Coast Range Awesomeness...28-Mar-15 Report

[liv2day]

Hadn't thrown a leg over the Gasser in 6-weeks, so it was time to get out for a ride and remember how the throttle worked. I had a nice, shiny new shifter after making spaghetti of my old one and was excited to give it and the position change a test (more on that later). The plan was to meet the cast of usual characters at Cedar Creek staging at 9:00 and peel off 40-50 miles of fun.

Upon checking the radar first thing Saturday morning, I made a mental note to grab my rain jacket as there was a massive swath of green over the Pacific and it seemed to be slowly creeping eastward. The ever-so-accurate weatherman confirmed my brilliant radar deduction, so I went about packing up and getting ready to go. Of course, in my haste of getting ready, I completely forgot to grab my rain jacket. Good 'ole Murphy.

Arrived at Cedar Creek and there was some drizzle in the air, but nothing too bad. Most of the nutballs were there, so unloading commenced as did changing into gear. About the time I'm down to skivvy's, standing in my gear tote, the skies open up. Fortunately, one of the guys was kind enough to get my umbrella out of the truck; but ironically, not willing to stand there and hold it for me while finishing gearing up...go figure. A few of the folks were contemplating packing it up and heading back, but peer pressure forced 'em to wait as everyone said it would pass. And we lucked out...it did.







The rough idea for the day's rip was to head west and hit some of the trails at the very edge of the riding area, which was awesome as I'd never been on any of 'em. We bombed out of staging and started off on special test, which was sloppy and had a couple puddles that swallowed bikes. I also discovered that adjusting a shifter should be something done when you have a chance to ride around your house or staging, not as you're heading out for 40ish miles. The new position was great, but the shifter itself was just a wee bit short (same length as stock, but I didn't account for position change). Lots of unintended upshifts throughout the day and my calf still hasn't forgiven me. Better than being stuck without one though.

We bombed up Old Cedar Creek, over to the short section of Frankenstein (at least, I think so), and then on over to Reids Ridge. Had a great time running the various sections of Musial Ridge and wound our way over to BFR.

[liv2day]

Down BFR and then over to East Tower and Continental. Hadn't done any of these before and what a frickin' blast, tower was nice and open, Continental was tight, twisty, limited visibility...tons of fun. After a slight navigation issue and finding a dead end, we backtracked and hit BPA. Again, what an awesome set of single track and complete blast to ride.







Started heading back toward staging and decided to hit Musial Creek and others along the way. The root step after the bridge when you're heading "eastish" caught me out - the tree that the roots are attached to doesn't move...just be warned if you're going that way...lol. Had some struggles getting up the rutted section, but nothing too bad. We finished with that and kept heading back.

Along the way, someone had the idea to tackle one section of Cedar Ridge - the little hill climb bit that has a giant boulder at the exit/entrance. I completely fubard the first attempt, but made it the 2nd time and then enjoyed the view as our other compatriots ran it. Seemed to be in the air as once we were all up, a couple of Katooms (including a Freeride) ripped by, then a couple of other guys. Great fun watching 'em rip up the climb.



Several of the guys had to beat feet back to staging at this point, so some split off and we decided to keep going. Next on our list was ole Frankie - seriously one of the best trails in TSF (in my humble opinion). My buddy had a good off and nearly went down a ravine...but we didn't get any video of it . Same buddy also ended up hitting reserve, so he decided to call it a day when we hit Outback and headed back with another of the guys.

That left 3 of us, which was the perfect number to rip through Outback. Again, such an awesome trail...and even better with the slight re-route around the rutted downed tree area. Had a great time on that, then special test in reverse followed by a quick jaunt on Bungee road and back to staging.

All in all, logged just shy of 50 miles. Aside from severe calf fatigue from that goofy shifter, and soreness from proving gravity always wins, it was an epic day in the woods.



Tons of video to peruse if you need to waste some time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7kFttDaiX4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s560acJNt9g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NwPmug6FT0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlqfpgJDY9o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DD_2by_5Fk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyK7yifjloQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOLxtJE9EIE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQb0OCGbd0U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nglIP1-P_OY

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5hIV2TxRBo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZH27eM_nXs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z3I-v28oa4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3LrU3Nkmdw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR8gSnASzYE

[Jakobi]

Another top ride report. You've always got the goods Liv2. I need to stop and pull the camera more.. instead of stopping to change suspension settings.. hahah!