My 17-year-old nephew is a bicyclist through and through. He spends all his money tricking out any bike he gets, then he spends all his time out riding and doing tricks with his friends. It's been this way for years. I always tell him he should save up his money for a real bike (you know, one with an actual motor) but he never listens. I'd taken him out dirt riding a few years ago when his feet were small enough to find loaner boots for (he now wears a 13 ) but he had a really hard time on my CR125...surprise, surprise. The clutch was acting up as well, as if it isn't hard enough to ride a 125 2-stroke. I then took him out on a borrowed XR100 a year or so later. It was cold and raining and he was soaked through his raincoat and I think he was miserable even though he was having fun. He did really well, though, and he was keen to go again sometime. Well, that "sometime" came last Sunday at Middle Creek in the Mendocino National Forest. We could not have picked a better day... blazing sunshine, absolutely primo conditions and hardly no other riders on the trails. I chose Middle Creek because it is fun and scenic without anything gnarly, and it's not too far from my sister's house. I rode my KTM 450 and Garrett rode my GasGas. I was going to let him ride the 450 since he's 6' tall, but Eric reminded me that he was still just a 17-year-old boy that doesn't know what "be careful" means, so the GasGas it was. Good decision, as he was able to ride it everywhere I took him. He kept saying, "Man, I need a dirtbike..." and "Wow, this is so fun!" and stuff like that. Well, duh... He inherited my Mom's prized cherry red mid-70's Chevy diesel stepside pick-up truck when she passed away 15 months ago, and he mentioned a few times how "bitchin'" it would look with a dirtbike in the back. Hell, yeah, Garrett After the ride, we were sitting around camp and my sister and brother-in-law were asking stuff like how much it would cost to get him set up to ride, what kind of bikes they should be looking at for him, and stuff like that. I really hope he does it. It would be really fun to share my passion with a member of my family, and it would be cool to get my sister out in the woods more often, as well. We all had a great time together and I'm already trying to plan another outing for all of us Anyway, here we are heading out... About 5 miles into the ride I came to a puddle that looked exactly like the other 73 puddles we'd already ridden through, but no...this one was a bit different... The motor died right away, and I couldn't get it started with the button. I backed it up as far as I could on my own, then waited for Garrett to come help me as I didn't want to kickstart it through the water. This is as far as I got before he helped me... I got it started but had to use the choke as the motor got pretty cool sitting in the water. I forget how hard riding is when you're not used to it. Garrett is young and healthy and in good shape from riding bicycles all the time, but he was huffing and puffing every time we stopped. He emptied his 70oz Camelbak bladder after 21 miles. I had to fill it up before we went out on our last ride. Here we are resting at a trail junction... About those trail junctions: Every time we'd come to a parting of trails I'd look at the map and try to decide which would be the best route for us. I'd give Garrett a choice and he'd always say, "Well, which way is longer?" I'd say "That way is longer" and every time he'd respond with "Well, let's go that way then." I was totally diggin' his attitude Even at the end of the day when he was tired he still wanted the longer route. He is particularly fond of rocky uphills, too We were on an intermediate trail (blue square) and I stopped to warn Garrett about the dip in the apex of the turn. I stopped to tell him what to do, but being the loving and caring aunt that I am, I instead opted to take one for the team and show him what not to do... Okay, now it's Garrett's turn... Doh! He never even hit the ground! He very gracefully stepped off onto the downhill side and then turned around and walked right back to the bike. He's ready for more! Is this kid having a good time, or what? The two of us back at camp... Garrett and I went out for another ride with Eric and our buddy Dan. Eric led with a very sedate pace, I followed him, Garrett followed me and Dan brought up the rear with his helmet cam running. I'm looking forward to the footage. Garrett and Eric... Garrett and Dan... We did another 14 miles or so and then called it a day with a total of 35.88 miles showing on my ICO, all but about 1/2 mile of them real trails. Eric and Dan were both very impressed with Garrett's ability and willingness to do anything in front of him, and we all agreed that we were not doing that well ourselves on our first real trailrides. He rode very smart and controlled, and he listened to everything I told him. He even remembered some of the things I told him the last time we went for a ride. I'm guessing Garrett's lifetime of riding bicycles in the dirt is helping him, as he already has a feel for traction, balance, etc. I think he is a natural and he made his aunt very proud I'm really looking forward to taking him out riding again as soon as I can WoodsChick
Riding with friends is great...But riding with Family...well there is no better. What kind of bike do you think Garrett will get or should I say what kind of bike did you tell him to get...Better be a Huskys. Waiting for the vids. Thanx for sharing.
I suspect Garrett's going to learn the ropes real fast in that type of terrain....and with a good teacher too:ride: thanks for the great pictures BTW
Well, since we pretty much have one of each kind in our garage, we told him to just ride our stuff for awhile. I think he was disappointed he didn't get to ride the "big bike" as I think he was kind of liking the idea of riding the 450, but halfway through the day he was looking at the GasGas in a whole different light And you're right about riding with family; brings a whole different dynamic to the ride, for sure WoodsChick
Looks great. Wish we had some terrain like that close the house, around here (and by close, I mean within 60 miles). Nothing like some mud puddles to make everything right or at least messy and soaking wet.
Hey, I've seen some of the terrain you ride and it all looks pretty good to me! This place is 3 hours from our house. All our favorite places to ride are at least 3 hours away, no matter what direction we head in. We usually do 2-day rides to even out the drive:ride ratio. The only thing closer are the SVRAs which are compete zoos on the weekends. WoodsChick
Admittedly most of what I ride is between 50 (I guess I'm lucky to have something that close) and 110 miles away. After that, it's like you said about the driving to riding time ratio. When we drive 225 miles to Troy Meadows, we stay at least 3 days. The ride time should at least be longer than the combined to-and-from drive mileage, though, otherwise it's like going for a car drive with a little riding break in the middle of it.
It's a little different up here as 30 miles on the bike can take 8 hours and your shot. TECHNICAL and STEEP. I have many times driven 200-250 miles to ride 40-60 miles and have been super happy to do so...
We rode 50 miles in about 4 hours with one rest stop. (We skipped most of the black diamond trails.) Compared to the combined out and back trip on the road of two hours, it was worth it. We could never get the actual mileage on a dirt ride unless we were riding the desert. Can do 150 to 200 miles of riding per day in the desert (but not nearly as interesting or scenic as mountain riding.) Up at Arrowhead, a couple of years ago we split into two groups, hardways and easyways. I led easyways and we rode scenic trails (maybe 15 or 20 miles or so) to meet up at the junction where the hardways riders would make it back to the main trail. We got to that point in less than an hour. Hardways guys trail was between 8 and 9 miles long and it took them over two hours to get through that. I have ridden plenty of technical stuff, but not so much anymore, now that I'm older and don't have the same strength and energy that I once did. It's all good, though.
