Ride Report Downieville Gathering 2008

Mikey, you know how much I love Tahoe, I dare say this was even better. The weather was perfect, even warm enough for you. It's a long ride so next time I might even go one day longer. We left here on Thursday a.m. and rode Friday, Saturday, and Sunday a.m. It would be a great trip to combine D-ville and Tahoe if you had a full week. Parts of D-ville remind me of Hole in the Ground and I know you love that ride.

 

We all ran about 40psi, I'm a fat guy so somthing has to give when you keeptrying to jump over, into or off of rockgardens or anything that looked like you could get some air off of.

90% was I'm just a slopy rider!

Tk blazer was doing the same but he had cleaner lines than me so only a couple for him except one random one where he was just JRA and his tube litteraly blew up it sounded like a gun shot!!!

p.s Roboanchor I tried to do your name justice up there but I only earned the title of roboanchor jr
I felt yer pain though!

 

ahh ok i remember seeing you now :lol:

 

no one could pry it out of his hands since its his personal bike... the flatline freakin rips tho... climbs very well also :bang: i want one

 

After seeing all these photo's, I think I'm making a pit-stop in D-ville on my trip to Tahoe in early August. I'll be happy with one day of it, for now. I just need a little taste like a ho needs her pimp. Gotta have it!

Bill, great pictures! The lakes and the alpines look so damn good in the back drops. WOW! Thanks again everyone for posting some damn good shiat!

 

Joe, no lakes on the Downieville downhills but excellent river views. You got to get into the Lakes Basin which for me was a ton a HABing...but sooooo worth it.

Dean

 

Good times everyone!! That was the best time I've had on a bike in a LONG time.... Really fun group to ride with, besides all the flats, everyone was pinning it! High speed and sharp rocks tend to lead to alot of flats. D-Ville may be my new favorite place to ride, the trails are just so perfect, and the town itself is sweet. 6 inch travel bike is the call out there for sure. Pretty stoked to be going up there again for the D-Ville Classic in a few weeks, but less riding this time for sure. I'll post pictures soon. :bang:

Andy, thanks for asking about the SS Slayer. I was keeping it to myself this weekend..... my precioussss...... just kidding. I set the bike up for myself with my personal fork/shock for the trip, so you can probably understand why I didn't want to loan it out. Especially after the way a few of the SXC Slayer returned #-o But they are demo bikes, so its all good. Fun, fun bike thou. I will be demoing it out coming up, but I think the size I have is too small for you. But..... Neil may be getting one in your size.....?

 

sshhhh, don't let the wife know quite yet....I still have to sell some stuff to pick one up but do you want to check and see if you guys have any larges left??

 

A slayer too? :?: Oh someone has got some explaining to do!!!!!

Too late buddy....I hope you like the dog house!

 

Doh! #-o#-o, Neil...... Spilled the beans early......

We have the SS 396's still in lrg... :lol::lol: Sorry Tracy.

 

hey neil I got first dibs when you sell your flatline!! I know how you keep bikes for like a week then they are old news lol!!

 

Thanks everyone for the reports and photos; I can hear the Sierra's calling loud and clear now. A little trip to Tahoe in mid-August cant get here soon enough.:clap:

 

Yea neil let me know "personaly" when your having your garage sale.

 

I meant guys who live in Santa Cruz

I meant guys who live in Santa Cruz

 

my fav downieville pic

 

Great event, Thanks Andy & MTB up north.

 

My Downieville history dates back to the early 90's. I consider myself pretty lucky.
It's before Yuba Expeditions was Yuba Expeditions.
Before Downieville Outfitters existed.
Before cinder blocks held the trails together.
Before Sunrise trail and even before there was ever a 1st Divide trail.
There was a Downieville diner that made the best pancakes and piping hot coffee before you headed off to Packer Saddle with Coyote which is now Yuba.
We used to camp by the river so you'd just drive into town(or ride) catch a shuttle, drop down, catch another do another drop and then get pizza and mosey back to camp.
I discovered Downieville in Bike magazine. We were leaving for a Tahoe trip the next day and I was catching up on the mag during a lunch break.
An incredible article about an incredible place to ride. I'd give anything to go there instead of Tahoe. Where is this place?? Lo and behold, the 411 says it's closer than Tahoe. I called home and said our plans have changed and I've never looked back. To be fair, I did finally go to Tahoe once after a few days in Dville.
That was a couple years ago but Tahoe, to me, although great, is just not the bomb Dville is!
I try to make it once a year but that doesn't always happen unfortunately.
So that's some of my Dville ancient history.
There is an incredible amount of riding up there. Not just in the back country but also by the river.
Near Auburn there are trails that drop to the river where you can strip down and jump into some of the finest swimming holes in the west(another Bike mag article). You can pick cherries off trees and you can spend a week in the area and just touch the surface.
This is new for me to camp near the top and have so many people around. It was fun but I still like camping by the river.
I drove all day Thursday and camped with Scott, Dean, Lynn and jeff.
The next day we loaded up Jeffs truck and came down Sunrise to Butcher to 3rd to 1st. A great log ride on Sunrise was almost missed by Scott and Jeff. Lucky I saw it and pointed it out!
We hardly saw any people on the trail. Jeff cleaned the waterfall, Scott got it later, he said it was slipperey and I didn't attempt it because of that.
The waterfall must be one of the most technical features in Dville. If you clean it you get a gold star! I have a number of gold stars from the waterfall but this trip I got a sad face!
Caught a 12:30 shuttle up and I got distracted and then discovered Scott and Jeff took off to catch the 4 p.m. shuttle. That left Dean and Lynn. I took them down Pauley creek. Lynn was grinning ear to ear. She cleaned the whole thing too! How cool is that!!That's a tough little trail.
On Saturday she won a t-shirt that says 'Ride and smile'. How 'bout that?
Friday night Oolie came over from another camp site with free wieners! Who is Oolie and why is he handing out wieners? I don't know, I don't care! FREE FOOOD!!!
That night I slept in my van and gave Hanzo my tent. Apparently there were big doings near the entrance and it was loud as hell. How they can ride the next day is beyond me.
I had a few sips of beer and woke up with a headache.What a drag! In my day I coulda WON the beer chug contest!! Boonesfarm dudes!!
Justin and allison were kind enough to prod me along saturady morning since my alarm hadn't gone off either. I joined them plus Kanga, Oddie and Patrick for some 35 mile back country epic that had it all. Justin and Allison are great fun to be with and really have a deep passion for this sport and all that it offers.
They seem at ease with 88 mile solo races to DH races to 34 miles GPS epics to easy rides in the park.
Very versatile. Not too many people can embrace every aspect of this sport and they do it with a passion and a smile. Even the Hike a Bike parts. Huge thanks to Justin for fixing my brakes but HELLOOO... could you have told me they were rubbing BEFORE the uphill?
And thanks for mooning me with your tight ass. It is a fine ass except for the red areas which I assume are from TOXIC GAS LEAKAGE!!
We had some serious adventure that day and some serious fun.The route was basically a lakes loop. If I see one more lake....
We were never very far from civilization or from fresh water. I almost ran out on Big Boulder but Kanga gave me enough to get me back. Thanks!
I had a bit of a bonk on Big Boulder too. Pretty wasted.
Poor Patrick had an epic day crashing a number of times and also sliding about 80 feet out of control down a snow slope. That was scary as hell. Good thing there was no cliff there. He was able to hike back up past the snow.
I also lost my footing and had Allison holding my shoulders and saying'ohshitohshitohshit' as I held onto a rock with one hand.
Kanga got over and wedged his foot beneath mine like a step so I couldn't slide down but it took a ton of energy to get back up.
My heart was thundering and I had snow burn on my belly. That may be the scariest thing that's ever happened to me while riding. Greg at Yuba later told me that you keep your bike on the high side and use it to self arrest if you start sliding. #-oComplete opposite of what I was doing!
We got into town and I had no shuttle. I was freaked but Downieville Outfitters actually unloaded their van for me so they could take a bigger van and accommodate me! That's great customer service!!
That night was a party and I had a great time. Where was Oolie and the wieners? Well Lynn's chile is awesome good and I could eat that all day. Saayy..is that what Justin eats? :-k
Andy said he needed a SoCal rep and NorCAl rep. I raised my hand and ended up walking away with Sram XO shifters and 9 spd cassette. I had to blow up a tube. "with my mouth?" I stupidly asked because what is so hard about blowing up a tube! OH! Blow it up as in POP it. Man that was hard. My lungs were hurting and sweat was pouring off but when that thing exploded, I was so happy!! Whoo-hoo. Even Neil gave me a hug!!
It was so fun sitting around a roaring fire with Steppie, sheclimbs, STjunkie and Jfish.
If any of you remember, do ask Steppie to do his 'spank me turkey' imitation. Watching Lynn cringe in her seat saying TMI as Dean gobbled away was a high point of the trip!
The next day I drove down to town, caught a shuttle back up and did the standard route down alone!
It was a mob scene at the top but I took off and never stopped. I saw maybe 3 people and Kanga came up on me like a Stealth bomber and we rode together a bit then I fell back on the 1st divide hill.
Lots of coffee got me home.
Special thanks to Dean,Lynn, Scott! I love your style and I love riding with you! You are as adventuresome as they come and riding with you is always a pleasure!
Justin and Allison for a great ride. Everyone should have your passion.
Andy and Neil for the best raffle I was ever at.




Jeff gets the waterfall


aspen grove

snow plants







Lynn cleans Pauley crk





Sheclimbs is a blur on 3rd divide


Some of the lakes trails we hit Saturday



this jeep road was the only place with cell service


Lakes trails

oh yeah! this is way fun!



Patrick JRA

one of his many catastrophies

Justin couldn't get his foot in and rolled off this log bridge. He was lucky as he flipped upside down and his camel back landed right on the pointy rock where his front wheel is. He was lucky since he really could have been hurt.



Leaving a very nice resort area

 

Moremoremore








Justin enjoying the day


HEY! CARS SUCK!


RIDE A BIKE!!:bang:






Love the femme knee action Allison



There's a fungus amungus

a storm is brewing


There are more great shots in my photo album in my gallery.
If you have not been, go. Plan a week. Go in summer when the river is warmer. The guys at Yuba say October is incredible. I went once after a rain storm and the trails were like being on rails!!

 

Thanks Liz for the D'ville history lesson. I never knew.

Thank you more for letting me sleep in your tent.