March 17 ride at Paragon (near Hazleton PA)

Papakeith and Paula have arrived in Allentown!!!!

They are coming in with me in the morning. Keep safe and lets ride!!

Is it the 17th yet?

That 450 is a 2002 VOR 450 Enduro...its just a pre-production mellow trail bike test mule. I've got a ton of miles on it so its not as pretty as it once was.

I was planning to bring down my old Husky for trail busting....but maybe I could bring something that looks cool instead like a 2000 VOR MX 503 bike that was built for the 4-Stroke nationals. Its a monster, I can't ride the thing. No one I know can ride it for long. Maybe OffRoadWarrior might want to try and tackle that beast in the open stuff....Just its completely unmanagable in the woods. Just too brutal a power band, too stiff a suspension, along with too light a flywheel. But its a kick ass machine on the fire roads and natural terrain MX courses. :debil: It would be awesome for western style Hare Scrambles or European style GP courses. I get 82 MPH on my 450 Enduro on my feilds and I know that 503 has that beat by at least 10 MPH. Just it accellerates so fast and doesn't have the rev limiter at 10,000...it spins to about 11,500. Maybe even 12,000. That equals top speed and a big HAND Grenade!:eek:

ORW, Sorry about your fate. Hope you make the next one.

I spent this evening going over the bike, almost forgot to oil and install the filter myself. I even took it for a test ride.

I'm hoping nothing like that happens to me or anyone else once we get there.

See You All Tomorow!!!!!

Joe Chief

OK, it's me plus three.
I'm aiming to get to the Exxon by 10AM.
How much $ is it to get in?

I think 15 dalloars was mentioned, but I'm not sure. Hey, it's the 17th today.:) :) :)

;) I don't want you guys to think I left because it was not fun. As it turns out I suck. That's ok because now I know what I have to work on for the next time.
It was nice to get to meet all of you. I want to thank silverback for the help and leading me around by my nose. Thanks to Chief and Frank for making me feel welcome and basicaly everyone.
Learned some things today.
1-I suck
2- you can make a foot peg out of a jack.
flyinsuzuki and buddy thanks for the push
3- I suck
4- need to make some changes to the bike
5-I suck
6- at least you all appear to be normal.
7- will be better prepared next time
8-Stay overnight both nights

Hope to see some good stories about today.
Thanks Trigger for setting it up.;)

Hey Dapper

Dapper,

It was great to see you pull in to the BK yesterday morning. I was hoping to catch ya here after I saw you left the park.

Don't be so tough on yourself. I can't see anyone having an easy time after years off. August was my first time offroad in years and it was nothing like I remembered. It felt Brutal.

Pretty much last year I could barely walk after most of the rides (especially when it was trying to keep up with others) I had an easier time moping around alone at my own pace.

I'm still pretty rusty, but very surprised that I'm not too sore or beat up tonight. (ahhhhh, RUM) BTW, I was still mostly last today :)

I guess bike mods are usually part of the game. Just getting it to perform to your needs.

Give yourself some time to adjust and also find some forgiving terrain to practice on if you can. Go at your own pace and have fun. You'll be surprised how much things change after you get a little time in.

See Ya Soon,

Joe Chief

fogeddaboutit!

Hey dont sweat it Dapper. It takes a little while to get used to monkey-butt after a long time out of the saddle.

So how was the terrain? How were the trails? Were they open, or did you get whacked in the head by branches? Any hillclimbs? Streams, or rivers to cross? Come on fellas, your killing us!!
Was it all it was cracked up to be? WE NEED TO KNOW!!!

Wayne - I thought you were going?

Rocks. LOTS of rocks. There are lots of logging roads that traverse the area and some trails with decomposed granite. Lots of nice easy hills. Especially around the end where the staging/parking area was. Some intermediate hils on the other end. Challenging but not too difficult for most riders.

Then there are the rock gardens. Plenty of them.

Towards the middle of the day a group split off and found some single track. That was really nice. I don't have a lot of single track experience and found that part of the ride to be the most fun. It was a blast! That was my favorite area.

Earlier in the day as the point riders were picking around exploring trails we found a rocky hill/jeep trail. Went down and couldn't find a way NOT to go back..and had to go back up that thing. It also turned out to be a blast. That stuff was all over (those long hill climbs) And was my second most favorit type of riding there. Loved those hill climbs. Especially those really nasty ones.

Then there were those rock gardens. Funny how it was fun going up and a little rough on the flats and going back down.

Its a keeper. Different than anyplace I ever have been before. Reminds me of a place like "left hand canyon" in Colorado. The single track has no equal in any other place I've been. The rock gardens are different than out west because all the rocks were rounded. Out west they are sharper, more square, and more angular. Believe it or not the rounder rocks are harder to deal with.

We didn't spend as much time on the banks by the parking are/staging area, but for less experienced riders they looked like lots of fun. Didn't see any Motocross like places.

I would rate the difficulty of this riding area as "intermediate". Not so difficult where an aggressive beginer would get in trouble and not so easy where a hard core expert is going to get bored. Kind of like a "blue" ski slope. Break off the marked trail and there are some "black diamonds" for the hard core guys. Stay on the marked trails and they are mostly total "blue" with some beginner stuff as well. Stay around the parking area and its all "green".

It would take several days to learn this place and its worth the effort.

Thanks guys for making this happen!:):)

I think the highlight of the day for me was "Flyinsuki". On one of the hills Me and a coupe of other guys (including suki) picked our way up and then realized no one else were behind us so we turned around. On the hill there was carnage. Bikes and bodies everywhere. Then I realised This guy Flyinsuki busted his foot peg off and still got up that hill. But instead of calling it a day, he goes back and cuts a chunk off a car jack and MAKES a foot peg. He rode the rest of the day. I was....impressed.

Originally posted by Papakeith
Where were you Wayne?

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Everything was loaded and ready to go, but wifey wasnt feeling too well, and her back was flamed up, so Heather and I had to take care of Mommy. Yes, I was bummed. :(

Do I need to start another thread about the next paragon ride? Hmmm, maybe I'll do that today! Hope you stayed dry Keith!

Dapper! You did fine for your first outing and with a new bike! :aj:

Just get it lowered a little and ride and ride! ;)

Sorry I missed your departure. Give me an E and we will get hooked up for some practice. :p

" If you were a spectator you probably are already dead !" :uh:

Rocks! I didn't see no stinkin rocks.
And then it happend, my forward flip
off of my bike. :confused:

Just like to say thanks to Dapper for
having the forsight to bring a hacksaw blade
You made my day! ;)

IMS pegs:moon: that's for you.
That was the second IMS peg that I shattered. :(

Flyinzuki, No problem glad I could help. You guys cracked me up. Maybe I'll have the whole saw if it happens again. :aj:

UUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMM holesaw............

:) :) :)


Dapper, sounds like you saved the day!

Chief

onother group ride?

hey guys,this is jim. i came with greg .i had the ktm 300 exc and he had the ktm 520 exc. trigger you delivered parts to me at ehrlich. let's get a ride togerther at tower city on the 21 of april. it is about a half hour south of hazleton on rt.81 south.barkbusters and skidplates a must!!!!! there are some fireroads,really cool hillclimbs,some play areas with motocross type tracks and alot of tight narley singletrack for advanced trail riders.checkout the new thread we started. towercity group ride april 21. here is the website to check it out www.towercitytrailriders.org

"some play areas with motocross type tracks and alot of tight narley singletrack for advanced trail riders."

What about us advanced age trail riders with heavy four strokes?

Chief- Maybe I should have said entire saw. :moon:
Weimedog- I'm with you except the 4 stroke part.;)

Originally posted by weimedog
What about us advanced age trail riders with heavy four strokes?

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Not to burst your bubble, but I've ridden some real gnarly single track (the kind that leaves most mortals crying for their mother) with a couple of "long-in-the-tooth" riders. These guys are in the 60+ category. One rides a KDX that's held together with duct tape and bailing wire. The other rides a DRZ400 with a Baja Designs kit. Of course these guys have been riding in this stuff since Christ was a Corporal too. ;)

Hey woods, I'm an overweight old guy on a four stroke.....!!

My buddy in Colorado who owns FunWheels is an amazing trail rider. He races the entire Rocky Mountain Enduro circuit and places in the top 10 Open or Fourstroke C-class everytime. He got bored of cleaning up the plus 50 and 60 age classes and went back to the regular classes. He's the person I used to ride up in Wyoming with....And to tell you the truth Paragon was Wyoming "light" as compared to the length of the hills. Those rounded smaller rocks gardens were tougher at Paragon than the squared western ones but there is nothing like a 1 mile uphill knowing that if you screw up your going to slide 200 yards down before you can catch yourself! Or those 200 ft drop-offs with no trees like at Peetz Table (an Enduro in Colorado) and Bradley does them all. Amazing.:)

I agree some of those plus 60 guys haul ass. Oh yea, Brad used to ride an ATK250 and now is a converted Four Stroke guy with his "special" VOR450 Enduro. (Its not a production Enduro, truely one of a kind, both man and machine)

hey guys,we put a new thread up for the ride but it would not list it.we will try again.weimedog,i'm an overweight semi-young guy on a two stroke,i think the both of us can handle it.keep checking for new thread.if it will not list, we will put it on here.