1/3/2010 Jordan Creek Ride Report ("E-Ticket")

Dave Klug and I still have 'new bike' fever .... and Cary Scholer had "go ridin' at all costs" fever ... *real bad* ....so we wanted to get out for a ride over the weekend if possible. Sunday looked like our best bet so off we went. :cheers:

Everyone met up at Kennig Creek on Sunday morning at 9:30. It was Dive and I, Cary brought along his riding buddy Kerry Ketchum from Salem, Mike Chombeau, and Scott Wilson showed up with his riding buddy .... (wait for it) ..... Kerry. Yes, it was officially "Ride with KerryCaryKerry Day."

Everyone getting loaded up and ready to ride:





Then Tom Niemela pulled up with two Rokons in the back of his pick-em-up. He was meeting Dave Hiatt later on to do some new trail scouting and rehab. Many thanks to Tom and Dave!
(though me thinks it's also just an excuse to go and explore on the "crawlies." <grin>)

Scott and his bud, Kerry (sp?) were ready to ride before the rest of us so they took off and went riding on their own. Once the rest of were ready, we went across Hwy. 6 and onto Jordan Creek Road to go ride the trails over on the south side. And yes, it was a good 25' before Cary pulled a wheelie. :roost:

I don't know how long it's been since CaryS has been riding, but he took the wrong turn on our first intersection. (LOL) No biggie, we had everybody back together in 5 and headed off down the Jordan Creek trails. While it wasn't a warm and sunny day - the rain was holding off and we still had some spectacular views:



Ran the usual list of trails: Jordan Creek, Spaur Trail, Jordan Creek "Road" Trail ... and then on up to Archer's Firebreak trails. Everyone was riding well and even Mike wasn't showing any rust despite not having ridden in a while. We thought it might be real muddy and slippery with all of the big rains - but the trails were in good condition and fun to ride. Woo-hoo! :thumb:

Got to the bottom of one of the nasty jeep climbs (not super steep but lots of big, nasty rocks). There's a nice dirtbike/quad trail that winds along the side of it - but Cary wanted try his luck at climbing the jeep section. Consider us shocked. <grin> So we turned off the bikes and sat to watch.

Cary went up it, took the trials bike line up the bank and was looking good, but slipped a bit and stalled out. No biggie, but he hooked a foot peg and fell backwards off the bank. Ka-wham!
Uh-oh. He landed on his Camelback which took the majority of the fall, but his head whipped back and snapped his neck pretty good. But luckily he was okay. Here he is trying to work out the kinks after coming up the hill:





And some vids of Cary coming up the hill (notice that pesky front wheel that refuses to stay on the ground?).
And yes, this is a fairly step climb - but the camera just flattens everything out...



And finally I got one of Dave climbing (he is usually in front of me all the time...<grin>):

Everyone taking five at the top:

Mike making sure that the vegetation didn't dry out due to lack of moisture:



And just before threatening me with bodily harm:



"Ketch" from Salem ... lot of fun to ride with:





RandyB ("E-Ticket"):

We then did some more Archer trails and then ended up at the top of Chainbreaker for a snack break:



And doing the obligatory "camera swap:"



RandyB's new Swedish Girlfriend:
I just love it! This is just about the best four stroke for the deep woods ... at least for me! :2thumbs:



But the rear fender could be a bit longer (lol):

For the last couple of rides, Dave has been trying to locate this one trail that he went on once and really liked. But what he ends up doing - is taking us down Marvelous Mainline again. Ack!!
But this time, he got it right! Turns out the trail is Buzzard's Point and it was challenging, fun, very scenic, and in pretty good shape (that is, not all hacked out). That being said, there are still a couple of sketchy points as it is an Expert trail and it can bite you if you're a novice rider or just not paying attention.

I even managed to sandbag off the rear and snap a couple of pics on the way down:



Why yes, Virginia ... there is a trail going down that hill:



Down near the bottom there is a bridge that goes across the creek. And on the other side, was a pretty good-sized, downed tree. Dave immediately went into Boy Scout mode and got out his trusty hand-saw. :showtime: He gave it a good go, got half of it taken off, and *almost* through the other end before he ran out of steam.

We'll call it: Tree: 2 Dave: 1 <lol>



The crew taking a short break on Buzzard's Point:

We got down to the bottom of the trail and dumped back onto Jordan Creek road and Cary found his front tire going flat. He tried pumping it up - but it wouldn't hold. We had about 27 miles under our belts by then -- and were fairly close to the trucks. So he decided to bag it and head on home. I wasn't thinking but I should have taken a picture of Cary right then. You know how the little kid looks when he's been told it's time to come in from recess? That was Cary. He was one sad-looking puppy. :^( Ketch decided to go back with Cary since they were sharing a ride and Mike C. headed on back as well.

So Dave turns to me, "...it ain't raining yet, wanna' do some more ridin'...?" Yup!
We headed up Roger's Road and then caught the back-side Firefox trails. Went out quite a ways and ran into Scott and Cary! Scott had some blinking LED buttons mounted on his front number plate - making him real easy to spot. Which makes total sense if you want to avoid a head-on collision. Hmmm... that should almost be mandatory with our tight-n-blind trails.

Scott suggested we go further out on Firefox, do a little road, and then come back up Pumpkin Patch. I let everybody go first as I know I'm the slower guy in this group. But that also means I have to keep up .... so I didn't get any more pictures taken after we took off. Too busy, you know. <g>

Got to Pumpkin Patch and Scott kindly took over sweep duties as I am not real familiar with that trail. You know how you get later in the day? Your attitude is great, your energy is still holding up just fine .... but you don't quite have that real sharp edge like at the first part of the day?
Well, that was me. <LOL> I've have a good rip for three or four sections ... and then would make a small mistake and start bouncing off of every pumpkin-sized rock within reach. I was either flowing well ... or nothing but boots, legs, and elbows flying all over the place. :^O I'm sure Scott had a good seat for the show - hope he did pull any ribs laughing at me too much.

Came up around one corner and saw this fence/bridge looking-section laying on the trail. In the back of my head, I went, "...could that be...? nah..." and went on the left side of it to miss it. Well, my front tire missed it and my back tire rolled over just the outside corner. Put my left foot down, rolled on a little throttle -- and my back end just started to madly slew sideways.

And I heard my brain scream, "AIIEEEEEEE....!!!! THIS IS ROGER'S CRASH SPOT!!!" At the same instant I *thought* I heard Scott go "Gah!!" behind me. But I couldn't be sure if I heard him correctly over the sound of my sphincter slamming shut. :shocked:
Luckily I chopped the throttle and killed it right there and didn't repeat the "splits" like poor Roger did.
(Full story here: http://www.omraoffroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7441 )

C-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y got off my bike and drug it off sideways. I don't know if Scott picked up on it - but I think my eyes were as big as dinner plates in my goggles. 8O Scott recommended I go left on the next trail section to exit the infamous HUSABERG DEATH TRAP and we were able to finish out the hill just fine. Thanks, Scott! :bow:

We then decided to do some more of the Firefox trails back and then take Roger's Road back down. As I had already missed one corner earlier, head-butted a stump and broke my visor ... I decided to pass on the tough upper section and just meet up with the guys on down Roger's Road. Apparently it was a good decision for me as they had to clear a couple of trees from the trail.

Then back to the trucks ... and still no rain... woo-hoo! Logged around 47 miles and had a ball.
And in case I forgot - I LOVE MY NEW Husaberg FE 390!! :thumbup:

Cheers! - RandyB ("E-Ticket")

tazer said:

Great ride report E-Ticket I am jealous you have such awesome country side to ride in.

Steve

Click to expand...

Thanks! And I am jealous of your Great Barrier Reef.

Your turn. <grin> - ET