Well, I survived another DRN trail-ride with the So. Cal crazies-the usual suspects---Thumbs and his friend 'Digger' Dave came up from Orange County, as did Scartissue; oldandslo made the trek from the south bay (L.A.); the Eel came up from Hollywood, Bundy from Corona, and RMjeff from Fontana. 8 of us was the perfect number for the ride we did, as dust and rocks and Gnarly single track spread us out pretty good.
Since the majority of us (5) were on 2-smokes, we decided we would try to do a 60 mile loop, but would check fuel at Deep Creek crossing,(20 mile mark) to see how we would fare.
We all met at MickeyDees by the freeway so we could caravan to the staging area about 15 miles away. After everyone got unloaded, dressed and fueled we had a couple of little problems from the get-go: the Eel was jetted too rich, and thumbs CR would not start. Eels was an easy fix, as he brought extra jets, and the carb on his 125 Husky was easily accessable. Thumbs on the other hand had quite the dilema: choke on--no good, choke off--no good, new plug--no good. Then he hit upon an idea---as much as he hated to admit in front of everyone that he may have boneheaded, he threw out the suggestion that perhaps he had forgotten to remove the rag from his intake tract when he remounted his air filter. The whole crew gathered around his bike as he removed his seat and air filter. You can imagine the kind of ribbing that thumbs had to tolerate for the rest of the day when the removal of the air filter revealed a bright red shop rag!
Problem solved, so it's off to the trails. The rocks were brutal on the first leg, and we were looking into the sun, so between the sun and the dust you couldn't avoid hitting a few. About 7 miles out we stopped to re-group, and Bundy pointed to his now flat front tire. We couldn't come up with the right tools between us to get his wheel off, so it was back to the trucks for him for a tube and good tools.
The rest of us set out for the Deep Creek crossing, hoping to still make it in time to meet Mtngoat and his buddies coming down from Big Bear, but by the time we got to the crossing we were 25 min. late. It's amazing how long 15 miles of twisty, rocky single track takes to navigate. We had told Bundy we would kill some time at the creek to give him opportunity to catch up before the last leg up Ballbuster and on to the Malcolm Smith trail. We decided to cross over and wait under the trees. the Eel got a little overzealous in the stream crossing and drowned his bike. It was okay though, because it gave us some entertainment while we waited.
Eel finally got the bike to run, and we headed out again just as Bundy showed up.
The climb up Ballbuster was very tricky, as there were a bunch of jeeps hung up all over the trail as usual taking all the good lines.
It looked like a group of Japanese tourists on a jeep tour, and they all were very entertained watching us pick our way through the jeeps. I missed the crashes, so you other guys will have to fill us in on those, but I know 'Digger' Dave and Scar got to witness my dramatic boulder u-turn when the traction went away during a 90 degree 'I gotta change my line' manuever.
The rest of the ride was more of the same, with another bike drowning on the way back, but I have to say that the best part of the ride for me had to be the last 15 miles, after we got separated into two groups. Eel, Thumbs, Bundy and I decided to take the 'most difficult' trail, and these guys are no slouches, so it was push hard all the way back.
Scar---your suspension on that KLX is perfect in the rocks---no wonder you were flying!
:cool:
All in all a great ride with great people. Any of you So Cal guys that have been hesitant to come out on one of our rides don't know what you've been missing!:D
Since the majority of us (5) were on 2-smokes, we decided we would try to do a 60 mile loop, but would check fuel at Deep Creek crossing,(20 mile mark) to see how we would fare.
We all met at MickeyDees by the freeway so we could caravan to the staging area about 15 miles away. After everyone got unloaded, dressed and fueled we had a couple of little problems from the get-go: the Eel was jetted too rich, and thumbs CR would not start. Eels was an easy fix, as he brought extra jets, and the carb on his 125 Husky was easily accessable. Thumbs on the other hand had quite the dilema: choke on--no good, choke off--no good, new plug--no good. Then he hit upon an idea---as much as he hated to admit in front of everyone that he may have boneheaded, he threw out the suggestion that perhaps he had forgotten to remove the rag from his intake tract when he remounted his air filter. The whole crew gathered around his bike as he removed his seat and air filter. You can imagine the kind of ribbing that thumbs had to tolerate for the rest of the day when the removal of the air filter revealed a bright red shop rag!
Problem solved, so it's off to the trails. The rocks were brutal on the first leg, and we were looking into the sun, so between the sun and the dust you couldn't avoid hitting a few. About 7 miles out we stopped to re-group, and Bundy pointed to his now flat front tire. We couldn't come up with the right tools between us to get his wheel off, so it was back to the trucks for him for a tube and good tools.
The rest of us set out for the Deep Creek crossing, hoping to still make it in time to meet Mtngoat and his buddies coming down from Big Bear, but by the time we got to the crossing we were 25 min. late. It's amazing how long 15 miles of twisty, rocky single track takes to navigate. We had told Bundy we would kill some time at the creek to give him opportunity to catch up before the last leg up Ballbuster and on to the Malcolm Smith trail. We decided to cross over and wait under the trees. the Eel got a little overzealous in the stream crossing and drowned his bike. It was okay though, because it gave us some entertainment while we waited.
Eel finally got the bike to run, and we headed out again just as Bundy showed up.
The climb up Ballbuster was very tricky, as there were a bunch of jeeps hung up all over the trail as usual taking all the good lines.
It looked like a group of Japanese tourists on a jeep tour, and they all were very entertained watching us pick our way through the jeeps. I missed the crashes, so you other guys will have to fill us in on those, but I know 'Digger' Dave and Scar got to witness my dramatic boulder u-turn when the traction went away during a 90 degree 'I gotta change my line' manuever.
The rest of the ride was more of the same, with another bike drowning on the way back, but I have to say that the best part of the ride for me had to be the last 15 miles, after we got separated into two groups. Eel, Thumbs, Bundy and I decided to take the 'most difficult' trail, and these guys are no slouches, so it was push hard all the way back.
Scar---your suspension on that KLX is perfect in the rocks---no wonder you were flying!
:cool:
All in all a great ride with great people. Any of you So Cal guys that have been hesitant to come out on one of our rides don't know what you've been missing!:D
