RR: Str Bbq

[mfoga]

I would like to give a huge thanks to Tracy and Neil for all the work they did to get a spot at the park, getting the discount tickets and all the other things we don't even know about.

The weather was great, although the rain could have come a day earlier. There were a few cracks of thunder and rain on the way down but couldn't have asked for more really.

It was great turn out, I believe they said 61 tickets were give out for the discount lift tickets. I was able to se many old faces and some new faces.

There were some casualties nothing serious or at least that I know. Overall it was great to ride with people I have rode with many times and some I have never rode with.

I only ended up taking two runs, first run was down with a group including way to many people to even remember all of them. About half way down ran into another STR group with many familiar faces. Followed them down the next section, had a couple close calls and one slow OTB that I was able to roll out and only end up with a small scratch from a branch the even ripped the jersey. Then back up for another run, then we had to sit while the lift opperators had to yell at someone (who I will not name) that decided to go down a trail thats not allowed, passing a "sign" thats said you couldn't ride there, but not sure where this sign was. Finally to the top a large group went east again but a small group (Jessie, Steve-autoduel, socalrider77 sorry blanking on name and the other name to and myself) decided to go west and see what there was and head to the park for lunch. So we rode fire road down. Someone got a flat(Jessie) but at least he finally has stuff with him. Hear the best quote of the day from a lady with her family "It looked a lot more fun on paper" refering to the trails. Then we hit another group of STR riders getting ready for a jump. Well Steve decides to hit it.


Lands a little short but makes it. Decides to try again with more speed
Looking good,

uh oh


Well he goes down hard and we all just freeze, not one moves finally we check on him. He was ok except his shoulder really hurt. But he continues on like a trooper.

We come across a single track and decide to finally try it

After a fun top section it got hairy fast. Huge log drops to sketchy landng in rocks and super fine dirt. A log ride that goes uphill and many other "Oh Sh*t" spots. Needless to say there was lots of walking. Finally get to the bottom, after another minor crash. The amount of food was insane, so many people brought food and drinks. Ate hung out then plan to go back up, then Tracy gets a call that lifts are closed for an hour due to lightning. So we sit around more and eat, and eat.

By the time it was time to ride I was just kinda over it and since I was riding with Steve back the OC I didn't want to leave him sitting there all afternoon. So we head back get poured on dodge lots of rock on the road(and hit a few).

Overall it was a great time, and a great turnout. Hope this isn't the last one.

[dstepper]

I got in 2 downhill runs and rode the X-Country loop with the newbies. Greg thanks for guide service.

My favorite part of the weekend was riding Stonehenge Trail with ohyeah89, she was like kid in a candy shop. Apparently she has not done high altitude alpine singletrack before. Sorry the fully loop will never be the same again.

Big thanks to Tracy for all her hard work, it was so much fun we should do it again before the summer is over.

Dean

[art23rockpile]

Just got home from Big Bear. After getting very little sleep last night and a full day of riding today (six runs, with the final one in the rain being the funnest), i'm DONE. I only got a few pics -too busy riding- which i'll post tomorrow. Undoubtedly, others will have some great photos and stories to post.

Thanks Traci for your work in puting this on. It was a BLAST... great riding, great STR folk, excellent food.

[Sprockethead]

Traci and Neil, thank you for setting up the discount tixs with Snow Summit and staying behind to make sure every STR member got a ticket.

Noel, Sam, and I were having so much fun we skipped lunch and continued riding on. By the time we got off the mountain, it was already 4pm and starting to rain. When we got to the picnic, everyone had packed up except for Traci, Joe, and Toby. Big thanks to Joe and Toby for feeding us and Happy Bday Toby!

Great to see old friends today and meeting some new ones. The trails were a bit dusty to say the least. Everytime I hit a corner, there would be a cloud of dust fogging up my glasses. It was funny and scary at the same time cause I couldn't see. Toby saw me lay down the bike and surf it across the dust. Mike (Geronimo) was getting some crazy air off a log which I believe Steve took a digger on. Hope you're feeling better Steve and that it's not too serious. Oh yeah, kept running into Hugh on the trail. He was sans lift ticket and riding up Summit to earn his downhills. Last time I saw him, he said it was his 5th time going up...mutant!

The rain at the end was insane. It was pretty much a squaw coming through the picnic area. We had a stream coming through it. David B and Jesse should have some photos of that.

[davidB]

Originally Posted by Sprockethead

The rain at the end was insane. It was pretty much a squaw coming through the picnic area. We had a stream coming through it. David B and Jesse should have some photos of that.

teaser pic from this dumb ass walking through the puddles

[mfoga]

Originally Posted by davidB

teaser pic from this dumb ass walking through the puddles

WOW, I know the roads were wet coming down and rained pretty hard but wow that park is flooded.

[davidB]

First, thanks to Neil with the hookups for the $10 tickets, and Traci for just being so damn hospitable and running things at the BBQ while everyone was out riding.

Second, anyone know how Steve (autoduel) is doing? Last I saw he couldn't move his shoulder


That said, I had a blast! Fell twice kinda hard, had a horrible time trying to keep any traction on most parts of the mountain, and loved every minute riding with mostly familiar faces and learning quite a few more

I pulled in at 8:45, got my ticket from Tracy and started asking the group I would ride with (most of my fully loop homies) where we were going!

A few of my chairlift buddies. Good times.


trademark shot of Jay smiling


On the 2nd or 3rd run before lunch Stinkyrider (guide of the day!) led us down a run where I could actually stop and take pictures.

↓stinkyrider and his followers













I knew I wasn't the only one to crash!


Typical shots of Pato always in my camera (you know I have more homie)



Somewhere in there after lunch we ran into Lee and Ko


Jesse about to get f'd in the butt again on his hardtail


he liked it so much he came to a stop...


in the middle of the trail. Lee dodges him, barely.


his lady Ko following behind


trail guide, stinkyrider


Ken/freekengo (big bikes go over the logs dude)


2wheel_lee was easily convinced to try it on the way back



stinkyrider (mark), myself, integradriver (jesse), and freekengo (ken) did one last run on the "easier" side of the mountain as the rain started to come down. The trails there seem to benefit right away from the rain. Tomorrow should be a perfect day for those trails.

Me on the right, with jesse in a picture he wasn't invited to! I picked up those evo 661 elbow and knee pads late last night in a parking lot rendezvous with Foesnasty (adrian, MIA today) They worked like a charm on a hard spill i had. thanks man




I took Jesse back to the picnic area to see if anyone was still around. There I finally ran into a few bubs I'd been looking for.

Joetruth on the BBQ with the chicken ka bobs? and the hummus and pita. and the spinach rolls. and the beer? not sure what else you brought dude


Some time in there the rain started coming down, so we took the good times under the roof.

sam (bandman) not looking to good


Andy (sprockethead)


Tracy (were you there all day?!) was waiting for Neil and any of his crew to return in the rain. Eventually Neil and Chris (SAR_Boats) came in through the heavy rain



For me, the best times of the day came while riding the lift up or just hanging out with some cool people in the rain. Hope ya'll got a good look at my poison oak and what not to do. Anywho, I would have done those runs for $20, but the $10 was just too good of a deal! thanks neil for making some calls! I am back there any time!


didn't know how to finish this post, so we'll do it with some STR ladies

[autoduel]

It was my first time ridding sumit and I had a great time. I carpooled up for the day with mfoga(mark) and socaltrailrider77(scott). We rolled up just after 9 and was greeted by Tracy. We unloaded the bikes and met Rod. We rode up to the lift where we joined Neil's group. We immediately hit Flatline which was a steep loose powder ride. It was dusty at times where it was difficult to see the trail. But I was stoked that I was able to stick the trail and hold on to the rear of Neils wheel on the way down lower flatline.
We regroup at the bottom and went up for a second run. As we neared the top of the lift just in time we see SarBoats getting busted by the lift operator for poaching the ski run.
5 of us (Jesse, rod, mark, and scott) decided to try a different trail. We started down 2n08 where jesse pinch flatted.


Before we went on our way a Woman and her kids rode by on their way towards GrandView. "Having fun?" Her: "Looks much better on paper"

Down 2n08 we went and we ran into a group sessioning a log jump off the side of the trail.
Rod Pins it:


So I try it and come up short but still land it. So I try a gain with "more speed" and stacked the landing. Hard. The wind was knocked out of me while I was trying to signal I was alright. A minute later I get up with a sore shoulder.
I'm waiting for the full video to be posted.
Scott suggests we go on before it stiffens up. We continue down and turn off this singletrack, and it turns out to be the oh-shit trail. I was still seeing stars from the faceplant (more like a rainbow halo) on the way down which eventually went away. We checked out the wobbly teeter totter and agreed with 2wheel lee that it was sketchy. The trail was more packed than flatline with many ledges. It bummed me out because I couldn't hit them with my injured shoulder which was hurting more and more. I had to walk down some of the steeper portions where I would need to move my weight around more.
Similar to this scree slide where Scott went down on:



Here's Rod showing us how it's done:


I was still able to drive a stick home although 5th and reverse I couldn't push the shift lever out to the side without pain.
I had a fun 2 runs in and can't wait to come back for more after my shoulder heals.
There's no bruising, and I can't lift my arm up to the side(unassisted) but I'm managing. I suspect a hairline fracture of the clavicle (where it is sore to the touch), so I'll probably no be riding for a month.