Spring Rip in the Oregon Coast Range

[liv2day]

Spring riding in the Tillamook State Forest (aka Oregon coast range) doesn't get much better than this past Saturday; what an amazing day to be out in the woods enjoying the trails. I hadn't been out on the Gasser for a couple months and the last ride was a slop fest in the rain out of Diamond Mill. While that was still fun, there's nothing like getting to rip around with a great group of hooligans under blue skies and sunshine.

Before jumping into the report, I want to throw out a short review of the new Kenda hybrid tire I recently spooned onto the little GG. A bunch of buddies have been talking about trials tires and how well they work and after using the last knobby I had sitting in the garage, I figured what the heck. Although I only have one ride on it thus far, I'm 100% sold. The difference in feel (as compared to a knob) takes some getting used to, but holy carp the thing gripped like crazy and made rocks, roots, slick clay, and everything else a complete breeze. I noticed the difference right off the bat going up the new section of Log Jam, one of our guys had to back down after a jam on the switchback as he was on a knob. Not the GG, I feathered the clutch and made my way up the slick slope without issue. The tire performed awesome throughout the ride and about the only drawback I found was braking wasn't quite as solid compared to a knob. It still stops plenty well, but doesn't seem to offer the same amount of stopping power. I'll be putting this tire on my bike from here on out; like a buddy says, it really is like cheating...lol.

So, back to the ride report. The plan was to meet at Lyda camp and head out for a 55-60 mile loop that would take us toward Jordan Creek and loop us back on a whole bunch of trails; some of which I'd never ridden. I was a few minutes late to staging, glad the guys waited for me . Unloaded and geared up and immediately headed up the new section of Log Jam (which is a great way to avoid a bunch of logging road time).





We blitzed up that and then started making our way through sections of Hogsback and Firebreak Five (at least, I think so). It was nice to just follow the leader and not have to worry about navigating, only issue was I didn't pay attention to the trails...lol. Pretty crazy to see snow in parts of the forest, I figured it would have been too warm of late for that to hang around, but it's still there. I know it made going down 7-Up interesting, that's one section where the Kenda didn't do anything but slip-n-slide the whole time...lol.



Not sure how we ended up on this plateau, but it was a great place to stop for a break and check out the views.

[liv2day]

We hit some single track that I hadn't been on before and it was simply awesome. I thought it was going to drop us down near Jordan Creek, but we wound up at the top of Archers and had a blast running that down to Spaur Creek for a lunch break.

Some shots along the way.







And some shots from lunch.





Finished lunch and ripped Spaur Creek - watch out for deep puddles! Rather than head back up Archers, we took the road and then started another few sections of stuff I wasn't very familiar with. I think we hit Buckup as we were making our way back toward Lyda, also hit Chainbreaker, but I think that was on the way there...lol. I know we took sections of the Payne trail and that was great, nothing like riding through that clear cut section on a day where you can see for miles, kind of tough to keep your eyes on where you need to go...lol.

[liv2day]

Ample & Aluring was a new one and then we did another unknown trail that was a ton of fun until a damn tree branch tried to yank my head off (actually my fault because of wearing the GoPro). Said branch did end up tearing the GP off the top of my helmet. I owe big thanks to a couple of the guys that helped me search, goofy camera took a long tumble down a steep slope and I thought it was gone for sure. You'll see it in the video (Unknown Single Track), but we walk by the stoopid thing 5 or 6 times. It just caught my eye as I was heading back up to the trail, which was fortunate as it was the end of the day and there was some good footage on it.

Once going again, we hit a fantastic bypass to the silly rock climb and then made our way over to Lyda Bypass as the last trail of the day. Not sure why I like Lyda Bypass so much, but it's a great trail that flows wonderfully. We hit the road and bombed back to staging, racking up close to 56 miles for the day and 0 problems (aside from the errant GoPro taking a journey into the forest). Big thanks to the guys for such an awesome ride - can't wait to do it again.

I'll get another post together with the video - there's plenty

[rubber Jonny]

Looks good, I want a go !!!!!!

[Moto7man]

Originally Posted by rubber Jonny

Looks good, I want a go !!!!!!

Me too!!!!!

[liv2day]

Originally Posted by rubber Jonny

Looks good, I want a go !!!!!!

Originally Posted by Moto7man

Me too!!!!!

You guys ever find yourself in this neck of the woods, just give me a heads-up and I'll be sure to find time to show you around

Here's a bunch of video from the day; most of the vids are 4-5 mins in length if you feel like watching.

First up is the new section of Log Jam, entrance to this is just above the Lyda "campground", where the road Ys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLh7u2z8_no

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNUuIePb44I

Next is a splice of different sections playing in the rock, picked the wrong line during one jaunt and my bike decided to eject me to the left. Glad revival was there to witness it...lol. Also captured one of the GATRCs picking a poor time to stall his bike on the last climb up a rock face :twisted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV39oGusnV0

Quick rip up Chainbreaker below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhbdJFGGqmQ

Not sure what the name of this trail is, but it was a ton of fun - great flowing section of single track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ekZyrXG4Lo

Ran down Archers and then took Jordan Creek trail, had fun chasing one of the GATRCs and some of the baby heads he moved into the trail for me to navigate around...lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1T-u8sEXvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIXLJQr7TBY

Think this was running Buckup, but don't know for sure. I think we hit this before heading onto sections of Payne, but don't remember exactly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om_22EyLOcA

Lots of fun running these sections of Payne.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU8BQfKX_fA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKF1y_VSdvE

These next three vids highlight one of the best trails of the day, truly great section of single track I thoroughly enjoyed. So cool that we have access to this type of stuff, other folks riding out there need to take care of these bits when they find 'em.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnVQG4h5wi8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vu6VaNY9goU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQqipn53McE

This is the last recorded trail, the one with the nasty tree branch that ripped my GoPro off and caused tired guys in full gear to hike up and down a steep slope looking for the stoopid thing. If you watch the video, you'll see how fast a small camera like this can get going when flicked down an embankment. And I included the footage it recorded of us walking by it a bunch of times...lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn6Kht8T3Cs

Enjoy

[VxZeroKnots]

I made a trip out there last spring from Colorado. It was absolutely epic. Highly recommend, be sure to take a GPS with the trails on it though, the place is a total maze.

Thanks for posting!

[Rick]

EPIC!!!! Nice report!

[gasgasxc]

Looks like you've turned that GasGas 200 into a trials bike.
Low geared lots of traction.