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1 Bear, 1 Spider and a new KTM400EXC
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Posted by: GETMETOCA---------------------

Okay, so last week I picked up the '02 KTM from a nice guy named Steve who lives in Hollister. I'm dying to take it out in the woods and low and behold Treefinder is organizing a smallish group ride this weekend in Georgetown, about 2.5 hours from me. I AM THERE!!!

Treefinder, Firelilly, Buddy, Jonala, Jennifer and Pierre round out the group. I opt to arrive at noon on Saturday and take the afternoon ride with the group (who have already put in 25+ miles of mildly punishing woods riding before I arrive )

I get up to the Mace Mill Staging area turnooff and theres this.....big dog??? something big and hairy and about 500 lbs. in the middle of the road. It bounds off in all of its blubbery glory, happy and brown. A huge smile lights my face as I realize its not a dog afterall, but a BEAR!!!!!! Holy Freaking Crap!! Its a BEAR!! and its about 2 miles from where I am supposed to be camping and sleeping tonight. Wait til I tell the rest of the group!

I arrive at the Mace Mill Staging area and I see some familiar trucks and trailers and even Treefinder's smallish tent. Jonala's dog, Buzz, greets me with an big wagging tail and I know for sure I am in the right spot! No one is around so I figure they are still out on their morning ride, but probably on their way back. I unload the bike and gear up. I head to the one and only porta-potty only to find that when I spin the toilet paper roll a huge feaking ugly spider is camped out on the outer layers!!!! I find the courage to squish the mo-fo with a wad of leaves and hurriedly finish my bizness. Soon enough, Buddy comes flying into camp followed by the rest of the crew. I get hugs from all. Everyone comes over to check out my new shiny ride. We lunch on sammiches and an hour later we head out for an afternoon ride.

Treefinder and I start out in front of the rest with a 3.5 mile warmup loop. I immediately start to think that the 400 is a handfull and what the heck did I get myself into? My clutch hand is fatigued after two simple miles and little rocky decsents have my wondering if I should keep the 250

. I'm a jittery mess. I'm leary of the power of the 400, yet wondering if its just a matter of getting used to the bike?

We join the rest of the group and embark on a 30 mile ride that challenges me on the 400. I'm timid and fully aware of what kind of trouble I can get into.....but HOLY FREAKING COW!! This bike hauls ass uphill like I never imagined!!!! We encounter rocky, root-infested, step-up-littered trails that had me thinking..."okay, I'm gonna kill the bike and lay it over about now..." which is what normally happened on the 250rfs. NOT SO ON THE 400!!!!

A little twist of the throttle and up! up! up! I went!! Maybe it wasn't pretty and maybe it wasn't elegant but damn if I didn't make it up everything I climbed!! WooooooHooooooo!!!!

We end the day on "Start and Finish Trail" which is the start and finish portion of the Fool's Gold Enduro (D-36). I didn't have any trouble even though there was more rocky granite step up stuff to deal with and a freaky cliff thingy to my left and single track straight ahead

I already had confidence in my KTM400 and what it could pull me through. ONWARD!!!

Dinner was spent around Firelilly and Buddy's table. I had opted to do a deli salad from the grocery store instead of cooking up a storm (my normal mode). Everyone brought a little something and everyone was fed. Treefinder admitted to seeing the 1" diameter spider in the porta-potty paper roll at 4:30 am that morning but had opted to let it live. I told him that I "took care of it"

Sunday morning, we all enjoyed egg and bacon sandwiches ala Firelilly, plus Pierre and Jennifers hot cocoa and pastries. Good to go! Treefinder, myself, Jennifer and Pierre opted to do a reduced mileage 1.5 hour trail ride so that we could hit the road and beat the Sunday Bay Area traffic back into the city. They even let me lead this ride, which was a dust-free joy to behold. I loved every minute of it!!! I envisioned being on the first minute of an enduro with no one else's dust to suck in....ahhhhhhhhhh THAT must be what its like!!

I ended the weekend loving the KTM400...wishing I could see my ride buddies more often....and hoping the next ride wasn't too far off.

Cheers!!!! Natalie

Posted by: Jonala---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by GETMETOCA

We end the day on "Start and Finish Trail" which is the start and finish portion of the Fool's Gold Enduro (D-36). I didn't have any trouble even though there was more rocky granite step up stuff to deal with and a freaky cliff thingy to my left and single track straight ahead

I already had confidence in my KTM400 and what it could pull me through. ONWARD!!

I was right behind you at that point. You had adapted to the 400 very quickly. I watched as you went up the stair step. Way to go.

That was one fun day of riding.

Posted by: dirty~d~---------------------

Nat, I love reading your ride reports.

It sounds like that 400 is working out for you just fine.

Quote:

something big and hairy

What was Papakeith doing in California?

Posted by: the Eel---------------------

Good report ... congrats on the new ride !

Posted by: BSWIFT---------------------

Sounds like fun. Glad you are enjoying the big thumper, Natilie.

Posted by: Farmer John---------------------

Posted by: MelloYello---------------------

Great report, Natalie. Sounds like you guys had a great time. But did I read this right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GETMETOCA

I had opted to do a deli salad from the grocery store instead of cooking up a storm

What is this world coming to?

Posted by: KelvinKDX---------------------

Great ride write up Natalie!

Reading it makes me really miss not doing many rides with my buddies this year. I got to get out more.

Congrats on the new ride.

I want one too!

JimK

Posted by: jennifer---------------------

Hey Guys!

Jen and I had tons of fun!!! It was great to see you all. It was our first time at Georgetown and we absolutely loved the trails there! I particularly liked all the trees that kept hitting my handguards and poking me (or was I hitting them?) and all the waterbars that made for perfect jumping ramps. I got myself in troubles so many times after jumping them going downhill just before a turn but that's good for the adrenaline level!

Natalie it did not take you long to get used to the 400 and by the end of the first ride you were already a lot faster than on the 250. You are going to love this bike!

And you forgot to talk about the huge spider that landed on your neck...

Thanks for helping us packing our stuff by the way. We decided to go through Placerville since we had never been there and Mick told us so many times about it. Looks like a nice town. We then got stuck on a giant parking lot also called highway 80 but as soon as we got on 680 it was all good...

Let's do it again, and again, and again... (except for the camping with the mosquitos part)
Pierre
PS: Frank how do you like your new sunglasses?

Posted by: GETMETOCA---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by jennifer

And you forgot to talk about the huge spider that landed on your neck...

I had almost forgot all about it!!

My ride report should have been called "1 Bear, 2 Spiders....lol" I just thought it was funny that Frank thought I had a spider tattoo on my neck...

I saw the sign for Placerville too and of course Mick crossed my mind as well! It sure was good to see you and Jennifer. Jennifer is always a big inspiration to me because she is always riding standing up, even in the tough uphill stuff.

Posted by: LoriKTM---------------------

Hey, great first ride (and ride report) on the new Katoom!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GETMETOCA

...Maybe it wasn't pretty and maybe it wasn't elegant but damn if I didn't make it up everything I climbed!! WooooooHooooooo!!!!

Yep, that's how I feel about my "new" two-fitty. As they say, there's no replacement for displacement!

Posted by: Tony Eeds---------------------

Congrats on the new ride, Natty and great ride report.

After you get good at riding your 400, how about teaching me how to stay on mine.

I love the power but am more comfortable on my 200.

Posted by: placelast---------------------

Thanks for the entertaining report (dem spiders!) and glad to hear the extra 150cc's makes a diff.

Posted by: treefinder---------------------

Quote:

opted to do a reduced mileage 1.5 hour trail ride so that we could hit the road and beat the Sunday Bay Area traffic back into the city

Silly us, traffic sucked! Next time we ride 'til dark!!
The sunglasses were turned in at the Ranger Station, and I got a Smokey the Bear bookmark for my efforts, woot!
And that spider that dropped on Natalie was so freakin huge it took my brain a second to parse it. I really thought it was a tatoo or earring.
Glad everyone had fun, sorry to hear about your burns Natalie. I also had very good luck with Johnson and Johnson Advanced Healing Care pads.

Posted by: Karna&Justin---------------------

HEY! I thought you said you were going to your parent's house in Half Moon Bay to knit some socks! I will never trust you again! Our relationship is over! I will find a new home for the Montesa! And forget about riding with Justin this weekend! HUUMMPH!

No, really...I am glad you had a good time on the new ride! I wish I would have given it a test spin on Friday but my balance is totally off now that I am carrying around all this extra weight. ANyways, would you have been able to forgive me if I dumped it over in your cul de sac?

I miss everyone! I can't wait to see everyone again in the fall! I will be purchasing a new Gas Gas Trial's bike within the next couple of months and it will sit and torture me in the garage while I am waiting to pop.

How did you like Georgetown, Nanu? I only remember the one trail that takes off from camp has the granite drop off and ends up on the road. Did you find any other fun trails?

Karna
P.S. I will forgive you but only this one time.

Posted by: jennifer---------------------

The "real" Jennifer speaking this time!

Natalie, GREAT ride report! It was fantastic riding at Georgetown with a great group of people. You look great on your bike and seemed to be pretty comfortable yesterday! You are not going to want to go back to the 250! Pierre and I really had an awesome time despite the monster squeeter bites... the 50 or so... that we both have. Not really sure what is worse... mosquitos or spiders....???

Karna, we missed you and Justin! Good luck with the bundle!

Jen

Posted by: TwistNShout---------------------

Excellent read! Glad you are enjoying the KTM, it makes me wish I was taller so I could still ride my old one more. Gotta LOVE that power!

Glad you didn't get bit by any of those yucky spiders either

Posted by: GETMETOCA---------------------

Just reminiscing....

Posted by: XRpredator---------------------

I shoulda drawed a picture

Posted by: GETMETOCA---------------------

Awwwwww

Posted by: rmc_olderthandirt---------------------

Just stumbled onto this thread.

I live in Milpitas and am occasionally looking for riding partners. You guys(and gals) get together for rides often?

Rod

Posted by: GETMETOCA---------------------

Sorry to get back to you so late, there's a great site called the Bay Area Riders Forum (BARF), it is a lot of street bike stuff, however, there is one Forum called DirtyBarf'ing where you can connect with local dirtbikers and go on organized rides. Here's the link:

http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/f...p?s=&forumid=63

Posted by: rmc_olderthandirt---------------------

Thank, I will check it out.

Rod

Posted by: VintageDirt---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by GETMETOCA

...(BARF)...

We used to have gas stations here called Bar-F.

Not that it has anything to do with anything, just the way my brain works.

Posted by: Tony Eeds---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by VintageDirt

We used to have gas stations here called Bar-F.

Not that it has anything to do with anything, just the way my brain works.

Hey Wes ... nice to see yours is still working ... I'm told almost daily that mine doesn't ...

Posted by: VintageDirt---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Eeds

Hey Wes ... nice to see yours is still working ... I'm told almost daily that mine doesn't ...

Your brain or your gas station?

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1 Bear, 1 Spider and a new KTM400EXC

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