Sunday @ the frozen "Farm"

[BSWIFT]

The HS waited till the last second to decide where and when to ride but the Farm fit the bill.  Due to several winter storms the trails had quite a bit of debris and the first loop was a work loop.
Craig_enid, Mary, ViolettSP, and friend Arron arrived at the crack of O'dark-thirty with temps in the mid twenties(Hardcore in MHO).  When I arrived at 9:45 I spotted them crossing the pasture.  I could see two stroke smoke and their breaths coming from their helmets:scream:.  But what the hey, it was supposed to be in the upper 50's and bright sunshine. 
Well for once lately, the weatherman nailed the forecast.  It started warming up quickly and I was unloaded, dressed and ready to ride.  The ground was starting to thaw on the surface so it made for some tricky corning, slime on top, ice underneath with completely frozen where the sun had yet to shine.  We hit the Farm's MX track and made a few loops.  The track was in fair shape and made for some good warmup riding.  A quick run back to the trucks to see if anyone had arrived, a change of riders, and back to the track we went.  Arron rides bicycle trials and was new to dirtbikes but you could tell he had the basic skills.  I helped him learn basic throttle and body position skills over a very small jump using second gear.  Let him see what "NOT" to do and how to choose the right body position and throttle setting for different types of obstacles.  Funny that Craig_enid asked me of all people to give "jumping" lessons. :confused:
A bit later, Justql arrived, then DWreck.  We made a few trips around the MX track and then hit the woods.  At first it was a battle to find the trail so we all would brake slide, roost, brake slide, roost.  We made a short loop and when we got back, OKKX'r was there.  Once the majority of downed trees were moved, we started making loops.  Each loop got quicker as we each got a rythem.  I enjoyed seeing DWreck pull off the Freestyle move the Justql's oldest son taught him.  It was a wicked whip, a full 180 degrees and flat as a pancake.  I think Quint forgot to tell him that it was supposed to be done while you are in the air and not after you land the big step up.  :laugh:

All in all a great day.  The temps were fabulous and the company, well, they were typical Heartland Spodes, great folks.

 

[craig_enid]

Oh, yeah! Family, friends and 'the Farm'.... my idea of heaven on earth!

Son had an indoor soccer game at 4pm, so I wanted to get an early start on the fun. Met VioletSP and her beau a couple of miles away from the farm, and caravaned in. Gate was locked up so we had to call JustQL's wife for 'breaking in' advice. Got unloaded and geared up. VioletSp, myself and Aaron went for the first go-round. Aaron got the hang of motorized 2-wheeling with no problem. The frozen ground made for some flat-track type cornering, but everyone stayed upright. Bswift showed up so we headed back to camp to huddle around the propane heater/hot dog cooker. Went out for the second round and watched Bswift going over what NOT to do on a jump! I really got the feel that he gets his experience from that old school of hard knocks...;)
Checked back in at camp, found Dwreck, JustQL, QL2 and Curt had arrived. I'll let JustQL add the next chapter to the GasGas saga....
Saddled up with Aaron and VioletSP and took the rocky loop that goes by the lake. Had some funny, scary, exhilarating moments. 'The trail' claimed it's first victim, VioletSP, on a rocky uphill. About half-way up, she bobbled on an imbedded rock, had to gas it to clear the top. Made it OK, but was on a collision course with and established hardwood. She bailed to the right, shoving the bike left into the tree. The bikes sudden stop whipped her around pretty quickly, but she missed everything that was metalic. Took a breather, then finished the back side of that loop.
JustQL, Dwreck, OKKX'er, Bswift and I then took a trail clearing loop. Moved most of the big lumber out of the trail as we roosted and brake-slid our way aroung the leafed-over track. -Good thing Brutus starts so easy, Swift was kicking on him every third turn! :)-
Hit camp for some snacks and talk. Inside joke was OKKX'er being concerned about JustQL pre-riding the trail.... by himself.... on the GasGas....
We then took a faster loop with far fewer trail maintainence stops. JustQL wanted to let Dwreck exprience some of the tighter sections of the farm, so he took a couple of little used trails. We ended up by ourselves, as the others opted for the 'sane' routes. (One section had JustQL 'icebreaking' what looked like 30' or so up a narrow creek)
Finished out the loop, loaded up and said goodbye to a great day of riding....
Thanks everone! Was a GOOD day!

 

[Grifter]

VioletSP and I met up with craig_enid and mom of VioletSP in some small town near the farm. It was painfully early (ok so it was about 8:30 am) but I was ready for the new adventure that I was in store for. :) We arrived at the farm and had to dehinge the gate to get in (Apparently nothing stands in the way of these guys riding, especially not a measly gate). So we arrive and unload. VioletSP, and I take off first and play on the mx track. It was pretty much the first time I've ridden. I was scared to death but finally I gained a little more confidence as the day progressed. We went back to the camp and I got to meet swift. Craig_enid, VioletSP, swift and I went out and played on the short trail and the mx track. Swift taught me how and when to shift my weight and gas it at the right time. It helped a lot. Actually it saved me from a few wreaks. Later craig_enid, VioletSP, and I hit the longer trail. Oh yeah....speaking of hit. VioletSP and Rudy (her bike) personally said hello to a tree head on. Luckily she was ok aside from a few bumps. I got to meet the other guys as well when we got back. They are really nice guys. A lot of jokers in the group! :) Later VioletSP, VioletSP's mom, and I rode the mx track again. It was a great day. I had so much fun and learned so much. I hope to be invited to the next ride.

 

[justql]

Great day.....That pretty well sums it up. We had been trying to get a ride together, I volunteered the farm when none of the other sites worked out. I kinda hated to take everyone out there. I knew the place would be in bad shape seeing as how there hadn't been any serious riding there since Memorial Day. After fighting with my oldest son about whether or not his new gear fit. I left the house 20 minutes late. Then my youngest had forgot his gloves at the house. Another ten minutes waisted. When we arrived at the farm the gate was still locked. So I figured at least I had beaten the others. WRONG. They are dedicated riders, they had broken in. ;)

After unloading the three bikes the razzing began."3:1 odds the GG won't run" "oh we get to watch Justin work on the GG again" For those that don't know I spent a lot of time at DW working on the thing. I just did a complete carb rebuild. Any ways after adjusting the slide and a couple of turns of the idle screw it ran great. Wouldn't stop worth a crap. :| But it ran great and swift thinks he has the solution for the sloppy brake. I'll get after that fix next week. The bike should be great after that. :aj:

I felt bad that it was Dwrecks first trip there and the trails were so bad. After moving a few downed trees. The trails started to get better after a few trips through. Maybe a day of work and they'll be in good shape. The track needs a little work but it wasn't that bad. It was good seeing everyone again and meeting the newbie. ;)

I think everyone bobbled including Craig_enid during his leap across a creek. It was great until the landing. Definetly a contender for the move of the day. Dwrecks 180 was another good one. Okkxer summed it up best when he said its strange to be breaking ice with your front tire in the creek yet you didn't even need a jacket when the day was over.

I'll get out there in a couple of weeks and get the place prepped a little better for next time. Sorry to make you all work while riding.

 

[OKKX'er]

I don't mind helping to clear trail, sharing the load seems fair to me. Justin and family are as hospitable as humanly possible.
We were seriously riding without jackets through ice covered creeks, I think a first for me.
Kudos to Brian for hossing his top-fuel dragster of a bike through the farthest-from- designed terrain possible. I think fellow KX rider DWreck would agree with me "those enduro guys need some therapy" as there is undoubtedly some masochism going on during trail layout.
All in all , it was great, thanks Justin, and glad to see the far-flung HS again!

 

[justql]

You missed when Dwreck got his KX lodged between the two trees. He pulled forward, backward no go. He turned around to see who was behind him,he then figured out that you three had been smart enough or chicken enough,depending on your point of few, not to follow. He eventually goit it out. :p

 

[BSWIFT]

I can't beleive how sore I am.  My neck feels like I carried 50 pounds around.  Haven't had a helmet on for that long since DW02.  I'm going to look into getting Brutus a juice clutch if the smaller sproket doesn't do the trick for the really tight stuff.  When the trails are not as tight, Brutus just cruises but the really knarly tight stuff requires a lot of clutching.  I stalled out numerous times from fatigue and slamming the rear brake. 
One lesson learned.  Don't park Brutus in tall grass.  That header pipe nearly started a fire!  Smelled something and the grass was about to ignite.  By days end, we were making some spirited runs thru the trees, Thump would of had a coronary!  MXBundy would likely carved a wider trail and TTRGuy would have been in Heaven. 
I for one think that the Farm is much nicer than Justql puts on.  There are probably better places but the whole atmosphere and company makes up the difference.

 

[mx547]

sounds like a fun ride, as usual.

the farm rules despite being primarily a woods place. if my family owned it, i would be out there about 3 out of every 4 weekends.

 

[DWreck]

I really enjoyed my trip to the farm. It had been a month since my last ride and the trails and mellow MX track were just what the doctor ordered. I was at the weight room tonight and looked in the mirror and saw blood running down my neck and remembered the sticker vine that tried to strangle me on one of my ill advised alternate routes. All in all it was a good day and hopefully the weather will allow us to get together again soon.

 

[craig_enid]

Mary L. here. Once again, want to thank Justin and all the HS for a very fun 'day at the farm'. Was sooo glad to see Brian arrive with (of course he thinks of everything) a propane heater which was a great comfort while waiting for my turn on the TTR (Rudy). And then the best part of the day, when Justin finally rolled in so that the harrassment could begin in earnest!!!! At this point I would like to share my personal testimony that the Gas Gas does indeed run (or did run for that day anyway) and that Justin can and does endure more verbal abuse on any HS get together than most people could handle in a lifetime.....and he can always laugh heartily with us, at him! As always there's not that much "ride" to my report as my skills and courage remain at a minimun. I can only attest to one small incident where I became high centered on a rock off the trail, but I strained back and legs to haul Rudy off the rock and back on the trail before I was found by any HS'ers (how embarrassing!) Again, the company was supreme, the day was beautiful.....it was great. And anytime spent with Violetsp is quality for me......and was most relieved to deliver Aaron back to Stillwater in one piece. Thanks to Brian and all of you for taking him under wing as I knew you would! Looking forward to the next farm ride, Mary

 

[VioletSP]

I'm pretty sure that sunday was the ultimate in riding weather. Things started off nice and cool so we could all appreciate Swifts nifty heater. Once we started riding things heated up to somewhere around perfect degrees. Was a little worried about Grifter since it was his first extended ride on a bike and i didnt want to have to meet his parents for the first time explaining how i managed to put their son in traction. Fortunately he's a very quick learner, naturally athletic and with a little coaching from swift look like a real spode out on the mx track. dad and i took him on the tight trails down by the lake and i showed him how to properly bite bark after a nasty uphill. other than that little bobble it was a fairly injury free ride which is always nice. thanks to justin for lettin us ride- it was great!

 

[motox757]

Sounds like all had a good time. I wanted to go, but a new mountain bike was calling me to do a shake down ride. Got a Specialized Epic Comp (full suspension) on Saturday and wanted to get that bike on the trails! It is soooo nice....

Keep me in loop, I got the PM function back since I gave Okie the fee to be a lifetime member. Now I just need to see what my $109 bought me!

 

[Grifter]

Ohhh! Mountain Biking! I haven't done that in a long time! Specalized makes some good bikes. The geometry of your bike looks great! Especially with the low top tube. How did it ride? I was into mountain biking a lot before I moved to college and got into bike trials. I have a Trek Y3. Full suspension is so nice isn't it?

 

[motox757]

Originally posted by Grifter
Ohhh! Mountain Biking! I haven't done that in a long time! Specalized makes some good bikes. The geometry of your bike looks great! Especially with the low top tube. How did it ride? I was into mountain biking a lot before I moved to college and got into bike trials. I have a Trek Y3. Full suspension is so nice isn't it?

The bike is awesome! Can't beleive I waited this long to upgrade. It is so nice that I now plan on doing some of the Okla MB State Series races.

The full suspension is very nice, especially with the Specialized add-on to the Fox rear shock, the BRAIN! It is basically a hard tail until you encounter the rough sections and then the rear shock kicks in, that feature is very nice...

 

[Grifter]

Wow that's really cool about the rear shock. I've been out of the mountain biking world for so long I didn't even know those existed! I've only seen the button by the shifter that tells the shock to stiffen or loosen depending on what kind of travel you want. I almost competed in the Arkansas racing circut. I was going to race in the fat tire festival but I decided to just compete in the trials event instead of mountain biking.