Oregon Ladie's Riding School

[E-Ticket]

What a way-cool weekend. :yeehaw:

Susan (The Ant) has got bruises all over her... :scream:

and just can't stop grinnin'.... :)

Major thanks to Ellen and Marshall for once again being phenomenal hosts (with major nods to Dave Hyatt, Evan, Brian and all the other local volunteers), and major kudos to Nicole, Kerrie, and Andrea for absolutely *nailing* the training sessions and weekend.

Especially the last-day's "competition".....!!! Way fun and an excellent way to use the all the of the weekend's training!

We "who-are-not-worthy" say thank you over and over... :worship:

Cheers! - Randy Burress ("E-Ticket")

 

[4EverOrange]

Ditto everything Randy just said!

It was great getting to meet all the faceless people I have been 'talking' to!

It was also great seeing the improvement of some of the women. Susan in particular. She really amazed me!! Kudos to her for picking up a bike at the age of 40! :)

 

[LoriKTM]

Sure, just rub it in guys, rub it in. :whiner:

Nicole, Kerrie & Andrea  need to take that school on the road so the rest of us mere mortals can have a chance, too!

 

[E-Ticket]

LeAnn, thanks for the compliment... But Susan's actually 52.

She just acts 12 years old. :confused:

And I'm sorry, Lori, but I would brace if I were you. This thread is going to get r-e-a-l long when they start talking about some of the killer hills, wheelie practice. Katie's Katoom doing a flying-forward-360-gainer off the log practice (and getting right back up and crossing it successfully!), the girls cheering whenever one of the "helper-guys" blew a corner, Marshall's thumpoing on the experts ride, Evan's thumping on the intermediate's ride, and the instructor's never flagging teaching skills and patience.

There's another 47 items.... but my boss just showed up in my office. OOPS!

Gotta go. <g> - RandyB

 

[E-Ticket]

Oh crap. Now I'm really in trouble. :scream:

Susan's only 51... she's get older in August. :confused:

 

[E-Ticket]

oh, double-crap... Susan just read the thread... and just informed she's only 50.

Hey, I'm just a guy, okay? I'm doing the best I can with my little, half-a-brain.... Shoot, I'll just chalk it up to too much dirt-bikin'... <grin>

 

[The Ant]

Yeah, I can grin big,....I just can't sit!!!
Ouch, oooh, now where did that one come from? And that one and that one.... actually, the brush in southern Oregon is not very crash friendly, lots of trees and tight hard branches... I do know where most of em came from... lower Cell Phone hill! The guys couldn't believe a bunch of the women made it up that one, I finally gave up and took the road around, now am wishing I could go back and give it another try. (hah, easy to say sitting here at my desk) Kali was our star, made it up on her first run! Totally awesome.
Leanne gets the award for perseverance, she doesn't give up ever....altho Ellen might already have that category sewn up.... It was so inspiring to be riding with all these women, watching how they approach a difficult spot, getting advice from our teachers, trying it ourselves, the one-on-one help - what are you in particular doing that's making this off camber hillside impossible and what to do different to make it work. Weighting the proper pegs, keeping our feet on the pegs, standing up more, ... I can't wait to get back on old familiar trails now and see how they go. Lots of very helpful drills, and the circuit test at the end was most fun.

Had a blast, thank you all for making it happen, I'm already thinking of next year!!!
-Susan
BBR230

 

[squeaky]

I am so jealous...Maybe I'll be able to make it next time. It's good to hear you girls had such a good time!

 

[4EverOrange]

Hah, if perserverance is slang for sucks at off-camber turns, than yes I get the perserverance award. :)

I know there was someone there videotaping my attempts. I am sure there are a couple of America's Funniest Home video worthy crashes on that tape! hahahaha On the way home Mark made the comment that at least I know how to fall, he said I just curl up in a ball and brace myself for the roll. lol I swear if I could have taken a couple of more tries I would have made it without touching!

 

[Mini_Thumper]

Hi ladies . . . besides the obvious problems that I had this weekend with my husband and his crash Friday night, it was great to meet everyone who I've talked to over the last few months, and such a great feeling of comraderie! I wish I could have completed the downhill and uphill sections of the 1st day, but I am just thankful that I was able to finish the classes that I did.

Thanks again to everyone for being so helpful during a really stressful time for me and my husband. Hopefully next year I can come and complete everything!

Looking forward to seeing you all soon, and practicing the skills I was taught!

Sarah

 

[KDXgirl]

Ok whens the next one girls, so I can start making plans!

 

[High Desert XR400]

What a great way to spend a weekend.... :thumb:

Angela was pretty sore on the way home, but claims to be feeling "pretty good" today. I was surprised to have her stay awake all the way home, as I had expected her to be asleep by the time we got to Grants Pass.

Our kudo's to Nicole, Andrea & Kerrie for a job well done! I would also like to say great job to all of the riders, what an excellent bunch of ladies! ;)

Thanks to Ellen and Marshall for putting up with all of us. I know everyone had a great time and is already looking forward to next year!

Thanks to Evan for taking us guys out on an "Easy" ride on Saturday afternoon. You showed me what the southern Oregon hills are all about. :scream: Besure to post the pictures of Mick hitting that "little hill" up by Cell Phone.

We both had a great time!
Thanks,
Kent & Angela

 

[GETMETOCA]

Wow! :yeehaw:

What a weekend!&nbsp; The trip started for me Thursday night when I headed over to the Bay Area to Kali and Kevin's house, where GoSpeedRacer was staying.&nbsp; I had my kTm250rfs and Aimee's borrowed kTm200MXC in the back of my truck.&nbsp; After hugs and hello's, we make dinner and Kevin and I put a big chain lock through the two bikes, tarp them over, then back the truck up against the garage door.&nbsp; I figure Kevin's dog Brock (the friendly pitbull) will bark if someone tries to steal our steeds!! Kevin has their three GasGas bikes in the back of the box van, ready to go!&nbsp; Nicole, one of our instructors is going to borrow the GasGas 200 to use in class.

Friday morning 4:15 am and its coffee time and last minute loading of coolers and walkie talkie demos and plans for our first gas and potty break (poor Kevin and all these women!!:) )&nbsp; 56 miles later, we have our first gas stop and potty break.&nbsp;

We make good time on I-5 up to Oregon and actually get to Ellen's ranch in Selma sooner than I think, even with the three additional breaks.&nbsp; We see Marshall and he tells to go on up to the cabin that many of the Nor Cal spodes are renting for the weekend.&nbsp; What a COOL cabin!!:thumb: Its very rustic and roomy and has a huge kitchen and lots of benches out front.&nbsp; Plenty of beds and a fridge.&nbsp; The pine kitchen table could seat a dozen or so hungry riders.&nbsp; I'm thinking I could really do some damage in that kitchen and wish I would have brought more supplies to whip up a better breakfast than plain old eggs and bacon.

Karna and Justin show up and then later on we walk down to the main camp area to meet some new faces.&nbsp; We finally get to meet Mini Thumper and her husband Mike, MudnRocks and her husband, and a few other new faces.&nbsp;&nbsp;Belle and Bob are there, and many others&nbsp;who I remember from last year. Many are gearing up for the ride that Marshall&nbsp;is leading.&nbsp; We're too busy gabbing with new faces and getting settled in the cabin to get in on this ride.&nbsp; A little later, Ellen drives in with our instructors, fresh from the airport.&nbsp; Nicole, Kerrie, and Andrea!&nbsp; I let her know that Marshall has taken most everyone out on the trail and she says she'll be back for us in an hour to go on a trail ride too.

Ellen takes us (Karna, Justin, Kali, Kevin, Aimee, Me, The Ant) on a SUPER trail ride.&nbsp; All fun stuff.&nbsp; I'm remebering some of the trails from last year, but instead of being intimidated by them this year, they are all a total blast.&nbsp; I did need one lesson in clutch control on a mid hill start after killing the engine, but got through it in the end (Thanks SuperKevin!).&nbsp; We did&nbsp;a quick 14 miles of pure fun then headed back to the ranch to clean up for dinner at the local Mexican place.&nbsp; Racergril76 (Kyra) screams up to the cabin on her kTm200 to seek help from Justin (an EMT by trade), apparently Mini Thumper's husband has had an accident and needs medical attention.&nbsp; The other riders have already got him in a truck and he's taken to the local hospital.&nbsp;We get a report on his Tib-Fib break later on at dinner.&nbsp;&nbsp; Mini Thumper, trooper that she is, attends to her husband, but makes it back to class the next morning!&nbsp; We were all bummed about the crash, and happy that she made the most of her trip!

NVR FNSH, Mick, and bratt show up later on after eveyone's gone to bed, so now we are all here.&nbsp; Jennifer and Pierre are supposed to be staying at the Holiday Hotel.&nbsp; Still haven't seen Tami and Eric or met 4EverOrange.&nbsp; There are many more faces to meet in the morning!

We finally all round up in the Meadow below the horse stable at 8:30 am.&nbsp; I am meeting so many new women who ride dirtbikes.....Sarah on the DRZ250, Brenda on the XR200, Stacey on the TTR125, Katie on the kTm400exc, and many more.&nbsp; I finally get to meet Michelle, or very special visitor from New Zealand!&nbsp; And Leanne (4E-O) glad to finally meet you! LocoCD, wife Jane, Daughter Ashley and son Jared are here too!&nbsp; I see my friend Erinn on her 3-day old kTm 200 and we make plans for Tahoe riding in the near future.

I'm in the Intermediate class and soon find that MudnRocks is my hero on her kTm400Exc.&nbsp; That woman is F-A-S-T through the single track and looks&nbsp;completely in control while doing it.&nbsp; I try to follow her whenever I can to learn a few things from her as we work on uphills and downhills on Spring Hill behind the main house.&nbsp; NVR FNSH and E-Ticket are our trusty sweeper dudes who help us through the single track switchbacks and other fun stuff.&nbsp; Back at the cabin, I meet up with Karna and Kali and hear all about Lower Cell Phone Hill, the hill from hell that the Advanced girls rode.&nbsp; Kali has made it up on her first try and just a hand full make it up on their own.&nbsp; Apparently, this hill was originally intended for the Intermediate group :think: but I think Dave Hiatt had a change of mind on this after seeing our skills earlier in the day and dropped all the hill work down a&nbsp;notch, heheh.&nbsp; Everyone was in great spirits, a great Day 1 was had by all.&nbsp; Dinner was later that evening at the pizza and brew place, where we got to watch great video footage of last year's event, as well as some killer crashes that Nicole's husband shot during the Scottish 6 Day.

After the pizza dinner, bratt, Mick, GSR, NVR FNSH and myself walked down to Carlos' to have "one cocktail" but ended up closing the place down.&nbsp; Once again, all&nbsp;conversation topics occuring after 9 pm shall go un-mentioned (shhhhhh:laugh: )&nbsp; Back at the Ranch, we find Belle and Bob and Evan, 4EverOrange, Liddy, and Zack passing the Jack Daniels around the campfire.&nbsp; 12:15 am and its time to hit the sack.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Photo shoot at 8:30 (or so!) then we do this excercise on planks of wood that are supposed to represent "ruts" with a left handed turn thrown in.&nbsp; For the life of me, I could not get past the turn and kept riding off it.&nbsp; This proved to be a tough excercise for many but a few made it, and made it look easy.&nbsp;&nbsp; Later, the instructors have a 5 station event set up that we must loop through 3 times: (1)The Planks from Hell, (2)The Timed Twisty's, (3) The Off Camber Blunder Maker, (4) SuperKevin and Randy's Rooted Hill of Horrors, and (5) Evan's Magical Meandering Meadow(timed!).&nbsp; This was SO MUCH FUN!!!&nbsp; We really got into the competetive aspect and since we were competing against ourselves, it was fun to see or speed or skill improve with each of the three rounds.&nbsp; We really had to focus and concentrate on all the skills that the instructor's had taught us (Turns, off camber turns, weighting the pegs, looking ahead, uphills, downhills, etc.)&nbsp; It all came into play.&nbsp; We were coached constantly at each section and cheered on by the other girls.

Great to see everyone again and looking forward to next year!!! Nicole, Kerrie and Andrea, you ladies ROCK! &nbsp;A&nbsp;big fat THANK YOU to Ellen and Marshall for&nbsp;hosting the ride school -&nbsp;you are truly special and giving people.

&nbsp;

 

[Pegasus]

Its so fun reading your posts :)
Michelle,Tami,Eric Dave ,Brian,Marissa and family stayed over and rode today.. I Have so much to say but am to tired to even type for now..
Just wanted to thank you all for coming..All we can say is that it was one awesome weekend.
Ill catch up soon !
M&E

 

[MelloYello]

Sounds like an awesome time! Let's see some photos.:thumb:

 

[Karna&Justin]

The school was an absolute blast! I even had a period of time today that I felt a little bummed that it was over. I was so happy to finally meet all of you in person! Leann (4EO), Michelle, Kimberly (Mudnrocks), Ashley (LocoCD's daughter), Sarah P. (Mini-Thumper) and the list goes on! It was also nice to meet up with the rest of the group from last year.

A huge thank you to Ellen and Marshall for putting up with us all and an enormous thank you to Nicole, Kerrie, and Andrea for having the patience and time to provide individual attention to each of us. I know that I benifited from your comments last year and I can't wait to go out and practice everything for next year!

I still remember looking at the downhill from DOOM during the advanced women's downhill training and being asked by Jennifer how it looked to me. I was supposed to be there to help provide Jennifer with confidence and encouragement (and vise versa) and all I could say was, "I think I am either going to vomit or pee my pants". While standing in line the anticipation grew...I felt as if I was in line for a free fall or a one-person roller coaster. When my turn finally came I just went for it. I made it all the way to the bottem without a blunder. I can't believe how scared I was and how it wasn't really as bad as it looked. I couldn't wait to rush up and tell Jennifer that I didn't get sick on the way down . I even went down for a second time just for fun! Little did I know I would have another handful of times to practice going down when I kept biffing it on the uphill training (same hill only the opposite direction).

The Sunday "competition" was an absolute blast! A perfect way to end an almost perfect weekend. The only mishap we had was a near blowout with the trailer tire on the way home. No problem. We just changed it and hit the road again.

Mini-Thumper,
I hope Mike is doing well! If you need anything just let us know! I was in your boat last year so, I can empathize with you. If you want to go riding just let me know. Natalie and I are so close and I am sure we can all go practice our newly learned skills together soon!

Thanks Again Ellen, Nicole, Kerrie and Andrea! I can't wait to do it again!

Karna

 

[Sarah]

All I can say right now is "wow." Thank you, thank you, thank you. I just returned home about 3 hours ago. It was nice to stay an extra night to enjoy the pool, dinner, and a late night campfire at the Ranch.

I am writing a report of the weekend for the other motogirlies I ride with here in the Bay Area, and I will post it here when I am finished. Now, yawn, I must get some sleep.

Sarah Bee

 

[Mini_Thumper]

Karna:

I would love to go riding sometime really soon. I don't want to forget all the things I learned. Maybe you and Natalie can even do some uphills and downhills with me since I missed those two classes!

Mike is doing ok. He's much better now that we are in the comfort of our own home. I told him that he just gave me all the reasons to go back next year, since I didn't get to do everything this year. I also told him that he can bring our daughters XR70, and just follow me around all weekend with the camera. We won't be doing any warm-up rides next year! Maybe I'll start out in the meadow just practicing, but I don't want any chance for next year being like this year was!

I wanted to thank all the instructors as well, you guys were very supportive, and understanding with my crazy situation this year. Look out, because I'm going to practice what I learned, and I'll be back next year to tear up the intermediate group!

A big thanks to Evan who acted as my mechanic this weekend. I love the way my bike feels with my handelbars and brake pedal adjusted. Who woulda thunk I was riding with everything jacked up for so long :) And a big thanks to our "ambulance" driver Brian for all his help!

Bottom line is that you guys and gals all rock! I can't wait to find out if we will have this great school next year! I just hope that we don't continue the trend of one of our husbands breaking something each year! Let's just leave it with Mike, and go on from here without injury!!

Thanks again, I had a good time!

 

[NVR FNSH]

Originally posted by Mini_Thumper
I just hope that we don't continue the trend of one of our husbands breaking something each year! Let's just leave it with Mike, and go on from here without injury!!

I wonder what thoughts were going thru Justin's mind after finding out Mike was going to be OK? Something along the lines of "Sure am glad somebody else pulled a bonehead move this year......"

Glad to hear Mike's doing better. Make sure you pamper the poor injured guy.

Brian

 

[Mini_Thumper]

Originally posted by NVR FNSH


Make sure you pamper the poor injured guy.

Brian

You betcha! Especially since he made a huge sacrifice in staying to let me at least go through some of the classes while he was in pain! He felt so bad that he ruined my weekend. I keep telling him that he didn't do it on purpose, and he wasn't doing anything stupid, so I wasn't mad at him. Regardless, I am doing my best at pampering him!

Sarah

 

[NVR FNSH]

I felt guilty for saying/thinking it but when I got there Friday night and heard that a guy had already gone to the hospital I made a comment along the lines of "glad we got that out of the way". At the lunch break (didn't want to crash in front of all the ladies) on Sunday Mick & I were playing around in the field doing the log crossings - you know, Justin's log - all I could think of was "don't crash and break your collar bone".....

I'm looking forward to riding with all the NorCal folks soon,

Brian

 

[High Desert XR400]

This picture was from sunday afternoon. I don't know if this will even show up or not, I had to shrink it down pretty small.

Kent

 

[Girlrider]

"Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared, and how not to fear what ought not to be feared. From this knowledge comes an inner strength that subconsciously inspires us to push on in the face of great difficulty. What can seem impossible is often possible, with courage."

This weekend I saw nothing but 30 women who are filled with a TON of courage. You all inspired me. I don't think there was one person at the school who does not deserve the perseverance award. I really never saw anyone get out of line to sit down and watch. Everyone seemed anxious to try it again. Espcially on the boards and the off chamber hill. You were all so focused and ready to learn.

I am glad you all liked the event at the end of Sunday. I had some people who doubted it would work but if there is a way there is a will and so it worked. Thanks to Zach for helping me set up section # 5 and #4. And thank to the husbands/boyfriends for scoring and catching bikes. I think they liked it as much as the girls did.

A BIG huge thanks to Ellen and Marshall for the awesome place to ride and to the people who are living there now who still let us come in and use the ranch. I also want to thank Andrea and Kerrie for helping me and doing a great job at it. And thanks to Roxane and MOOSERACING for donating all the jerseys, grips, arrows, etc. . .

See you next year.

Nicole

 

[squeaky]

Alright ladies...I hope you're planning for next year, after reading these ride reports I have just GOT TO GO! I could use the formal training anyway!

I'm glad you guys all had such a good time! I hope to meet you all someday soon!

 

[NVR FNSH]

Originally posted by Girlrider
I think they liked it as much as the girls did.

My only complaint was that I didn't get to ride in the Sunday afternoon competion :whiner: It looked like the ladies were having way too much fun.

Seriously, awesome job by the instructors, participants, hosts and 'volunteers'. Can't really call us volunteers, can you?

My wife apparently has been lurking and reading these threads along with the sylabus and I'm calling dibs on her enrolling in the class next year (a not so subtle hint being dropped).

Brian