Oregongirl
03-24-09, 06:34 AM
I decided to not put this in Ride Report since we are riding several locations on this trip.
We left the Willamette Valley for Eastern Oregon on Friday. Met up with some friends in Baker City for dinner and just a little bit of night time activities at the local watering holes. Then we headed to Halfway. We were supposed to ride with Foxy and her group, but our BC friends decided they would come ride with us.
Saturday was a chill sort of day. We ran up the trails and spent some time waiting for the visibility to improve, etc. We played around at Fish Lake, made it up to Sugar Loaf and then over to the lookout - where we had lunch in the sunshine!! The snow was good - much better up higher than the mashed potatoes down lower. It was a very good day of riding!!! With alot of playing in meadows and boondocking.
Sunday started off with us praying it wouldn’t rain on us while we were unloading and that the rain that had fallen in town overnight, was in the form of snow higher up!!
We were riding with Linda, her husband, Jim, John, Kenny and Kristina. Our prayers were answered and no rain fell – in fact – no rain fell on us all day. It was overcast, but the ceiling remained high all day. We had moments where the fog would roll in, but it wouldn’t stay long. Kenny was our leader. Apparently Kenny doesn’t like the easy route anywhere!! Right out of the gate we were climbing up tree covered hillsides. Kenny picking our way around the trees and climbing all the time. The snow was soft in the trees and at times heavy. We were running tight corners around and between trees…..shoot around to the right, climb and make a hard left….up and up we went. The tight tree sections were broken up by fairly open climbs up and over what I’m sure were log covered sections….or (my worst scenarios) sidehilling. It was a day for throttle control and finesse. My finesse with Daisy is improving, but a couple of times I got off camber and couldn’t get her on her edge and stuck we were. Jim, John and Todd were there to right her and pull me in the right direction. After the first stuck, I’m on my way and heading over the top of this little incline and Kenny is coming up the opposite side – luckily we were a few second off and didn’t end up cracking hoods!! This all left me begging for a break! I needed water and few moments to breathe.
The next part of the day consisted of less trees, but no less climbing. We went up, down and around. Daisy was running fat at the higher altitudes and the climb up to Table Top I was full throttle and she was bogging it. We ran Table Top and dropped off the end and headed off to more climbing and sidehilling. By this time, the sky was blue and the sun was out in full force!! Frankly, I was running out of strength – and Daisy was still bogging on the climbs. I halted the group to change out her plugs hoping that would improve things a bit. After that, the boys went off to climb a chute or two and us girls stayed behind and tracked up the area where we stopped. It was a great little place to practice some skills.
The boys came back and it was decided to back to the sno-park. The biggest concern was if I could get Daisy back up Table Top…..since changing the plugs didn’t improve her bogging. Jim offered to ride her over the top for me and let Todd take his Dragon up, but I said I’d give it a try. So I lined her up at the bottom and off we went! She started bogging pretty bad, but there was NO WAY I was turning out and she WAS still moving forward….so I stayed in her, feathering it a bit and humping and wiggling her until we made it to the top!! WAHHHHOOOOOO!!! For a girl who is not a climber to begin with, I was right proud of my effort and ability to get my bogging beast up that one!!
It was my most technical day of riding to date and I had a BLAST!!! If Miss Daisy and my strength could have held out I would have wanted to stay out until dark!! But – it was only day 3 of our 10 day excursion, so I was just fine packing up and heading out for the next installment of riding and seeing good friends.
Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018236&id=1008497134&l=1decfb064d
We are in Afton, WY now. It snowed all day here, so there should be some powder to play in......I'm sooooo excited!!! We heading out shortly..... :p
We left the Willamette Valley for Eastern Oregon on Friday. Met up with some friends in Baker City for dinner and just a little bit of night time activities at the local watering holes. Then we headed to Halfway. We were supposed to ride with Foxy and her group, but our BC friends decided they would come ride with us.
Saturday was a chill sort of day. We ran up the trails and spent some time waiting for the visibility to improve, etc. We played around at Fish Lake, made it up to Sugar Loaf and then over to the lookout - where we had lunch in the sunshine!! The snow was good - much better up higher than the mashed potatoes down lower. It was a very good day of riding!!! With alot of playing in meadows and boondocking.
Sunday started off with us praying it wouldn’t rain on us while we were unloading and that the rain that had fallen in town overnight, was in the form of snow higher up!!
We were riding with Linda, her husband, Jim, John, Kenny and Kristina. Our prayers were answered and no rain fell – in fact – no rain fell on us all day. It was overcast, but the ceiling remained high all day. We had moments where the fog would roll in, but it wouldn’t stay long. Kenny was our leader. Apparently Kenny doesn’t like the easy route anywhere!! Right out of the gate we were climbing up tree covered hillsides. Kenny picking our way around the trees and climbing all the time. The snow was soft in the trees and at times heavy. We were running tight corners around and between trees…..shoot around to the right, climb and make a hard left….up and up we went. The tight tree sections were broken up by fairly open climbs up and over what I’m sure were log covered sections….or (my worst scenarios) sidehilling. It was a day for throttle control and finesse. My finesse with Daisy is improving, but a couple of times I got off camber and couldn’t get her on her edge and stuck we were. Jim, John and Todd were there to right her and pull me in the right direction. After the first stuck, I’m on my way and heading over the top of this little incline and Kenny is coming up the opposite side – luckily we were a few second off and didn’t end up cracking hoods!! This all left me begging for a break! I needed water and few moments to breathe.
The next part of the day consisted of less trees, but no less climbing. We went up, down and around. Daisy was running fat at the higher altitudes and the climb up to Table Top I was full throttle and she was bogging it. We ran Table Top and dropped off the end and headed off to more climbing and sidehilling. By this time, the sky was blue and the sun was out in full force!! Frankly, I was running out of strength – and Daisy was still bogging on the climbs. I halted the group to change out her plugs hoping that would improve things a bit. After that, the boys went off to climb a chute or two and us girls stayed behind and tracked up the area where we stopped. It was a great little place to practice some skills.
The boys came back and it was decided to back to the sno-park. The biggest concern was if I could get Daisy back up Table Top…..since changing the plugs didn’t improve her bogging. Jim offered to ride her over the top for me and let Todd take his Dragon up, but I said I’d give it a try. So I lined her up at the bottom and off we went! She started bogging pretty bad, but there was NO WAY I was turning out and she WAS still moving forward….so I stayed in her, feathering it a bit and humping and wiggling her until we made it to the top!! WAHHHHOOOOOO!!! For a girl who is not a climber to begin with, I was right proud of my effort and ability to get my bogging beast up that one!!
It was my most technical day of riding to date and I had a BLAST!!! If Miss Daisy and my strength could have held out I would have wanted to stay out until dark!! But – it was only day 3 of our 10 day excursion, so I was just fine packing up and heading out for the next installment of riding and seeing good friends.
Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018236&id=1008497134&l=1decfb064d
We are in Afton, WY now. It snowed all day here, so there should be some powder to play in......I'm sooooo excited!!! We heading out shortly..... :p