[oly]

To those still planning on going.....

Who is still in?

And when are we meeting and where? Last i recall we were talking Hwy12 & I-5, and that we need to be at the top of the trail by 9:00. Skookum, can you lend your wisdom to give us a timeline? How far is it from I-5 to the trailhead?

Tomorrow is the last day to change plans.... im about 80% still into it due to thinking of the big climb out and being cougar food at the back of the pack.....

 

[Serial Midget]

Engh... so stop thinking.

We should do the convoy thing and meet somewhere along the way. I still don't know if we have an extra seat or not. Yarg. I'll PM you if we do.

 

[Snacks]

Kevin and I are out :dancing:

We have become lazy and prefer to only ride down the hills and not up them and Kevin doesn't have a fork for his trail bike right now.

 

[oly]

we do know the way up there correct??

 

[Serial Midget]

we do know the way up there correct??

Yep - we're set. One of my buddies has GPS and an altimeter watch.

 

[oly]

Yep - we're set. One of my buddies has GPS and an altimeter watch.

Cool. I also replied to your PM... Tell me whats convienient for you..... Anywhere between OLY and 12/i-5 junction is fine fir me....

 

[Borneo]

Kevin and I are out :dancing:

We have become lazy and prefer to only ride down the hills and not up them and Kevin doesn't have a fork for his trail bike right now.

LOL! I would assume that you'd have that Burner for sale soon as was predicted then......

Actually, just the out and back to plains of Abraham is totally worth it as a ride in itself. And, not too bad of a climb.

The Black is is on the bike and will get the big test this Monday. Say "thanks" again to Kevin.

 

[Snacks]

LOL! I would assume that you'd have that Burner for sale soon as was predicted then......

Actually, just the out and back to plains of Abraham is totally worth it as a ride in itself. And, not too bad of a climb.

The Black is is on the bike and will get the big test this Monday. Say "thanks" again to Kevin.

Eh, it's not so much that we're lazy, at least moi . I would really like to do the ride, but Kevin's MK3 is in parts and his 36 is still weeks away.

Hope you like the fork!

 

[Skookum]

Hope you like the fork!

Did you sell that Talas? if i had money i would have bought it for myself. My pal is dumb and lame haha......
You guys really should go, tell Kevin he can borrow my bike if he's got a front wheel for it. There is climbing but i tell you if you take your time it's not that bad, i know how you all ride, i wouldn't take you on a death march. You guys could do it.

And when are we meeting and where? Last i recall we were talking Hwy12 & I-5, and that we need to be at the top of the trail by 9:00. Skookum, can you lend your wisdom to give us a timeline? How far is it from I-5 to the trailhead?

I'd guesstamate 2 1/2 hrs from your place to the trailhead.

Tomorrow is the last day to change plans.... im about 80% still into it due to thinking of the big climb out and being cougar food at the back of the pack.....

You'd be more likely to get the "bunga bunga" treatment by Sasquatch. You know why they call it "Ape Canyon" trail don't you? neaky:

 

[oly]

so SM, maybe 6am at starbucks a tad early? Maybe 6:30 to 6:45 better? Psycho mike was planing on leaving t-town at 6:30 and will be taking the back roads down i think. We have 9am at the trailhead as a goal. We should make sure to group up somewhere close to where we start driving on forest roads...

 

[Snacks]

Did you sell that Talas? if i had money i would have bought it for myself. My pal is dumb and lame haha......
You guys really should go, tell Kevin he can borrow my bike if he's got a front wheel for it. There is climbing but i tell you if you take your time it's not that bad, i know how you all ride, i wouldn't take you on a death march. You guys could do it.


I'd guesstamate 2 1/2 hrs from your place to the trailhead.



You'd be more likely to get the "bunga bunga" treatment by Sasquatch. You know why they call it "Ape Canyon" trail don't you? neaky:

Nope not the Talas....one of Kevin's other forks. What bike are you riding up there?

 

[oly]

I dont think he is riding, and that sasquach that bunga bungas better not have a goatee and glasses.....

 

[PsychO!1]

so SM, maybe 6am at starbucks a tad early? Maybe 6:30 to 6:45 better? Psycho mike was planing on leaving t-town at 6:30 and will be taking the back roads down i think. We have 9am at the trailhead as a goal. We should make sure to group up somewhere close to where we start driving on forest roads...

I beleive the forest road are all paved, so i wouldn't worry about that. We will be hitting HWY 12 in Morton then following it to Randel, then to windy ridge. We could meet in either Morton or Randel. We may leave just a little earlier than planned to be safe. Maybe 6:00 or 6:15. I'm thinking meet in Randel somewhere around 8am. Both you and midge have my cell, and I've got yours, first one to Randel calls!!

 

[oly]

Okeys, ill plan to meet SM at the starbucks at 6am then.

BTW, i just got back from a 14 mile bike path ride and am ready for some climbing.....

 

[Serial Midget]

Wahahahhahaha... no sleeping in for OLY!!! :devil: :devil: :devil:

 

[ummbikes]

Where is the ride report?

 

[Snacks]

For sure :mumble: Dudes, what's the hold up

 

[ummbikes]

***Fictional Account of the St. Helens Ride

9:00 a.m.--Everyone meets up and begins the ride. 'mig suprises group by hitting and clearing a 30' road gap, OLY swears of metal for life and asks where to get the new Nsync CD.

9:45 a.m. --Strange crashing sounds in the brush begin to alarm the group.

10:15 a.m. --OLY asks 'mig about lycra and 'mig aks OLY if a Super Monster would be overkill for XC rides. Psycho Mike is generally freaked by the exchange and the noises in the brush continue...

12:00 p.m.--mig' is trailing up the climb, OLY finished first and is dialing in his heart-rate monitor and shaving his legs by the time 'mig finishes. For some reason mig's goatee has become ungroomed and his rear suspension is creaking. He mutters something about needing a banshee, but know one knows for sure because at that exact moment a sasquatch devours him.

12:01-- Down a rider OLY cruises back down the hill and rides back up as a memorial for 'mig, OLY also is able to remote into Ridemonkey and place all his DH gear in the buy and sell suddenly fealing the urge for carbon-fiber parts for everything.

 

[PsychO!1]

One word....EPIC!!!

One of the toughest rides I've ever done. Due to me giving a wrong cell number and unsynchronized schedules, my group missed meeting with the Oly/Midget team by about 15 minutes....and ended up starting about an hour behind them.

The start at Windy Ridge was.....windy!!! The Smith creek trail was pretty cool, lots of loose pumice and elevation loss!! It only took me about 10 minutes to launch myself over the bars and watch my bike tumble down the hill, thankfully it was stopped by some brush in about 10 ft......it looked like it was gonna go a lot further!!! Bottom of Smith Creek trail climbs and decends along the creek for about the last 4 miles or so. Beautiful, smooth single track....sweeeet! All in all, the decent of Smith Creek was a lot more demanding than I expected.

The forest road climb out of Smith Creek wasn't too steep, but seemed very loooooong. Then the climb up Ape Canyon to the Plains of Abraham was tough!! Wooded and cool, rolling and pleasant at times, but mostly steep, grinding single track that teased you with false summits the entire time!!! Again, very smooth sweet single track......just very UP!!!

The Plains were Awesome!!!! One of the most unbelievable rides of my life!! The trail is not too challenging, but we were soooooo trashed by that point, it was slow going. The landscape on the plains is so incredible, it was nice to to just crawl along and take it all in!!

7 3/4 hours with lots of breaks and site seeing. But can't imagine doing it in less than 6 1/2 or 7!!! If I were to do this loop again, I think i might start at Ape Canyon and finish with the road climb out of Smith Creek. But I think the Ape Canyon/ Plains of Abraham out and back would be the best way to do it.

Truly Epic and glad i did it, but personally, i would do it differently next time.

 

[oly]

haha... funny one.. Not exactly how it went down......

so, Smith Creek Epic? It was HARD! About 10 miles of down then 20 miles of up...... When we reached the car back at the top the odometer readings were in the 29 mile average. We didnt hook up with Psycho mike and crew. Phone service was bad, and it was within the time window to get up to the top, we also didnt know if maybe they decided to go up before us since we were a little late too, or maybe thet did not come out at all because it was rainy..... So we headed up the forest roads and made the top by 9:15, waited around for a while, then got a start around 9:45 or so. The start of the ride was rainy, foggy, and windy. Not fun. It was almost spooky going into a ride that big not knowing how the weather was going to pan out. We suited up and started down on the loosest trails ever. Pummice is worse than Chelan sand. At the start you had to keep your uphill foot ready for quick dismount, or else tumble down some serious drops. In about 20-30 minutes we had alrady dropped almost 2000 feet, and shed our cold weather gear. Once down to the river valley it was a cool flowy singletrack crossing gullys, open hills, creeks, and so on. At time you ride over top of this giant mud flow thats slowly being erroded making a cool spine with giant logs sticking out from below. I'd say in a few years parts of that trail will be impassable. We rode along the river for some time and then came to the ape canyon crossing. There is now a nice steel bridge. We contined down to the smith creek trailhead on the bottom, and had a nice rest. We intended to try to find a shortcut to the top as described on MTBR, but didnt realize it was up before the ape canyon bridge. Oh well, maybe better not to get lost. The next part of the ride was a fire road climb roughly 2000 ft up to ape canyon trail. It wasnt too tough, just persistant. A few people in cars came down the hill as we went up... i was wishing for a shuttle about then. Once to the ape cave trail more climbing was at hand. Most of us were pretty hashed on by then and had to wal some of the tougher loose trail. Again, up, up, up.... Weather had been good and things were clearing so you could see the mountain. As we got closer to the top we could see ash in the area, looking at the news there was a rock fall yesterday at 6am that caused an ash plume... too bad we couldnt see that. Once out of the trees at the top of ape canyon we were passed by a hard tail rider we found out was with Mike and Brad, so we waited for them, turns out they were a little ways behind us the whole ride. After a good rest we set out across the plains. That area was cool. Very barren, not a place to get lost in either. I was glad the weather broke and the only thing we had to deal with was more loose pummice and a strong headwind. After the plains you climb up some more then drop down windy ridge. That was a blast too... Super fast narrow ridge with lots of potential for disaster. THe final part of the trail is a really steep section. They have stairs for climbers in the center, and there was a small area to ride on the side. I made it down most all of it, but tried to navigae over a few of these wood bars, and stuffed my front wheel sending me OTB. A few more sast little drops and we were on a service road back to windy ridge, probably 3-4 miles of road back to the car. 29 miles, 8 hours, thousands of feet of vert Lost and gained. Insane views, and mind blowing landscapes. All in all it was the hardest ride ive ever been on in terms of distance and the amount of climbing, but in the end it was well worth it., Ill be working on the photos i took over the next week, and will post them when i can.

 

[Borneo]

Very cool. We wouldn't expect a ride report less than that. Now you know why people come from around the world to ride our trails...
Somehow, riding a semi-active volcano seems pretty awesome.
Glad the weather broke for you. It's tough doing that ride in the clouds.

 

[Skookum]

 

[Serial Midget]

I got tired, last year I rode up uber fast on a 24LB hardtail. This year I wimpered up on a 35 LB bike.

Dummbikes wasn't too far off - OLY put the smackdown on my climbing and turns out to be quit the XC rider.

My impression of the ride was that it was long. Our total ride time was just about 5:15. Pumas saps your will and makes you do stupid stuff.

I had previously heard knarl about smith creek but I found it to be great, I walked a couple of technical spots but otherwise found it to be pretty midget proof. Once the major portion of the descent was over the ride along the river is probably one of the best XC runs in the state.

It was kick ass even if I was last up the hill...

 

[PsychO!1]

haha... funny one.. Not exactly how it went down......

We didnt hook up with Psycho mike and crew. Phone service was bad, and it was within the time window to get up to the top, we also didnt know if maybe they decided to go up before us since we were a little late too, or maybe thet did not come out at all because it was rainy..... So we headed up the forest roads and made the top by 9:15, waited around for a while, then got a start around 9:45 or so.

Phone reception was spotty, but your calls got through.......to my home phone. I'm the dumbass that doesn't know my cell # from my home #. Sorry about that guys.

I thought the meeting spot was changed from Windy Ridge @ 9am, to Randel @ 8am....so we could caravan.

Anyway... We were in the same boat you were. Didn't know if you had left, or not come. Another freind thatwas coming called and was running late. I decided to hang in Randel for the sure thing.

Sorry for the mis-communication guys....next time. It was a ride I'll remember for rest of my life, I'm glad we finally caught up with you.

 

[oly]

Phone reception was spotty, but your calls got through.......to my home phone. I'm the dumbass that doesn't know my cell # from my home #. Sorry about that guys.

I thought the meeting spot was changed from Windy Ridge @ 9am, to Randel @ 8am....so we could caravan.

Anyway... We were in the same boat you were. Didn't know if you had left, or not come. Another freind thatwas coming called and was running late. I decided to hang in Randel for the sure thing.

Sorry for the mis-communication guys....next time. It was a ride I'll remember for rest of my life, I'm glad we finally caught up with you.

Haha, i swore i kept getting your home. the other # i have is your office...

Wish we woulda waited just a tad more..... but it all worked out. The ride down the valley ontop of the mudflow was really nice. Everything down to the fire road was amazing really, then the climbing started........ Im glad i stuck it out and made myself go... got a while there i wasnt sure i should attempt it being an out of shape rider. Generally a long XC ride for me might be 15 miles....... i about doubled that... even though i did push alot in the ape canyon area.... I did get some great pics too, but being on dialup there gonna be a bear to post. I'll try to get some online tonight at another computer with broadband.....

 

[PsychO!1]

I'm on dial up too, but here is a teaser.....

 

[Serial Midget]

Interesting Website of same epic

Hey - its a holiday, what else do you guys have to do??? Start with the pictures already!

I apologize about the miscommincation as well, when I got home I found my own hand written note that said meet in Randal at 8AM. The notes I took had 9AM at Windy Ridge...

If I had been driving up by myself I would have waited around a bit more but since I was merely a passenger I felt we should stick with the schedule...

We'll have to plan another epic that has less travel time and less elevation gain for later in the summer.

 

[Snacks]

I'm on dial up too, but here is a teaser.....

WOW! Mike that picture is amazing We are riding that this year for sure even if Kevin has to ride his Dumbo 9 :mumble:

 

[evilbob]

WOW! Mike that picture is amazing We are riding that this year for sure even if Kevin has to ride his Dumbo 9 :mumble:

Hey be nice I just put my new Dumbo 9 together on Sat. and your giving me a complex allready. Yes the doc said I can ride again. :dancing: :dancing: :dancing: :dancing: :dancing: :evil:

 

[PsychO!1]

WOW! Mike that picture is amazing We are riding that this year for sure even if Kevin has to ride his Dumbo 9 :mumble:

You can see the single track spine we rode to the left....an amazing ride!!!

 

[Borneo]

Funny how we all seem to take the pictures of that ride from the same vantage points. Yes, it's an awesome ride. looks like you guys got a great day too. There's few pics of our Monday on the BBTC webpage. Miller Peak would be a lot more work though...

 

[Serial Midget]

BBTC ...

Hisssssss... :evil:

 

[Knobularlife]

You can see the single track spine we rode to the left....an amazing ride!!!

NO.....your amazing :eviltongu

 

[Serial Midget]

NO.....your amazing :eviltongu

No it's You're amazing.

 

[Skookum]

Kevin has to ride his Dumbo 9 :mumble:

Wahahaha! Dumbo 9 haha.... classic..... Dumbo can fly though.

 

[Knobularlife]

No it's You're amazing.

darn.

 

[Skookum]

darn.

No it's DURN!

 

[PsychO!1]

Another pic....Damon celebrating his arrival to the plains of abraham.

 

[oly]

what a dork......

 

[Skookum]

what a dork......

haha you've finally accepted the truth..... :devil: