Well, I got an email/call from a friend saying that there was a trip in the works to head down to XXXXX and if I was interested, there was space available. With all the rain recently and hearing stories of this place, I knew I had to go. I made the calls and reserved my space. Unfortunately, I can't recall everyone's name so my appologies right from the start. (I played lawn dart on the very last run and have a bit of a concussion as I write this so bare with me.) I do remember these guys though: Bert, Blaine, Brice, Kevin, Scott and Mondo - again, sorry to the rest.
It was supposed to be an early start, 8am, but we didn't get out the south bay until 9am - 9:30am. (That's what happens when you try and get 10 people on the same clock.) We eventually get the bikes and the trucks all loaded up and we're on the road. About an hour and an half later, we arrived at our exit. From there, it's another 25-30 minutes worth of fireroad driving (4x4's and at least two trucks are pretty much mandatory here). After passing through 3 gates for cow control, and utilizing the four wheel drive functions a few times, we arrive at our final destination to set up base camp, aka - "The Steel Tank."
This place is absolutely amazing. It's the epitomy of "Freeride." Pick a line, any line and go. The only thing you're going to come across are cows, piles of cow sh*t and MAYBE the occasional hunter. The soil here is absolutely perfect this time of year, barring the cow pies, so if you see a spot that looks like it'd make a good hit, break out the shovel and build it. Done!
For me, the best section was the step up/step down road gaps. (We built the step down in about 10 minutes - the tranny was absoulte butter!!) So with out further babbling, here's the rest of the pictures:
(This is already 1/4 - 1/3 of the way down)
Start at the top of the far hill by the bushes, stay to the left on the semi ridge line, hit the rock drop straight above me (in the red helmet - you can see the light brown strip of dirt leading into it) and pedal for the step up and boost the road gap. Or, just skip the drop, haul ass down the hill and rail the step up.
The new step down kicker is in place...
Buffing out the tranny
1st hit on the step down
Now it's on!!
Further down the trail, you tie back into the fireroad. As the road turns left, there's this sweet little kicker built up on the corner. (To the left of this, there's also a small drop, 2'-3', to hip jump to drop, again small, to another hit like the picture, just bigger.) Do this hit first, then the combo line and go to the next section of trail.
Didn't really stop to shoot the rest of the way down. There's just so much to ride, it'd take forever to shoot it all.
At the bottom, loading up for another shuttle back to the top. Can you believe this?!? 10 bikes, 10 guys in one truck. Three in the front seat, three in the second row, two on the tail gate and two standing in the bed against the cab. Ye-haw!!! (After this, we decided to use two trucks for the shuttle ride)
Now to the not so good. It was a long day, to say the least. On the last run of the day, I got a little lazy on this 4'-5' drop, pretty steep, funky lip, shoot the gap between two rock piles, g-out at the bottom of the ravine 15' after landing and full on went OTB to face plant. Grr...not good. Kind of don't remember a lot of things after that. Here's the helmet:
How I looked later that night (the cool marks on my nose are from my sunglasses being driven into my head by the helmet) not sure how my chin got into the mix:
And how it looks this morning. (My co-workers are going to give me so much sh*t at work tomorrow)
At any rate, I had an absolute blast and look forward to getting out there again. Thanks to the guys for bringing me along and introducing me to the place.
It was supposed to be an early start, 8am, but we didn't get out the south bay until 9am - 9:30am. (That's what happens when you try and get 10 people on the same clock.) We eventually get the bikes and the trucks all loaded up and we're on the road. About an hour and an half later, we arrived at our exit. From there, it's another 25-30 minutes worth of fireroad driving (4x4's and at least two trucks are pretty much mandatory here). After passing through 3 gates for cow control, and utilizing the four wheel drive functions a few times, we arrive at our final destination to set up base camp, aka - "The Steel Tank."
This place is absolutely amazing. It's the epitomy of "Freeride." Pick a line, any line and go. The only thing you're going to come across are cows, piles of cow sh*t and MAYBE the occasional hunter. The soil here is absolutely perfect this time of year, barring the cow pies, so if you see a spot that looks like it'd make a good hit, break out the shovel and build it. Done!
For me, the best section was the step up/step down road gaps. (We built the step down in about 10 minutes - the tranny was absoulte butter!!) So with out further babbling, here's the rest of the pictures:
(This is already 1/4 - 1/3 of the way down)
Start at the top of the far hill by the bushes, stay to the left on the semi ridge line, hit the rock drop straight above me (in the red helmet - you can see the light brown strip of dirt leading into it) and pedal for the step up and boost the road gap. Or, just skip the drop, haul ass down the hill and rail the step up.
The new step down kicker is in place...
Buffing out the tranny
1st hit on the step down
Now it's on!!
Further down the trail, you tie back into the fireroad. As the road turns left, there's this sweet little kicker built up on the corner. (To the left of this, there's also a small drop, 2'-3', to hip jump to drop, again small, to another hit like the picture, just bigger.) Do this hit first, then the combo line and go to the next section of trail.
Didn't really stop to shoot the rest of the way down. There's just so much to ride, it'd take forever to shoot it all.
At the bottom, loading up for another shuttle back to the top. Can you believe this?!? 10 bikes, 10 guys in one truck. Three in the front seat, three in the second row, two on the tail gate and two standing in the bed against the cab. Ye-haw!!! (After this, we decided to use two trucks for the shuttle ride)
Now to the not so good. It was a long day, to say the least. On the last run of the day, I got a little lazy on this 4'-5' drop, pretty steep, funky lip, shoot the gap between two rock piles, g-out at the bottom of the ravine 15' after landing and full on went OTB to face plant. Grr...not good. Kind of don't remember a lot of things after that. Here's the helmet:
How I looked later that night (the cool marks on my nose are from my sunglasses being driven into my head by the helmet) not sure how my chin got into the mix:
And how it looks this morning. (My co-workers are going to give me so much sh*t at work tomorrow)
At any rate, I had an absolute blast and look forward to getting out there again. Thanks to the guys for bringing me along and introducing me to the place.
