RR: When Heaven and Hell collide!

[Pain Freak]

Sorry it's taken so long but I ended up do a road ride today. Had another great day on the bike and was able to go out with the faster riders in the club. I really felt yesterdays ride on the climbs though. Still we were the first ones back.

Got to the ride start in 20 minutes which was great! Pull in and Alan pulls in not long after and he just starts loading up bikes.



Lots of folks catching up and getting ready at Uncle Howies





Then up to South Fork we go.........




I got out with the fast guys but quickly changed my mind as the pace they were setting was a lot faster then I wanted to go.

Guys this is supposed to be a easy shuttle ride!!!

So I stopped and waited for some of my regular riding buds showed up. In the mean time though I was just taking pics of everyone that came by....Love the scenery here





and here comes the riders, I'm not going to try to name everyone.

JohnnyDirt, gonna miss him and Dillon




Here's my good friend Liz, she was crackin the whip all damn day and wouldn't let us slow down. I can still hear her yelling C'mon move it dammit!!!








To be continued................

[Pain Freak]

Continued.....




Some old guy,



All time riding friend, She smiles and man does she climb. She's got me thinking there might be something to this 29er thing......



Not sure of these guys names but they made it down okay. Poor guy named Juan went over 3 different times but he was improving as the ride went along. When I finished up the ride I looked for their car but it was gone. They'd all been behind me so I assume they found a bailout.





Ride leader extraordinaire, Russell



Crossing the creek, water was flowing pretty good...




Liz and Lynn were the only ones in our group to ride it, we all pussed out and walked it

I tried all day long to shake this old man but he just kept on coming....





Regroup




Me at the waterfall, last time through here there was no water coming down...



New friends at the waterfall...



And old friends, Noel and Lynn

[Pain Freak]

still going............

Posuer shot (thanks, Liz)



better shot without me..



What scenery.....



How'd she get in there?



One of the final regroups




I'm sorry for some of the blurry pix, not sure what's going on with the camera. I've been doing this ride for a long time but have only roide down to Mentone 2 or 3 times now and I can't figure out why we don't do it more. The singletrack coming down from Morton Peak IS worth the climb. Watching Margret zoom past me was a little shocking. Looked like she was on a Sunday ride without a care in the world. She might have been singing I'm not sure, but I do know she wasn't working as hard as the rest of us. And kudo's for leading us again. You all were excellent hosts!

[kanga]

OK. First rule of order. I think rides over 20 people we need compulsory name tags, with STR handle! I met lots of new people, but didn't really make too many screen name/real name/face connections. At least they didn't stick over night. Something to do with oxygen deprivation at altitude.

The ride was phenomenal. I started out in the middle of the pack, and ended up with the fast group, some of the local guys from Don's Bikes. We tore up the first two sections. I thought I was shooting video, but my camera was set to a photo every 2 seconds so missed all of that.

I was following one of the guys pretty closely and he threw up a dust smokescreen on a tight turn. I hit something in the dust and took a pretty fast tumble, but rolled up and was riding again before anyone saw it. Video coming soon....

At the bottom of the fire road, I really wanted to stick to the singletrack, and after asking around at the start of the ride, knew that there weren't going to be any takers. So I headed up to ride the single track up to the post office, instead of the fire road. I'd never done it in that direction before, and honestly, I doubt I'll want to climb the fire road again. The single track was great, with only a couple of HAB sections that were all short, 20 - 60 feet or so. It's a little longer, 5 1/4 miles climb instead of the 3 or so on the fire road, plus the fire road back down to the post office.

I got back to the Post office and hung out with Liz and Todd, then realized that everyone was having lunch at the top of the fire road. I headed over and pulled out a sandwich, and the faster group left as I started to eat.

So the "second" group that naturally formed was a great crew. Margaret led us through the sections that we didn't know.

Liz, Todd, Scott and I climbed to the tower at Morton Peak. The section below Morton was really fun, and definitely worth the extra 1.25 mile climb. All was good until we hit the fire road, and Steve (Autoduel) took a high-speed helmet test.

Liz, Margaret and I opted for the extra credit wash single track, which was flat, meandering through little rock gardens and was a lot of fun. There isn't much flat single track around, and it was well worth it.

When we got to the road at the bottom, Scott turned right instead of left, to climb back up and pick up his car at Loch Levin. That's some serious commitment.

Again, many, many thanks to all who put this together and made such a great day of it.

Now for some pixels:

























Good times!

[Pain Freak]

Margret gave us a good warning and a guy who had bit it here before was there to back up her warning. This part of the ride was the fastest section of the whole ride. Liz, Johnny, myself and Steve (Autoduel) were all riding close together. Steve came up along side of me and I backed off the throttle to let him go by. He was doing fine and was right on Liz's wheel, when BAM, he was going down fast! His rear wheel swung around and missed Liz's rear wheel by inches. It was really frightening to watch. Steve slid to a stop and I was just barely able to avoid his bike. He stopped but his feet were in the air and he was laying really still. I ran over to him and looked at his eyes because I thought he was knocked out. He wasn't, he had the air knocked out of him. He got up soon after doing a quick check of his parts. This was really a hard fast crash and I've seen a lot of others at a lot slower speed that caused a lot more damage. I'd say he was very lucky. Our speed about that time was well over 20 mph.

Here's the two who have crashed on this section....

[kanga]

Here's a little vid of the first section from the South Fork to the road. My crash is at about 1:55... nobody was there to witness it except the camera.

Enjoy!

[xhuskr]

SART just moved up on my 'to do' list... looks like loads of fun (and some blood)

[metalmtbr]

Really nice photos, Revalimage!! Makes me want to ride

Originally Posted by Revalimage

Immense thank you's to everyone that was so fun and kind and encouraging on this ride - hope to play in 'hell' with you all again VERY soon!

Seems I was with the 'faster' slow (2nd group) so every time I stopped to take pictures, there was no one in front of me, and there was no one behind me, we were spread pretty well. Except for the loose sandy down hill, I was plenty slow - and the sweepers were close I don't mind expose at all, but loose is sucky even on fireroads! Loose and exposure = - Guess it's just another mental thing I need to tackle with more experience, I'm ready to go again

Now on to the few pictures I took.

Hugs to all, Julie


Okay - since I have not been able to figure out how to 'label' pics...

The view was spectacular!
The only 2 others I ever found behind me?
Waterfall on fire road climb - lunch break - and Christmas is right around the corner!
EXPOSURE?? Most of the time there was some bushes to catch you
I know there is a group photo from this camera - hoping to see soon

[The End]

Newb here...

Is there a GPS download for this? I'd like to give it a shot.

Looks very very cool.... What is SART?

[Johnny Dirt]

Steve, great video! I really dig the camera angle. Kinda feels like you're really riding while you watch.

[Pain Freak]

Excellent vid, Steve. Shows the exposure and really makes you feel you're riding it. I like the position of the camera. I'd send it to Garmin.

[manuelsoto8]

Thank Alan, Margret and Russell a lot, great time; it was the first time for me and my friends in the SART. I wouldn't miss next year. Thanks everyone

Manuel.

[Pain Freak]

Hi Manuel,

Glad you guys made it back okay. I got back to the parking lot and I seen your car was gone. What way did you guys come down?

[manuelsoto8]

We made it without problems, we didn't made the last climb, we took the fire road to the highway; I hear was a lot of fun there. We drove in two cars, one of my friends left early, but Juan an myself stay after the ride for a pizza and beer (the big red tundra).

I will keep in touch for future rides with you guys.

[epicriderat]

What a great ride and a fantastic group of folks to ride with. Thanks to all that put in the time and energy to organize the ride. I'm coming back for Hellride 2010 for sure, but right now I'm trying to get back up there before the snow falls.