RR: Downieville Gathering 2008

[tkblazer]

I will try to keep it short and to the point.. Our group consisted of Neil (1x1clyde), Jared (chongoblanco), Tim (grandpa), Noel (Hanzo), Dave (Firedyomomma) and Dave (26 zen master). We left for Dville wednesday night and arrived promptly at Pack Saddle Camp Ground around 5:30 thurday morning. We set up camp and headed out for the trails. We ended up doing the Downieville downhill course that starts up at Sunrise and goes down butcher ranch, 3rd divide and 1st divide. Due to Jared and his RoboAnchor Jr. status he managed to get 3 flats. I managed to totally explode a tube within the first mile and then flatted and sliced the sidewall on my rear tire going down 3rd divide. tired and exhausted we had dinner and went to bed.

Friday everyone was fresh after getting a good nights rest and off for two shuttle runs we went. As with the day prior the trails were empty on the morning shuttle and Noel, Tim and I managed to make it back to town in 1 1/2 hours.. i managed to flat again going down butcher but i was riding a bionicon ironwood this time.

Now the run really started Friday night, i'm not sure if i'm at liberty to tell, but good times were had for sure.. i think i may have sang a bit, out of tune i'm sure

saturday's ride was a tough one.. we decided to skip the double shuttle and just do one long ride together as a group.. that did not last long as neil and i climbed ahead and lost the group.. we backtracked to a lower fireroad and went down one trail for about a mile... turned back to a 4 way intersection and went down another one... we made it down to the bottom before we realized that it did not lead to anything.. now the time was about 1230 and we had to hike up a steep trail for about 2 miles or so... i was riding a rocky mtn flatline with a 38T chain ring that weighed around 43-45 lb. so climbing was tough on this bike.. we finally got to the top and there were a bunch of riders zooming by so we made the climb back up to the top to the pauley creek trail head. we ended up doing pauley to butcher, 3rd and 1st. i once again flatted right before the wall on 3rd. it took 15 min to change out the flat on that bike since you have to disassemble the entire rear dropout and derailluer on that bike. Neil took a nap while i heckled 29er riders with 15 min left to spare i made it in time for my 4pm shuttle back.
sat. night at the campfire was a lot more laid back since we had Jason Moeschler from WTB hanging with us. The night was quite shocking really, all i know is i'm out $20 and it was worth it

no better way to start off a day of no sleep than a good old fashioned road climb



the views were outstanding



Sleezy-D shows why he is the King after cleaning the lung buster climb



Tim nails the waterfall on his first try




Neil shows Sleezy the line



He goes for it



Neil follows



i hate single track surrounded by tall trees



Noel hits a switchback



Tim blasts by



Spam, its whats for lunch



home of the quad-boob



my rig for friday



Don Julio helps loads the bikes up sat. morning



my ride for the day



JRA



good old HAB



at least the scenary was nice



you are almost there Neil!



well not exactly



a bridge on Pauley



overlooking....

[surlygal]

[tkblazer]

well Traci, if you went you would not have had to seen the pictures

[surlygal]

Originally Posted by tkblazer

well Traci, if you went you would not have had to seen the pictures

Thanks for adding some

Now lets see more

[mottmcfly]

Here ya go.

http://mottmcfly.smugmug.com/gallery...17983707_xt4x9

[kanga]

Paul and I are passing through Bishop now on our way back from Downieville, comparing notes and stories from yesterday's rides.

Everyone had a great time and there are lots more photos and reports that wil be posted over the next few days.

It definitely was a weekend to remember!

[Shu]

Motts and I passed you and was passed by you and Neil a couple times on sat...once while you had the rear torn down to fix the flat...

Downieville is my new fav ride....

[speckledtrout]

gorgeous pics there, Nam! thanks for letting me live vicariously...

[CalEpic]

Who gave Neil the dirty sanchez?

Is that what you're not at liberty to discuss?

[Hanzo]

Well Nam pretty said it all so I will just add some more pics. Thanks to Neil for setting this up. I didnt think I was going to make it, but glad I did. I think good times were had by all on and off the trail.

It was great to meet a bunch of cool new people like jfsh, paul, jared, dave, kurt, abby, ariel, and to see the old as well.

We left around 8pm wednesday night and arrived at 5:30am thursday morning. No one slept except for Sir Sleep Alot and we setup camp and took off on the first run of the day about 8am.

Neil taking us on a steep ass climb to get to The Sunrise Trail.



Stopping to check out the views. And there were many.







Tim cleaned this his first time. Everyone else had problems.



Do you think the Big Guy is having fun?





I can only hope they're more days like these.



Check out this dudes house. Notice the windsock for the chopper.









With views like these its hard not to look. Look too long and the consequences are high.



Day 2 - We had 2 shuttles that day so Tim, Nam and I had to boogie to catch a 1030am shuttle. Not too many pics were taken that day.



We ran into Allison and Justin



Friday night was interesting to say the least. I didnt go to Idyllwild but everyone said that Neils camp was the loudest and now I know why.



2 Patrons gone
1 Jagermeister gone
1 Cherry Bomb Jar gone
numerous beers
Mixmaster Abby on the ones and twos
Fire walking and singed hairs

The aftermath




Day 3 - A little hurting but ready to go again.



Check out Rico Suave in Tims lowered Tundra







For Chongoblanco



OK. Were lost and getting bushwacked.




The view from Pauley Creek Bridge



This guy wasnt real happy to see us.





Funnel Clouds, thunder & lightning which eventually knocked out power to the town.



FYM OUT in the shuttle van.

[xhuskr]

looks like great time and no carnage (at least not posted yet)

[ODB]

Great RRs so far. Can't wait to see more. And Noel, you are so right ... I need to put this on my calendar for next year.