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- Aug 13, 1999
- 2,094
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Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! We did our normal Mother's Day Mica Ride and only had to deal with one section of snow. Too bad, it's going to be a very dry, dusty summer!
My son's friend from school came up for the weekend to ride on his KTM65. He's been doing pretty well in some local MX races as has my son but he doesn't get out on the trails like my kids do so we decided to take it easy on him. :p
We decided to adjust my suspension and move my forks up in the clamps a bit to see if it would help in the tighter sections. Then we headed out, up the hills behind the house, kids ahead of us, Karl next then me. As I was coming to the top of the 2nd hillclimb, I could see Karl on the road at the top picking his bike up. Apparently, he wheelied onto the road and the front end came down on a nice big rock - getoff #1 and I even got to see part of it. :thumb:
We caught up to the kids and headed down the Paper Company trail of destruction - they brought in a trackhoe last fall to destroy all of our nice singletrack trails so we've been "working" to rebuild them but they are still a mess. I felt really comfortable on the trail, but Karl did a little trail maintenance the night before so I wasn't sure if I was riding better because of the adjustments to my bike or to the trail but I knew I was feeling good.
We took the Bog Trail and made it to the peak of the mountain where we found very little snow. We dropped down the access road on the southeast side, slid through some fairly deep, long stretches of snow and stopped at the bottom to look back at where we had come from. Karl commented that we might have to allow some extra time to get back up to the peak - the only way back home.
Off we went to continue on our nearly snowfree trail, headed towards the mtb trails to the north on the old logging road with lots of kelly humps for the boys to get "big air" on. The boys love any chance at all to make a jump so they were loving it - good thing too because I knew they weren't going to like the aftermath called "Stride Hill". I remembered back to a ride Firecracker joined us on last summer. She didn't like Stride Hill much that day. I think I may have made it up it that time but that may have been on another outing. I know I've had many times when I didn't make it and only one time that I did conquer Stride Hill but it wasn’t clean. I had to chuckle to myself watching the boys and thinking "enjoy it now boys!!!" :laugh:
Stride Hill is a nice steep lllllooonnnggg hillclimb with a rock bump/shelf about halfway up and another one almost to the top. The approach to Stride Hill is a windy hillclimb that seems pretty innocuous until you round the last corner and there IT is!! Fortunately, there is a road off to the left where you can get a restart if needed but the road deadends not far out so you gotta make it up the hill or go back the way you came - not an option on a Karl ride. It got it's name last summer when one of my son's bigger friends on a CR125 helped get my son's 80 up the hill. He literally ran alongside the bike with a huge stride all the way up the hill - we could only marvel at just how good of shape the kid was in. Unfortunately, the 125 was not much easier to ride up the hill than the 80 so Karl took pitty on the kid and rode it up for him. He's done the same for me several times, not sure if it's because he loves me and wants to protect me or if it's because he can see the $$$$$$ everytime my bike smashes into the rocks.
So the boys take off up the approach, Karl following and me taking up the tailend. I came around one of the corners along the approach, wondering if the boys will be out of the way when I get to the bottom of the hill and, there's Karl sitting on his bike, apparently waiting alongside the trail, next to a big ol branch - getoff #2. He was trying to pass the 65 and the branch hooked him and threw him down.
I suppressed my giggle and came around the corner to see Stride Hill. I knew I had to keep my momentum up, so I looked quickly to see where the boys were, saw that they were far enough out of my way for me to get by, so I kept going, letting the bike bounce wherever it wanted to bounce, thinking, keep your feet on the pegs and the bike on the gas. Next thing I knew I was at the top!!! :aj: I could hear Karl coming up the hill so I did a victory dance, peeled off the helmet & fanny pack & headed down to rescue the boys.
My son made a strong attempt but picked the wrong line going to the right of the rock shelf. He was trying to hold his bike up and not let it slide backwards to take out his buddy who had flopped his little bike down and couldn’t pick it back up due to his lack of height (he's a tiny but extremely tough little guy.
I grabbed the little KTM, as Karl was advising that I just get it over on the side and we'd walk it up (this IS a hill that 500's LOVE). My son in the meantime is yelling "HELP" because he was losing the battle of holding his bike on the rocky section of the hill.
The KTM was under control and Karl was starting the long walk up the hill with it. I jumped over to grab my son's bike (he just put the new graphics from Christmas on it so he didn't want it to fall on the rocks!!) backed it down off the rock and turned it around. Karl told my son to go back down and try it again keeping his momentum up. We worked to get the little KTM up the hill until we heard the 80 screaming back up towards us. We stuffed the KTM off to the side. The 80 was hauling, I stayed near the rock bump just in case. My son hit the bump, jumping the bike about 20 feet up the hill and kept right on riding. He stalled at the steep rocky section almost to the top because he didn't get into 1st quick enough. “Should have shifted in the air,” he and Karl agreed. Unfortunately, Karl didn’t react quick enough to shoot a picture. Guess we’ll have to go back & try it again when we get a chance.
Karl finished getting the KTM on up the hill as my son and I got his bike over the steep section and he rode up from there. It was quite the impressive show of no fear, hit it hard riding. I think he'll make it next time!
We headed on back to the snowslope we had to conquer. Somewhere along the line Karl managed getoff #3 but I can't remember where it was. :think:
Karl made it through the snow, my son made it most of the way, the KTM gave it a shot & we pushed it the rest of the way and I let Karl take my bike, I hate that stinking white stuff unless I have ski's and a track under me!
The boys declined to attempt The Hill reroute on the way home, they took the road while I decided that my bike was doing so well today I could possibly make The New Hill. Karl cruised up it, stopped at the top to wait for me. I hit the first bank, hooked a tree and stalled. Backed back down the bank and tried it again, easily making the climb all the way to the top - just gotta love my pretty pink bike it makes hillclimbing easy even for a petite and dainty flower!!! I rode a nice little wheelie when I crested the main part of The New Hill onto the flat part where Karl had stopped to wait. I've been practicing riding wheelies, I'm still not able to ride them very far but with my bike, getting the front wheel up is never a problem, being confident enough to keep it there is the problem but I'm getting more comfortable with it.
It was another Mother's Day to remember! We cleaned up and hurried to meet the family, my parents, bro, kids and his girlfriend and my grandma along with Karl's parents for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day and Karl's Bday. Karl's mom got him a unicycle for his birthday. I went shopping for a bodycast for him today but couldn't find any good deals on used ones. Guess I'll wait until he lets go of the chairs and take him in for a tailor made one!!!!!
My son's friend from school came up for the weekend to ride on his KTM65. He's been doing pretty well in some local MX races as has my son but he doesn't get out on the trails like my kids do so we decided to take it easy on him. :p
We decided to adjust my suspension and move my forks up in the clamps a bit to see if it would help in the tighter sections. Then we headed out, up the hills behind the house, kids ahead of us, Karl next then me. As I was coming to the top of the 2nd hillclimb, I could see Karl on the road at the top picking his bike up. Apparently, he wheelied onto the road and the front end came down on a nice big rock - getoff #1 and I even got to see part of it. :thumb:
We caught up to the kids and headed down the Paper Company trail of destruction - they brought in a trackhoe last fall to destroy all of our nice singletrack trails so we've been "working" to rebuild them but they are still a mess. I felt really comfortable on the trail, but Karl did a little trail maintenance the night before so I wasn't sure if I was riding better because of the adjustments to my bike or to the trail but I knew I was feeling good.
We took the Bog Trail and made it to the peak of the mountain where we found very little snow. We dropped down the access road on the southeast side, slid through some fairly deep, long stretches of snow and stopped at the bottom to look back at where we had come from. Karl commented that we might have to allow some extra time to get back up to the peak - the only way back home.
Off we went to continue on our nearly snowfree trail, headed towards the mtb trails to the north on the old logging road with lots of kelly humps for the boys to get "big air" on. The boys love any chance at all to make a jump so they were loving it - good thing too because I knew they weren't going to like the aftermath called "Stride Hill". I remembered back to a ride Firecracker joined us on last summer. She didn't like Stride Hill much that day. I think I may have made it up it that time but that may have been on another outing. I know I've had many times when I didn't make it and only one time that I did conquer Stride Hill but it wasn’t clean. I had to chuckle to myself watching the boys and thinking "enjoy it now boys!!!" :laugh:
Stride Hill is a nice steep lllllooonnnggg hillclimb with a rock bump/shelf about halfway up and another one almost to the top. The approach to Stride Hill is a windy hillclimb that seems pretty innocuous until you round the last corner and there IT is!! Fortunately, there is a road off to the left where you can get a restart if needed but the road deadends not far out so you gotta make it up the hill or go back the way you came - not an option on a Karl ride. It got it's name last summer when one of my son's bigger friends on a CR125 helped get my son's 80 up the hill. He literally ran alongside the bike with a huge stride all the way up the hill - we could only marvel at just how good of shape the kid was in. Unfortunately, the 125 was not much easier to ride up the hill than the 80 so Karl took pitty on the kid and rode it up for him. He's done the same for me several times, not sure if it's because he loves me and wants to protect me or if it's because he can see the $$$$$$ everytime my bike smashes into the rocks.
So the boys take off up the approach, Karl following and me taking up the tailend. I came around one of the corners along the approach, wondering if the boys will be out of the way when I get to the bottom of the hill and, there's Karl sitting on his bike, apparently waiting alongside the trail, next to a big ol branch - getoff #2. He was trying to pass the 65 and the branch hooked him and threw him down.
I suppressed my giggle and came around the corner to see Stride Hill. I knew I had to keep my momentum up, so I looked quickly to see where the boys were, saw that they were far enough out of my way for me to get by, so I kept going, letting the bike bounce wherever it wanted to bounce, thinking, keep your feet on the pegs and the bike on the gas. Next thing I knew I was at the top!!! :aj: I could hear Karl coming up the hill so I did a victory dance, peeled off the helmet & fanny pack & headed down to rescue the boys.
My son made a strong attempt but picked the wrong line going to the right of the rock shelf. He was trying to hold his bike up and not let it slide backwards to take out his buddy who had flopped his little bike down and couldn’t pick it back up due to his lack of height (he's a tiny but extremely tough little guy.
I grabbed the little KTM, as Karl was advising that I just get it over on the side and we'd walk it up (this IS a hill that 500's LOVE). My son in the meantime is yelling "HELP" because he was losing the battle of holding his bike on the rocky section of the hill.
The KTM was under control and Karl was starting the long walk up the hill with it. I jumped over to grab my son's bike (he just put the new graphics from Christmas on it so he didn't want it to fall on the rocks!!) backed it down off the rock and turned it around. Karl told my son to go back down and try it again keeping his momentum up. We worked to get the little KTM up the hill until we heard the 80 screaming back up towards us. We stuffed the KTM off to the side. The 80 was hauling, I stayed near the rock bump just in case. My son hit the bump, jumping the bike about 20 feet up the hill and kept right on riding. He stalled at the steep rocky section almost to the top because he didn't get into 1st quick enough. “Should have shifted in the air,” he and Karl agreed. Unfortunately, Karl didn’t react quick enough to shoot a picture. Guess we’ll have to go back & try it again when we get a chance.
Karl finished getting the KTM on up the hill as my son and I got his bike over the steep section and he rode up from there. It was quite the impressive show of no fear, hit it hard riding. I think he'll make it next time!
We headed on back to the snowslope we had to conquer. Somewhere along the line Karl managed getoff #3 but I can't remember where it was. :think:
Karl made it through the snow, my son made it most of the way, the KTM gave it a shot & we pushed it the rest of the way and I let Karl take my bike, I hate that stinking white stuff unless I have ski's and a track under me!
The boys declined to attempt The Hill reroute on the way home, they took the road while I decided that my bike was doing so well today I could possibly make The New Hill. Karl cruised up it, stopped at the top to wait for me. I hit the first bank, hooked a tree and stalled. Backed back down the bank and tried it again, easily making the climb all the way to the top - just gotta love my pretty pink bike it makes hillclimbing easy even for a petite and dainty flower!!! I rode a nice little wheelie when I crested the main part of The New Hill onto the flat part where Karl had stopped to wait. I've been practicing riding wheelies, I'm still not able to ride them very far but with my bike, getting the front wheel up is never a problem, being confident enough to keep it there is the problem but I'm getting more comfortable with it.
It was another Mother's Day to remember! We cleaned up and hurried to meet the family, my parents, bro, kids and his girlfriend and my grandma along with Karl's parents for dinner to celebrate Mother's Day and Karl's Bday. Karl's mom got him a unicycle for his birthday. I went shopping for a bodycast for him today but couldn't find any good deals on used ones. Guess I'll wait until he lets go of the chairs and take him in for a tailor made one!!!!!
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