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Parson's Mountain, SC -- Don't believe the lies.
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Posted by: truespode---------------------

I had to get the first post in and tell everyone not to believe a word that anyone but me posts here!! I swear that they won't give you the unbiased truth like I will

We had a great time today. 30 odd miles of dust and fun. Yes, Gomer fell... no, nobody got to poke him with a stick

I'll let the rest of the gang report what they think happened and I'll offer my unbiased corrections as this goes along

Ivan
Thanks guys, it was great meeting all of you. It was even fun riding with some of you who were kind enough to wait up on me.

Posted by: Stumpy---------------------

Lies.... what lies? Had a great time meeting up with y'all... wish it wasn't so dusty. If there had been any moisture we could have ridden fast, oh well. Scott has y'all fooled, though... sandbagger. :D

Posted by: _SOLO_---------------------

I wish I could have made it today, first my mom said she would take me then my dad said he would take me then he said he wouldn't and I forgot to call Ivan and today my mom woke me up and told me to get ready but I figured that Ivan wouldn't bring the bike so I just fell asleep. Today wasn't a good day! :whiner:

Posted by: bscottr---------------------

Quote:

Originally posted by Truespode
Yes, Gomer fell... no, nobody got to poke him with a stick

Yea, it was funny how reaching for a stick would motivate him to get up!

Great time! SOLO you missed a good one. This was my first ride with any DRNers, just like on the boards...great folks.

Gomer and his son Danny (great kid!)
Ivan
Julius Pleaser
Wrench
Keith

My pleasure!

I provided the entertainment for Gomer at one point. He's riding behind me and I decided to pick up the pace. Bad move! We're charging to a right hand corner with hard pack/rocks, I lock up the brakes and slide........ :scream:.........nearly knocking the acorns out of a white oak tree.

I decide to let Gomer by and he pulls up beside me with this big SEG on his face (could see it in his eyes). I said to go on, he says nope....I'm having too much fun behind you.

Lessons learned:
1. Don't let Gomer pick the restaurant (big roach met us at our seats)
2. Ivan does a great job picking Din Din!

More to follow.........

Posted by: truespode---------------------

Solo... I did bring the bike just in case. We locked in Gomer's trailer when you didn't show.

Stumpy is right about the dust but there still were a few people who could flat out haul and Stumpy was one of them

Scott provided everyone a lot of entertainment too but we promised not to tell

Ivan

Posted by: High Lord Gomer---------------------

Quote:

Scott provided everyone a lot of entertainment too but we promised not to tell

I'm pretty sure he thought he had locked the door!

Quote:

1. Don't let Gomer pick the restaurant (big roach met us at our seats)

He works there...it's his job to driect you to your seat!

It was fun, 12 of us in all (I think). I'm still not crazy about the woods, but with that group it was fun.

It *was* really fun to ride behind Scott (TRO) and watch him try to scare the trees (for as long as I could keep him in sight, anyway). It was also fun when I let Ivan and Wrench go by and then encountered Wrench coming back to the trail from a completely unexpected direction. I yelled, "What were you doing over *there*?"

Posted by: truespode---------------------

First, I am at a loss for names. I remember the faces of everyone but I don't want to throw out the names and get them wrong. I remember Scott clearly (ate a lot of his dust) and Stumpy (how can you forget a name like that <g>) and Jimbobillybob because his name is Keith.

Anyway, on with the report!!

The day started off early. I hate getting up any earlier than 10am on the weekends but we decided to meet at the trailhead at 10am so that meant I had to be out of bed by 8am

I had been sick all weekend and woke up with a headache. I thought about not going but I remember Jer was going and he didn't have a bike and I had promised him Jenni's DRZ for the trails. Since I had an obligation I grumpily got out of bed and loaded up.

I was on the road by 8:30am after getting gas, ice and the usual munchies. About 9:50am I am in Abbeville and Gomer calls. He was behind me. That doesn't happen often, he is usually the first and the last to leave. He met up with the other guys who were going and they weren't too far back.

I get to the trailhead at the same time as Wrench. Gomer comes in with a train of people to give us a good number of riders (12 in all I think). Larry is there (Julius Pleaser) and he has been there since 8am. He got a little confused with all the talk of meeting for breakfast.

We unload and notice immediately how dusty it is going to be. The heat is already climbing upward too. Last weekend I rode the track and I'd say that out of both days I probably only did 15 laps or less. I wasn't on my A game for sure. I was dreading the heat.

On the first loop Gomer takes off and leads. Wrench is behind him and I'm behind Wrench. I'm thinking to myself that Wrench is moving pretty good and I'm comfortable with the pace but feel I could go a little faster.

The first part is mostly rocks and sand but opens up to a really nice high speed section with some small washes and whoops here and there (not really whoops but that is the best way to describe them). I hit them flying in 4th gear and wasn't about to go to 5th yet!!

We take a break on the trail and a guy on a 1990 RM250 with a red fender shows up not wearing any goggles. Come to find out this guy is probably the fastest of the bunch. Him and Stumpy on a Yellow and Black WR426 seem to be the fastest.

As we get going again I'm in front of Wrench and he is all over me. This is frustrating as can be. I I could not shake him. The trail was fairly wide and mostly 3rd gear average. I thought I'd have the edge on him since he hasn't ridden much lately but I didn't.

We get to another break and I am surprised Wrench is still behind me. After a quick rest that had me squirting water from my water pack into my hand and all over my head to try and cool down we are off again and Wrench is all over me again.

We take it easy on the road section b/c it is fast but really dusty. Too dusty. Then we get into some tight stuff (not too tight, 2nd gear but only a few bark buster spots if you aren't careful). Wrench is right there. Then we hit one section that is maybe 10 feet wide but has foilage so it looks pretty tight. I notice it is fairly straight and I have good sight down the trail. I take off and am flying in 5th gear!! It is the fastest I've ever gone in the woods. I come to a left hander and look back and there is no Wrench!! Whooo hoooo!! I hit a few more corners, look back and he is RIGHT ON MY DAMN TAIL again!!!

We stop at the road crossing. We look at each other and drop the clutch and hit it hard!!! We hit a left hander and I feel a smack into the tire. Wrench was right there and hit me!! It didn't knock me over but I think he went off the trail a little. He was a little lost in the dust I kicked up but he was right on my tail!

We get back to camp and I am stoked. That has to be the most fun I've ever had riding with Wrench. I was totally surprised by his speed and endurance. There have been times he could keep up and even leave me a little but I've always felt I could take him if I had to. Not this time. He was riding extremely well and I'm glad too b/c we were so closely matched in speed that it was fun.

We then take a long break and head back out. Wrench and Larry sit this one out and we all promise we are going to take it slow. Well, Gomer didn't seem to like that idea because he was haulin the mail in the trees!!! I had to fall back b/c I could not stay close enough to stay above the dust. I fell back to where I could see the trail and then tried to get on it. The faster riders from earlier weren't with us this time so it was just a group of us together riding, stopping and waiting then going again.

I think it is this loop where I come around and see Gomer laying in the trail with his bike on him. He obviously slid out but he was motionless!! I got scared immediately and drove up and found out he was just waiting for someone to poke him!! The way he was laying motionless though made me forget all about getting a stick and poking the guy.

Scott on his KX showed some real speed this run. I really enjoyed riding with him b/c I felt safe at the pace we set and even with him riding close to me. At one point though I was leading (I think) and Scott was back with Gomer. Scott almost went off trail so Gomer laughed and let Scott get back in front. Gomer enjoyed watching him go all over the place into the trees

That loop was pretty fun but I got pumped up and a little tired. We hit the trail head pretty pooped out so were just running our mouths and bs'ing. Gomer gives me half a sandwich that Lori made. That means it has enough meet and calories to be considered a full meal

The fast guys are out on the loop. They do the 11.1 mile loop in 29 minutes!! Pretty freakin fast if you ask me.

We finally decide to do one last loop. We take it pretty easy and decide to let the back of the pack guys lead so they could have some fresh air. It is at this point that I realized NOBODY was slower than me. It just mattered what spot they had in the dust is all. Jimbobillybob (real name is Keith) lead on his XR400 and he was moving!! He was flying through the first section.

Danny led next and I thought to myself "I'll let him go and then catch up in a little while." I never caught him until we got to the break point. Danny really hauled without the dust in his face!!! As usual, whe we catch up to Danny, his smile is longer than the 100ft trees!!

The rest of the loop is pretty non-eventful. We take it easy as all of us are fairly tired. Gomer is behind me and he falls a few times but nothing too bad. I went off the trail a couple of times due to the dust but didn't go down. I hit a few trees and almost ate it once big time but saved it somehow.

We left the trail head about 5pm and had some din-din. I was tired and rambled on and on like I usually do when there is a lot of people around. Everyone was polite to me though

Overall, it was a GREAT weekend. 3 loops and about 30 odd miles. I can honestly say I love to ride in the woods more than MX but I prefer to race MX than I do race in the woods. I guess I'm just plain ol' weird. However, judging from the company on Sunday... I'm not out of place

It was a great group of guys and thanks for everything. Sorry I'm so bad with names but I'll do better next time!

Ivan

Posted by: bscottr---------------------

Quote:

Originally posted by High Lord Gomer
I'm pretty sure he thought he had locked the door!

I didn't know I needed to! Take a shower outside, go into gomer's enclosed trailer to change......he waits 'til I get my drawers around my ankles and opens all the doors on the trailer. Welcome to DRN pal!

BTW: Is this what you were looking for?

Spode,
I'll help you with the names for the Holy Hill guys. I have CRS too!
Mark '90 RM (Fastest)
Barrett '99 KX (Fast)
Stump '98 WR (Fast)
Blake '99 CR (Hasn't ridden in a year, he’ll be very fast again soon)

Quote:

Originally posted by Truespode
Gomer enjoyed watching him go all over the place into the trees

He shouldn't have laughed.....ask him about the second half of the second loop.

Let’s just say he loves going fast in the woods. Right Gomer?

Quote:

Originally posted by Truespode
The fast guys are out on the loop. They do the 11.1 mile loop in 29 minutes!! Pretty freakin fast if you ask me.

Spode,
Did you know Mark turned a 26.5 minute lap! :scream:

Posted by: JuliusPleaser---------------------

Uhh, did someone say something? I was asleep. :confused:

Big roach maitre d'? Wow, I really hate that I missed breakfast. It sounds like a classy joint. Nobody ever mentioned the fact that the breakfast meeting was in Columbia. I just assumed that it would be in Abbeville. Next time, I'll ask. I had a delicious sausage McMuffin and took a tour of Abbeville's antebellum homes instead. Not a bad way to blow an hour or two on a beautiful, hot Sunday morning in June.

After I arrived at the trailhead, (still an hour early) I took a short siesta to make up for my lack of sleep from the night before. (I attended MillCreek's night race at its new SX track, and ran into my friend the dental hygienist. We watched her son race and talked, and the next thing ya know. . .it's 1:30.)

I decided to load up and head for SC instead of trying to sleep. I had to make it to that 7:45 EST breakfast meeting yanno. :silly:

Anyway, the rest of the crew showed up at 10ish, and we all hit the trail about 30 minutes later. I'm as bad as Ivan is with names, cuz i can't add any to his list. I decided to ride sweep on the first loop (like I had a choice) and it was immediately apparent that the dust would be bad. I had to hang back a couple of hundred yards just so I could see the trail. Traction was non-existent, and I spent most of the day sliding both ends of the bike at the same time. At least my bike has neutral handling characteristics. :D

I still managed to get into a groove, and had a pretty good time. The trails were wide and fast, and even though the potential was there for cross-rutting, it only happened to me once or twice. I never had to opportunity to add to my bark collection, either. I only hit one tree, but I managed to get slowed down enough and just centerpunched it with my front tire. It was the dust that made me hit it. I couldn't see. . .yeah, that's the ticket.

I did a loop with Wrench later in the day, and he's pretty fast on the YZ250. I stayed on his back tire until a decapitator found my face about 2/3rd of the way through the second half of the loop. I dropped back a couple of yards until the pain subsided, and by then the dust was so bad I had to drop back a couple of hundred yards. I've ridden is dusty conditions before, but this was the worst EVER. Wrench hung back a couple of times until i caught him, and we finished the loop without any major problems. The bike did well, too. I wasn't sure how it would work in the woods. Now I'm thinking that a 250F would make an excellent woods bike, but it needs a lower first gear for the technical stuff. Hmmm, there's a WR250F for sale in the hood.

I decided that 2 loops was enough for me, and sat around BSing with various members of the group for the rest of the afternoon. I took another short nap (in the truck with the A/C on) and I actually felt pretty good afterwards. I wasn't sure if I was awake at first. I walked over behind Gomer's trailer, and Gomer was using his pressure washer to hose people off. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming about watching Planet Of The Apes.

After more BS'ing, we all loaded up and headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. . .uhh, dinner. (Thanks for buying, Wrench! )

I'd have to say it was worth the trip. I'll definitely head back to SC to ride with you guys in the future.

Posted by: truespode---------------------

Quote:

Originally posted bybscottr
Spode,
Did you know Mark turned a 26.5 minute lap!

Wow!! That is fast. Thanks for help with the names. A great bunch of guys I can say for sure.

Quote:

Originally posted by Julius Pleaser
Now I'm thinking that a 250F would make an excellent woods bike, but it needs a lower first gear for the technical stuff.

I went up one tooth on the rear sprocket (49) and it is about the perfect compromise for track and trail. If all I was doing was woods I'd go with a 50 on the rear. I did that for a little while but didn't like it on the track.

Ivan

Posted by: bscottr---------------------

Julius,
Glad you made it home OK. I don't know how you did it with no sleep and still rode so well.

Lots of fun! Spode had that 250F working well didn’t he? It even sounds good.

Quote:

Originally posted by Julius Pleaser
I had to hang back a couple of hundred yards just so I could see the trail. Traction was non-existent, and I spent most of the day sliding both ends of the bike at the same time.

You weren't the only one! First time for me on hard pack and rocks. :scream: Entertaining for Gomer though.

Quote:

Originally posted by Julius Pleaser
I only hit one tree, but I managed to get slowed down enough and just centerpunched it with my front tire. It was the dust that made me hit it. I couldn't see. . .yeah, that's the ticket.

I believe it! I had as much red dust inside my goggles as out.

Quote:

Originally posted by Julius Pleaser
I walked over behind Gomer's trailer, and Gomer was using his pressure washer to hose people off. For a moment, I thought I was dreaming about watching Planet Of The Apes.

Did you see the look on the faces of the ladies with the quads? Too funny! I think they were wondering just how much of our clothes were coming off. At one point I heard them saying “Go Wrench, Go Wrench” and they started digging for dollars.

We're going to do it again the end of June or early July at TNT. Trails and Track. Hope you can make it.

Posted by: JuliusPleaser---------------------

I drove straight through without a hitch. I did stop at Starbuck's though.

I'd like to hit TNT sometime. I've heard a lot about it.

Posted by: Stumpy---------------------

Hey, Gomer, where is the race this weekend that y'all were talking about at dinner? I may be interested. Right now I have 3 options: Myrtle Beach (if I can get in touch with the damn female), race in the dirt, or go to Roebling Road for some WERA road racing... don't know yet.

Posted by: wrench---------------------

Quote:

Originally posted by bscottr

Did you see the look on the faces of the ladies with the quads? Too funny! I think they were wondering just how much of our clothes were coming off. At one point I heard them saying “Go Wrench, Go Wrench” and they started digging for dollars.

Yeah, then I woke up! :scream:

Anyway, I don't think I could add much more than what Ivan's NOVEL blanketed!

I had a blast. The trail at Parson's Mt. will keep you on the peg's for sure. Some sections resembled Ga Red Clay (color only), but had the consistency of beach sand! Throw in some rocks,roots,fast twisty whooped out sections, TREES&TREES&TREES, a great group of fellow enthusiasts and viola' .... You have a most excellent riding adventure!

Thanks guy's.

wrench

Posted by: Stumpy---------------------

I didn't see any whooped out sections... Scott, did you see any whooped out sections?

Posted by: bscottr---------------------

Whoops.... What whoops? :silly:

You mean Manchester whoops? :scream: Nope, Parson's is smooth, very smooth.

Posted by: truespode---------------------

There were some holes and waterbars but no real whoops like you find at Manchester. I call them whoops at parson's b/c I can't think of a better term. They aren't braking bumps and too big to be acceleration bumps.

Stumpy, the race I'm doing this weekend is in Shelby, NC. www.jmxracing.com

It is a really tight track but a lot of fun. Practice starts at 5pm and racing at 7pm (or thereabout). I like racing at night when it gets warm out.

Ivan

Posted by: bscottr---------------------

TS,
We agree, those were whoops and waterbars. Lot's of fun IMO, I even got 6-8 inches of air a few times.

We were just pleased not to have to ride 19 miles of them like at Manchester.

Posted by: High Lord Gomer---------------------

Honestly, there were no whoops, braking bumps, nor acceleration bumps.

Stumpy...I'm not racing, Ivan is. I might be able to con my wife into swinging up by Shelby if I tell her tha6t we're going to spend the night in Asheville, but I can't race for the rest of this year. (Something about not scrambling my melon again for at least a year)

Posted by: truespode---------------------

Quote:

Originally posted by High Lord Gomer
Honestly, there were no whoops, braking bumps, nor acceleration bumps.

But we agree they weren't completely smooth, especially on that first wide straightaway

Ivan

Posted by: High Lord Gomer---------------------

There were waterbars to direct runoff that you could jump as long as you knew that the trail continued straight for far enough afterwards. It really was *so* much easier for me because you guys let me go out front with no dust most of the time.

There were also some rocks, but again, with clear vision it was no problem. When I got farther back with dust hiding things, it was a white knuckle ride!

Posted by: truespode---------------------

Quote:

Originally posted by High Lord Gomer
There were also some rocks, but again, with clear vision it was no problem. When I got farther back with dust hiding things, it was a white knuckle ride!

There were ROCKS? I barely noticed since I couldn't see the ground b/c of all the dust

Ivan

Posted by: wrench---------------------

Quote:

Originally posted by Truespode

There were ROCKS? I barely noticed since I couldn't see the ground b/c of all the dust

Ivan

It was sooo dusty ... I couldn't even see the dust! :confused:

wrench

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Parson's Mountain, SC -- Don't believe the lies.

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