BBTR 2010

[Zoot 0]

I rode up Friday afternoon with my buddy Greg. Once we got registered we took Mike up on his offer and headed over to the house they had rented to wrench, grill and drink. I did it in the opposite order and skipped the wrenching completely

Lingering injuries ruined our idea of chasing the plaque but the fellas put together a nice track combining some of the fun hard stuff with some pretty easy routes. Day 1 was myself, Greg, Roger/Strega, Mike/Hoss, Ken, Larry, Forest and Dan.

We started the day and immediately hit the infamous Gold Mountain. We had talked a bit the night before about how ominous it can look when you roll up to it. You can judge for yourself.

After that, we rolled uphill through some more rocky stuff...Sensing a theme?

I call this pic "I'm glad I ride with friends." Larry had put a new piston in his 600 Beast and it wasn't always cooperative in starting.

This is a pretty cool pic of Strega beating this hill into submission. This was just heading out of the rock field of Gold Mtn.

John Bull is my favorite trail I've ridden there to date. Rolling hill climb with boulders tossed in for spice. Fantastic trail.

We avoided Devil's Hole after much debate. I can swim in the ocean if I need a water fix.

There is just no way to describe how beautiful it is up there. If you haven't done this ride you should put it on your bucket list. Here is a pic attempting to convey the scenery.

Later in the day we headed through a really cool tight trail that was as much an exercise in bushwhacking and body contortion as it was in motorcycle riding but the views were...way for it... beautiful. At least my punkin waited to overheat until I had made it through all of the tough stuff. It doesn't like to be man handled. I think I'm gonna buy a fan and be done.

From there it was down some really loose firewall and then an awesome bttw fast wide trails with jumps strategically placed for your cycling pleasure.

Dinner was good as usual and the bar tender made Jack and cokes as they should be. Mr. Daniels would be proud.

Jim made fun of my keen navigational skeelz. Hey I navigated all of day 2 and we didn't get lost...mostly North always up... pfffftttt

Day 2 started with the news that Mike had been up all night sick and the fellas at the house wouldn't be riding until aroun 10. Greg and I took off at around 8:30 and rode a nice leisurly pace though most of both loops until hunger over came us. We cut off about the last 20 miles so we could get back to San Diego at a decent time. I took s some pics but generally they're all just... wait for it... beautiful scenery looking much like this.

All of the pics I took can be found at http://gallery.me.com/garringtons#100073&a...k&view=grid

Let's see some more pics and stories!

[PastaPilot 17]

Thanks for the photos and write-up.

I missed another one due to work. I was waking up in Sun Valley, ID when you were kicking the trails into submission.

Once again, maybe next year.

[KTMrad 508]

Cool Boulder field...........I love rocks.

[Strega 0]

Let me start off by saying I SUCK at writing trip reports, I always forget stuff, and end up combining stuff that happened on day 2 with day 1, etc etc. So this is my best recollection of the weekend. I'm used to taking all the pics and carry'n the tools and Crawdaddy writing the reports...so please bear with me here...

Picked up the infamous Crawdaddy in Ramona at noon on Friday, got ourselves loaded in the truck and headed off for a hearty lunch at IN-N-OUT Burger (Hi Jarrett). After lunch, we got on the road and made it up the mountain and headed over to the place Mike (Hoss314) had rented for the weekend. We unloaded the bikes, stopped at the Conv Center for registration and GPS tracks, made a grocery store run, and met up with the rest of the boys stayin there. Ted (Zoot) and Greg made it over for dinner as we cooked up some BBQ Chicken, Burgers, and Ted/Greg tossed some Tri-Tip on the grill. We wouldn't know until the next morning that all the drippings from the grill had gone down through the floor boards on the balcony and all over Ken's bike....oops! Crawdaddy was over at the Conv Center doing GPS downloads with Gil til 9pm, in shorts, freezing his ass off (LOL). Jim, his wife, and Steve (Boat440) also made it over for some couch racing. Mike and I formulated a plan via laptop and manually altered the tracks to suit our desired route.

The next morning, Crawdaddy was off to the Conv Center to do GPS downloads as he was volunteering for the weekend, and he had to sweep section #2, I'm sure he'll have a report for his riding.

In the morning, we got on the road about 7am with 8 riders. Myself, Mike, Dan, Forrest, Ken, Larry, Ted, and Greg. Mike took the lead and I positioned myself in the sweep spot since we were radio'd and could keep in contact. Our plan for the day was to head North, the opposite direction of the rest of the ride, to go ride the afternoon hard sections in the morning so we wouldn't have to deal with tons of other riders and Jeeps. We headed over to Gold Mountain, then John Bull, then White Mountain, and then we took a cutoff South to avoid going to Devil's Hole. Just before the Gold Mountain Check Point, I saw a KTM go by while I was waiting on Larry to kick start his 600, and I recognized the rider, it was our own DigDug. I chased him down and he was stopped at the checkpoint, and we shared a hello. I knew Doug had to have been on a VERY solid pace, as only a couple of Hard Way riders had passed us. At that point, he was rider #8 at the check point. Just awesome. None of us were all that interested in a deep water crossing in the morning while it was still cool, so we cut South and back to town for Gas and food. Mike led us into the center of town to a little restaurant for burgers, beers, and sammiches. As usual, everyone on the side of the road looked at us like we were from outer space as we rolled up the street.

After lunch we hit the Southern tracks up and over the mountain and down the tree trail, down past Seven Oaks and back up to Highway 38. We skipped doing Onyx Summit in the afternoon as it would be hot, and nearly 10k feet. With a group of 8, our best option was to get everyone home in 1 pieces, no broken people or broken bikes. We got back to town, checked in at the Conv Center, and then back to the house to clean up for the big BBQ at the Conv Center at 7pm.

Dinner went well, sat with Jim, his wife, Randy (KTM530??), Ted, and Greg. I devoured my chicken and salad, then Ted brought over shots of Jack, uhm, yeah, thanks Ted...I think. Greg looked like he had enjoyed his beverages, so he and Ted didn't make it over to the house for drinks after the dinner. None of us really were interested in doing much other than sleep on Sat night. We all were in bed before 10pm. Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well at all either night, and was pretty wiped out on both days. Not sure what woke me up 30 times a night, but it made my body ache all day. I just drank a ton of water, had a couple granola bars and a Cliff Bar that Larry gave me, and I felt pretty good. The lingering shoulder injury was a pain, but I took some Advil and tried to ignore it.

Sunday we'd wake up to find Mike in a world of hurt. He'd been up all night and was sick as a dog. We were going to meet Ted and Greg at 8am at the Conv Center, but our timing was a bit off and we wanted to go get some food before we started our day. Chris had left early to meet DigDoug for breakfast at the LumberJack, and we pulled up just as they were leaving. Dan, Ken, Forrest and I had breakfast, and we brought a burrito back for Larry who was adjusting the valves on his XR600. He had just gotten the Wiseco Piston and rings in on Thursday, worked Thurs night and Friday into the dark getting it all dialed in. Right down to the wire with that bike, and did I mention it's kick only?? That would later turn out to be very sh!tty kicking that hot bike over in the ugly rocky sections.

I took the lead on Sunday with Dan riding sweep, so I got to breath some clean air after a full day of eating it from 7 other riders . We rode some of the 'easy' trails from Sat's ride in reverse, and looped around Baldwin Lake, then back to the house. Hit a fun little water crossing and I took some photos, you'll see those below. It was a good 70 miles of fire roads, single track, rocks, etc etc. Once back at the house we got packed up and headed home. I'm sure I'm missing some stuff and others can elaborate, but here are some pics.

Gold Mountain:

Gold Mountain: (Photo By: Zoot)

Big Bear Lake atop Gold Mtn:

The Tree Trail:

Dan, Ken, Strega, Larry, Forrest:

Ken:

All my pics can be viewed HERE

At breakfast on Sunday, I saw THIS on the menu, so I texted it to Mike/(Hoss314), to which he responded with THIS. He was deathly sick and I had to rib him a bit for not making it

[Bagstr 287]

Nice work on the bikes and with the photos / recap.

Appears the water is starting to lower some.

[hoss314 0]

Where to start?........Except, if you are reading the report and didn't go......You realllly missed out!

Friday Dan and I left Lakeside area to get up to Temecula to pick up Larry. We knew that he was still trying to get his bike put back together and were guessing how far along he was. That was one long week with tracking down parts etc. to get it together. He has really earned the title of "last minute, German helmet Larry"

Stopped and grabbed burritos on the way to his house, threw them down and got to wrenchen. In just under an hour we had it off the stand and runnin. Valves were a little loose, but that's better than tight. We decided to adjust them again later that evening. So we loaded up and hit the road. Finally got up to Big Bear and checked in to get the keys to the house. Ken and Forrest were already in town taking part of the local brew establishments getting an early start.

Good time hanging out with everybody Friday night! Lot's of good stories and laughs. I think that foosball table has seen better days

Same thing happened to me on Friday night......hardly any sleep. Decided to get up early and make some biscuits and gravy for body fuel on the trail. Unfortunately, I got to talking and instead of buscuits.....we had hockey pucks, gravy, sausage and eggs.

Finally, we were getting suited up to hit the trails that Roger and I had put together the night before. 8 riders....wow!

We started up Gold Mountain......

First little rock step up......(I learned that the right side is not the good side)

Made our way over to the Rock Garden

Is that steam coming out??

Wheew!

The only smart one to find a short cut....

Can't believe I missed the Kodak moment during the "where's waldo" search for the gray button

We then made our way up John Bull....

Unfortunately, Larry found himself in a bad position on this uphill....bike had stalled out and inseam is not long enough for an easy re-start.

one of the best pictures of the trip including an awesome dismount.......can you see what number Larry had on his front fender?

After the dismount and spin around on the hill.....here comes the SDAR crew to help out

Caught Zoot tip toe'n over for a look

Here comes Greg.....keeping the San Diego Adventure Walkers alive

Roger took an oopsy

Then decided to conquer the hill

Top of the hill for a snack, some water and photo op

Down the hill for some lunch before playing on the other side of the lake......

Our first downed tree........and the San Diego Adventure Walkers is brought back

How about another tree.....

Hard to tell if Greg was looking at his control panel.......or just tired and was Done with down trees

Great time up there and always a great time with fellow riders. This ride was one for the books!

Felt like a real jerk that I was wiped out and dead to the world Sunday. Could barely even stand for awhile. Haven't been sick like that in years.....must have been some food poisining....still not sure or near 100% yet. But, thanks for helping clean up the place before we left.

[Crawdaddy 96]

As Strega posted, we made our usual stop at the In & Out on our way up to Big Bear (it’s become a tradition to stop and eat there and also send cell pics to Jarrett since he’s stuck at Altus AFB )……we checked in at the house with the boys, had a beer, then Roger dropped me off at the convention center so I could help Gil download tracks……good thing I volunteered because he was there on his own……I stayed til ~9:30pm in shorts and flip flops and I was freezing……dumb :fool:

Left the house at ~5:30 Sat morning to go over and download tracks for the late arrivals on Friday night.......Gil split at 8 to go sweep the morning section and I stayed there downloading til ~10am.......I headed down to the Valero Gas station around noon and waited for the morning sweep team to arrive......they showed up around 1:15pm and then my partner, Mike, and I headed off to run mid hardway sweep (Gold Mountain to Devils Hole).........I didn’t snap any photos on Sat. since our mission was to keep moving and and we were also pulling down ribbon as we went......those guys put out a LOT of ribbon to mark the trails......Mike and I didn’t really encounter a whole lot of riders..........the serious plaque chasers were already well out in front……once we made it down to Devil’s Hole we were faced with the option of crossing the water or turning around and riding the single track in reverse (since no one was behind us and it was ~4:30pm) up to another single track that Mike knew of.......hmmm.......let me think about that......get soaked late in the afternoon or turn around and ride another ~20 miles of single track???? ……needless to say, we “didn’t” get wet and we rode a couple of cool single track trails ...........we got back to the convention center around 6pm.......I checked in/dropped off a tank bag FULL of ribbon, and then jetted for the house to shower…..

Reunited with everyone at the banquet on Sat night……BS’d with a whole bunch of folks that I see at these organized rides……

Got up early again on Sunday and headed over to meet Doug for breakfast........then we headed off on the Sunday tracks and also rode a couple of hardways.......the Sunday tracks were much better this year than in years past........not a boring ride at all with the hard ways thrown in the mix.......we also “explored a bit” .........snapped a few pics with Doug on Sunday.......

Looking down at Big Bear City/Big Bear lake Sunday morning:

We ran the Sunday loop over to Belly Ache Springs (~2 mile single track) and took a few customary photos…..

Lookout near the start of the single track:

First Tree:

Second Tree:

Lookout before rounding the bend down to the 3rd / final tree:

Here comes Doug:

Last tree:

Back to town for a gas top off before heading over to White Mtn……Looking back at White Mountain from the other side:

Taking a rest halfway up White Mtn:

A couple of stops as we made out way across Holcomb Valley:

Did they leave any hazard warning off that sign at the mine?

From the valley we made our way over towards Gold Mountain….we’d both been there/done that on Sat so we just pushed on to Jacoby Canyon……snapped one pick in the washout as we headed down:

Then we cut over to some blue rated trail in Crab Flats that’s part of the ride every year……snagged one photo to show the trail cutting back and forth along the hillside…..didn’t come out too great:

Once we got down to Baldwin Lake it was ~2pm……..we decided too bail since Doug had a BIG day on Sat and I knew we only had the cabin til ~2:30.......as stated above, fun Sunday loop.......much more fun than recent years......

Here's a link to D37 ride reports: http://www.district37ama.org/forums/showthread.php?t=38664

[Crawdaddy 96]

First little rock step up......(I learned that the right side is not the good side)

When we hit that step a guy was stuck/flailing in the middle of the step........that's ok, I didn't want to go there anyway.........my partner went right of the tree and partially looped it dropping his bike on the right side......that's Ok, I didn't want to go there either..........luckily Doug and I had pre-run Gold Mountain in late May to refresh our memories......the line is just left of the tree over the roots/rocks.......pin it/trust it......and whamo - you're up with no problems .......right around the next corner there's another set of rocks/steps......go "between" the two trees on the right in that section......

[hail 0]

Read the following realizing this was my first organized ride with "hard ways". Being a NUBE I didn't quite know what to expect. My main goal was to meet some folks from SDAR.

I wasn't able to ride Saturday but I'm not complaining after seeing the pictures of the "rock" section and the hill climbs. I could have walked it fine but the bike would have needed a different rider to make it through. I would have been an anchor on the rest of the crew.

I woke up early Sunday and rode up from Morongo Valley, past Pioneer town, and up Burns Canyon. Got there just in time to catch the gang. Unfortunately my only contact was Mike (Hoss). I called him and could tell as soon as he answered that something wasn't right. Poor guy sounded terrible. I didn't have any other phone numbers so I got the tracks for Sunday and took off. The first hard section gave me pause for the rest of the hard sections. I thought everything was hunky-dory until I encountered my first downed tree. I thought to myself "what the heck, they must have known about this"? I stared at that tree wondering what to do then laid the bike over and grunted/wrestled it through. Some smart guy had two more downed trees waiting on that trail. One of the lessons learned: leave the mirrors at home!

Not much else to report. Failed to make it up a hill on the second hard section - relegated to easy ways (what a looser). Almost failed to make a hill on an easy section - took three attempts! Took my time the rest of the day on the dirt roads. Enjoyed the weather, scenery, and the benefit of not eating dust. Headed back down to Pioneer town and met the wife for dinner at Pappy and Harriot's. Lucked out with two great bands. Woke up sore this morning - great ride, although I would have loved meeting you all. I'll get a chance on future rides.

(those mirrors came home bent and scratched!)

[Crawdaddy 96]

The first hard section gave me pause for the rest of the hard sections. I thought everything was hunky-dory until I encountered my first downed tree. I thought to myself "what the heck, they must have known about this"? I stared at that tree wondering what to do then laid the bike over and grunted/wrestled it through. Some smart guy had two more downed trees waiting on that trail. One of the lessons learned: leave the mirrors at home!

What's the point of having hardways if they aren't a little......hard .......sure, we could remove the trees........but then folks would have nothing to bitch about? ........trust me, a lot of trail maintenance was done.......the manzanita is usually so overgrown it rips the goggles off your helmet......

Don't leave'em at home.....just make sure they're "folding" mirrors not rigid "tree grabbers" that'll get ripped off/broiken...... glad you made it up.....

I fold my mirrors in as soon as we turn off road.........that said, I busted a "folding" mirror on Sunday.......Doug and I were.....well.......let's just say we were exploring a bit .......I nailed a tree "trunk" with my right bark buster and tumbled DOWN the hillside.....fortunately my mirrors were bent over.....unfortunately the left one twisted a bit in the manzanita and slammed against my GPS antenna ......bye-bye mirror :fool: .......the GPS antenna is loose but functional......just needs to be sealed up......

[PastaPilot 17]

After the sweltering heat from the ride up there with DigDug a few weeks ago I'm curious how high the afternoon temps were for you guys?

[robertaccio 406]

wow very nice!!! hmm got a year to get my new ds machine dialed in for that one.

did you guys all do the entire earn your plaque ride? thanks for the photos!!

[Joliet 0]

Where is Doug's report? Did you get a plaque? How long did it take. Did you have to do that rocky bypass that you had some trouble getting up last weekend? What was the most difficult part this year? How many got plaques? How did the Nublis system work out for you? Did you have any problems?

[Zoot 0]

Temperatures were ideal... High 70's tops.

[mctrails 38]

Good stuff, Guys! Thanks for the reports and pictures. Looking at that rock pile reminds me of the Erzberg video. You must be nuts to do that.

[ktm-licious 0]

Great report, I couldn't go on the ride do to work, but I was looking forward to checking out some cool pictures thanks.

I saw a lot more rocks than dirt, is that the majority of the ride?

[DigDug 0]

Where is Doug's report? Did you get a plaque? How long did it take. Did you have to do that rocky bypass that you had some trouble getting up last weekend? What was the most difficult part this year? How many got plaques? How did the Nublis system work out for you? Did you have any problems?

Sorry.. I left town for a trip on early Monday morning. Still haven't downloaded the photos - I'll have to do that when I get back.

Long story short - got the plaque - 10 hours on the trail (including 20 minutes before the first gas stop helping a rider change a tire - guy didn't have irons, spare tube, pump, or even a wrench). Lots of plaque earners, I think it was the easiest route they've put together that I've run. This was the year for you guys to go for it!!!

The guys put on a first class event as usual!

[hoss314 0]

I saw a lot more rocks than dirt, is that the majority of the ride?

There are lots of rocks in Big Bear.......But, there is lots of trees, dirt and beautiful scenery as well.

We ended up taking lots of pictures of the rock areas because of the time spent at the challenging rocks. The rest of the "stuff".....we kept moving and cameras did not pop out as often.

[Jim 0]

After hearing about what a great ride this was, I decided to go. Was contacted by Randy (RandyKTM530EXC) about riding together and since we were both fairly new to the sport, I thought it would be a good deal.

Drove up on Fri from El Centro and met up with Mike, Crawdaddy, Strega, Zoot and the crew at Mike's place after registering. As Randy and I were taking all easy all the time, I didn't need to stick around too late for the "which are the hardest of the hard ways so we can torture ourselves" discussion! After hearing about some of these famous locations, I decided I was happy to stick to the easy stuff.

Mounted up and headed out with Randy about 7:45 Saturday morning. Did a nice leisurely pace for the first 20 miles, then Randy led for a while and showed me what he's got!

Not too many pictures, as we were slow enough we didn't have time for pics!

Randy about 15 miles in:

Me about the same:

Randy in the middle of the southern loop on Sat:

Looking southwest toward LA:

Me and my dog named Spot (II):

On Sunday we got started about 8:00. We decided to take the afternoon loop first to avoid most of the traffic. Only saw about five riders the entire day.

Randy ran a little wide on the right hand turn, hit the rock, then hit the ground!:

We ended up having a great ride on Sunday, especially all the rocky parts! Cut part of the end off and decided to head back in order to get home! All I can say is that it was a great ride and look forward to trying some of those rock gardens next year!