Tuesday I got to see what everyone had been talking about – as soon as I mentioned I was going to Oregon, I’d get the remark “the land of a billion trees”. Wow, steep, big, trees. Driving along, I was reminded of Kaingaroa Forest over here, but way bigger and loved looking at the houses hidden in the trees. We picked up a TTR125 that Mary kindly offered for me to ride (Pegasus, if she finds anything wrong, let me know, I will send a replacement brake lever soon, just wish I’d had time to fix that before I left).
Pegasus, Marshall and I also went out to the ranch to organise stuff for the ride school – me as dumb labour, of course. Things are a bit of a blur at the moment, even with me having a diary.
Wednesday, after getting me a helmet (Pegasus and I had been shopping a bit on Tuesday, getting me some gear, just no helmet yet), we headed out from the house for a bit of a ride. Pegasus had had some work done on her Pampera, so had to run it out of gas. After putting it on reserve, we thought we should head home. The Pampera sat outside the shop idling merrily away, then Marshall took it for a ride, then Pegasus, then they gave up. We loaded up & headed off to the ranch to try out some of the trails (both existing and ones made for the ride school). After a while (no idea of distances), we came to part of a trail that went upwards for a bit, but the rest was going to be downhill, so Pegasus & I thought the Pampera would run out of gas on the uphill, but no, she finally ran out just before heading back into the ranch. Is this bike economical, or what!!!!!!
Thursday E&M’s friend Dave turned up, while Pegasus & I had been out running errands in town. Dave & Pegasus spent hours nutting out what trails to use for the ride school & for what classes. I think they were finally happy at about 1.30am (I’d gone to bed a bit earlier).
Friday – D-day. We headed out to the ranch to finish off a few things – ribbon to be placed, banners to be hung up, branches to be removed, trails to be marked, etc etc. As I was taking the last of the branches down the driveway (feeling like a real quad rider – cap backwards, full safety gear lol), I lost the load (hey, they were long branches and it wasn’t balancing properly) and thought “knowing my luck, someone’s going to come along right about now with me blocking the drive”. Right on cue, Mike & 4EverOrange turned up (at least, from memory, I think it was them).
Eventually we had a group together to go for a ride. Marshall asked if anyone wanted a bit of a cruisy ride first, so I had to say yes. We headed out on fire roads & a couple of easy trails. As I’m used to riding alone, I wanted to stay near the end of the group and also know that with large groups, it’s only as fast as the slowest rider.
At one point, I stayed on the road to point to the trail we were heading up, but unfortunately the next rider misread my indication & continued up the road (sorry, that was my fault, I should’ve moved the bike so I was pointing the trail better, rather than relying on you having seen it). After coming around a corner, I came across the rest of the group (or rather, a large percentage of it), with someone having trouble with a hill and others waiting for their turn.
We then continued (after regrouping at the top of the hill), along more fireroads. Some of us decided to try our luck at lower cellphone hill. I saw a camera & lost the plot (and bike) and after heading down again, joined the rest of the group taking the road to the top of the hill.
While there, we heard bikes coming up the hill, so went to watch Kerrie, Andrea & Nicole. Nicole went off to try upper cellphone hill and decided it wasn’t as easy as all that. (Lower cellphone had been set aside for the intermediate riders on Saturday, with Upper cellphone was marked for advanced).
We then headed back down toward the ranch, with a deviation from the easy roads/trails, where it was discovered a lot of us don’t like downhills. While floundering down the hill (it’s worse when you’re following someone else who doesn’t like downhills), I spotted someone with a camera & promptly dropped the bike (no, I wasn’t polite about it – I really do hate cameras, unless I’m behind the lens hehehe). After finally getting down, we sat & waited for the rest to follow, but then heard someone had come off & hurt himself. Thinking it was only minor, we just sat there. Mike’s bike got brought down & eventually Mike was also with us, but needing medical attention for his leg. The rest of that story you’ve heard.
Saturday, first day of the ride school. We were happy to see Leann back with us, even though Mike was still in hospital. We learnt a lot, we had fun, my brain couldn’t take more in. I can’t honestly remember how it all pieced together, but do remember the instructions – look ahead, being the motto of the school.
... still lots more to come