfire report.

TTRGuy. The story about the puppy was hilarious. I can almost picture that in my mind.

Ol'

 

[KTMster]

I too managed to dump my bike off a cliff. Luckily Nikki & Kali were behind me & we all three managed to drag it back up the cliff. KM is definitely different terrain than what I am used to riding in, but I still can’t believe how many get offs I had. I'm thinking about taking my suspension back to Race Tech but I am going to wait until after this weekend, ride it in familiar terrain & then make that decision. Good excuse, huh! ;) Thom actually stopped once because he thought he broke off his brake pedal on a rock because he couldn't feel anything there only to find out that the brake pedal was still there & that it was just the brakes themselves that had completely faded. :eek:

That is so great the way TTRGuy saved the doggie & that him & GSR adopted her. :)

Definitely had a great time riding, hiking & visiting! We partied Friday night at DRN’s campfire in Fish Creek, Saturday night at Checkers M.C.’s campfire in Troy Meadows & Sunday night at a couple friends’ campfire in Troy Meadows Overflow. Yikes, we definitely made our rounds this weekend & met a lot of great people! :)

 

[thumbs]

Originally posted by TTRGuy
I would have to say that Kip probably wins for the most hilarious but he also gets the nod on being the most 'out there'.

Corned beef curtains and a Jewelry box full of mayonnaise........boy-o-boy was he funny or what!

Well, that was my first time to Kennedy Meadows and it was well worth the 3-1/2 hour drive. The trails were very rocky and technical for the most part. Mostly first and second gear stuff along goat trails, but there were a few sections that you could start to wind it out in 3rd & 4th. There were also a few fun water crossings and some high speed sections across the meadows. All in all the trails were great and the scenery was incredible.

And now for the thanks...........
Kip - for the laughs, bolt and washer
Eddie - for the being the chef........again
Amiee - for the hot shower....um..er..you too Kiwi
Fremont guy - for the salsa
Kali - for the Jack Daniels and Dorritos
Chris - for the tri-tip
Kota - for eating have my sandwich
Scar - for sitting in my chair all weekend

Thanks for the epic weekend everyone!:)

 

[MrLuckey]

Ol 89'r

Yeah well, actually the riding with the dog thing is just a new freestyle trick I am working on. LOOK FOR IT AT YOUR NEXT LOCAL FREESTYLE event :)
I am considering naming it a "One Hander Puppy Grabber" but am open to suggestions as long as they don't refer to the crash we had or get too pervasive, I know how some of you guys think :)

 

[MrLuckey]

Hey Scar - You still owe about $1.12 for the safety wire, tie wraps and electrical tape from those two 'trail-fixer-uppers' we performed on your ride :) I'll let you tell em the story but I still dont see how you ripped the throttle cable housing completely off without crashing or doing any other damage :) So do you still think that I carry too much stuff in the fanny pack and Camelbak Hawg?

 

[scar tissue]

In a word ":cool:"

Had a blast , I 'm still sorer than @*#! That's why I didn't post yesterday.

Trails were great (except for the miles of Whoops in some sections. ugh!)

Trees, rocks, streams, cabins, dogs, get offs, cliffs, beers, cows, bees, wat a weekend.

Thurs. we arrived unloaded and took off riding, Thank TTR for sharing the camp spot. I felt really quick and light on my new KLX 340 (coming off and XR600) and was hitting some 2nd gear trails in 4th gear, and losing Fremont Guy. After going over the bars twice. :scream: (once on a rock that bucked me off and once curtousey of a tree stump.) I kicked it down to third, and actually started making the corners.

Fri. TTR, Fremont, Thumbs, and me bailed up Jackass, and did the over the bars thing again, :scream: I love those surprise rocks around corners. ( had to saftey wire a bark buster back on) Fremont and Thumbs caught up to me and off we went again. I decided to ride sweep (to control myself/speed) got kinda tired of that after a few so I made the pass on Fremont, railed a corner that was appearently too small to take sideways. There was a 6FT boulder on the inner part and we had different opinions. It proceeded to rip my throttle right off the bike breaking the housing in 2 , Did I mention we were 20+ miles in the middle of nowhere! Some zip ties & electrical tape later I earned my MacGyver badge and off we went. You allready heard about the rest of the trip with the dog and all.

Sat. the remainder of the crew showed up and we were already pretty beat. we did a marathon loop and had a blast. Thumbs and kip were way low on fuel so we take trail "B"(20 miles) back to camp. About 5 miles into it Kips outta fuel. We Macgyver tranfering fuel from Thumbs via his fuel line and and NGK box for an extender, curtousey off yours truely. thumbs fuel line clamp proceeds to fall into Kips tank. Man, I gotta do everything for these guys!:p On the way back, had a bee fly in my helmet and another down the back of my jersey Ouch! 3 miles later Thumbs is outta fuel. Kip takes off as he's almost out also. I still have over half a tank( gotta love 4 strokes) We leave him there and I ride back to camp and find Kip coasting home on the Highway outta gas. I fill up and Evion bottle fuel of premix and bolt back , If I could only remember where I left thumbs! I come across him after a few wrong turns and were all back. Kip, thumbs, and I take off for a sunset ride after everyone else poops out. Spectacular but uneventful.

Sun: We redo our sunset ride though technical rocks and hill and jam though a canyon with several water crossings. Coming out we climb some narly/ rocky hills (reminded me of John Bull, but with a sheer cliff on one side. ) I wait at the bottom as kip is stuck and get a hand while blowing out a tire. he clears and I make it before rest of the group even catches up to us. As we were hauling butt being the last day and all. We nurse Kip back to camp minus some spokes, and with a completly thrashed Excel rim and tire.

Drove home exhasted and happy. :)

Thanks again GSR and TTR, oh yeah and Thumbs for the chair.

 

[gospeedracer]

Not sure if this link will work, but some photos of the new puppy are here. http://evite.citysearch.com/PhotoAlbum/View?albumID=13804658855421504

 

[Farmer John]

Doggie link is not working yet.....

If no-one claims her, is she going to her first dirt week?

does she like the taste of mice?

My son wants a puppy so bad it's not funny. He would have one if not for his allergies :(

 

[MrLuckey]

Farmer John - tried to contact you yesterday - am sending you an e-mail in a minute and then logging off - call me at home.

Hmmm - nodoby better claim her, she is going to cost us $342.00 tomorrow for spaying, shots, reparis to foot, checkup, and several other items tomorrow :) Sadly she probably wouldn't be able to make Dirt Week 01 even though I kinda feel like she is a DRN mascot. If it wasn't for DRN we souldn't have found her and she might not be here today. Hey Okie - is there some kind of reimbursement plan for expenses incurred while on DRN activities :)

 

[gospeedracer]

What happens when you click on the link?

 

[gospeedracer]

Okay, try this link, http://evite.citysearch.com/PhotoAlbum/View?albumID=13804658855421504&i=gnc14b4yrio

 

[AJ Waggoner]

Cool reports!
sounds like an awesome time was had by all :)

I want to check that place out next time I'm in Cali


Eddie and Aimee -congrats on the new edition!

 

[Ol'89r]

Re: Ol 89'r

Originally posted by TTRGuy
[or get too pervasive, I know how some of you guys think :) [/B]

Darn, TTRGuy. You just took all the fun out of that one. You must have read my mind.:confused:

Aimee. When I clicked on the photo link it locked my puter up. Had to Ctrl-Alt-Delete to get out. Also happened to a friend of mine when he tried it.

Ol'89r

 

[KTMster]

OMG, puppy Kennedy is absolutely adorable! She is even smiling for her photos. :)