Rites of Spring

[Fred T]

It's this coming weekend. Nathan and I plan to be there early on friday and go for a ride. Also to those that have mini bikes, pit bikes or kids with bikes we're having a Sat night mini bikes with lites nite ride so bring the mini and and rig up some lighting that will last an hour and join the fun!!

I'm also going to try to get the Las Vegas SX on my sat tv set up Sat night for those that wanna see who will win the 2006 crown. :nod:

Ck it out!
http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=132343

 

[KTM Mike]

Fred -

Gee...with the gas cost and such...dunno if i can make that long drive.... :nener:

I will be there. If time allows, I may stop by to say "hi" Friday night. Failing that, I will be there Sat. AM. Does anyone know if they are doing registration stuff Friday evening? Would be great to get that out of the way.

See ya there!

Mike

 

[MWEISSEN]

Not gonna make it this year after all. We've got a ton of college and high school graduations this year, Saturday is the first one. :(

KTMMIke, they had registration Friday night last year, I would imagine they would again.

Fred, suggestion - maybe post a spot for others, I was asked where the camping will be. Sounds like you may be first there.

Have a great time!

 

[woodsy]

Mark and I seem to be on the same trail here.. This year I will be in S.C. watching my daughter receive her Bachelor’s Degree while you yahoo’s are ripping up the North woods. The following weekend is open house at Cornell Med School in NYC so there goes Spring Run too…
When we get back from Manhatten we have my youngest’s High School Grad open house to prepare for so I may not even make the Blessing Of The Bikes (another HOOT!!!!) this year.. Andddd,, I have 5 nieces/nephews graduating too!!
Of course, I am VERY proud of my kids BUT you would think these goofy schools would consult with us parents before they make all these plans for us.. I mean, some of us have lives ya know :rotfl:
You Rites people make us all proud! Take lots of pics and write lits of tails!! ENJOY the new surounding to the MAX!!
COWBOY UP!
Woodsy :ride:

 

[YZMAN400]

And Ill make sure to take a few pictures from the Spring Run and Blessing of the bikes for you Woodsy.

 

[SPARKEY]

Fred

Deb and I are planning on leaving Friday around noon.
we should be there around 6:00.
Hope you can get the race on your Dish, That would be Great!!

Save us a spot by your rig.

Sparkey

 

[70 marlin]

I'll be leaving early Friday morning. I've even tossed around the idea of leaving Thursday after work? I know they frown about that, but hey :whoa: I'll be camping in my brothers group this year but if I can manage, I'll stop by with a cold one.(What kind of beer?”Cold”) The race on the dish would be icing on the cake for the weekend!

 

[2TrakR]

There will be sign up on Friday night, plan has been to start at 5PM.

Everyone up there seems very pleased we are having our event there. Lots of great reception, the community seems very pleased to have us. Hopefully it will be that way after the event too ;-)

Remember that the gates to get into the fairgrounds will not be open until Friday morning.

 

[team-green32]

I plan to leave Friday morning.

 

[Fred T]

Well it won't be dusty!

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USMI0036?from=36hr_fcst10DayLink_undeclared

 

[KTM Mike]

Dont count on it Fred! Forecast for today was 30% chance of rain...not a DROP here...nada...zilch...nothing! It is VERY dry right now. South of Mio/Luzurne a 3000 acre fire is burning (i think now down to less acreage). So..... I would say plan on dust, and plenty of it! But...we can hope for rain!

 

[team-green32]

I am hoping for rain. That is my favorite to ride in.

 

[MWEISSEN]

OK, I see some lurkers here that I KNOW were at the Rites of Spring this weekend. Time for a ride report!

How was the turnout?

 

[jim f.]

First time ccc ride. Had fun, met some nice people but not as much single track as I like. That is a minor point.

 

[Fred T]

The people that we see each year makes the trip worth it every year and the riding is secondary to spending time with friends. We had a good time, a very good time. I don't think we could have packed much more into a weekend.

 

[70 marlin]

Good time weekend! I logged on my bike almost 70 miles. The route they laid out was very fun and had a mix of every thing so everybody had the kind of trail they liked, except for some truly tight stuff. The people of Atlanta made my group and my self feel right at home. The fair grounds worked out just fine a little tight but with a group as large as the CCC it was fine. Mother Nature could have given the Atlanta area a lot more rain, the dust was bad but that's Michigan? If they bring it back to Atlanta for next year I'll be back!

 

[MWEISSEN]

So it wasn't woop-ville like Baldwin has been?

 

[Fred T]

So it wasn't woop-ville like Baldwin has been?

Nope. Saturday was especially nice.

 

[KTM Mike]

This was my first ROS - I certainly did not have any excuses to miss it due to driving distances! I hung out with Fred T and family, V-man, and Sparkey. Had a rip roaring blast! Saturday we did about 77 miles (rode both the "blue loop" and "pink loop", then Sunday we all rode the "pink loop" for another 45 ish miles or so. I got a wee bit o' monkey butt! Trails did take a beating by Sunday. (I sure hope they groom them again!). Fred and Randy kept saying it was nothing compared to Baldwin though!

Fred - thanks a bunch for the hospitality Saturday evening! Sheila and I both enjoyed the fantastic food! And I enjoyed watchign the SX with you guys. (man I sure was tired though!) Glad Nate found the top end on his bike to! And tell Erin she is really stepping up the pace! She seemed hardly the worse for the wear after the ride sunday!

Pat - what was the deal with Aaron's leg? When we saw him (and you) I had the impression he had injured it in a crash? I walked through the grounds there Saturday evening to see if i could find you, but evidently looked in the wrong place!

Oh..now it looks like we will actually get rain! All that nasty sand suddenly turns quite rideable after some rain!

 

[KTM Mike]

Ooops - forgot to mention that CR250 (Mike K) rode with us Saturday. One interesting thing was the chance for Brent, Mike and I to swap bikes a bit - all 04 or 05 250 EXCs - but all set up slightly differently. I now know what gearing I will go to on my bike. (thanks Sparkey!)

 

[70 marlin]

Pat - what was the deal with Aaron's leg? When we saw him (and you) I had the impression he had injured it in a crash? I walked through the grounds there Saturday evening to see if i could find you, but evidently looked in the wrong place!

It looked worse than it really was :cool: mostly a wrist sprain, right hand. He also had some kind of pulled leg muscle injury. I'm keeping an eye on him but he's walking it off for now.:whoa: I was camped on the right just after the entrance about half way up on the left. "The dust was so thick you could cut it with a knife!"
I had plans to look up your group for Sundays ride. But my neighbor packed up my riding boots when they went to there cabin after Saturdays drawing. So Sunday I had to pack it in early to chase down my boots! I finally caught up with them at Hardwick pines. Ooh by the way they drew your name at the drawing on Saturday; Aaron went up and claimed your prize : laugh:

 

[Smit-Dog]

Here's my quick (and belated) take on ROS at Atlanta:

The Good Stuff
- This was a well-organized event. They had the right people at the right place at the right time doing the right thing. The Capital Chapter and GLDS clubs know how to plan and put on an event of this size and magnitude.

- The trails weren't the 80 miles of whoops typically found at Whiskey Creek. Seemed like the further you got from the fairgrounds the better the trail. Made me appreciate how great enduro trail really is.

- Location. The fairgrounds were a little tight, but it was a nice grassy area to stage. Atlanta was nice and close for food, gas, hotels. A few townies did wander into our camp looking for handouts, but after giving them some food and booze, they left us alone.

- The MTR compound makes anywhere feel like home. Good seeing Sparky brewing beer and riding Orange, trying to keep Fred T in sight (thanks for the gas, man), V-Man movin' some fun, CR250<->KTM250 ridin' even with a wife at home who's 10 months prego, KTM Mike for reminding me why I like my 2-hundy, Nathan for the college try, Debbie for teaching my girls that hours of fun can be had with mere rocks and sandpaper, and the rest of the crew who either rode, ate, or swapped tales.

Ideas / Suggestions For Next Year
- The kids / family loop was 6-8 miles of deep sand, wide ORV route with two-way and mixed traffic. This was shared by all the adult riders heading out and coming back in on the loops. Really missed the premo, private kids/family loop at Whiskey Creek. Maybe they can do something similar on the Fairgrounds. Something separate from the adult ORV loop would be a lot safer. Those little 50's and 70's had a tough time in the deep sand too.

- Send out sweep riders later in the day on Sunday. After a morning swim, relaxing breakfast, a cup of coffee, we pulled out of camp at noon, only to find that sweep was 15 minutes ahead of us pulling arrows! Without a Woodsy to guide us, we had to rely on memory and keeping the sun at our back. Cut our Sunday ride short.

And now, on with the pictures. I guess the only time we took the camera out was at the kids training area. You'll have to come up one year to find out the other 90% that's not shown.

Some gear borrowed, some gear used...

My little spitfire. Full of talent, smarts, charm, but enough piss and vinegar to make you forget sometimes.

I wanta ride, I wanta ride, I wanta ride...

Ready for a lesson from the School of Dad...

 

[Smit-Dog]

Carly has natural talent. At 5, she was lapping her 9 year old sister who was riding an XR-100. Carly would hit a patch of sand in a sweeping corner, the backend would begin to slide out, get a little loose, and she rode it out every time, keeping both feet on the pegs the whole time.

 

[Smit-Dog]

Learning to ride a manual clutch...

Starts and stops were the only challenges. And shifting. Other than that, she had it nailed. :)

Zach riding the mini-Brick.

I wanta sleep, I wanta sleep, I wanta sleep...

 

[2TrakR]

Smit-Dog - it was great to watch your youngest get some practice time at the back of the fairgrounds. Was bumming that I didn't get a picture of her, but see you took care of that. Best one was when she disappeared behind the trees at the end of the lane (furthest from you) and then came running back out with no bike! ;-)
I put some pictures up on the GLDSMC site. There's a link on the front page right now, otherwise it's under "Stories". http://www.gldsmc.org