Fun and Crashes at Gorman

[Yeti 0]

Went up to Gorman yesterday with my buddy Dave and we were later joined by the third Amigo, Mike aka "Captain Safety."

I rode over to Dave's on the XR about 6am. We loaded my bike and his new KTM 530 on the trailer and hit the road. I'd never ridden at Gorman so I had no idea what to expect.

Dave and I hit the trails and rode for a couple of hours. We started from the Lane Ranch campground and rode the Pronghorn Trail out to Powerline and then back via the Freeman Trail. The weather was perfect, upper 60's and clear. This is from a viewpoint on the Pronghorn:

And then Dave on Powerline:

Mike joined us at about 12:30 and we headed out for a long, fast afternoon. We again took Pronghorn out to Powerline but then took the Cow Trail across, then Mesa Trail to Lower Brome. Lower Brome has got to be one of my favorite trails of all time. :hunter: However, toward the end of the trail Mike's throttle cable hung up on his upper tripple clamp just as he was cresting a hill. He went down hard going fairly fast, leaving a 15' long gouge in the trail from either his hand guard or footpeg. Luckily, he was fully geared up so he was just bruised and his bike only got scraped up. We decided to catch our breath:

At that point I sort of lost track of all the trails we hit. I know we went to this insane hill climb near a campground. Mike blazed up it:

We had been riding for about 3 hours without really stopping when my front wheel washed out going over some sandy whoops at about 25 mph. I got thrown down and did a face plant right into a hay bale at the side of the trail. The crash really messed up my left thumb and my neck is KILLING me today. And that's with a couple Vicodin on board. I was way behind Dave and Mike as I had stopped to close my tank bag. Luckily we were all wearing Chatterboxes so I was able to call them back to help me get the bike out of the bushes. A guy who came up behind me beat them to it and I was back on my feet (sort of) by the time they got back. So no pictures!!

We then slowly rode back to the campground, just in time for sunset over the mountains:

All in all, an awesome day of riding! I love Gorman and only wish it were closer. The drive back through Smog Angeles Traffic sucked big time!

I have to say though, the crash really shook me up. As I was going down I knew my head was gonna smack the hay bale. I turned so I'd hit with the front of my helmet (coach always taught us to look at what we were going to hit) but I know I'm lucky I didn't more seriously F up my neck. I bought a Leatt brace today and will not ride without it again.

[tntmo 896]

I've never been to Gorman before but hope to make it some day. Nice write up and glad that you are okay. Let me know how that Leatt brace works, after having a buddy suffer a paralyzing crash I've been interested in some kind of neck/spinal protection.

[Yeti 0]

I've never been to Gorman before but hope to make it some day. Nice write up and glad that you are okay. Let me know how that Leatt brace works, after having a buddy suffer a paralyzing crash I've been interested in some kind of neck/spinal protection.

Thanks! The only downside I can see (so far) to the Leatt brace is that it wouldn't work right with my A-stars bionic suit. But it works fine with my regular roost guard so I'll just wear that until I can figure out something better. My friend Dave has worn his for about four months now and swears that he doesn't even notice it's there and won't ever ride without it. You can see it in the second and third pictures above.