The night prior, I had gone to the Emergency Room at 2am to try to get my right ear unplugged. I had inadvertently plugged my ear drum the day prior with ear plugs on a street ride with DaveR. Guess I had too much wax in my ear!
We met in Gold Hill at 9:30am and there was a total of 10 riders. WTF? That was a much bigger group than I had anticipated, but perhaps there was credence in "the more, the merrier". We got to the staging area and filled up the parking lot. In attendance were Neal Peters, Bob Tayson, Mike McBride, Randall Pinney (2015 OMRA 30X Champ), Ron Maddox, Jamie Wells (2015 ISDE Medalist), Josh Wells, Steve Degeyter, Zeke Degeyter (2015 OMRA Junior Expert Champ & AMA Western 65cc National Champ) and yours truly - a BIG group! I figured it would be a day of herding kittens. I couldn't have been further from the truth!
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-3X8Hwq8/0/X2/pano1-X2.jpg)
We started out in the fog and after the first ridge, Jamie had to stop and adjust her rear brake.
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-fzxv6cD/0/X2/IMG_3485-X2.jpg)
Shortly after that (per the video below), Zeke got a flat front tire. I shared my CO2 cartridges with his Dad in a feeble effort to fill it back up, but it must've been a permanent leak. His Dad, Steve, said they'd run with it and continued on with a flat front all day. Perseverance! After a few more ridges conquered, it was time for some steep climbs, which gave some people fits, but everyone eventually made it up.
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-sx3rVNP/0/X2/IMG_3492-X2.jpg)
Throughout the day there were some oddities and points of interest discovered like the ATV guy holding up the limbs for us to pass under out in the middle of nowhere (see video below), Ron's MRA logo on his trailwork, the hunting blind, and the shrine for Brian Soltis (his info here: http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20150822/OBITUARIES/150829895 ). I did not know Brian, but I hear he rode up there plenty. Rest in peace Brian.
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-c3b9wP8/0/O/Image2.jpg)
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-FXg6kDB/0/XL/Image4-XL.jpg)
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-TbN3Jsr/0/X2/IMG_3495-X2.jpg)
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-2f7vStk/0/X2/IMG_3502-X2.jpg)
At the end of the day, I was stoked since my right ear became unplugged, and Zeke was the shining star on his tiddler 85cc and flat, front tire! In fact, there were no slouches in the group and we all had a really good time!
-Tom
<--- Click the 'Vimeo' logo for a larger, HD viewing!
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-RM6GBKn/0/X2/IMG_3504-X2.jpg)
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-cWSKtcC/0/X2/IMG_3506-X2.jpg)
![Image](https://tawm.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/NW-Tour-and-Trail-Pictures/21316-Timber-Mtn-Ride-with-big/i-JrvDr4r/0/X2/profile-X2.jpg)