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Damn Yankees Do Paragon August 26, 2006 - Ride Report
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Posted by: squeaky---------------------

We arrived at Red Ridge Lake campground Friday afternoon after a soggy drive through crappy traffic in Connecticut – second only to RM Guy, who was so thrilled that he arrived first he actually had to tell the guy at the front desk. We were only 45 minutes later than we expected!!

Soon camp is set up and we begin to change the oil in our bikes, as we didn’t have time to do it before we left because we just moved into a new apartment. Rooster soon realizes that he doesn’t have his Billy Who Man Funnel. A couple minutes and some creativity later he concocts two imitation Man Funnels out of a paper plate! YAY Now we won’t get oil all over the frames of our bikes!

With camp set up and bikes taken care of we begin to settle into the evening with a few beers and some Chicken Speedies and Hello Dolly’s that RM Guy’s wife made for him to share with all of us, and boy were they delicious!

Later on a big blue Dodge pulls in the parking lot with 3 Hondas in it. Do we know them? We don’t know – so RM Guy goes to greet the newcomers. They’re Mike, Sebastian, and Ben, all newbies to the sport as of this spring, but great people nonetheless. They’ve heard of DRN but aren’t members – yet. They set up camp (serious camp – complete with an Eddie Bauer screen room and a killer stove/grill type thing…) and we then find out that the three guys are friends with Raymond, aka brpray, who Rooster and I have supposedly met before, but I couldn’t remember until we met him again.

Soon after that, Treejumper shows up, complete with his own bike maintenance that he has to perform! He gets his bark busters installed – and a few miscellaneous other things (I think…) and he’s good to go.

Not too long after dark brpray (Raymond) and his buddy Phil arrive, which is a good thing because they had the beer and Mike, Sebastian, and Ben were quickly running out! We all settle in front of the fire to enjoy some bench racing. Eventually it begins lightning off in the distance and we all sit around and watch the show, while the skies remain clear above us. Rooster and I decide it’s time to go to bed, while we’re still dry, only to be awakened around 1:30 a.m. by more lightning and thunder. And apparently it rained while we were sleeping, but we’re still dry so it’s all good! Soon enough it starts pouring and the thunder and lightning keep getting closer and closer, along with winds. I thought for sure either our tent was going to cave in on top of us due to the rain, or we were going to blow away! And like that I was asleep again!

Now it’s morning…it’s a drizzly, cloudy day, and it’s very wet out from last night’s rain, but we didn’t drive 6 hours from Rhode Island to camp out one night and go home – so we quickly eat breakfast and it’s off to Paragon we go! Rooster hollers “Last one to Paragon sucks Maico exhaust” and that gets the troops rollin’! RM Guy and Treejumper are right on our tail!

We arrive at Paragon, get checked in, get geared up and we’re ready to go! The group heads down to the play area for a bit while we wait for JasonJ and CRF Guy to get checked in and join the rest of us. Rooster climbs a few hills and realizes that one of his tires is low. So back to the parking area for us – he puts some air in his tire and back to the play area we go to meet back with the rest of the group.
After that we split into two groups – the fast group consists of RM Guy, brpray, CRF Guy, and JasonJ and the slow(er) group consists of me, Rooster, Treejumper, Mike, Sebastian, Ben, Phil, and NRB (Nate).

We saw the fast group once during the entire morning – I don’t know where they were hiding, but it wasn’t anywhere we went! We rode and rode and rode Saturday morning – putting on 28 miles, I believe, before lunch! While I was riding I realized that my confidence level was really quite high that day, even with the wet rocks, slippery mud, and loads of puddles! I found myself going down hills I used to stop at the top of and stare down with the thought of “I don’t like the looks of this…” running through my head. I was climbing hills faster than I had before, and really managing to keep with the group! It felt great! Nothing too thrilling, exciting, or amusing really happened during the morning run. Right before we decided to break for lunch we came out at the intersection of Swamp Donkey (what is the REAL name of that trail? I can’t find it on the map…) and an “easier” trail. Chucke, Rooster, and I decided to torture ourselves through Swamp Donkey while the rest of the group took the “easier” trail. Well, I had a run in with a rock, or maybe it was two rocks, and got caught up for a while but finally managed to get free and maneuver my way through the rest of the trail. Then we proceeded back to the staging area for lunch.

Lunch time rolls around and all CRF Guy can talk about is his broken computer and his steering stabilizer

We get it, you have a brand new pretty KTM blah blah blah

After lunch we broke up into the same groups, but RM Guy decided to join the “slower” group as he was getting tired and he kept being blinded by the rain that was constantly covering his glasses. The afternoon ride proved to be a bit more interesting than the morning ride as we were all beginning to tire from the first 28 miles we put on. We did manage another 20 or so miles that afternoon though! Most of the trails we hit were repeats of the morning ride but seemed to be more of a challenge to us, the weary riders. First, Sebastian decided he wanted to get a free mud bath, as it’s much cheaper than paying the spa to do it. I was right behind him when it happened, he was riding along and the next thing I saw was a wall of muddy water come up from the ground, then Sebastian was up and riding again in no time. Then Mike, not to be outdone, decided it was his turn for a mud bath. I didn’t actually see his impersonation of Sebastian’s mud bath, but boy did he look good after that. We had to stop for a little bit while he got cleaned up, he looked like he had war paint on!!!

Then I decided to invent a new trick called the “Superman Handlebar Grab.” I was cruising down the trail at a pretty good clip (for me…) when suddenly there’s a hole in front of my front tire. It’s too late to stop, it’s too muddy to turn (I would’ve ended up under the bike for sure!), so what do I do?! I try to slow down and hope for the best. Ooooh it’s too late, I’m in the hole, I hit, my legs flew out from under me and ended up behind me a

and somehow I managed to keep a hold of the bike and end up back on the seat and keep going. I still don’t know how I did it! I think I scared Rooster, he didn’t know what was going on!

My final adventure for the day happened within the last 5 (if that) miles of the ride. Me, Rooster, RM Guy, Treejumper, and Nate separated from the group for “one last bit of torture” (Nate’s words) before heading back to the staging area for the day. We find a trail that goes down hill, over a water crossing, and straight back up another hill. I managed to keep the upper half of my body relatively dry throughout the day, until then. I hit that water crossing with enough speed to send a wall of water up over my bike and my body and it just soaked me to the bone. If this had happened during the June ride I would’ve been ecstatic – but it couldn’t have been more than 65 degrees out. Lucky for me it was the end of the day.

All in all it was a great weekend and I can’t wait until we do it again!

Posted by: Papakeith---------------------

Cool!
Sounds like you broke through your riding plateau. See I told you it would just happen one of these days!

Posted by: squeaky---------------------

Speaking of riding plateaus – we’re moving on to YZ80 forks for the TTR.

Roo says where I used to be slow he now sees my front tire bouncing along across the rocks rather than hitting each one

and the stock suspension isn't going to be able to handle much more.

Posted by: RM_guy---------------------

Good write up Sam. And just to clear the record up, I wasn't just tired I was freaking BEAT by lunch time

I would have been dead for sure if I rode with the "fast guys" after lunch.

Posted by: CRFGuy---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by RM_guy

Good write up Sam. And just to clear the record up, I wasn't just tired I was freaking BEAT by lunch time

I would have been dead for sure if I rode with the "fast guys" after lunch.

Sure hope your not telling us your getting old cuase that would worry me as I'm not far behind.

Posted by: Seabiscuit---------------------

I want to tell everyone that showed up Saturday for the ride that it was great meeting with you guys and hope we do this again soon!
I thought it looked great out there our group blue and red

Seabiscuit

Posted by: squeaky---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seabiscuit

I want to tell everyone that showed up Saturday for the ride that it was great meeting with you guys and hope we do this again soon!
I thought it looked great out there our group blue and red

Seabiscuit

Mike? That you?

Don't forget we had one green bike in the morning and one green and one yellow in the afternoon!

Seabiscuit? You ride dirtbikes not horses

Just kidding!

It seriously was great meeting and riding with you guys! We've all got to do it again soon!

Posted by: RM_guy---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRFGuy

Sure hope your not telling us your getting old cuase that would worry me as I'm not far behind.

Well it didn't help much only getting about 4 hours of sleep the night before...but you should be very worried anyway

Posted by: CRFGuy---------------------

Just checked weather and it looks like a repeat of last weekend out there. Anyone up for the only clear day which will be tomorrow? I can be there by 9 but looking for a riding partner.

Posted by: mele63---------------------

WE WERE THERE FRIDAY....

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/4095/pairrtk8.jpg

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/3343/springrax9.jpg

Posted by: JasonJ---------------------

Cool Pictures!
I got up there nice and early Sat AM. It still was not early enough for RM guy who decided to push the ride time up the night before from 9:30 to 9! I was able to get signed in and catch up in the play area. I was rusty on the bike since I have not riden much yet this year. Fall is the peak of my dirt bike season as my summer sports start to trail off and I like bing in the woods more. We set out on the A ride and the pace was quick so I got warmed up fast. The weather was playing havoc with our eyewear so I quickly scrapped my goggles and advised all to do the same. It took a while but they did. Felt bad for RM guy but hey dude, get some contacts! Oh and get yourself an ab lounge or a tred mill or something. We would ride like fire for 10 mins then stop for 10. He blamed it on his glasses but it only takes 10 seconds to cear your lenses! The old sock on the handel bar is looking like a good idea now ay? Anyway, we could see that RM guy was getting whooped. Normaly we are comfortable riding behind him but CRF guy was pushing the pace feeling spunky on his new pumpkin bike and throwing passes and pushing the pace so we soon engaged in full on trail rat mode pushing each other and takeing advantages of mistakes. Speaking of wich, my bike hit neutral more that day than I care to recall, I think it needs an oil change,,, BAD! I passed CRF guy at good speed and then practicaly stopped in front of him when I hit neutral then stalled on the face of a rock! Lots of fun though.
In the afternoon RM guy quitley hid in the B ride when we were staging, you cant really hide when you have a yellow bike and a pink skirt though

. I tried to recruit at least one more rider, Roo was looking around when I was pointing at him like "who me?". So anyway the 3 or us set out for some ripping! It had actualy went from mist to rain and the damp trails were getting sloppy. We had alot of fun. I had switced to amber cycling glasses from goggles and boy what a differance that makes! I was soon however really pushing my wasted tires. At sevral points I had my bike sliding sideways with the back AND FRONT tires in power slides around turns! That was kind cool! We attacked a large hill, Cherokee ridghe I thik and I bobbled and stopped only there was no stopping, just a momentary null in momentum before gravity and grade had me sliding backwards. Its been a long time since I didnt make a hill, but I remembered what to do, throw the bike and roll over backwards to try and get your feet down hill! I tried to recover and restart but I was in a wash ditch on a HILL! It took me 5 minutes of WR wrestleling to get it turned around. I found a spot where I could turn around and attack again. Just about the same spot I stopped last time, I see CRF and Brpray coming down, I bobbled and whent to downshift, what do you think happened? NEUTRAL!!!!!

. I turned the bike around again and we just went back up Howie to get were ever we were going. I was whooped from my hill slog but recovered quickly and finished out the session. Lots of fun.
Great day of riding, and great night of camping. I got to camp, had a beer and took a shower. By the time I got back those boys had a full on buffet going. I had deep fried chicken whings, french fries, two cheese burgers and some rice and beens. I was full, but I just kept eating! Thanks for the food guys, I didnt even open the stuff I brought with me! We started a fire and sat for some beers. We shared our war stories from the day and laughed over how CRF guy went from raving about his bike to desecrating it because his fancy pantsy computer stoped working. I mean, he was TORE UP over that mile minder! Too funny

All the riders were pretty whooped but we had a good time. I think I was the last to bed at 10:30. My tent held up fine to the rain that night, oh yeah, I sleep in my van

. Best $500 I ever spent, but of corse I dont have a dampener on my bike yet then either

.
By the time I woke up, 7:30 camp was broken and the only ones left were Roo and Squeek. We said our good bys and I packed up got a snack in the office and went for the start of a full day of riding. I was the first one in our area of the lot. Man the fog was thick and I could not even see the office trailer! CRF guy then rolled in. Awesome, I thought he might bail! he rolled in and said, he was not sure he wanted to ride cause he saw the weather and it said it would rain. Really? how bout that. Rain huh? Anyway we bailed! how embarasing. I could have geared up and rode but I would have to hook up with some quads and get lost and they would blame me Im sure and ride slow, yada yada. Anyway just as I was heading out of the park the rain started and fell quite heavy at times, thick fog, but I made decent time and got home to my very surprised and happy girl. I really was quite sore that night and the next day to. Hopfully Im in better dirt bike shape now.
I would have liked to have ridden with everyone, but it jsut didnt happen this time. I also have nill for pictures since our group was small, fast, and otherwise uneventful LOL.
Ok, untill the next time.
Jason.

Posted by: mele63---------------------

Don't feel bad about Sunday; we live fifteen minutes from Paragon and I'll tell 'ya, the weather on Sunday was wicked all day long here.

Posted by: JasonJ---------------------

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I was going to turn a certain someone in for clear violation of the Paragon swimming rules, but he did give me a set of tires that were WAY better than what I was running and told me about how fast he could change tires. Then agian, he offered to help me put them on and then just sat in a chair saying "that wont worrrrrrrk" while I toiled with it, LOL.
Shame on you sir! You are a filthy, filthy man with unmentionable things in unmentionable places!!!!!!!
Oh and thanks for the tires.

Posted by: RM_guy---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by JasonJ

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I was going to turn a certain someone in for clear violation of the Paragon swimming rules, but he did give me a set of tires that were WAY better than what I was running and told me about how fast he could change tires. Then agian, he offered to help me put them on and then just sat in a chair saying "that wont worrrrrrrk" while I toiled with it, LOL.
Shame on you sir! You are a filthy, filthy man with unmentionable things in unmentionable places!!!!!!!
Oh and thanks for the tires.

I saw him sitting ther, watching you with those filthy eyes, while you labored with that tire. I wish I had my camera.

Posted by: CRFGuy---------------------

Hey! Come on now I wasn't swiming, I was washing off all that mud you made me ride through around there

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Damn Yankees Do Paragon August 26, 2006 - Ride Report

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