THE BLACK DAWG 2002

Trillium Lake and Mount Hood.

INTRO: Here is my account of the 2002 Black Dog Dualsport Event.

The Black Dog dualsport is a 2 day, and 1 night
event. Which is held in the Mount Hood National Forest, here in Oregon. The event is one of the biggest and best that Oregon has to offer. This year there were riders from all over the country, California, Utah, Nevada, Washington and Kentucky, to name a few. The event is always well attended, and this year was no acception, with something in the region of 190 riders present.

At last, Friday the 12th of July has arrived, and its time for the Black Dog. Kimberly (my wife) and I, rushed around, loading up the bikes and making sure we hadn't forgotten anything for our 3 day trip on the mountain. After a 2 hour drive from Salem OR, we pull into Mt Hood Village (camping site complex) around 4pm and set up camp. Things are already starting to buzz, and riders are catching up with old friends and sharing their stories of past events.

 

John K. and Bryan T.

The evening ride is a short one, but still, its fun and offers those of us that need our dualsporting fix a chance to get out there, and do a little riding with a slight twist in the dark of the night. The course is basically pavement to gravel from the campsite to Trillium Lake, and the awesome view of Mt Hood.
 

Trillium Lake

From Trillium Lake, its gravel to pavement, up to the Ski Bowl, here you are given the option of either continuing on pavement up to Ski Bowl Lodge, or taking the "A" section up to Cliffhanger.

CliffHanger

The section up to Cliffhanger, was kinda tricky, ruts, rocks, and a couple of switchbacks, but nothing to daunting, however going down was a different matter as it was dark, and trying to pick your way through the rocks made for a few hair raising moments for me.

Lodge Parking Lot

Then it was onto the Lodge for a well earned rest, and an ice cold beer, and little bit of chit chatting before leaving to go back down to camp, where the riders that did the night ride, let those that didn't do it, know all about what a great ride they missed out on.

DAY TWO

The Gathering of the Dawgs

OK, let the fun begin, sign up was at 6:00am Saturday morning, the pre-ride talk was at 7:00am, and riders were allowed to leave at 7:30.
I had teamed up with Bryan T. riding his KLR650, and Jim L, riding his XT350, while I was on my DR350. We are all "B" course riders, and were looking foward to what this years Black Dog had to offer.

Well not before too long we were out on the course and having a good old time flicking up the dirt and trying to leave our images in the dust clouds that the previous riders had stirred up. We soon reach our first techincal section that runs along and under some power lines. A fun piece of two track with a few small creek crossings and some fair sized rocks thrown in, along with some whip lash branches, as your brush by them.

Power line trail

What does he mean look good for the camera ? .. I dunno

Last year I had rode this part of the course on my KLR650, but this year I was on my DR350, it was much easier with a lighter bike. Bryan T, however was working up a real sweat on his KLR, and as for Jim L, well he's a 62 year old guy that can ride with the best of them, and he had no problems on his XT350, in fact, Bryan and I, were having a hard time trying to keep up with the ole fox.

Bryan on his KLR, and my DR

From here, the course takes the "B" riders along some easy going gravel roads, through the forest, with many a scenic view, for those of us that enjoy taking photos.

Mt Hood, through the trees

That last photo was the calm before the storm, as the next technical section was a scary piece of down hill single track, with the olibatory rocks, rocks and more rocks, but these rocks weren't any ordinary rocks, these ones MOVED all by themselves. I was clutching it down, and just watching as they rolled straight into my ride line. I have no idea how Bryan rode his KLR down there, but he did, so kudos to him. I on the other hand, had decided to bulldog my bike down the worst part of it, and it was just at that point, 3 riders went flying past me, "Oh Great" I thought to myself, thats all I need is for people to know I had to dismount and walk my bike down a "B" section. I quickly checked their state tags, and they all read "Washington State" .... "phew", that meant none of them knew me ... I was saved :-) .... crisis averted, I continued down the hill, but only to find these riders, all with their heads bowed down, were they all checking their roll charts ? ... Or were they just simply praying, and giving thanks for making it down in one piece.

Chapel of Praise

On to the first check point we rode, here I found Kim (my wife), riding her Super Sherpa with Eric on his KDX, they were doing the "C" section, but I felt kinda bad, that I wasn't riding with her, so decided to leave Jim and Bryan and hook up with Kim and Eric. After the check point, we reached a favorite ride of mine, that runs along the side of a acaduct, this is mainly all hard packed dirt with some loose sandy bits in along the way, a real blast to ride.

Disaster Strikes !!!!

Kim, while doing a sharp turn, hits a rock and loses it, sending her over the handle bars and down an embankment, hitting a metal water pipe, before landing in a stream. ... To cut a long story short, she is ok, but pretty beaten up, nothing serious, some bruises a few knicks and cuts, and a sore shoulder, but I have to hand it to her, she wouldn't quit and insisted on finishing the ride. WAY TO GO HUN.

Aquaduct trail

Connecting trail

Once calm had been restored, the 3 of us Kim, Eric and myself, rode the rest of the ride at a safe and easy pace taking in the views and just enjoying the day.

Eric and Kim.

Kim Strikes it BIG, in the awards. Well after taking such a beating and only having scars to show after a days riding, Kim comes out nearly on top for the One Day Eventers (Saturday), by taking the 2nd place trophy, and winning a free 1 hour massage, "Now theres justice for you" ......

Kim holding her trophy high

Sunday morning arrives way too quickly ... and as the horn is sounded for the riders meeting, you can hear a moan echo around the campsite, as the folks pull their tired and weary bodies out from their place of slumber. This being the last day Tom Niemela (Oregons Dualsporting Guru & Event organizer) sooths us with the words "Today is going to be a lot easier" ..... Well that seemed to do the job and we were all once again wide eyed and ready to take on the Black Dawg.



 

Connecting trail

"B" course switch back

Well today was to be full of emotional highs and lows for me. Out of the two guys I was riding with, one of them was going to end up with three broken bones, and the other one did something that made me want to break a couple of his bones, ... READ ON ...

Running along a slightly over grown "B" trail, Bryan T, manages to jam his right foot in between a rock and his foot peg, resulting in him recieving three broken toes for his efforts "OUCH !!!!" ...
There something very un-nerving about hearing a man cry out in pain, especially when theres very little you can do to help the guy. Bryan realizing the situation he's in, gets back on his KLR and rides the rest of the trail out of the forest to the next check point. I got to hand it to him, there are very few people that could or would have done that. So he gets my vote for being one tough son of a gun. .... Later found out that after resting a while at the check point, Bryan once again got back on his KLR and rode himself to a hospital, pretty amazing really. ... Heal quickly old friend, we need you back out there, showing us wimpy folks what real men do.



 

Main Route

Now down to just Jim, and I, we leave check point one, and head out to try and finish the first half of the Sunday course. Jim's riding point, and I'm following along in the rear and not really looking at my roll chart as I've ridden with Jim before, and he's usually pretty good at working out where we are and where we need to be going next. Major Mistake on my behalf, I follow the old fox up a trail, and begin to notice thats theres something missing, ... "mainly the trail" .. everything else is there, rocks, ruts, bushes, down trees and anything else you'd expect to find in the forest, but theres no where to ride ... by now we are too deep into the section to turn around, and so I sucked it up, and tried my best to follow Jim's tail light through the dust. ... we reach a right hand turn and things begin to flatten out a bit. Thank goodness, I think to myself, and just as I'm begining to relax we ride into an "A" course riders dream, and a "B" course riders worse nightmare. .... This thing went up, not a gradual up, or a short up, .. but an UP !!!! it was covered in rocks and tree roots, like it needed to be any worse ... about a thrid of the way up the hill Jim, comes to a stop, I'm like having a nervous breakdown behind him trying to work out why he's stopping, ... then I look up to the top of the hill, and it was UGLY, riders were boucing around up there, and they were no longer attached to their bikes. The so called trail ran right into a downed tree, and there was a sharp left turn riders were suppose to take to get around it, obviously quite a few folks missed that turn, and some even left little bits of their bikes up there as a momento to warn approching riders. (blinker lenses etc)

Well once the carnage had cleared up top, Jim, yells out, come up and stick to the left, .... Oh I'm gonna come up alright, and when I get my hands around your neck, your gonna know how a turkey feels on "Thanks Giving Day" :-) .... Well he must of known I wasn't a happy camper, as he was gone before I could reach him.
 

"A" course trail

Well once off the "A" section, we make up and I forgive him for nearly making me an endangered species.

Back on the road, we move along at a good pace until we reach the lunch stop.

DR350

Lunch stop parking lot

After lunch we are treated to riding along the "Old Barlow Road", this is a first class un-maintained dualsporting road in my opinion, you can go as slow as like and enjoy the views and points of interest, or you can knock it up a gear, and put yourself to the test .. Theres plenty there for all types of dualsporters to enjoy.
 

Old Barlow Road

Time had run its course, and this years Black Dog came to an end way too quickly for me. As we began to arrive back at Mt Hood Village, I could only but wish that Bryan, had been there to finish the course, and that Jim , had stayed in Eugene :-) ... (Do I sound like, I'm gonna get him back for that "A" secion ? ) ..
 

Lt Dan, and Lauren

This had been another excellent event, with great trails, fantastic views, and lots of fun for all to enjoy. The amount of work that goes into putting on an event like this is immense, and the ride organizers, are to be, and should be complimented on their under takings.

If you have any questions or comments about this webpage, please feel free to e-mail me at :
Imperial-4776@webtv.net
Thanks for reading
Dave B.