Official sign up for the fall ride, Sept 17-20, 09

[The Yeti]

Random Yeti thoughts on the fall rally:

I think we found some great new trails this time around!  With some perfect places for the less adventurous to split off and take an easier route (not that there's anything wrong with that).  I especially enjoyed the single track excess and myself found late in the day on Saturday...I really want to explore more of that area (Silver City) when I'm not racing the sun.

The dust REALLY sucked!  Unless you happened to be lucky enough to be out front.  

NOT happy with the Fish n Fry...seriously, $19 per night, per person?!  Even with the small gesture on Saturday night with the wood and beer, I think we need to look for a new home base.  Also, with us always being based at FnF, we seem to ride a lot of the same trails over & over again.  I know it's been suggested before, but I really think we should try to camp in the southern hills next time around.

The quiche ROCKED!  Even though I'd already ate, and it was a day late.  

Fat Tire gives me a nasty hangover.

Jerry kicks ass on that KLR!

I really wanted to ride on Sunday, but I was very sore and tired...not the best combination for staying upright on the trail.  Call me a wuss, but I like to err on the side of caution.  

[plumber mike]

Awesome riding with you guys. You are all welcome to camp in our meadow anytime an can rie out of the backyard to the hill. The southern hills have alot to offer as well.Then I could actually get away an camp too. Old guys on less than ideal bikes show me that I don't need a Husaburg to have a blast(Even though I want one really bad ) I'm so impressed with everyones riding skills. What a good excuse to get out there and practice. Dave an Jerry need to pick a stage name and chime in on this site.Sure glad you guys came down, and I won't forget to keep those toes up .Sorry I missed you sunday morning
     To the guys who live closer,we need to cram in a few more rides before the snow falls.
I look forward to riding with you all again.

[The Yeti]

Here's my pics.  I got quite a bit of video, mostly of the powerline hill. I'll have to do some editing and upload it later.

[plumber mike]

Excess's Husaberg:



Makes me drool a little.

Makes my pants a little sticky

[loingrader]

i had a blast riding with everyone, new faces and familiar friends.  everytime i get out there i wonder why i don't do it more often.  glad there were no serious injuries to bikes or bodies and that everyone made it home in one piece.  

can't wait to do it again next year.  thanks guys.

-bret

i've got a couple pics and some video.

[loingrader]

short slab pic of the back of a tt500 at the hands of a skillful rider.


short hillclimb behind the gas station across from fish n fry.  excess, number 2 and i conquered this one.  camera gets nailed at the end


hillclimb attempt 1.  nice cameo by plumbermike at the end of this one.


hillclimb attempt 2.  another failure.  nice photography skills with the rotating camera mount on this one.


hillclimb attempt 3.  success.  kinda boring.


hillclimb attempt 4.  partial failure.  took a nosedive off the side of the trail.  somehow kept it upright and tractored back up.


clip of the singletrack that jason and chad and i went on after lunch saturday.

[Crazy Uncle Larry]

Hey guys!

Aaron/Number Two and I had a great time this weekend. You have no idea how bad I needed to go on that ride!!! Work and such was grinding the life out of me worse than a late-night Saturday Night face-sucking zombie attack!!!! Being able to ride with you guys and my son was Aces in my book. It just about don't get no better than that on a nice Fall day like we had on Saturday. You guys made us feel right at home and I certainly appreciated your tolerance of my ride since I was still getting some of the bugs out of her after her major surgery. What you might not realize is, just last week she was in pieces and we weren't sure if I would have a ride for the Fall Rally. I even called a guy who had a '85 XT350 in the paper to see if he might rent it to me in case mine wasn't done but he had already sold it. Aaron cinched up tight and put in some major long nights to make this happen for his ole Dad! I am one lucky guy!!! He got to my house outside of Rapid City at 11PM last Friday night. We unloaded the bikes and started to work on buttoning up the ole XT500. We put on the larger Malcom Smith tank, checked and double-checked the kick lever positioning and then had to take the cover off just once more to correct the oversight of leaving a part off and changed oil and filter since he did the moto-man break-in ride earlier Friday before he headed up to Rapid City. We loosened the axle nut and tightened up the chain and tightened the foot brake a smidgeon. Okay, maybe a smidgeon too much as when the bike went through those initial whoops on Saturday and the compression sag caused brake rod movement which in-turn caused the rear brake to engage at a most inopportune moment! Glad we diagnosed this so we could continue with the ride. Okay, so maybe it was more of a W-A-G {wild ass guess} than a diagnosis! Last of all, we installed a brand-spanking new Mikuni TM36-68 pumper carburetor before coming to the rally. Ain't nothing like waiting till the last minute to put a plan together! We got the carb on and unbelievably the ole gal started without a lot of fiddling around with the settings. In fact, except for the idle, we never touched the carb and ran it like it came out of the box. I rode her up and down the neighborhood at 3:30 AM Saturday, called it quits and got in bed at 4 AM. We got back up around 6:30 AM, started her once again, loaded everything up, gassed up and headed out to meet you guys at the Fish-N-Fry by 9AM. I am definitely going to have to see about some different tires though (maybe 606's). There were several times on Saturday afternoon in the gravel, the dirt, and the dust when I was attempting to haul up the rear and I would come into one of those quick 90 degree turns real hot and could feel the front tire hanging on the verge of disaster. You know, that point when either one more ounce of throttle or one more degree of lean is going to combine with the physics of speed+mass+inability to change your trajectory to a new and necessary life-saving course thereby creating one of those significant emotional events in your life!!! You know, kind of like when "excess" met the tree on Saturday morning! I swear, I haven't experienced that much butt-pucker since the time I let Aaron/Number Two talk me into kayaking down a Class 3+ section of the Poudre River (Ft. Collins, CO) at 1100cfs flow, with a serious U-shaped hydraulic rapid, a wicked set of 4' high wave-trains, along with a boat-bashing series of rock gardens!!! I wasn't regular after that trip for 2-3 days! At least I didn't wind up on the front grill of that Dodge pick-up during my wild dash to hang in there with you guys. I was more than happy about that!!! Yeti/Alan, I wish I could have hung with you guys for the remainder of the ride on Saturday but my kitchen pass was running out! I'm sure you and 'excess'/Austin had a great time and Aaron and I would have, too! We saw you guys on 385 headed back to the camp as we were hurrying back to Rapid City in the early evening traffic.

Thanks again guys for making us feel welcome! Glad you enjoyed the peach and apple crisps! And a special thank you to Bret and John/Ancient Mariner. Bret for not making me feel like a knuckle-head for holding him up when I had trouble early on and he was riding drag. Also to Bret for helping me get my ole XT back on her feet when I fell over on the powerline hill climb (better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all) and DANG! where did all that loose rock come from?!! John here's to you for checking on me again as you rode the Weestrom back down the trail to greater clearance and a more solid footing. Appreciated that. Lastly, thanks to Aaron/Number Two for riding back down the trail and helping me get the ole beast going in the right direction, forward, ever forward. You da man, dude!

To all the rest, Chad-Jason-N.D. Dave and Jerry and Plumber Mike (Dude, we will have to get together and check out some more of your Northern Hills trails)great to meet each and everyone of you! Hey, you guys remember when the South Dakota license plates used to say "Great Faces, Great Places!" I think that pretty well sums up Saturday for me!

Have a great Fall and Winter and here's hoping Santa brings each of you the bike/ride of your dreams!!! If you've already got it, then maybe he can just drop off some new tires and other bolt-on goodies for you!!! See you around!

Sidenote-Yeti/Alan, you been out Victoria Lake Road recently? What's with the huge parking lot out by the impromptu firing range? Or, is the USFS starting to set up the parking areas for the designated ride areas that we will be told about sometime in January 2010? Just wondering if you knew. Aaron and I took a small ride out to Pactola Basin to do some gold panning before he had to head back to Laramie on Sunday. We saw it on the way back to the house. Catch you later.

[fringefan]

I saw that to when I was out in the jeep. I assumed it was for the firing range so they could attempt to keep the shots in one place and maybe keep the shell casings there as well.

[The Yeti]

Sidenote-Yeti/Alan, you been out Victoria Lake Road recently? What's with the huge parking lot out by the impromptu firing range? Or, is the USFS starting to set up the parking areas for the designated ride areas that we will be told about sometime in January 2010? Just wondering if you knew. Aaron and I took a small ride out to Pactola Basin to do some gold panning before he had to head back to Laramie on Sunday. We saw it on the way back to the house. Catch you later.

I noticed that a few weeks ago. I have no idea 

[The Yeti]

Just a little music video I put together. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAoIyAFh4vk

[The Yeti]

Those are some cool videos, Bret. I actually like the reverse camera angle when your cam spun around. 

I really want to tackle that single track once my hand heals up.  Still can't straighten my pinky, or bend it, all the way....at least I can type now without too much pain.  My fall on Saturday kinda re-injured it...swelling was almost gone, now it's back to icing it at night.   

[plumber mike]

Thanks for the great videos guys. I'm so glad some of us have computer skills.

[Hank]

Those are good.   I like the one where the camera spins around too.. pretty funny stuff.

[fringefan]

The turns signal lens I found looks just like the ones that come on a KLR not mine because mine just don't break even if it is wedged against a tree.

[The Yeti]

The turns signal lens I found looks just like the ones that come on a KLR not mine because mine just don't break even if it is wedged against a tree.

Not mine.