Mon. Aug. 25th - Night Ride

[Nerdfrog]

Monday night, Aug. 25th
Erez - Honda CRF250X
JP - GasGas EC300
5:20pm-9:30pm (4h 10mins)
32.5 km at an average of 8 km/hr (including breaks)
weather: clear skies with the odd fluffy white clouds
trail conditions: damp with puddles - excellent!

Erez installed a brand new battery to put more pressure on his electric starter than on his right leg. It proved to be worth every penny invested.


Graveyard was wet but the mudholes very skirtable.


The old sign for switchblade with the knife drawn on it was found lying in the mud. We left it there and thought about how many riders it has seen pass under it over the years...
Some fun on Switchblade:


And the top of Switchblade:


After Switchblade, we took my favourite trail: Buddy's and carried up along Canterbury. We went a little too far (to the entrance of The Line!) and backtracked to do Wages of Sin. After a few good climbs over rockfaces and logs (Erez is a champ climber now!), it was time for a break.

A little resting at the top of Wages of Sin:


And then some celebrating:




We then followed the upper connector around. We were hoping to get to the lookout for sunset. We slogged over loose boulders, some slick rockfaces and endured a lot of face slapping. There were some week-old quad tracks up there and they had gotten rid of the largest branches accross the old road. We pushed passed the quad tracks until the overgrowth made progress impossible. We figured we had passed the Lookout and were going too far, besides, the sun had set and it was getting too dark to start blazing trail... or so we thought. It turns out, after looking at our GPS tracks, that we were only a short distance away from the top of Last Man Standing and the beginning of San Fran. What a disappointment.

With the fire in our bellies smothered, it was time to quench our thirst. We rode down the roads all the way to 20/20 and took the usual way out (wedgie, CII, Sandman) except for a little loop on Jack rabbit slim below wedgie by mistake... hey, I was getting tired...

The overview:

[Tom]

Hate to spoil your fun but would you please not ride up trails like Wages of Sin, especially when it is wet, because you just drill a huge rut up all the steep bits. I thought I mentioned this the last time I saw you on the mtn.
People see your post and then everyone and their friend rides up and then the trail is totally destroyed and beyond repair and then no one gets to ride it. Happy now?

[Nerdfrog]

Thanks for reminding me Tom. I'll stick to skidders and roads when going up from now on. I'll enjoy the steeper trails in downward fashion only, especially in the wet.

Showing steep ups in report = Invite to = Spinning rear = Deep hole = Ruined trail

Got it.

And no, I'm not happy now.

[Nerdfrog]

Here are some pics from previous night rides that were taken on my print-film camera... that's why they're posted late!

Jon and Erez getting ready


Tom and Cody planning the loop


Tom and Jon waiting for me


Grant enjoying a break


Grant enjoying the mud