Timr
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- Jul 26, 1999
- 1,972
- 6
My Michigan Adventure (Special Woodsy Edition)
June 23 – 28
Everyone needs to go on an adventure trip every once in a while. Well, I had been jonesing to go back up to Michigan and ride some of the trails that I used to ride years ago. FatherandSon (Mike) had always offered to coordinate anything that I might need if I came up for a ride or a race. So, I finally decided to do it and started planning my trip.
The very last time that I rode in Michigan was the Phillip L. Bean Memorial Trail Tour in June of 1992! It was an epic event with great trails. I rode both days on my 1984 KTM 250 MXC and loved every minute of it. When looking for an opportunity to ride in Michigan again, I decided to shoot for this year’s edition of the Bean.
Here’s how it worked out:
Prologue (if you don’t want to read about the getting there part, skip down to Day 1 of the ride)
It had been 12 years since I had ridden in Michigan and 5 years since I had been up there visiting my parents who lived there at the time. As a kid, I did two tours in Michigan. The first from 74 – 81 and the second from 87 – 94. During the second tour, I was involved in riding in multiple locations in northern Michigan. From 89-94 I was student at the University of Alabama and spent parts of the summer at my parents house in Bloomfield Hills. Fortunately for me, I was about to shuttle my bike(s) back and forth from Tuscaloosa to Michigan.
This years Phillip Bean CCC Trail tour would occur June 26 – 27. What I planned to do was start my drive up from Birmingham and make work appointments in Louisville, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo along the way. That way, my company would pay for my hotel and mileage and I could “work” my way north until it was time to leave on Friday.
Second, I needed to recruit some assistance. I had met KelvinKDX (Jim) at the first DW in Casey, IL. Since then, we had seen each other at every DW and at a spring trail ride at Lorretta Lynn’s. He seemed like the type of guy who’d be willing to help out. So, I sent him a PM and asked if I could park my bike and trailer at his house for Wed and Thursday. He said, “Sure.”
Then he inquired about this ride, so I told him and he said he would like to go too. I gave him the details and let Mike know that Jim was in.
Jim and I would have to coordinate our travel since he had work appointments in Detroit on Thursday and Friday and I had appointments in Toledo. Once the logistics were worked out, it was time to prepare for the ride.
Turns out that Jim and I use about the same method for preparation. We work long hours and veg out at home. Meanwhile, out in the garage, nothing gets touched. After not loading my gear back or touching my bike on Monday or Tuesday night, Wednesday morning arrived and it was time for me to leave.
I rolled my bike out of the garage, complete with mud on it from an enduro 3 weeks before and loaded it onto the trailer. I then grabbed my half loaded gear bag and threw it in the back of the mini-van. After that, I rounded up the rest of my gear, a sleeping bag, a cot, an empty cooler and a couple of folding chair and threw then in the back seat. That should do it. I hope.
Finally, I rolled out of my driveway at 9:15 am on Wed. morning. Originally, I had planned to leave about 5:30 am, in order to get to Louisville to meet with a new client of mine. When I left he hadn’t confirmed the afternoon appointment and now due to my late departure, I hoped that I would get a call/VM/ or e-mail from him since it would be difficult to squeeze him in as I passed through town.
After no word from my client, I pressed on through Lousville and made it to Jim’s house about 7:00pm. Jim was already in the garage getting things ready for us to work on bikes. We unloaded my bike, stored my trailer and went to work on both of our bikes. About 10:00 we ordered a pizza and watched a little TV before heading back out to the garage. Around 11:00, after Jim and I discussed the details of me retriving the bikes, trailer and his gear, I left to head south to my hotel.
Thursday was a challenging day. I had a 9:00 appointment in northern Cincy. So I busted it down there and went through my presentation. After that, I headed back up to Dayton, stopping on the way to eat lunch. I was in a suit and tie when I got Jim’s to hook up the trailer and load the bikes. I accomplished these tasks without getting any dirt on my suit pants.
Then I was off to Toledo. The presentation that I was supposed to make on Friday morning moved to late Thursday afternoon. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have trouble parking my van with trailer at my location of my presentation. That worked out OK and then I had to find a hotel.
My plan was to stay at a lower quality motel and then roll the bikes into my first floor room when no one was looking. I picked a Fairfield and hoped for the best. They only had 1 first floor room left. When she gave me the key and I went to find the room it was two doors down from the office.
Plan B, park the bike trailer just outside the door and sit next to the window with my eye on it all night. Basically, that’s what I did. I walked to Chili’s to get some dinner and sat where I could see the bikes. I got a restless night’s sleep because I hopped outa bed to look out the window every time I rolled over.
The next morning (Friday) I woke up, grabbed a cup of coffee, hooked up the trailer and took off for Detroit. Jim called my cell phone to give me an update on his meeting. I was to meet him in Troy around lunch time.
We both needed Michigan ORV stickers so I headed for my old neighborhood and Anderson’s Cycle Sales. After I got the stickers I looked around and was disappointed at the lack of dirt bike stuff in the shop. They had plenty of personal watercraft junk though.
I went down to Troy and camped out in the lobby of a Courtyard. I was able to get some more work done on the phone and e-mail. Jim’s meeting broke for lunch and he let me know that they would not have to work this afternoon.
We dropped off his car and took off. After grabbing a bit to eat, we missed the ramp for the interstate and had to loop back through the parking lot of a strip shopping center. Jim spots and sporting goods store and asks me to swing in there so he can buy a Camel Bak since he forgot his.
Eventually, we are northbound on I-75. I had PMed Fred T to let him know that we would be coming through Bay City. Fred was not going to make the ride in Wolverine due to work. He was in the process of opening a new restaurant and his attention was needed there.
So, Jim and I pulled off at exit #164 and stopped in to say a quick hello to Freddy at the new restaurant. Fred gave us an update on the trail conditions and pointed us towards a gas station.
Further up the road, we stopped at a rest area near Grayling. My cell phone rings and it’s Mike. He lets us know that we should meet up with a guy named Sparky. He’s in a pick-up towing a popup trailer and owns Freddy’s old KDX. Ok, we’ll look for the guy. Mike was just leaving Lansing and should be up to the riding area around 9:00pm.
Jim let’s me run past the exit and then blames it on me. It’s 9 miles to the next exit. Instead of going back down the interstate, we use a map to cut over to where we should be. On the way in to the campground, we catch up to a pick up towing a popup trailer. I think this could be Sparkey. As he goes around a turn in the road, I see the KDX and recognize the graphics from pics that Freddy had posted on DRN.
Cool, now we just have to follow them until they park. They pull in, we pull in and do the introduction thing. After a short while, they have their camper set up and we have unloaded our bikes.
Jim and I go walking around looking for Marlin and find him camped on top of the hill. After visiting for a while, Mike finally arrives and we’re all set. Wow, I’m starting to get excited about the ride tomorrow. It’s great to be back in the woods of Northern Michigan!
Mike left his van parked near Sparky and jumped in the mini-van with Jim and me. Mike’s dad, Mike Sr., was kind enough to host all of us at his house. The drive over to CircuitRider’s house was about 30 minutes. After stopping for a quick bite of dinner on the way, we arrived around 10:45pm. Mike’s Dad seemed genuinely excited to meet us and rolled out the red carpet for his visitors. We stayed up until about midnight visiting.
I slept in short 2 hour sessions all the while thinking about what the trails would be like the next day. It’s fun to get this excited about something. Reminds of being a kid on Christmas eve.
Day 1:
I heard Mike get up first, then I smelled coffee. It was time to go. Mike’s Dad made us a ham and cheese omelet and then sent us on our way. When we pulled into the staging area, it seemed kinda full and there was a long line at the sign up. Sparkey rolled up with his paperwork complete and began to get his gear on.
Mike saw that they weren’t really using the sound meter at the sign up and we all went up there to get our form. I signed up and was rider #259. Cool. Bubba Stewart and I ride a Kaw.
Back to the truck and throw on the gear. After we all made the required trips to the porta-can, too much coffee, we were finally ready to ride. The weather was perfect! Blue sky, sunny, no humidity, slight breeze, and not too hot.
The four of us took off down the two way connector trail. Our group consisted of Mike on his 400 EXC KTM, me on my KDX 200, Sparkey on his KDX 200, and Jim on his KDX 225 (EG). About a mile down the road we came to an intersection of deep sand and made a hard right hand turn. Another .75 of a mile to another turn, this time to the left. There were riders sitting there and it turned out to be Marlin and his son.
We continued on down in the woods until we came to the trail split. B loop to the left and C loop to the right. We decided to wait on Marlin and Arron to see if they wanted to join us on the B loop. They decided what the heck and tagged on to the end of our group.
The trail at this point was just exactly like I remembered it. Flowing relatively high speed single track. The soil conditions could not have been any better. The dirt was moist and tacky. Huge grins as I backed it into the corners and launched out of them. The level of traction could be described as Velcro.
We cleaned that section with our group relatively in tact and headed on down another forestry road. The next section was freshly cut. Wooohhoooo! Enduro Trail! This was awesome. Mike was in the lead and I was parked right on his back wheel. We cut across another trail and I figured that it was a conector that I could use to get a jump on Mike. Wrong! Mike went left and I went right. Somehow I ended up right back where we started. Next, I guessed that the trail ran parallel to the dirt road, so I went down the road a ways, I could hear bikes but I couldn’t see them. I was just about to cut back into the woods, when Sparkey pulled up behind me. He had seen me mess up and came to retrieve me. Back to the entrance to the tight trail. This time I stayed on the left side and continued deeper into the woods. At the end of the section, I found Mike talking to a couple of other riders. I pulled off to the side and took off my helmet.
Mike said, “How’d you like that?”
Me, “It was great except for getting turned around at the start.”
Sparkey and Jim pull up. After Jim pulls off his helmet Mike says, “Don’t worry, it’s not all that tight.”
Jim replies, “It wouldn’t bother me if it was.”
That was good stuff. After a breather we took off again. This section went through some valleys formed by the rolling hills. Aparently, the trail used to run up and down these valleys, but now the club had cut down trees to reroute the trail up and down the sides of the valley. They were mini-man-made chicanes and they slowed the trail down. Good stuff!
I was back on Mike’s back wheel, and let me tell you, Mike is the reason that there are whoops in Michigan. He seems to time his throttle hand with the bottoms of the whoops, so every time his bike bottoms out, he launches a giant sand rooster tail.
We were cooking and having fun. We stopped again to let everyone regroup. I gave Mike some grief about roosting me so much. When we get going again this time, Mike asks me to lead. Mike and I were riding about the same speed so I can hear him back there on my rear wheel.
Having a guy revving a 400 KTM 4-stroke behind you sounds like more than one bike itching to pass you. We rode nose to tail up and down the rolling hills. We had just crested a hill and started down the back side when things got quiet. When I hit the bottom of the hill, I guessed that Mike had fallen since he wasn’t right behind me anymore.
We stopped again to regroup and waited on Marlin and Arron this time. We were only a few tenths of a mile short of the short/long loop split. Marlin offered his Husaberg to Mike so they switched bikes. Aaron took off ahead of us, but stopped at the split.
Here’s where things went nuts. We had intended to ride at least most of the long loop. The map marked it at 55 miles, but Mike wasn’t sure if he could get 55 miles on one tank. We were going to try anyway and maybe cut a small portion of it out if we got short on gas.
Mike and I stop at the top of the hill where the split is. Sparkey doesn’t see us and continues down the hill. Mike yells at him and thinks he will come back up. Sparkey runs into the Marlin at the bottom of the hill and Marlin tells him that he’s is going the right way. Mike and I sit at the top of the hill and just look and wait.
Finally, I say, “I don’t think they’re coming back.”
Mike replies, “I think you’re right. Guess we better go the short loop. Oh well, we’ll just eat lunch earlier and head back out.”
Mike and I roll on down through the next section. The group conviens again in the intersection of two forestry roads. Now, we were at the beginning of another freshly cut section. Marlin and Mike trade bikes back. While we’re sitting there, we hear a vehicle approaching. Whatever it is, it sounds big. We all jump and push our bikes out of the middle of the street since we’re sitting in the middle of a blind curve. About the time we reach the edge of dirt road, a huge logging 18-wheeler rolls around the corner. We just watch in awe as the guy threads the truck through a gate and heads on into the woods.
This next new section was different than the first. This one was cut through very dense small trees. We’re moving along through there when all of a sudden Mike comes to a complete stop and shuts off his bike.
When I stop I can see that there’s a rider down. It’s a guy on a 300 KTM. Mike parks his bike to go help the guy. He’s pinned in the trees under his bike. Mike pulls his bike up and puts the guy back on it. The guy tells Mike how tired he is. My odo says that we’ve gone about 23 miles. The kicks over his bike and goes about 12 yards before he falls over again. Repeat of Mike getting him up and going.
The guy lets us buy and we continue on. A couple of miles later, we roll past a parking lot with some trucks and trailers parked there. While we wait from everyone to catch up, Mike starts talking to a guy on a CRF 450. He joins our group.
We head on back towards camp. Mike waits at a sneaky left hand turn that puts us on a tight connector trail back to the staging area. Somehow, Aaron misses that turn and keeps going straight. We make it back to the truck and Marlin waves as he rides by up toe their camp.
The CRF guy comes over to ask if he could borrow some gas. His wife as gone into town to get gas, but isn’t back yet. He too had planned on the long loop, but missed the turn. We get to chatting with the guy and learn that his name is Chris and he’s from Muskegon.
HE KNOWS WOODSY!!! So, we talk about Woodsy for a while. He says that Woodsy will know who he is. Chris has both a CRF 450 and an XR 650.
After sandwiches and liquids, we all head back out again. The decision has been made that since the B loop has the only freshly cut trail, that’s where we will go again. When we get to the cut-off, we will all stop and decide what we want to do.
Chris joins us and rides out front. On the way out Chris and Mike are leading. We get to an intersection just a couple of miles out and I notice the arrows pointing us to the right. But, Mike and Chris continue on straight. I figure that they are from here so they know what they are doing.
I find out later that they didn’t realize that they missed the turn. Now we are going the wrong way up the coming back to camp trail. People coming in are giving us the look, and saying a few choice words. Mike and Chris just look at them like they don’t know what they are talking about. This is two-way transfer trail, but it wasn’t.
We pop off the trail to a dirt road that Chris recognizes and after a 180 degree turn we pick up the arrows to the entrance of the first new section. Our mileage is about the same as the morning, just a different route to the same location.
We ride everything up to the cutoff and stop for a long break. At this point, we were all planning to go right on the long version. But, Chris is talking to me looking at my bike when he says, “Do you have another countershaft sprocket with you?”
Me, “No, why?”
“Well, that doesn’t look to good.” I get off and inspect it and sure enough, most of the teeth are broken off giving it the look of a Chinese star.
My reply, “Oh, looks like I’m taking the short way back to camp.”
Mike says, “My brakes aren’t working too good so I’ll just follow you back.”
Chris, Sparkey and Jim continue on the long way, and we go down the hill that we went down in the morning. While we were sitting at the top of the hill, all of the slower riders that we had passed in the previous 18 miles slipped back by us.
I knew that my sprocket may not go the distance so I rode in front and took it easy. In the last 9 miles, Mike and I still managed to pass all 6 of the people that made it back by us. It was a fun and easy pace.
Fortunately for me, Jim had a couple of extra sprockets in his case. Before we split up, he told me where to find them and I started on the repairs before they returned from the loop.
Eventually, Sparkey and Jim appeared and we all did work on our bikes. Mike messed with his brakes, I replaced the sprocket, and Jim replaced his front brake pads and tires. Chris, is an expert tire changer and actually challenged Fredette in a tire changing contest. He told Jim that if he pulled off his wheels and bought new tires, that he would mount them for him.
So, Jim walked up to the Holiday Motorsports trailer and came back with two new Dunlops.
Chris got both of the tires changed before the prize drawing. Sparkey and his wife sent us to the drawing with his rider number in case he won something. Meanwhile, they drove into town for more ice and beverages.
Mike won a Frank Hoppen Inside Motocross coffee table book. Other than that, we all left empty handed. After the drawing, the line formed for the Hog Roast dinner. We decided to let the line go down and went back to camp to build a camp fire.
We walked back up, grabbed our food, and sat around the camp fire eating our dinner. It was one awesome day. We had a great time in the woods and rode just shy of 60 miles. We sat around the camp fire for the next couple of hours and told stories while the sun set and the kid racer’s rode like the energizer bunny.
June 23 – 28
Everyone needs to go on an adventure trip every once in a while. Well, I had been jonesing to go back up to Michigan and ride some of the trails that I used to ride years ago. FatherandSon (Mike) had always offered to coordinate anything that I might need if I came up for a ride or a race. So, I finally decided to do it and started planning my trip.
The very last time that I rode in Michigan was the Phillip L. Bean Memorial Trail Tour in June of 1992! It was an epic event with great trails. I rode both days on my 1984 KTM 250 MXC and loved every minute of it. When looking for an opportunity to ride in Michigan again, I decided to shoot for this year’s edition of the Bean.
Here’s how it worked out:
Prologue (if you don’t want to read about the getting there part, skip down to Day 1 of the ride)
It had been 12 years since I had ridden in Michigan and 5 years since I had been up there visiting my parents who lived there at the time. As a kid, I did two tours in Michigan. The first from 74 – 81 and the second from 87 – 94. During the second tour, I was involved in riding in multiple locations in northern Michigan. From 89-94 I was student at the University of Alabama and spent parts of the summer at my parents house in Bloomfield Hills. Fortunately for me, I was about to shuttle my bike(s) back and forth from Tuscaloosa to Michigan.
This years Phillip Bean CCC Trail tour would occur June 26 – 27. What I planned to do was start my drive up from Birmingham and make work appointments in Louisville, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo along the way. That way, my company would pay for my hotel and mileage and I could “work” my way north until it was time to leave on Friday.
Second, I needed to recruit some assistance. I had met KelvinKDX (Jim) at the first DW in Casey, IL. Since then, we had seen each other at every DW and at a spring trail ride at Lorretta Lynn’s. He seemed like the type of guy who’d be willing to help out. So, I sent him a PM and asked if I could park my bike and trailer at his house for Wed and Thursday. He said, “Sure.”
Then he inquired about this ride, so I told him and he said he would like to go too. I gave him the details and let Mike know that Jim was in.
Jim and I would have to coordinate our travel since he had work appointments in Detroit on Thursday and Friday and I had appointments in Toledo. Once the logistics were worked out, it was time to prepare for the ride.
Turns out that Jim and I use about the same method for preparation. We work long hours and veg out at home. Meanwhile, out in the garage, nothing gets touched. After not loading my gear back or touching my bike on Monday or Tuesday night, Wednesday morning arrived and it was time for me to leave.
I rolled my bike out of the garage, complete with mud on it from an enduro 3 weeks before and loaded it onto the trailer. I then grabbed my half loaded gear bag and threw it in the back of the mini-van. After that, I rounded up the rest of my gear, a sleeping bag, a cot, an empty cooler and a couple of folding chair and threw then in the back seat. That should do it. I hope.
Finally, I rolled out of my driveway at 9:15 am on Wed. morning. Originally, I had planned to leave about 5:30 am, in order to get to Louisville to meet with a new client of mine. When I left he hadn’t confirmed the afternoon appointment and now due to my late departure, I hoped that I would get a call/VM/ or e-mail from him since it would be difficult to squeeze him in as I passed through town.
After no word from my client, I pressed on through Lousville and made it to Jim’s house about 7:00pm. Jim was already in the garage getting things ready for us to work on bikes. We unloaded my bike, stored my trailer and went to work on both of our bikes. About 10:00 we ordered a pizza and watched a little TV before heading back out to the garage. Around 11:00, after Jim and I discussed the details of me retriving the bikes, trailer and his gear, I left to head south to my hotel.
Thursday was a challenging day. I had a 9:00 appointment in northern Cincy. So I busted it down there and went through my presentation. After that, I headed back up to Dayton, stopping on the way to eat lunch. I was in a suit and tie when I got Jim’s to hook up the trailer and load the bikes. I accomplished these tasks without getting any dirt on my suit pants.
Then I was off to Toledo. The presentation that I was supposed to make on Friday morning moved to late Thursday afternoon. I was hoping that I wouldn’t have trouble parking my van with trailer at my location of my presentation. That worked out OK and then I had to find a hotel.
My plan was to stay at a lower quality motel and then roll the bikes into my first floor room when no one was looking. I picked a Fairfield and hoped for the best. They only had 1 first floor room left. When she gave me the key and I went to find the room it was two doors down from the office.
Plan B, park the bike trailer just outside the door and sit next to the window with my eye on it all night. Basically, that’s what I did. I walked to Chili’s to get some dinner and sat where I could see the bikes. I got a restless night’s sleep because I hopped outa bed to look out the window every time I rolled over.
The next morning (Friday) I woke up, grabbed a cup of coffee, hooked up the trailer and took off for Detroit. Jim called my cell phone to give me an update on his meeting. I was to meet him in Troy around lunch time.
We both needed Michigan ORV stickers so I headed for my old neighborhood and Anderson’s Cycle Sales. After I got the stickers I looked around and was disappointed at the lack of dirt bike stuff in the shop. They had plenty of personal watercraft junk though.
I went down to Troy and camped out in the lobby of a Courtyard. I was able to get some more work done on the phone and e-mail. Jim’s meeting broke for lunch and he let me know that they would not have to work this afternoon.
We dropped off his car and took off. After grabbing a bit to eat, we missed the ramp for the interstate and had to loop back through the parking lot of a strip shopping center. Jim spots and sporting goods store and asks me to swing in there so he can buy a Camel Bak since he forgot his.
Eventually, we are northbound on I-75. I had PMed Fred T to let him know that we would be coming through Bay City. Fred was not going to make the ride in Wolverine due to work. He was in the process of opening a new restaurant and his attention was needed there.
So, Jim and I pulled off at exit #164 and stopped in to say a quick hello to Freddy at the new restaurant. Fred gave us an update on the trail conditions and pointed us towards a gas station.
Further up the road, we stopped at a rest area near Grayling. My cell phone rings and it’s Mike. He lets us know that we should meet up with a guy named Sparky. He’s in a pick-up towing a popup trailer and owns Freddy’s old KDX. Ok, we’ll look for the guy. Mike was just leaving Lansing and should be up to the riding area around 9:00pm.
Jim let’s me run past the exit and then blames it on me. It’s 9 miles to the next exit. Instead of going back down the interstate, we use a map to cut over to where we should be. On the way in to the campground, we catch up to a pick up towing a popup trailer. I think this could be Sparkey. As he goes around a turn in the road, I see the KDX and recognize the graphics from pics that Freddy had posted on DRN.
Cool, now we just have to follow them until they park. They pull in, we pull in and do the introduction thing. After a short while, they have their camper set up and we have unloaded our bikes.
Jim and I go walking around looking for Marlin and find him camped on top of the hill. After visiting for a while, Mike finally arrives and we’re all set. Wow, I’m starting to get excited about the ride tomorrow. It’s great to be back in the woods of Northern Michigan!
Mike left his van parked near Sparky and jumped in the mini-van with Jim and me. Mike’s dad, Mike Sr., was kind enough to host all of us at his house. The drive over to CircuitRider’s house was about 30 minutes. After stopping for a quick bite of dinner on the way, we arrived around 10:45pm. Mike’s Dad seemed genuinely excited to meet us and rolled out the red carpet for his visitors. We stayed up until about midnight visiting.
I slept in short 2 hour sessions all the while thinking about what the trails would be like the next day. It’s fun to get this excited about something. Reminds of being a kid on Christmas eve.
Day 1:
I heard Mike get up first, then I smelled coffee. It was time to go. Mike’s Dad made us a ham and cheese omelet and then sent us on our way. When we pulled into the staging area, it seemed kinda full and there was a long line at the sign up. Sparkey rolled up with his paperwork complete and began to get his gear on.
Mike saw that they weren’t really using the sound meter at the sign up and we all went up there to get our form. I signed up and was rider #259. Cool. Bubba Stewart and I ride a Kaw.
Back to the truck and throw on the gear. After we all made the required trips to the porta-can, too much coffee, we were finally ready to ride. The weather was perfect! Blue sky, sunny, no humidity, slight breeze, and not too hot.
The four of us took off down the two way connector trail. Our group consisted of Mike on his 400 EXC KTM, me on my KDX 200, Sparkey on his KDX 200, and Jim on his KDX 225 (EG). About a mile down the road we came to an intersection of deep sand and made a hard right hand turn. Another .75 of a mile to another turn, this time to the left. There were riders sitting there and it turned out to be Marlin and his son.
We continued on down in the woods until we came to the trail split. B loop to the left and C loop to the right. We decided to wait on Marlin and Arron to see if they wanted to join us on the B loop. They decided what the heck and tagged on to the end of our group.
The trail at this point was just exactly like I remembered it. Flowing relatively high speed single track. The soil conditions could not have been any better. The dirt was moist and tacky. Huge grins as I backed it into the corners and launched out of them. The level of traction could be described as Velcro.
We cleaned that section with our group relatively in tact and headed on down another forestry road. The next section was freshly cut. Wooohhoooo! Enduro Trail! This was awesome. Mike was in the lead and I was parked right on his back wheel. We cut across another trail and I figured that it was a conector that I could use to get a jump on Mike. Wrong! Mike went left and I went right. Somehow I ended up right back where we started. Next, I guessed that the trail ran parallel to the dirt road, so I went down the road a ways, I could hear bikes but I couldn’t see them. I was just about to cut back into the woods, when Sparkey pulled up behind me. He had seen me mess up and came to retrieve me. Back to the entrance to the tight trail. This time I stayed on the left side and continued deeper into the woods. At the end of the section, I found Mike talking to a couple of other riders. I pulled off to the side and took off my helmet.
Mike said, “How’d you like that?”
Me, “It was great except for getting turned around at the start.”
Sparkey and Jim pull up. After Jim pulls off his helmet Mike says, “Don’t worry, it’s not all that tight.”
Jim replies, “It wouldn’t bother me if it was.”
That was good stuff. After a breather we took off again. This section went through some valleys formed by the rolling hills. Aparently, the trail used to run up and down these valleys, but now the club had cut down trees to reroute the trail up and down the sides of the valley. They were mini-man-made chicanes and they slowed the trail down. Good stuff!
I was back on Mike’s back wheel, and let me tell you, Mike is the reason that there are whoops in Michigan. He seems to time his throttle hand with the bottoms of the whoops, so every time his bike bottoms out, he launches a giant sand rooster tail.
We were cooking and having fun. We stopped again to let everyone regroup. I gave Mike some grief about roosting me so much. When we get going again this time, Mike asks me to lead. Mike and I were riding about the same speed so I can hear him back there on my rear wheel.
Having a guy revving a 400 KTM 4-stroke behind you sounds like more than one bike itching to pass you. We rode nose to tail up and down the rolling hills. We had just crested a hill and started down the back side when things got quiet. When I hit the bottom of the hill, I guessed that Mike had fallen since he wasn’t right behind me anymore.
We stopped again to regroup and waited on Marlin and Arron this time. We were only a few tenths of a mile short of the short/long loop split. Marlin offered his Husaberg to Mike so they switched bikes. Aaron took off ahead of us, but stopped at the split.
Here’s where things went nuts. We had intended to ride at least most of the long loop. The map marked it at 55 miles, but Mike wasn’t sure if he could get 55 miles on one tank. We were going to try anyway and maybe cut a small portion of it out if we got short on gas.
Mike and I stop at the top of the hill where the split is. Sparkey doesn’t see us and continues down the hill. Mike yells at him and thinks he will come back up. Sparkey runs into the Marlin at the bottom of the hill and Marlin tells him that he’s is going the right way. Mike and I sit at the top of the hill and just look and wait.
Finally, I say, “I don’t think they’re coming back.”
Mike replies, “I think you’re right. Guess we better go the short loop. Oh well, we’ll just eat lunch earlier and head back out.”
Mike and I roll on down through the next section. The group conviens again in the intersection of two forestry roads. Now, we were at the beginning of another freshly cut section. Marlin and Mike trade bikes back. While we’re sitting there, we hear a vehicle approaching. Whatever it is, it sounds big. We all jump and push our bikes out of the middle of the street since we’re sitting in the middle of a blind curve. About the time we reach the edge of dirt road, a huge logging 18-wheeler rolls around the corner. We just watch in awe as the guy threads the truck through a gate and heads on into the woods.
This next new section was different than the first. This one was cut through very dense small trees. We’re moving along through there when all of a sudden Mike comes to a complete stop and shuts off his bike.
When I stop I can see that there’s a rider down. It’s a guy on a 300 KTM. Mike parks his bike to go help the guy. He’s pinned in the trees under his bike. Mike pulls his bike up and puts the guy back on it. The guy tells Mike how tired he is. My odo says that we’ve gone about 23 miles. The kicks over his bike and goes about 12 yards before he falls over again. Repeat of Mike getting him up and going.
The guy lets us buy and we continue on. A couple of miles later, we roll past a parking lot with some trucks and trailers parked there. While we wait from everyone to catch up, Mike starts talking to a guy on a CRF 450. He joins our group.
We head on back towards camp. Mike waits at a sneaky left hand turn that puts us on a tight connector trail back to the staging area. Somehow, Aaron misses that turn and keeps going straight. We make it back to the truck and Marlin waves as he rides by up toe their camp.
The CRF guy comes over to ask if he could borrow some gas. His wife as gone into town to get gas, but isn’t back yet. He too had planned on the long loop, but missed the turn. We get to chatting with the guy and learn that his name is Chris and he’s from Muskegon.
HE KNOWS WOODSY!!! So, we talk about Woodsy for a while. He says that Woodsy will know who he is. Chris has both a CRF 450 and an XR 650.
After sandwiches and liquids, we all head back out again. The decision has been made that since the B loop has the only freshly cut trail, that’s where we will go again. When we get to the cut-off, we will all stop and decide what we want to do.
Chris joins us and rides out front. On the way out Chris and Mike are leading. We get to an intersection just a couple of miles out and I notice the arrows pointing us to the right. But, Mike and Chris continue on straight. I figure that they are from here so they know what they are doing.
I find out later that they didn’t realize that they missed the turn. Now we are going the wrong way up the coming back to camp trail. People coming in are giving us the look, and saying a few choice words. Mike and Chris just look at them like they don’t know what they are talking about. This is two-way transfer trail, but it wasn’t.
We pop off the trail to a dirt road that Chris recognizes and after a 180 degree turn we pick up the arrows to the entrance of the first new section. Our mileage is about the same as the morning, just a different route to the same location.
We ride everything up to the cutoff and stop for a long break. At this point, we were all planning to go right on the long version. But, Chris is talking to me looking at my bike when he says, “Do you have another countershaft sprocket with you?”
Me, “No, why?”
“Well, that doesn’t look to good.” I get off and inspect it and sure enough, most of the teeth are broken off giving it the look of a Chinese star.
My reply, “Oh, looks like I’m taking the short way back to camp.”
Mike says, “My brakes aren’t working too good so I’ll just follow you back.”
Chris, Sparkey and Jim continue on the long way, and we go down the hill that we went down in the morning. While we were sitting at the top of the hill, all of the slower riders that we had passed in the previous 18 miles slipped back by us.
I knew that my sprocket may not go the distance so I rode in front and took it easy. In the last 9 miles, Mike and I still managed to pass all 6 of the people that made it back by us. It was a fun and easy pace.
Fortunately for me, Jim had a couple of extra sprockets in his case. Before we split up, he told me where to find them and I started on the repairs before they returned from the loop.
Eventually, Sparkey and Jim appeared and we all did work on our bikes. Mike messed with his brakes, I replaced the sprocket, and Jim replaced his front brake pads and tires. Chris, is an expert tire changer and actually challenged Fredette in a tire changing contest. He told Jim that if he pulled off his wheels and bought new tires, that he would mount them for him.
So, Jim walked up to the Holiday Motorsports trailer and came back with two new Dunlops.
Chris got both of the tires changed before the prize drawing. Sparkey and his wife sent us to the drawing with his rider number in case he won something. Meanwhile, they drove into town for more ice and beverages.
Mike won a Frank Hoppen Inside Motocross coffee table book. Other than that, we all left empty handed. After the drawing, the line formed for the Hog Roast dinner. We decided to let the line go down and went back to camp to build a camp fire.
We walked back up, grabbed our food, and sat around the camp fire eating our dinner. It was one awesome day. We had a great time in the woods and rode just shy of 60 miles. We sat around the camp fire for the next couple of hours and told stories while the sun set and the kid racer’s rode like the energizer bunny.
