2014 Altrider's Conserve the Ride

Evening Festivities

11/27/2014

The evening winds down lovely. The weather has been fab, and the pigs (yes 2!) have been smoking all day. Soon enough it's time to gorge ourselves again. A the food is so good, that our walking wounded from the day wander back to camp

Broke his shoulder and the local hospital couldn't set it.

Torn a hole in his throttle body boot

After dinner, some of the sponsors donate kitsch for an auction for SMCC. They raise around $1K. The campfire is lit and Jimmy Lewis has one more magic act up his sleeve.

He's going to swap out someone tire. These bead breakers are the best we've every seen

Then Jimmy turns into a little monkey standing all over that tire to keep it in the bead to spoon the new on. I think he did start to finish in under 10 mins, and probably 1/3 of that time if he wasn't talking to us.

All in all a fabulous day!

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Day 2: Cool Down

11/27/2014

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We returned to camp early in the afternoon. We are hoping to score a nice shower before the masses hit. I jump out of the shower and into the Cave. Yes, a cave that is 48F all year round. It was nice in there to cool off, and Altrider comped the entry!

Looking back on the entrance

Notice the slats in the doors? Those are so the bats can still winter here!

Lions Head made of Calcium

Columns forming

Even a Cave Loves Bacon

This chunk of calcium fell off the roof, then some goats hauled it so folks could touch it.

The cave has something like 11 rooms, 1/2 of which are viewable. They would need to use high explosives to open enough room to the other areas, but they risk collapsing the other rooms. And also, they are the only naturally formed cave in PA now.

Water droplets on the celing. The cave is closed in winter and it fills with water and freezes. And then the bats move in. Well, the only 60 bats remaining out of the former 4,000 that used to reside here. Apparently white nose disease has been really hard on them...however, this years batch is a bit up from last.

This was one of the largest of it's type...what type I cant really remember

Kinda of ominous

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Day 2 Afternoon

11/27/2014

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After a nice extended break, we are ready to depart lunch early. With only a few more alts ahead of us, the afternoon has a more relaxed pace. We stop for some happy snaps at the overlook. Certainly, the reason for the designator of 7 Mountains..

The last level 3 alt sure did have a lot to throw at us. First, it has a gate which is suppose to be designed to be open large enough for a snowmobile to enter in the winter. During the summer it has these deployable wings to only allow a motorcycle (not ATV) through. Except, the wide-assed BMWs needed to have the entire gates opened

But maybe we should have used that as an omen. The trail quickly becomes a single track, and perched on the side of a hill. Never fear, if you miss your line you'll be cradled by an 8 ft tall wire fence which appears to be used to keep Jurassic Park's velociraptor contained.

The trail is quite sporting with one blind descent and a quite steep up hill. The last 1/2 miles is covered in nicely spread finely rock grinds which ride as well as a bike in quick sand. With that we end the day with a quick cool down lap and back to camp.

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Raaaaa

11/27/2014

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To add just a bit to what Dana said about Jimmy Lewis; it was more than riding fast during the fast stuff and riding the slow stuff slow. He said that the really good riders actually ride the slow stuff slower than the slow riders so that they are in control and picking their lines rather than when in doubt gas it out" kind of mentality. In addition he said that the really fast riders are on the gas hard but when they brake they brake really hard as well, this helps with the overall average of being "Fast". So one of my take aways is practice the braking and know how hard you can brake and what the bike is going to do under hard braking conditions. After hearing him talk and explain different things in small easily understood words I am more convinced to take one of his classes. He even said that he has a lowered bike which would work for Dorito.

It's not that I want to win it's........I just hate getting passed so I want to hold them off as long as possible. It's inevitable that I will get passed as I am not really fast or good but I don't have to like it. Pretty funny picture though....Raaaaa

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Day 2 Late AM

11/27/2014

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Having conquered the first alt, we are really feeling our Wheaties! One of the fun things about the weekend, was it was sprinkled with knowledge. Last night, Jimmy Lewis was giving out one line advice, in an effort to curb undue enthusiasm. Basically, Jimmy was saying that the difference between great riders and ordinary riders is differential. He furthered to say that fast riders are not substantially faster, but their total range is. Meaning, they can ride slow stuff slower and fast stuff faster. So don't aim to be the fastest out there.

As we drop onto tarmac, Blaster is focused. He has this little monster inside that just.has.to.win.

God only knows what we are racing, but it wants the win. We gallop down options 2 and 3 with no issues. Congrats, we have won! We are only 90 mins early for lunch, and the third/fourth riders to arrive here.

The same folks that have been catering dinners are ferrying lunch out the half way point on the trek. Yes, more yummy food in the middle of BFE! Smoked salmon and chicken sandwiches.

Plenty of time to take happy snaps of later riders

Big Bear Pavilion has a nice pavilion, outhouse and the sound of falling water. Time to go investigate!

This poor KTM got tired in the parking area..

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Mmmmm.....which Option

11/20/2014

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We went to bed trying to decide if we would attempt the level 3 options. One thing that we’ve learned is that ratings are relative to the geographical area. With that, we decide to skip the first option (level 3) and complete the level 2 options. If we feel cheeky, we’ll catch the last level 3 option.

In normal kid waiting for Santa, Blaster has readied as one of the first groups to leave for the day. We head down the tarmac, two turns and within a few miles onto the first dirt. Not another 2 miles down the track, we get to signage for the first alternate.

The arrows clearly indicate that the “easy” path is straight, and those attempting death will turn left. Although, the signage conflicts with the GPS map. However, a human sign will always triumph the land of GPS’. With that the decision to head straight is reluctantly made.

Less than a few mins, we decide that we should at least go down the option. You know, when it gets bad “we can turn around”. We actually stop and make a u-turn…then another u-turn. Live to fight another day….or so we thought!
The track has gone from a nicely groomed fire road a bit unmaintained and over grown. There are many loose rocks, and now the trail begins losing elevation! While we certainly aren’t getting are butts handed to us, this is certainly a sporting trail. I can only imagine the carnage with those folks with street tires will be feeling. Probably nothing other than a boneyard of stacked bikes by 1000!

I am beginning to think that if is a level 1, then I won’t do any options today. Then it clicks…..this is the same situation as the Day11: A failed attempt in Giardarville! The human arrows were backwards---This is the level 3 alternate! At little less than 6 miles, and have navigated fine. Nary a fall…and the pucker factor was very rideable.

We have options 2 and 3 to complete before lunch…

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Pennsylvania Here We Come!

11/6/2014

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Bruce and I are still on the limited duty summer tour. As he's yet to restore his leave banks, we've decide the doodle the summer away on long weekends, instead of our normal 3 week gala event. This leaves us the good fortune of having a time slot to attend this event

http://www.altrider.com/conserve-the...-only/pid/1392

This was the third year that Altrider hosted it. And boy, was it fab! : While it was certainly a fun packed few days, we needed to ensure we got max bang for our buck. With that, I took Bruce captive on my little escapade. For those that have been on said escapades before, know that time is no essence when I am dreaming up tracks. My motto: Never too much track for too little time". So spritely early on Friday, we departed our humble adobe for Woodward, PA. For the sake of general directions, Woodward, PA is Northwest. My track heads south really, it was intentional to avoid the sprawl and crawl of summer time traffic, the track heading is south towards Fredericksburg.

Stone Fences and making big trees into little logs

Been here just last weekend on the Covered Cream Tour!

Ft Ritchie

From there, head out Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center/ High Point Special Facility (HPSF).

"The facility is a major relocation site for the highest level of civilian and military officials in case of national disaster, playing a major role in U.S. continuity of government (per the Continuity of Operations Plan)".

Mount Weather is the location of a control station for the FEMA National Radio System (FNARS), a high frequency radio system connecting most federal public safety agencies and U.S. military with most of the states Ironically, we've done the Mt Weather track a few times now, Tarmac Track Around Fredericksburg/Middleburg, VA. From Mt Weather, we jump onto the Trans Eastern Trail Track 09. We'd already done a good portion of it previously, but we rode it to the end.

By the time we pull into camp, it's a solid 13 hours later.

I think Blaster is onto my gamesmanship!

And so the story begins.

As we pull into Woodward Caves Campground. It's sits nicely tucked into the base of Bald Eagle State Forest. The weather is absolutely fab, low humidity, very comfortable mercury and few mosquitos to be had.

Being late to picking's for campspots, we end up under this old pine tree. It proceeded to wick water on us all weekend long. At first, it pelted me I thought it might be sap. Nope, it was water and I was grateful for the nice swamp cooler effect it was providing!

You can actually see it's tree buddy rain too!

I have to give it to altrider, they gave it quarters for the pay showers, they paid the admission to the Cave, they had munchies at every turn, and plenty of liquid to boot (even top shelf liquor ).

Our sponsors for the weekend:

We had 5 meals catered by this joint. The proprietor is a rider himself, and certainly a foodie! Was probably the best grub I've ever had at one of these shindigs!

The evening ends with a nice over view of the tracks for Sat. The main track is described as Level 1, fire roads/street tires fine. Level 2 knobbies required. Level 3. "The SMCC speaker describes himself as a AA Enduro Rider. I don't even like taking my bike down these tracks, but trust me, I am sure ya'll will give it a go anyhow".

There are 7 alternates. Two level 3s (one of which is right at the start) and the rest level 2s. Bruce and I hum and haw on what we should do. Certainly the levels 2, but yet we do have a hankering for the level 3s....

With formalities aside, we end the evening with a pictures show from Peru. He did the expedition with a group, and it was fun to hear the highs and lows of group expedition.

With daylight gone...time for the kegs to empty around the fire.

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Evening Festivities

Day 2: Cool Down

Day 2 Afternoon

Raaaaa

Day 2 Late AM

Mmmmm.....which Option

Pennsylvania Here We Come!

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