11/6 Midweek Dirt Ride

[Bucho]

Our noble band of riders along the trail

[juddspaintballs]

DAMN! I woulda slowed you all down big time. I'm not sure I'm good enough for that, nor would I have enjoyed kicking over a stalled KLR over and over.

[Bucho]

A few more pics from that last short gnarly trail that Sam and I did.


In the background you can make out the dirt road that we pulled off of. This how far we made it before starting to have trouble....

[Bucho]

Epic gnarlyness

[Bucho]

DAMN! I woulda slowed you all down big time. I'm not sure I'm good enough for that, nor would I have enjoyed kicking over a stalled KLR over and over.

Dont worry, we could have skipped some of that harder stuff. I didnt take pics of the easy stuff either.

[BigBird]

I's a good thing for me that BUCHO says this is a "no shame" trail to fall on - because I must have fallen at least a dozen times on this 0.3 miles of trail (that is labeled as 495 on one of the maps I down loaded).

I love rocks and have ridden quite a few tough trails but this one was about 2X as tough as any other I've done! I'd still be out there if BUCHO hadn't given me about a half dozen pushes or pulls when I got stopped - not to mention picking the bike up off me when I got trapped under it. At the top of the first climb, about 25" in, I got stopped and fell to the low side and tumbled down the rocks to end up about 10" below my bike.

My excuses are that the kludge of a LHRB set up I have on the Freeride I was riding in the earlier part of the ride (when we had all four of us along) sprung a leak. So I traded to my backup lowered 200 XCW for the later part of the ride - that this tough trail was on. The lowered 200 has about 4" less ground clearance than my Freeride so it kept getting caught on the VERY tall pointy rocks which would result in me stopping and often falling. Also we did the trail heading west - which is slightly UP hill and it was sprinkling so the rocks and leaves were wet! I'd like to try it again on the Freeride maybe heading east.

Bucho had a few problems as well but in almost every case where he got stopped he was able to use his skills, body english and strength to get moving again without a push! VERY IMPRESSIVE!

I know that Boom Boom would have had no trouble on this "trail" but I think even the Mighty Mike might have had to take a few dabs!

PS: As I said on one of my maps this 0.3 mile trail is labeled as 495 - BUT on the updated map they give you when you buy your permit this trail is MISSING - GONE! Wonder Why -
By the way it took me 34 minutes to cover this 0.3 miles (AVS 0.5 MPH)!
Also this little area is actually labeled as "Tackers Gap" on my Garmin TOPO so it must be the actual GAP.

PPS: HOWEVER I had a GREAT time and look forward to trying it again - next time on my Freeride?

THANKS AGAIN BUCHO!

[Rut Row]

thanks for the pics! I can go another 5-years before thinking I should go back to Taskers.

[Boom Boom]

Wow my head is swimming with all the trials sections that could be ridden along that section of trail.
Wet leaves and rocks along with sporting knob tires...don't know if you are my hero or you just bumped your head extra hard.
Any other sections like that .3 miles of hell?
Looks like you could spend all day "building skills" in that small area.
Ken your Montesa would have that trail for lunch....you just need to stay on the bike being the only challenge.
Where is this place located at..?

[Marylander]

Looks like y'all had fun. I haven't been back on 495 since getting the dirt bike out of storage a couple years ago although I've been to taskers quite a few times. I wonder what it'd be like on the kx250. Maybe we'll hit it on the 24th. Seems like it's not very far from the parking area. I'll have to bring some reading glasses so I can read the trail signs. ;)

[BigBird]

Boom Boom -

This riding area is a VA legal ORV trail system in the Edinburg Gap just above (east of) Edinburg VA. You buy a $5 day pass to ride it. Most of the trails (even the ones designated "ATV Most Difficult") aren't near as challenging as this little bitty one (but some of then do have LOTS of sharp sometimes loose rocks on them and most of them are wide enough to drive a jeep on. This one little section is by FAR the hardest trail there. It didn't help that this was at the end of a 5 hour riding day and that the OFG is still a little sore/tired from the Hammer Run...... ....