Al's Moto Log

Lance and I decided that we had enough of work and decided to ditch out early to get a much needed and deserved good long ride in.  In the rush to get out the door, I naturally forgot my camera and there would have been some beautiful shots… small forest fire right next to the trail (later we found out it was supposedly a controlled burn), wildlife, good trail, and great conditions.

I think we got on the trail around 4:30 and we bit off a little more than we could chew.  I took a couple of wrong turns coming out of Davis that cost us a bunch of time and we got hung up in some pretty good logs on one section of the trail… not sure why I put new blinkers on my bike, I broke them both off on this trail… Anyway, it was well after sundown and dark by the time we got up to highline and Lance doesn’t have a headlight.  Not only that, he had completely broken his foot brake off on a rock before we even got to the bloomington trail, so he was riding with only a front brake.  It was a fun adventure and a great ride, I was beat and sore the next day… but ready to do it again!  Thanks for the ride!

This was a fun after-work ride. Conditions were good and didn’t really run into many people except on the way back there were probably 30 search and rescue guys hauling off an older gentleman that fell off his 4-wheeler near the Spawn Creek campground. I keep thinking I ought to look into volunteering for Search and Rescue, seems like a great excuse to ditch work and ride in the mountains! Do they take dirtbike riders?

Crew: Chaz, Ty, Jake-O, Red, and me.

I’m excited to say that my bike is finally out of the shop and now it runs like a champ! It’s been over a month since my last ride and I can totally tell… I’m out of shape. I ended up going solo, but that was probably a good thing since I would have been embarrassed at how slow I was going at first, it took a little while to get back in it… not to mention I got my arse kicked on the root going up card, it had a huge hole dug out below the root and I hit it badly, the bike went straight up and leaned against the tree while I went flying backwards down the hill. Everything else on the rest of the ride felt pretty good.

Total trip ended up being 56 miles including road from/to my house.

Saw a few hunting camps, but not too many people on the road or trails. Richards had a ton of cows, it was pretty trampled, dusty, and cow pies were plenty… for how beautiful that trail is in the spring and early summer it’s been a little disappointing both this year and last around this time after all the cattle have their way with that valley :/

This ride will have to tide me over until next week, we’re headed to Oregon for the Labor Day weekend. After that make sure you give me a buzz if you’re putting a ride together!

Cows on Richards Hollow, this was one of the “better looking” sections.

This would have been tempting had it been a little hotter or earlier in the day!

Little rocky past the cliff spring going up to Dip Hollow.

Steel Hollow. Both steel and card were pretty grown over, be careful of the hidden logs and rocks!

Alisha and I got a babysitter early Saturday morning and went out for a quick ride on a real trail. I introduced her to Steel Hollow, one of my favorite nearby rides. There are a couple of switchbacks, a decent loose climb, a couple of logs and roots to hop, and a cliff to skirt. There were plenty of spots to push Alisha’s abilities, but not too hard that it would be discouraging. It is also a very beautiful canyon and fun to ride. Alisha took two tumbles off the trail, once on the way up, and once on the way down, within a few feet of each other. It was right below the cliff and she tried to put a foot down on the downhill side of the really tight trail and found out what it’s like to slide down the hill 20 feet before a tree stops you… she didn’t learn the first time and did the same thing going down, no fun…

I forgot both my camera and gps, so I don’t have any visual goodies to share, but take my word for it, it was a lot of fun and a perfect morning to ride.

p.s. I think I lost my license plate on this trail if anybody happens to see it :/