A Halloween trail ride in the mountains

 

Scott a rabid trail riding friend of mine thought it would be fun to put on a trail ride for a few of his friends and fellow woods riders. So with some help over the course of a few weekends laid out a couple of loops in the woods in the Tahoe National Forest. Trails developed years and years ago by other rabid trail riders and maintained today by the forest service and rabid woods riders.

This trail system is known for its very tight technical trails. Not a whole lot of huge elevation changes but expect 2^nd and 3^rd gear riding. This kind of riding is not for everyone. If you put 30 miles on in these trails you’ve spent part of a day. On a good day if I’m lucky I can average maybe 14 mph. There are of course riders who can average higher than that, but I’d say the vast majority of us are less than 14 mph. On a bad day it can be really ugly and I’ve had my share of those. I’d say most of Scott’s friends like this kind of riding.

This was the second year Scott put on this ride. This year’s theme was Halloween and the main camp site reflected that. I couldn’t count all the ghosts and goblins, spider webs, lights and things that go bump in the night that were hanging around. This is not an organized event so riders could start the two daytime loops anytime they wished. The night ride did start at 7PM and they did take names so they could account for everyone at the end. People started showing up as early as Thursday, however the official ride didn’t start until after a riders meeting Saturday morning. Scott reminded everyone that the trails were open to anyone so you needed to be on the lookout for other riders. There were no incidents to my knowledge.

There were two courses laid out the blue ribbon course consisted of fifteen miles and most riders said it felt like twenty five to thirty miles. The yellow course was ten miles and at the half way point stopped at an overlook that looked out at Bowmen and Spalding lakes and if you knew where to look North Star. The yellow course was also used for the night ride and it was recommended that everyone who planned to ride at night ride the yellow loop during the day as there were some off camber down hills that could make you pucker up a little, better to these in the day light first.

Saturday night before the night ride there was a big pot luck dinner and a raffle. As with most pot lucks the food was plentiful, varied and delicious. There were a lot of people who donated raffle prizes and the main real reason for the raffle was to help pay for the out houses that were provided. Scott had some great stuff to give away. One guy won a rear tire and latter on won a front tire, it doesn’t get better than that.

After dinner and the raffle Scott introduced Paul who is the ranger for that area. Paul is an avid rider and advocate for more, better trails. In fact he had just returned from a Dual Sport ride that started in Downieville, CA to Idaho and back, that’s a real enthusiast. We are very lucky to have a Ranger like Paul; a lot of areas now have people who do not like recreationists.

When the night ride started there were several ladies who donned costumes and positioned themselves out on the trails. The yellow loop was full of hanging ghosts, skeletons, and spider webs and such. One of the guys had a Sasquatch costume and jumped out at the riders on the night ride. One of the riders Go-Pro’d it and you could hear him say oh shit when Sasquatch jumped out at him. I told Bob (Sasquatch) he’s lucky no one was carrying and pulled a gun a shot him.  After the night ride people gathered around the camp fire and told stories. And they also had a motocross trivia game.

 

I’ve said this before when you get a bunch of like minded people together to have fun share food and tell stories it doesn’t get any better. Volunteers are always plentiful at gatherings like these; people are always willing to pitch in. Not all knew each other but that didn’t matter everyone got along. (Even all the dogs that always accompany people where ever they go) It’s always great to meet new people and create new friendships.

I believe Scott is planning to do this again next year. Better find out Scott’s last name and start sucking up for an invitation next year, I know I will be.

Doug 21J