Trailsmen Poker Run Report (9/20)

[liv2day]

Been far too busy and haven't had a chance to get anything posted on a fun poker run we hit a few weeks back. I'm really glad this afternoon hasn't been too insane...lol.

Thanks to an email from my buddy JP and some creative calendar clearing at home (lol), I was able to throw the Gasser in the truck and bomb out for the Trailsmen poker run a few Sundays back. An email to the usual suspects and similar calendar clearing on their end netted us a merry band of 6 nutballs for the ride.





I arrived shortly after 8 and found I was one of the last guys there; off to the check-in line to get my number and then don gear. One of my buddies had recently acquired a big Katoom thumper for dual-sport needs and decided to see if said bike could pull double duty on the trails. More on that late, but suffice to say while pretty nimble, the bike isn't quite as manageable as his 2-fiddy



After some herding, the cats hit the check-in point and we rode off into the woods. I don't know the area that well and it's a good thing the Trailsmen crew did such a good job with marking. Outside of one missed section, due to far too much fun with the happy handle, we had no issues navigating our way through the course. Nothing was too tough and the layout of the course was fun, so good on the Trailsmen peeps.

[liv2day]

We finished early and after hanging in staging for a while, decided there was still plenty of time left to make our way to Lyda Camp. JP planned out a route and we headed off.

All was going according to plan until we tried to make it up the slick, rock strewn clay section of back-to-back bypass. JP made it the furthest as our other buddy did some acrobatics when his bike took a left at Albuquerque. Fortunately, I was at the bottom to watch this unfold and then embraced the wise decision to skip it.



We hit Chute and had a blast railing that, then hit Marianna's and were enjoying that until finding a rather large tree napping across the trail. JP captured a funny video of that debate. After discrediting a few creative ideas to make it to the other side, we hauled the bikes over the tree and kept going.





Our route back to staging included the section of back-to-back bypass that had caused us to tuck tails and turn around. I can see why making it all the way up would have been tough, going down that slippery sucker with baby-head sized rocks rolling around wasn't easy. Well before that, though, our buddy on his thumper decided to test the brush clearing skills of the big Katoom. Didn't get the name of the guys that stopped to help, but thanks to whoever you are - damn thing was a beast to haul up that 7' drop off the trail.

Logged 55 miles all in all and it was a great day on the bike and out in the woods. Thanks to the Trailsmen crew for putting on a fun ride, and even more thanks to JP for leading our sorry arses around.

Captured some video of the fun if you have time to waste, also a couple off-trail excursions. And if you'd like a laugh, check out the vid from JP on the log crossing (4th link).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYhYSv6dZ30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqEJwZEB3jM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO64lK6yWh8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf7vneqheYs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Vo46EF9KY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27XrS0baHRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCGp5243da4

[Thomas R]

Totaly awsom, I æive the wrong place

[Selvagem]

That climb in the 1st video, which starts at 3:38 must have been really cool!

[liv2day]

Thanks gents - was good fun