Trail Boss – JimBob
Riders – Spodedaddy
Loop ~ 76 miles
JimBob had a big day planned :
Deadwood Ridge , Steven’s Point ,White Hawk Basin , Lighting Ridge , Onion Creek , Scott Mountain LO , Nellie's Basin
He estimated a 60-65 mile loop. I packed extra food but thought I could make it on tank of gas.
We were on the bikes by 9:30.
100’s in the valley and high 90’s in the mountains . For the most part I hunkered down in the AC until
the heat wave broke, did a few day rides on the 950.
It took a few miles to transition back to the dirt bike. It felt like it had no mass and “it did something” when
you twisted the throttle. I stayed in 2nd gear until after the granite slab , then felt more comfortable in
3rd and 4th .
One of the views from Deadwood Ridge about ~ 2500-3000 feet above the river below.
Steven’s Point trail. I saw it on the IPR database and wanted to check it out.
Doesn’t get ridden that much, it’s over grown in spots . It was worth doing once.
Granite out cropping at end of trail . Views of the Deadwood and Nellies Basin it you climb on top of the
rocks.
On the trail next to the river from White Hawk Basin into the dam we started to encountered some traffic.
The first was a group of three. I stopped on flat spot and waved the last rider to go on by. When he was passing
he stalled , bobbled into me and almost knocked me over !
Past the bridge I was trying to catch up with JimBob and I came up on some hikers .
I locked up the brakes and washed out the front wheel right in front of them !
Laying on my side under the bike I told them “your not suppose to see that “.
The fellow laughed and helped me lift the bike.
Just after the hikers I met four other bikes.
JimBob said he and lead rider tattooed front tires in some bushes that created a blind spot.
Both fell over , JimBob thought we was going to slide into the river.
Lightning Ridge trail head .
JimBob doing the heavy lifting
Much of the trail is through a lush north facing canyon.
Lunch break .
Up to this point the trail had several technical spots through some side drainages, then it started the climb up to
the ridge line.
Cobby climb , not real steep but steeper than the photo looks.
I took the line on the right and while paddling high sided ,
really just dropping the bike when my down hill leg wasn’t long enough.
I had to walk it up to trail.
JimBob discovered a leak in a radiator hose.
I had smelled antifreeze through the slow stuff but didn’t think much of it.
We decided to turn around.
JimBob stopped at this small creek to add water to his radiator.
He dumped the gas from a small Gatorade bottle then used ~ 2 1/2 bottles to fill the radiator.
On the way back down Lightning.
We were almost to the ridge line when we decided to back track to
Scott Mountain Road.
On the road to Nellies Basin I hit reserve about the 55 mile mark.
On previous rides I hit reserve at 65-70 miles.
JimBob had another ~ 4-6 inches in his tank compared to me.
When I started Lightning I thought my gas looked good, but I must have
burned a lot more gas spinning the wheel through the technical sections
and then spilled some when I dropped my bike.
First time for both of us on Nellies . It seemed in better shape than Julie Creek but
would still be hard pull starting at the bottom.
Just as we dropped off the top we got into the backside of a rain storm. The rain itself
wasn’t bad but the wet bushes soaked you.
In order to conserve gas we were dead engine coasting when ever we could. The trick
for me was finding a comfortable speed that still had enough momentum to carry through
the flats and over the small inclines .
What complicated the task was finding neutral, most the time I had to be a dead stop .
Near the bottom on a flat piece of tread ( looked like a recent re-route ) I was trying to find neutral,
some reason fixated on a cut log and must have tapped the front brake. I took a header off the trail with a big loud
“FUUUUCK”. The bike stayed on the trail but I kept going & going, didn’t think I would stop on the slicked up
leaves and litter.
My view when I finally got on my feet .
It was a struggle but I climbed back to the trail. JimBob and I lifted the bike back up.
He suggested I go ahead and use the engine the rest of the way down.
I made it all the way back, 76 miles , without running out of gas ~ 20 miles on reserve !
JimBob never hit reserve.
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