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:lol:. 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#-o 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#-o 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.
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
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.
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.
RR: STR @ Snow Summit 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. :bang: 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 :bang: 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 :bang:
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.:lol: 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":lol: Down 2n08 we went and we ran into a group sessioning a log jump off the side of the trail. Rod Pins it: [youtube]yJ-plqP73hU[/youtube] 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: [youtube]M2ORFqLwuKI[/youtube] Here's Rod showing us how it's done: [youtube]hvdOSlkRGVE[/youtube] 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.
I had a great time. Many thanks to Traci and Neil for managing the logistics of this and doing the heavy lifting required to pull this off. You guys are the greatest! Geronimo and I carpooled up Friday afternoon and joined up with CC, Steven (Jackson), Dean, Dell and Hugh at Pine Knot Campground. Shortly after setting up camp, we headed off to the brewery for dinner and beers. The beer was warm, the band was so bad it was funny but the food was decent. We were joined there by several others before taking most of the crew back to the campground for a fire and more beers :beer:. Finally went to bed around midnight. Saturday morning CC cooked us breakfast (thank you) and we met up with Neil at the chairlift. This was my first time riding Big Bear and I had a ton of fun. I liked the loose, steep runs. We made our way over to the park for lunch where I was amazed by the number of people and amount of food. I sampled one of Grandpa's Cherry Bombs and some tacos before heading back up the lift with Mechmann and Geronimo for some more fun. The sprinkles turned into a full on downpour. We headed back over to the campground looking like drowned rats to find a muddy mess there. Originally we were going to spend the night and ride Sunday as well, but once water got into the tents and got sleeping bags along with everything else wet, we said f it and packed up. I hope you made it home safely on your motorcycle Hugh. It was great to see many old friends and make some new ones. I'm constantly amazed at what STR has become. What started out as a few friends has turned into something huge. I wish you were there to see it George.
Words can't even describe how much fun I had this weekend with everyone at Big Bear. We definitley had a great showing and like Traci said the owner was over joyed by our presence. Still haven't made it home yet but when I do I'll post some pics up.
Again, big thanks to Tracy and Neil for setting this up. I had a great time riding with and meeting many new STR members and look forward to ridng with them some more. Thanks for the campsite CC and for driving Craig. The riding up there exceeding my expectations (thanks Neil and Justin) and can't wait to get up there again. Striking a muddy camp in the rain was a drag, but the adventure of exploring trails in the thunderstorm with Craig and Justin more then made up for it. Good Times. :beer:
I got up there right about 9am Saturday morning and met-up with Toby, Sam, Hanzo and Andy. Oh-Dee rode over to Summit while the rest of us drove and met him there. First run was down Fall Line. Not exactly a trail you want to go down for a warm-up run. It's steep but not so steep where it's not ridable. What makes it sketch is the looseness of the soil and the dust. It's controlled skidding (if there's such a thing). A few tree logs along the way, which some of the more "air friendly" riders hit and looked good hitting it. I was not amongst them. I kept it rolling and took little kickers but nothing that required series air time. My bike nor body are cut out for hucking. So be it! We met up with other STR riders and before you know it, we had a pack of 10-15 riders descending. 2nd run down was top, right and the upper section was stupid techie but fun. I'm sure some cleaned it but again, I was not one of them. I took a little OTB and landed in some thorny bush and needed help getting out. Glad I bought me some knee and elbow pads, which minimized damage. Thanks to Sam and Andy for pulling my big ass out of thorny bushes. Broke my derailur shifter gauge and cracked the housing (and eventually broke a spoke). After that, I was having serious shifting and ghost shifting issues so I tried to keep the shifting to a minimum. We opted to skip out on lunch and get more runs in instead. We got in 5 runs and were in line for a 6th (3'ish) when they shut down the lifts due to mechanicals and couldn't tell us how long it was gonna be. We took a quick vote and decided to head over to the BBQ and eat finally. As we were loading the bikes, Andy noticed the lifts resuming operation. Sam, Noel and Andy decided to go back and get in one more run while Tobe and I headed over to the BBQ to cook our meat. Tobe and I managed to get in 5 runs and I was good with that. Neil was an awesome host by leading everybody down stuff that just about killed a few. :lol: Nice job, Neil! He's still there gettin' some and riding his bike again too. Once arriving, we realized we missed the bulk of the BBQ and a lot had already left. Traci was there keeping the fort down and being an awesome host. Tobe and I started cooking and got some bangers and Chicken Kabobs firing. While waiting, I prepared my Taboule salad, hummus, spinach thingies and pita bread (NOT tortilla's!) It's safe to say they were all a pretty good hit. Before we knew it, the small group had gathered around the BBQ and we were all munching on food right off the grill as I was taking skewers of meat off skewers and onto plate. We washed it down with beer and what ever people were driinking. DavidPO and JesseFlake joined us and jumped right in on the celebration. David' legs were fugly. Shave them legs and go see a dermo, dude! I couldn't believe how much Jesse was devouring. Like a human vacuum! Dude, doesn't your mom feed you at home and where's my damn quarter, punk? Just as the meat finished cooking, the rains came and they came hard! That's what thunder storms look like!!! Man, the park became flooded within minutes. It was insane! The party moved out of the rain and more partying was ensued under shelter. It was Tobe's 40th and his wife had hid a present in the trunk of his car and secretly told Noel about it. Noel grabbed it and gave it to Tobes on behalf of his wife. Very cool of considerate of her to do for him. We sang him Happy Birthday and slapped his ass. We graciously tore into his gifts and we started toasting his birthday with recently acquired 10 year old single malt Scotch (thanks honey!) It's fair to say that between the beers and the scotch, a few were feeling happy and cheery. :beer: Good times in the park which was full of laughs and smack talk. I hope my sometimes loud and obnoxious laugh and sense of humor didn't offend or turn any of the girls off. If it did, I apologize. :wave: I was very tempted to giving a few of the girls sobriety tests before they departed but I didn't want to be a stick in the mud and wear my badge 24/7. Nice meeting you girls and hope to ride with you all sometime. Mt. Zion anyone? :lol: JeffJ, his son Ted, Ted's friend and Rich stopped by and joined-in on the festivities. There was so many people at this weekends gathering, I'm blown away. I enjoyed hanging out with friends and meeting new friends. I was pleasantly surprised by the warmth and coolness of a few riders who on the board have a reputation of not being so social and a few others riders, who validated such reputations. All in all, very good stuff! (CC, quit teasing me:lol:!) Again, thank you Traci and Neil for putting this together for us. I, for one, don't envy the undertaking of such a gathering and the planning that goes into it but I admire the fact that you pulled it off, pulled it off well and pulled it off with class. :beer: After the BBQ, Toby and I headed to our honey moon suite at Honey Bear Lodge. I called Dean to see what the evening plans were and found out he along with everybody had left town, due to the rains and tents flooding. I then called Jesse and he sounded like he was about to fall asleep but was heading home. I hope you got back safe and sound in your mini box car. At this point, we were both feeling a little tired and opted to stay in and watch a marathon of "Intervention" on A&E. Man, some people are focked-up and full of problems. Watching that show sure makes me feel normal. I woke-up at the crack of dawn and headed down the hill and allowed my sleeping beauty to sleep in. He had a rough night and earned his keep! :lol: :lol: Good times indeed. Nice meeting new peeps and hangin' out with old ones. Can't wait to do it again! I think the quote of the weekend was "Tobe, come feel it. It's soft at first but will get hard, once you touch it." :lol: :bang:
I had SO much fun yesterday!! I'm trying to think of where to start, since there were so many INTERESTING events, hehe. I'll give my review via thank-you's. Thank you: Traci and Neil - for all the time spent organizing, making phone calls, bbq-ing, etc. and making this weekend so much fun on so many different levels! Pam - for reserving our room, for managing to meet the most obnoxious man on the planet (providing us lots of entertainment), and for your smiles and great attitude Lety - for being an awesome carpool buddy and for all the laughs! Greg - for leading the "newbie" ride that put some "ascent" on the Garmin, as well as some FUN "descent" (Stonehenge and Pine Knot). We got to see some great views and do sections of Big Bear that not many other STR'ers did yesterday Hugh - for the delicious, melty s'more and for the new sig CC and Shu - for helping with my pinch flat Dean - for always making me smile and being a great lift buddy Jason - for making sure my bike was setup just right before he left for Downieville Candace and Andy - for bringing those "frosting burger" sugar cookies which provided me a wicked sugar rush that gave me the energy for 2 more runs Natalie - for letting me borrow her North Face jacket when it got cold And finally, the "one more run" crew (Neil, Shu, CC, Chris, Art, Pam, Gaylynn, Dean, and a few others) ... I had a brief moment of apprehension as it started to rain on the lift around 4:45, but that was followed by the most fun I had all day. It rained just enough to make the dirt sticky and made it easier to go FAST down the "powdery" sections. There were a couple flats (one was mine), lots of laughs, and a few "woo-hoos". By the time we got to the bottom, it was pouring, and we were all completely soaked. I don't remember the last time I laughed so much during a ride, and I haven't ever had that much fun in the rain. I'll never forget that! I managed to change into some dry clothes, then Lety and I drove back to the BBQ for a bit to chit-chat and say our good-byes. I can't wait for next time...
Absolute Blast I was soooo close to not going b/c my lower back was sore when I woke up but decided I needed to atleast head up and get 1 run in...if it hurt I'd sit at the bbq w/ an ice chest....I haven't replaced my camera since Downieville so I only took a couple cell shots... From lift 1st run Also from 1st run I pulled into the parking lot and see Pamela,Gaylynn and Jessie....we gear up and head to the lift and end up meeting up w/ Neil,CalEpic and Geronimo(I think) when we get to the top the group grew to about 10/12(SoCalRider77 and his crew)....We head down Upper Fallline(Faultline?) and it was apparent that a couple weren't comfortable so at the 1st trail split I took the girls around the steep and loose stuff....now the screams we herd in the trees were from fun and not fear:wave:... Sweet Single Track The 2nd trip up it seemed to be 20+ STR riders...we went to the right this time lead by Mechmann....w/ this many riders the dust was crazy....about 1/2 way the group split(again led by SuperMann) and some of us hit the STEEP LOOSE DH that personally was more then I could chew....had fun but I had to hike more then I prefer.... The group that split off went back up (my 3rd run) and went down a Upper Fallline(Faultline?) w/ a variation that I don't remember the name(seems riders call the same trails by different names)...This was fun hitting it at speed this time around... I decided to head over to the BBQ to refuel w/ some beers and Brats...At this time everyone sat around telling their stories and laughing...the we hear they are shutting down the lifts for an hour b/c of lightening...it really cooled off... We decided to head up to the lifts after a while and I really wish I had brought some cool weather riding gear...we got to the top and realized we had enough time to bomb down and make it before the lift shuts down...while we were on our break it rained lightly...enough to make the ground STICKY...I thought my 3rd run was good....but it didn't compare to Fallline sticky and NO dust....a couple times I went into a corner expecting to slide thru it and just stuck like on a rail:bang:...SOOOO FUN....on the ride back up(my 5th run) it started raining on us....as we get to the top we see Pamela and Gaylynn huddled under the eve asking every person if they had an extra jacket.....This was going to be FUN...raining...sticky trails....last run of the day...and it didnt' disappoint....I think the group consisted of Neil,SarsBoats,CC,Art23rockpile,Pamela,mtbgurl26,:steppie:,WetWillie(I've never herd that before:lol::lol, and for the life of me I can't remember the name of the guy who followed me off the drop and almost wiped out.... We also saw that Sasquach enjoys mtn biking too(unfortunatly no one could get their camera out fast enough) As stated above our ride ended in a torrenial down pour....BUT didn't suck at all... To everyone I rode w/ THANKS...I had a blast... To everyone I met for the 1st time...good to meet you and hope I can remember names/screen names.... To Tracy...YOU ROCK for everything you did to make this happen...Neil too To Neil and Justin....way to take the lead on the trails and make sure everyone has fun.... To everyone else who worked to pull this off...GREAT JOB... To the riders I already knew....it was good seeing you again...and will be riding w/ you again... To ALL the riders who pinch flatted....GO TUBELESS:lol::lol::lol:
well let me start off with a thanks to the event organizers tracy and neil. it was a good time for sure since id been wanting to make it to an event for awhile. i met ALOT of you that i cant put names to faces rite now,but it was a blast riding with all of you. to the peeps i know, it was fun seeing you again. i really do wish i cooda stayed for the rain event but hadda go. i'll make it to more of these as i get more time. oh ya,it's funny when you tell people your sceen name and they say "OH YOURE DIRTTOPEEDO". that's funny....gotta laf.
I'm Super Bummed!!!! So I'm sittin here checkin out the pic's from the bbq/ride at snow summit and I notice there seem to be a fair share of long travel/downhill bikes. I'm bummed because the ONLY reason I didn't go is because I have a downhill bike and as far as I understood those aren't allowed up the lifts!!!! #-o Why didn't anyone tell me? lol looks like you guys had a blast. I'm going for sure next time! :bang:
