Ride Report RR: Hail, Hail the gangs all here (Neil's turtle ride)

I'd say Occupy Blackstar was a resounding success! So good to see so many old friends together in one place again, not to mention the new friends made along the way. Can't remember having that much fun on a ride in a long, long time. Despite STR's astounding growth, this had the feel, fun, and camaraderie of our much more humble gatherings of the past. Here's to good times!

Big thanks to Neil for organizing this thing, The Path for footing the bill, and surlygal, SXP and his wife for laying out such an amazing spread in less than ideal conditions. You all rock! :clap:

 

holy shiat was that crazy!!!!

thanks to Samir aka SXP, his wife, my wife, my boss, my daughter and all of you who braved the wind, rain, hail, inflatable dolls, tekillya to join in the biggest ride to date for this forum....that was nuts!! I quit counting at 120 so my guess is with the group that actually left at 9am- that was impressive lol!- we had about 150? rolling mass going to the top.

So good to see some old friends and meet and greet some new ones. For me that is what this site has always been, a place to hang out with my friends and I was reminded yesterday how much I had been missing it.

Thanks Rut for the entertaining ride back down the hill as Ladd Jasper and I watched that trailer actually go over your head on one of the g-outs, get sideways in some bushes and then lead the way down some interesting singletrack.

Pain Freak, thanks for letting Maddie and I pass you over and over again, that made her laugh!

Samir, you are the man for all the help and keeping my wife company up top and those donuts were a excellent addition to the Beek Place buffet! A big big shout to you and your wife!

Lynn, Dean, Craig, George, Brett, Nam, Sleazer, Dell, Andy, Heather, Margo, Sammy, Mikey it was just like old times turning pedals with you all again.
Yesterday made me very happy, thank you all!
Kyle, glad you made it down alive my friend...you had me worried:lol:

Next Newbie ride is in the works, looks like a Feb date and tentatively called "The Governer's Ball":bang:

I've got some pix at home to load and yes this did happen even without pix to back it up hahahahahahahaha!!

 

Great ride today! The weather got a little questionable heading up as we encountered some wind and rain. Up at Beek's, the sun came out but was windy and a bit chilly. Still couldn't stop the fun and laughter we shared while hanging there.

So nice to see OG members again, it's been WAY TOO LONG and being able to put faces to some of the new members of STR.
Huge thanks to Neil(1x1clyde) for rounding up some of the OG's(very difficult to do) and setting it up. To Traci(surlygal), SXP and wife for providing and bringing up the refreshments and the The Path for liquid refreshments.

I had a complete blast! So thanks to all who came out for the ride. Hopefully it won't take 4 years before we can get a turnout like this. See you all on the trails.

Here are my pics:

Riders gather at the gate.



Rolling out



1x1clyde and Maddy




Some of the OG's: Fired Yo Momma, tkblazer and Calepic


Fired Yo Momma and jcambell


1st flat with mtnbikerfred, OMR and OMR's son-in-law


1mtbjunkie, pmortuary and kyle M


BROWNIE


guero, tkblazer and FYM


The Godfather himself LBmtb


Letyrides




Riders coming up from the valley


The Valley. After the winter, this will be all green once again.


Pain Freak!


One at Beek's, everyone mingles and introduces themselves to one another.

 

More pics:

Steppie arrives at Beek's


The Godfather


Lots of bikes about


Hanzo and guero


l-r: pmortuary, tkblazer, Ladd Jasper, me, 1x1clyde, lbmtb, CalEpic, Hoosierdaddy, guero


Hoosierdaddy


Gabe and Lety


1FG rider, Hanzo and Letyrides






Gabe being Gabe


OMR and Rut


El Juan, 1x1clyde, queenwilhelmina, xhuskr


Sprockethead, sheclimbs, CalEpic, tkblazer, jcampbell and SlowSpokes




The group shot


l-r: CalEpic, lbmtb, Ladd Jasper, Rut, guero, 1x1clyde, tkblazer, Fired Yo Momma, me


Last shot a Beek's before heading down.


The crew heading back down

 

as the great Pain Freak once said; "man, that was amazing" (circa the "average homeboys" 24hrs of OC video)

i remember when the thread for this ride first popped up and december 17th couldn't get here fast enough!!! everyone else has summed it all up quite well. great ride with great friends, just like the times of old. thank you to neil for throwing this together, and thank you to traci for all of her efforts as well. sxp, thank you and your wife.

i cannot wait for "The Governors Ball" ride!!!

 

STR Rolling DEEP!!!

Great ride. Carpooled with Hanzo and made it with time to spare.

Heading towards the gate.



The crowd was getting packed by the time we showed up with more coming!




Pmortuary was in full Holiday attire.



Neal announcing what to expect on this ride which a race it is not. Expect to hang out, enjoy the ride, socialize and just have fun!
Also, refreshments and goodies are at the top...some took that as a race!#-o





Snapshots of riders.



Hangin out.



The Honey Badger takes whatever they want!


Oh! He's so Nasty!!!

 

Yesterday reminded me of why I'm so lucky and thankful for where I live and also being a member of STR. It was so good to see so many of the friends and riding buddies that I've gained in the last few years. I use rides like this as a example when I'm talking to friends and family that don't ride, of how much I love being on my bike.

The start at the gate gave me flash backs of this years VQ/CC Pow Wow. The weather did look rough on the first half of the climb and sure enough at hidden valley it started to rain on us. Once at the top any complaints of the bad weather were quieted by all the laughter, donut eating and beer drinking going on.

This day brought three of my favorite things together. Bikes, Beer and Donuts!


Thanks to Neil for bringing us together, The Path for taking care of us, SXP and his wife for their time and effort to set up everything and all the others that helped to make this one of best group rides I've ever been on!!!

 

STR Rolling DEEP!!! (Con't)

More pics.of Shiny Happy People



It was cold, it was windy but the view was awesome!!!



Finally, party time with some OG's and Newbies!!!!



Homie



Homies 4 Life!!!


Super Mega Ultra Homie



Parting shots



Tried to take more pictures of old and new riders but my 10+ yr old camera is finally taking the crapper so over half is blurry. I guess it's time to retire it.
Big thanks to Neil for setting this up. Traci for always being there with the goodies at the end of every ride. SXP for the extra help and The Path for taking care of the community!

 

some pix!



sweet decorations!



OG's!



OG's to my left



group shot of the last group before heading down



don't ask hahahahahaha!



I have no answer for this....



Samir and his wife, super host and hostess with the mostest!!



Santa even made it! Nice job Mr. Hardwick!

 

and a few more.....



Stefano, My Maddie and Molly



My Maddie and I. She was a bit tired getting up to the top but thankfully I had a rope on my bike so she got some assistance She did great, that climb is nothing nice if you are not ready for it. Thanks to Nam for sneaking into the picture and Mikey for not knowing he was in the picture



shot from the start at the gate. There was already a group of 30 in front and another 30 coming from the tree farm. Amazing turnout, great vibe, killer ride!



Jeff kept me laughing the whole way up....as did Kyle....as did Gabe.....thanks everyone for making this one for the books!!

 

STR rocks! I am soooooo thankful that George put together this site (pure genius) I am looking forward to makin all the big group rides frome here on out.. If i dont get any gifts for xmas IM COOL that B* ride was the best xmas gift i coulda got!!! Thank You Neil, Tracy and everybody else that made this ride happen MUCH LOVE


This was the only pic i took I GUESS I WAS JUST HAVING TOO MUCH FUN!

 

Good to see this happening!!

Everyone should remember that there are only so many people who MTB. We should all embrace one another and welcome the newbie.

Good riding to all....

 

What a blast. I was good to get out with the old crew that I first started riding with in 2007.plus it was that much sweeter on a new bike that I really dig. I didnt hang out up top because I had to pick up the lady for a bad religion concert. Man this was one of the funnest and exhuasting weekeds in a long time. See you all on more rides in the near future. Nice riding with you again crash,good to see so,e team crash out and nice to meet kay and her hubby greg. Pictures to follow

 

I had been sick for the few days preceding the ride and didn't know if I was going to go until early Saturday morning. I arrived at 8am and rode up to the Old Indian Camp with my friends Ben and Lonnie. My plan was to join the STR group when we descended. I stopped at an over-look and tried to catch as many individual photos as I could. I brought my water-proof point and shoot camera (good thing because it was raining while I took many of the pictures), but the refresh time between pictures is slow, so I missed some people. And for the fast climbers, I missed you because when I passed you on the way down, it took too long to get the camera out and start shooting.

Here is a link to the pictures. Too many to post here - http://s1090.photobucket.com/albums/i375/rollnstonestr/STR - I Like Turtles Ride - 12-17-11/

 

Couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks to all for a wonderful day! It was really a joy to see so many old friends out there, still smilin' !

 

Here are a few sample pictures:


The best way to climb Blackstar!


This is the time to pick up an upgrade bike and ride down.

 

Just pics from an awesome ride!





































More to follow....

 

[video=youtube;hquMvTpUOD8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hquMvTpUOD8[/video]







[video=youtube;3m6KmrodOmI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m6KmrodOmI[/video]

 

A great picture of what Brownie turns into with a little rain.

 

Just wanted to thank those that put this together. Saw people in the pictures that I didn't even see on the ride, huge gathering. Looking forward to the next one. Had a really great ride. Thanks Colen for showing me Coal Canyon. Where was the ping pong table?