Force Ride 4 (according to MrSmooth)
Bikes arrived a week before the event. We shipped our gear out and it came the day before the event. Fritz was meeting us at Harmels with the bikes and all the gear. Fritz was fantastic and patient with our almost daily calls regarding things we would need. I pick up Casey on the way to the airport and he says the dog chewed his helmet liner so he calls Fritz (one more time) to see what helmets he has for sale. Fritz hooks Casey up with a barely used Shoei for a great price and a pair of gloves. We left Sarasota for Colorado.
Arrived in Denver and spent the night with our buddy Shaun.
Day one - Got up early on the 15th and drove to Harmels. Our route took us through Cottonwood pass which was scenic but I had no idea it wasn’t a paved road! Many miles and lots of cows later, we arrived at Harmels.
We had cabin #2 on the water
We see no one around, just two lone Husabergs in the bed of truck. After asking around, it turns out that the group had left for the first day’s ride just 15-20 minutes before we got there. We decide to eat lunch and hope maybe someone will come back since we don’t know where our bikes, gear are or where we are going. After lunch we walk around and find the Husaberg tent and our bikes on a trailer. Our gear is in the boxes in Fritz’s truck and so is the helmet and gloves. Casey takes the helmet out of the bag and sure enough it’s a sweet black and red Shoei.....with Metal Mulisha painting! If you don’t know who the Metal Mulisha are, I guess it’s not that funny but the ribbing Casey got during the ride would have been worth it if I had bought it for him.
We met Linda (Bergers wife) and she filled us in on as much as she could, we exchanged cell numbers and asked her to call us if anybody returned. As luck (for us) would have it, David had a flat tire and returned to the staging area a Harmels and drew us a fine map of the Cement creek trail on a couple pieces of notepad. We strike out on our own with our trusty map and a sketchy GPS. It didn’t start well as we had trouble finding the trail head and rode about 10 miles of roads. I’m getting irritated by now thinking “Dammit I didn’t plan this big trip to ride roads!!” But luckily we find a little two track going up the mountain and decide to take it. Turns out, that was the entrance to Cement Creek trail. Soon my irritation was replaced with a big smile as the trail got tighter and rockier. We ended up finding our way around pretty well and hit some very nice trails.
Cement Creek
Deadmans Gulch
Shaun and Casey crossing the bridge
Staging area
Ended up back at Harmels and most everyone was there. We got to put faces and names to the nicknames we see on Husaberg.org. We finally meet Fritz and his crew. We all agree to meet back there in the morning at 10 ready to ride. Casey Shaun and I head to Crested Butte for dinner and had a great meal at Maxwell’s.
Day two - The weather was nuts! Every 15 minutes it seems it would rain, be sunny then sleet and repeat. We show up and there are about 40 plus of us. Also Pete from Husaberg was there are several 2011 Husabergs and the 2012 Husaberg TE300 two stroke. Fritz splits us up into 4 groups of 7-9 riders. Colby (Cheeseberger) leads our group on his 650. We ride Deadmans gulch/flag mountain/Italian flag/Star/unknown. We had Dinner in Crested butte with Berger/Linda and Colby at Donitas Cantina.
Me by the Husaberg van
This hole claimed a couple of people
Flag mountain
Loved this trail
Day three - Fossil ridge/gold trail. Fritz says it’s all jeep trail..Fritz lies. The most challenging day but the best day of technical riding I’ve ever done in my 40 years of riding. Shaun crashes hard about a ½ mile into the ride and rings is bell good but gets up and soldiers forward. After some jeep rode with nice water breaks (read:jumps) we hit the woods and it gets real slimy. At about the ¾ mark we rest and Casey saves Shaun’s life with a power bar. Rumor has it Cypher was trying to rally a group to bail. Just a fantastic day! Everyone finishing fine but spent and looking forward to the chili dinner/fire/raffle/swag that night.
Boulder lake
Casey
Not the Metal Mulisha but the Milk of Magnesia Mulisha (Scott, Shaun and David)
Day four - Taylor park scenic ride. Devils punch bowl/crystal mill/slimy mountain (My name for it) and back. Again, Fritz says “its all jeep trail” and this time it is, albeit very nasty jeep trails. Gorgeous, gorgeous views with an easy pace. Truly a great way to end a great trip.
From L to R : Colby, Casey, Scott, Shaun, Chris, David, Fritz, Jeremy, Nathan, ??,Frasier, Mike, Dale
Shaun, Scott and Casey
Crystal Mill
Devils Punchbowl
Washed the bikes and took them back to Gunnison Motorsports and got to check out the shop. We are back in Denver by 10pm and home in Sarasota the next day at 4pm.
Thanks to everyone for all they did to make this the trip of a lifetime for us Florida boys.