2008-4-13 Black Dog Recon Ride Report
Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:20 am
I was supposed to head out with my bud Bill Johnston to do some recon for course routes, but all roads leading out of the Hood River Valley are STILL snowed in - oof! So I changed plans and headed out with my dirt bike with my bud Stevie Ray to meet Rocket Rick and did some A-course trail recon - what a blast! A few others joined us too: Julio, Steven, Jim, Dave. Check out how high we went - yep, that's where the dang snow level was - just under 2500 feet!
We started off the day with a couple riders getting snagged on some poles. Of course we waited till they got out of the hang up before we moved some of the poles out of the way.
Here's where we hit the snowline, right about 2500 feet. Jim falls to sleep.
This was Stevie Ray's first ride back in about a year due to surgery. Man, was he amped! (and riding good too!)
We came to a hill climb area called 'Rick's Hill' and this local guy on a clapped-out, old RM was there. Check out his bike! Rick stares in awe.
The RM Guy sizes up the hill. Then he ended up doing better than his buddies on newer rides! CLICK HERE to watch the video of his attempt at the hill!
Here's Stevie Ray and Steven bulldogging down a very gnarly trail. Yes, it was that steep.
Stevie Ray says, "We're going up that?" Nope.
We encountered some 4WDers along the way - nice folks.
Check out this awesome vista we encountered. Stevie Ray hams it up, while Rick and Steven debate.
We had a major blast even though we only did 16.8 miles, but it was almost all technical, single track! We're pretty stoked for the A-trail sections on the upcoming Dawg. Now if we can just get OUT of the darned valley!
CLICK HERE to see all the pix.
-Tom
We started off the day with a couple riders getting snagged on some poles. Of course we waited till they got out of the hang up before we moved some of the poles out of the way.
Here's where we hit the snowline, right about 2500 feet. Jim falls to sleep.
This was Stevie Ray's first ride back in about a year due to surgery. Man, was he amped! (and riding good too!)
We came to a hill climb area called 'Rick's Hill' and this local guy on a clapped-out, old RM was there. Check out his bike! Rick stares in awe.
The RM Guy sizes up the hill. Then he ended up doing better than his buddies on newer rides! CLICK HERE to watch the video of his attempt at the hill!
Here's Stevie Ray and Steven bulldogging down a very gnarly trail. Yes, it was that steep.
Stevie Ray says, "We're going up that?" Nope.
We encountered some 4WDers along the way - nice folks.
Check out this awesome vista we encountered. Stevie Ray hams it up, while Rick and Steven debate.
We had a major blast even though we only did 16.8 miles, but it was almost all technical, single track! We're pretty stoked for the A-trail sections on the upcoming Dawg. Now if we can just get OUT of the darned valley!
CLICK HERE to see all the pix.
-Tom