trail heaven

[Dede]

Wow! Sunday was the best trail ride so far. About 75% of the time I ride the trails by myself cuz me& my husband have different work hours right now so we don't get to ride together too much :( But he ended up calling in sick on sunday just so we could spend the day riding. I was so excited. It was a perfect day, not a cloud in the sky and the temp. was around 60. So we headed out on the trails and we both were riding really good. We hit all our challenging areas and found that they weren't so hard no more so we went even further. We found so many great new areas and all kinds of different riding like mud, water, flat clearings, and real steep hills (which by the way, on the steep hills does anyone else have the problem when going down hill for a long time gettting a massive wedge? or maybe I just need new underwear. hee,hee :laugh: ) After all that we came back to the house to get lunch and talk about the trail & our bikes for about a half hour. We mapped out how far we made it this time and then it was still early so we did the whole thing again. The second time went even smoothier cuz we knew what to expect. I'll admit, the first time we went down the long steep hill I was a little scared cuz it felt out of control and picking up too much speed and not having time to really think but instead just go,go,go. But I'm real proud at both of our riding skills and how they have improved (even though my husband is a little better then me that's ok). I'm telling you, it was the best day. What a trip.
Oh, and to end off the day, when we were driving to go get subs for supper we ended up seeing a baby moose standing on the side of the rode. It couldn't have been that old. It was maybe the size of a great dane. It was adorable. :)

 

[Michelle]

Sounds like fun Dede :)
I just wear bicycle shorts under my riding gear, but if you do a search in here, you'll find a thread on the discussion about g-strings vs everything else ;)
As for the animal side of it, I still get a thrill every time I see a deer & just like looking at the different animals - pheasants, rabbits, quails, magpies, fantails, blackbirds & whatever else (oh, saw the first ever wood pigeon the other week, that was cool - I'd stopped to help a friend get up a hill).
I was out riding by myself last Sunday & going along a trail, I got a hell of a fright, stalled the bike & watched a stag running off. The wierdest thing about this stag, was about a minute later another stag crossed the trail following the first one. They were only young, but just wierd to see 2 stags together - I think they were one or two pointers. Glad I didn't start the bike earlier or we'd have had venison for dinner (or they would've had human, whatever).
Oh, back to the wedgy thing, if it's a long, steep downhill, I get pain in my right thigh from just standing on the brake & leaning back, but no wedgy hehehe
My husband is way better than me (not hard).

 

[LoriKTM]

Sounds like some great terrain, Dede! Private property, or a park?

My husband and I got to ride together on Saturday. I think it's been a year or more since just the two of us rode together. Usually we're at an enduro (and I never see him until the end) or we're out riding with a bunch of other DRN members down at Paragon. (Speaking of which, you'll have to try to make the next Paragon ride-- some time end of July or early August!)
Saturday was great fun-- the trails were all ATV wide, but there were plenty of steep twisty hills and some water and mud here and there to keep things interesting. One hill was on a gas line-- we first hit it going down. There's about a 50 foot section that's very steep at the bottom. Next time we went over there, Dave wanted to go UP! Well, easy for him on the 450 thumper. I tried going up 3 times before lunch, and couldn't get past the lip at the top of the steep section. After lunch we went back, and it took two more tries but I managed to paddle and fight my way to the top! We determined that my biggest problem was the mental block I was fighting-- I had already psyched myself out when I had to sit and look at the hill before going up.
We always have fun riding together-- Dave's great at finding fun terrain and getting me to push myself.

Regarding the underwear thing-- like Michelle, I usually just wear bicycle shorts under my gear. (Check out Moose Sahara shorts). I find it's more comfortable than underwear, or underwear w/bicycle shorts.

 

[MXGirl230]

Sounds like everyone had a great time riding. We attempted to ride at my uncle's house on Sunday, but it started raining. Which was fine, but once we saw lightening we were done. I finally got to try out my new knee braces though! Those things are sweet! Every weekend we have tried to race or ride we have been rained out...gotta love Michigan weather...

 

[Sourstraw]

we're out riding with a bunch of other DRN members down at Paragon. (Speaking of which, you'll have to try to make the next Paragon ride-- some time end of July or early August!)

Lori -

Where exactly is Paragon? One of my friends wanted to go up there, is it in PA? I have such limited places to ride around here that it would be awesome to find another spot - particularly one that might be an inkling less rocky than Tower city - that just beats the crap out of our bikes if we go there on a regular basis.

Ciao,
Stacy

 

[LoriKTM]

Paragon is in PA, right near Hazleton (intersection of I-80 and I-81). Here's their website: http://www.paragonap.com/

It might be a smidge less rocky than Tower City. It IS still PA, after all! The disadvantage is you have to share Paragon with Jeeps & 4X4's on some trails. But there's enough space for everyone to play. :)

Our next DRN ride is tentatively scheduled for August 7th & 8th. Come for one or both days! Here's the thread link...
http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=98332

 

[Dede]

Bicycle shorts that sounds like a good idea. I'll have to try it. I also want to buy a pair of the riding boots next too. I ride in a secret woodland area that I don't think that many people know about cuz there's only been one or two other tracks out there. It's really cool. I went to the Paragon site and it seems like a cool place to ride. Although I think sharing the trail w/ a jeep might be a little scary. How does it work? Can they be right on your ass or can they be coming the other direction and just all of a sudden there right in front of you? Have you had any close encounters? I've mapped out a few trail places in Vermont,Maine, and NH and put them on my list of places that I want to ride. Now I'll have to add Paragon w/ that. I think if I could hit as many different states and trails as possible before I die I would be one happy girl. That's the goal I'm going to try for. Wow! I'm still in awe of just riding up & down a road. I have alot to look forward too. But before I can go travelling anywhere, I have to get a truck or trailere to haul my bike. I don't think a Geo metro would do it (hee,hee).

 

[LoriKTM]

Dede-- yep, the riding boots are a must have! I got a really nasty bruise on my shin one of the first times I went dirt biking.

Paragon has some good trails, and meeting up with the Jeeps and such really isn't a problem. In fact, on most of those trails the Jeeps go SOOOO SLOW that you have plenty of warning. And since bikes are very maneuverable, we can get around them on the trail pretty easily. There's also single track trails there, just for dirt bikes-- ATVs are too wide. (And so are some bikes! :ohmy: )

 

[bbbom]

We hit Trail Heaven (Hell for some I guess) clear over here on the otherside of the country!

Memorial Weekend we headed up to Batey Bould to clear trail for the FS. Had 10 people with 3 saws & a bunch of shovels & polaskis show up (counting Karl & I). We ditched the kids, actually, they ditched us as they got invited to stay at Cavanaugh's Resort in Priest Lake and go dirtbiking around there with a family friend who has dirtbiking kids the same age as ours.

We camped at the trailhead with no one around Saturday night, went out to clear trails Sunday. Got everything but one loop done (to be done sometime in the near future) so came back to camp to fire up the steaks on the grill. It rained off & on all night but come Sunday morning it was looking like it would be sunny, then it looked like it would rain typical NE Washington spring weather.

A half dozen guys were supposed to come up 8 am Sunday to join us on a little ride from Batey Bould over to the Little Pend Oreille Trail System with a gas/hamburger stop at Beaver Lodge. One guy showed up at 8 am - he had just driven from a rodeo in Missoula MT where he had been bullriding but he wanted to do the Batey/LPO ride so he was there!

We had a quick breakfast, got on our gear and headed out about 9:30 am (okay so breakfast wasn't so quick). I was tired at the beginning due to the trail clearing the day before and maybe a few too many sips of Captain Morgan's Saturday evening - lets just say I felt so good Sunday clearing trail that I didn't even have a beer Sunday evening and I was still dragging on Monday.

Batey Bould is a great tight twisty singletrack trail system with some good rocky tech sections pretty quick into it. The trip from Batey to LPO is about 22 miles each way and it takes about 4 hours each way depending on the condition of the trails. All of Batey had been cleared, except one loop that we skipped, but the Connector Trail had a couple bad downfall areas. The guy that joined us was on a CRF450 and a good rider but he had some trouble on the first slippery rock face. As he was getting turned around to hit it again, I went on by and about halfway up the rock tried to dab and nothing was there. Dropped the bike and did a backwards roll down the face of the rock. Karl was there to pick up my bike as I got back to my feet. I'd made it far enough that we could drop the rear tire in a little notch and I rode the bike up from there. CRF450guy made it clean on his next try but took a wild ride when the root at the bottom shot him into the bank, he saved it and was over the rock safely. We cruised on down the trail, the guys stopped & waited for me when I got hung up on a stinky switchback with failing cinderblock treads. I pulled up & CRF450 guy asked Karl what year my bike was. "94" Karl told him. "Man, that thing has a great torquey engine" CRF450guy commented. "Yeah, we set it up for woods" Karl replied. Off we went, thinking nothing of the comments.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful, just good fun trails with the occasional mudbog and downfall jungle to deal with. We arrived at LPO about 1:30 pm, talked to some friends and hit the Lodge for gas & grub. CRF450guy kept commenting that this was one of the best rides he'd been on and he couldn't believe how cool the trails here were. We had to agree. We wolfed down our burgers, gassed up and got back on the trail.

The Batey to LPO run is all good but some sections of trail always stick in your mind - like the rock section at the beginning that you also get to do at the end since this is a backtrack trail. Then their is the Gordy Hill where you have to climb a rutted hill with rocks & roots and a hairpin lefthander to skim some momentum off of your climb, the broken bridge which looks like a death trap even on a dry day but with some rain you just know you're going to slide off of the one good stringer and into the ravine (okay it's only like 8' deep but still it will hurt) below.

I was quite relieved to find that someone had somewhat fixed the broken bridge - I didn't even realize we'd crossed it until after I was over it! The Gordy Hill was somewhat challenging but it was far easier to tackle this time for some reason - I just cruised up it with a little momentum over the biggest root (and after stuffing a couple rocks in the hole in front of the root to ramp it up a bit).

By the time we were nearing the point of road or rocks intersection, I had decided that the Captain, trail clearing and today's ride had all conspired to sap my energy. I got hung up on a little rock crevice and just tipped over. It was all I could do to pull my leg out from under the bike & pick it up. Can you say RAGDOLL! So, when Karl asked "Road or Rocks" I voted ROAD!

CRF450guy was also quite willing to road it (I think the bullriding & long distance drive had an effect on him). So we hightailed it back to the trailhead and hit camp about 5:30 pm. Back at camp CRF450guy loaded up his bike as we started to organize for packing up, he came over to bs a little more and commented on how impressed he was with Karl's AF. One of us mentioned that it pulls as well as my 500 and the guy looked at me and said "THAT is a 500 too?" "No wonder it's so torquey, I thought it was a 250 the whole time! I wondered how Karl had set it up for the woods that well!" Now, the earlier comment made total sense! With that, we loaded up, and headed down the road to pick up our kids from their riding weekend.

Gotta love hearing their stories - half a dozen kids out riding together, taking care of each other and working together to get bikes up hills (one involved using a tiedown to pull the bike up the hill :ohmy: ). My son was bragging on how great his lil sister was ripping up the trails on her KX60. The guy that took them was quite impressed that my two were so responsible and respectful - guess the threat that I'll sell their bikes if they screw up works! :laugh:

 

[E-Ticket]

Well... it's now very clear why no much at MoonRocks fazes you, BBoom...! :worship:

 

[bbbom]

Not much does faze me anymore, I think it's from spending the past 4 years riding with Karl. It hasn't killed me yet! :yeehaw: Of couse that also explains why I wear every piece of gear they make too.

I do still get spooked by the goatrails along the river gorge and snow tends to make me think again about the proper form for skeleton racing. Between the little Reno incident and the latest over the bars in the snowbank here at home, I drop down to 2nd and float my feet over that white stuff - it's finally GONE for now!

And sticks, I hate sticks, they are out to kill me! Just this weekend, two of them tried to take me out, one succeeded briefly! Headed out with Karl, my son, his buddy on a KTM65 and two neighbor kids from the other side of the mountain on a CR125 & YZ250F, riding sweep on the same old trail we usually ride from home, went over a chunk of log that's been laying there for months, hit the edge just right & it stuck to my front tire, lodging between the tire, forks and smacking a small dent into my radiator - stoppy time! I managed to keep the bike upright, rolled it back and took the log out - I've been meaning to move that thing anyways but I didn't really want to do it THAT way!

So off I went to catch up to the boys. We dropped down a nice hill that bottoms out on a road that has a mudpit area for a good 100' or so. I noticed a long skinny tree laying across the road at about a 45 degree angle with a branch sticking up just to the right of where I figured I'd square up & cross. Just as my front tire hit the log I slammed down in the mud on my right side. Geeze, I thought, my front tire must have washed out on the stupid little tree. I got up, shook some of the mud off of my side, picked the bike up & noticed that the branch that had been poking up from the tree was now stuck between my left front fork and wheel then through my spokes & out the other side. I wiggled it, pulled a bit and noticed it was going to bend or break the spoke due to the position it was in. Aha, grabbed my handy dandy hand saw ziptied to the bars and after a few slices, cut the stupid branch off the bike. Off I go again. Of course this took a few minutes so Karl was heading back to find out what happened. I just shook my head & went on by shouting "long story!". He of course figured that as my whole right side was covered in mud.

The boys thought it was pretty funny, at least until I had to help them get their bikes up the next hill! I told my son to go tease them that his mama could ride better than they could. :nener: (Could have something to do with their worn out tires on their MX bikes too though!)

 

[Dede]

Wow, I four hour trail ride. I'm jealous, that sounds like a fun (& tough) trail at Batey Bould. I have a question for you. How do you gage how much gas you have left and have you ever came close to empty? Is there alot of stops for gas on the trail? That's something I need to figure out cuz the trail that I've been going on is very remote and I don't think there's really any stops to fill up on gas anywhere. It would really suck to get stranded out there cuz of running out of gas and have to walk it all the way back. That's another question, what are the things to bring on a long trail ride that you wouldn't leave home without (knife, water, etc.)?

 

[bbbom]

Actually Dede, it was 4 hours each way and no gas stops anywhere except at the other end of the trail, no water stops either. Like most of our riding areas over here, things are pretty remote. We took some premix to add at the gas station, Karl's good at pretending to have a ratio rite!

As far as gauging the mileage, we can go about 70 miles on our 500's with the oversized tanks and yes, we've tested that - not on purpose either.

Due to a little map reading fiasco a couple summers ago in the mountains near Wallace, Idaho we tested both of our bikes out by running out of gas 7 miles from the truck. We finally found a spot wide enough to ditch the bikes off the road, stashed our gear (these roads are cut into the side of the mountain so it's straight up on one side & straight down on the other) and hiked in riding gear, with empty camelbacks in 70 + degrees back to the truck. Luckily, I heard a truck coming down the mainroad & sprinted the last 1/4 mile (my favorite run back in high school track) to scream at a truck to STOP! I think I scared them backwoods Idyho boys!

But they stopped & gave us a ride to our truck 2.5 miles down the road.

So I would recommend checking your mileage capacity in a more gas accessible manner. Actually, Karl knew we were good for 70 miles but unfortunately when we got off track with no odometer, we had no way of knowing we'd gone too far until we figured out where we were and that with less than a half a tank of gas each, we had to go back the same way. It really sucked that we hadn't taken any money or oil and we ended up at a gas station!

So, I would recommend figuring out a way to measure your gas mileage before you go on a long ride without gas stations. If you have an odometer or someone to ride with that does, just ride your bike with a known amount of gas until it's getting close to empty (not a good idea to run them out of gas if you can avoid it) then calc the mileage & figure it against your tank capacity.

Check with people that have similar bikes too - they usually know. Your riding style has some influence on it though. If you tip over a lot, you lose more fuel. If you are a fast rider and push the bike to it's limits (not me, I tend to tip over more) you'll burn more gas per mile too.

As far as what to take on a long ride - minimum would be WATER (preferably a large Camelback type system) money (even if the map shows no signs of civilization), spark plug & wrench, knife, zip ties, tie wire, set of allen wrenches, set of small end wrenches, pliers, wire cutters, matches or lighter, food (beef jerky, trail mix or something), small first aid kit or at least some type of bandage. If we plan to gas up we take along some premix in a small container. For smaller bikes you can get numberplate mount auxillary gastanks, or even an enduro jug on the handlebars or tie a bottle of gas to your belt - that's been done before and saved my son, myself and Firecracker from a very long hike thanks to one of her friends that had the extra gas for my son's bike.

That's all I can think of for now, I know we pack more in our fanny packs but that stuff is the minimum.

 

[E-Ticket]

And if you're thinking....."shoot, I don't need that much gas, we're just going over to that new trail and back...."

Have you ever gotten lost? :yikes:

It's -amazing- how much gas you will burn going up one trail and back....up another trail and back....and then this trail ... and back...

I'm putting on my MXC big-tank when I go check out some new trails over in Eyedehow this summer.

Good advice and tips, BBoom!

In Susan's "crash-fest" at the Funky Chicken Nat. Hare Scrambles I had to use my fanny-pack/tools to straighten The Ant's controls, get a spare bolt to replace the one that had fallen out of her front brake perch, and then use 3 zipties to hold her brush guards in place. Too bad I couldn't duct tape up her confidence any better.... :)

And this was just on a 7mile loop!

But with a short breather, a pack of GU, and a promise of a beer back at the pits, Susan was back on the bike and right back at defying the law of physics..... ;)

-- rb

 

[Dede]

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to get right on that finding out about the mileage/gas thing. I never thought about bringing zipties. That makes alot of sense. Also, a fannypack is a great idea. I've been using a back pack on most of my rides. I say most cuz I have the bad habit of saying -we're not going far so we don't need it-. My husband is guilty of this too. But it's true, usually you end up further than you thought you we're going to ride. Because we're new to the trail we still haven't found out what's up ahead and don't know what we're in for. I have to break my bad ways so my next post doesn't end up being -help, stuck in the middle of nowhere,can someone save me-(hee,hee). :(

 

[bbbom]

Okay, now for more fanny pack ideas:

masterlink for the chain (my son lost his on the way home once, luckily we had one at the house so it was just a quick scoot home to find it & back to put it on - now there is one for each chain size we run in my fanny pack). They are tiny but oh so important

I also keep a spare clutch lever and perch in my pack as I tend to break them at inopportune times.

Small bolts like the size on your lever perches, barkbusters, etc. Karl always seems to have a bolt that will work in an emergency.

Electrical tape - smaller and easier to pack than duct tape and will generally fill the bill in an emergency.

Take along your McGyver thinking in case you need to make emergency woods repairs. A little imagination can save a ride.

We did a fine job of rescuing firecracker's broken hydraulic clutch perch on her KTM one time with some good ol tiewire. If I remember right, Karl poopoo'd the idea "that will never work" but we went ahead & tried it & it got her through the weekend.

We've used zipties to hold my rear brake lever on when I lost the bolt on a long downhill halfway through a ride. I used zipties to hold my son's barkbuster in place when he crashed in practice at one of his SX races last season (funny how the guys are amazed when they see mom wrenching on the kid's bike and coming up with the solution that they wouldn't have thought of, it's like WHAT, women can't figure this stuff out, PLEASE!!!). We could have taken it off but I was afraid he'd crash again and break the clutch lever which I didn't have a spare for.

We've used a plastic sparkplug protector case and zip ties as a spacer on a kid's XR100 when halfway through a ride we discovered that he left the spacer out last time he worked on the bike. Karl always comes up with some McGyver type solution - returning home is NEVER an option!

The most important thing before a long ride, make sure the bike is ready to go! Check it over, make sure all the bolts are good & tight. I don't know how many times we've found kids with spark plugs that weren't tight (major booboo especially in dust), chain adjusters not tightened down, even triple clamp bolts not tight, of course then there's my lack of checking my rear brake lever bolt. :bang: THAT won't happen again. If you have problems with bolts coming loose, use the loctite, I love that stuff!

Your goal should be to have everything you might need and never need it!

 

[firecracker22]

In addition to Bbbom's list, I carry the aforementioned wire, string, saline solution (can be used to wash a cut or rinse crud out of your eye), a rag or two, an extra chunk of tubing (for siphoning gas or replacing parts).

I plan on adding a combination wrench and compact tool kit, C02 tire inflator thingys and spare levers.

If you wrap 1 layer of teflon tape under your levers, you won't break them quite so easily. It allows them to spin a little in crashes but can be tightened enough they won't move when you use them.

 

[Dede]

I just bought a $5.00 fanny pack at Walmart and I think it's going to work out great. When I was using my backpack it would weigh me down on the ride and was uncomfortable. So I think I'll gather some of the ideas you girls have mentioned and go w/ the fannypack for now. I have the zip ties,electrical tape,some first aid,lighter, and water right now. The bag still has room for some more stuff, not bad for $5 bucks. :)