HadesOmega's Stonyford Memorial Day Ride

[HadesOmega]

OK we made it to the road! I want to mention I have a plated electric moped here so if I wanted to bail and head back to camp via this paved road I could do it but that wouldn't be fun. Continue on Trail 30, we cross the road and there is a pretty steep climb to the top of the next hill. Looks intimidating but the Light Bee makes it up with a bit of a struggle. I bet the controller didn't like that.

Here is the view looking down what we just came up

Excellent views here. In the back there you see where we will be riding later.

So from here I have a choice I can continue along Trail 30, looks like a fun trail you'd wanna ride side by sides on. OR we can take Trail 50 called South VIS Cutoff and take a shortcut down the road. It's a shortcut so it's really steep. I choose to go down Trail 50, burnin daylight here even if I have off road lights I don't wanna be out here after dark. It's steep but I can control my descent with the regen and front brake once again. Light Bee get's down with not much drama. It sure killin my legs and arms going down these steep hills though.

At the bottom the trail parallels the road and take you the Wolf Creek Staging Area. Woohoo we made it. I would like to point out this is the point of no return type thing, being that if I wanted to bail out and take the pavement back this is my last chance. I'm at about 70% charge so I decide let's continue. I let the bike take a break. I would also like point on this side of the hill it's significantly warmer and no wind like where we just came from. I take a break here for the bike and myself to rehydrate. It's been in the 80F+ since we were out here, still pretty warm and now even warmer.

The Wolf Creek Staging Area. This is where you would go if you going to do a day trip and wanted to drop you bike off here and ride.

 

[HeatXfer]

Great Merlin! Always a thorough write-up! :thumbup

 

[Butch]

Thanks doood.

 

[dooodon9]

Great thread man! Jealous, looks like a blast.

 

[HadesOmega]

Break times over. I head back on the trail that leads me across the street where we will begin riding Trail 28 Hornet's Nest Grove. On the trail key it's listed as a black diamond but the section that I rode was a blue square.

Remember when you go down you eventually go back up!

And Up. It was quite a climb getting up there. At some point you make it to the top of the hill and you rid the hill top for a while.

View from the top

You can see the town of Stonyford from here

 

[HadesOmega]

Continue riding the hilltop here then I come upon this crazy steep climb and I'm thinking I how we're not going up that haha. Turns out it is an old trail that is closed off. i guess it's too steep or something. I suppose it a mega shortcut because it just goes straight up the hill.

Instead of going straight up the hill the trail continues around the mountain

 

[byke]

What was used to block it, gathered wood? No sign?

 

[HadesOmega]

Here we have hit the intersection to Trail 31 called Wolf Glade. If we go left we continue on 28 and it becomes a black diamond. If we go right we ride on Trail 31. Trail 31 is a series of really steep climbs this is a picture of the first one. The controller is running pretty hot, follwed by the motor, then the battery. There is just no wind on this side of the mountains right now Anyway this is the first climb and its a doozy. You can see in the tracks that I make sure and get some room for a runway to gain speed.

It was steep but the Light Bee makes it up no problem. These ain't no rookie hillclimbs for sure.

So I know the controller is not happy now and it's going to continue not being happy because look at what is ahead. So I actually looked at the maps contour lines and I see that we are going to be climbing until 2500ft. Here's a neat thing I learned about the Stonyford map you can use the contour lines to tell you where you are on the trail. By looking at the GPS elevation and looking at the contour line I can pinpoint where I am on the map. So I was where the blue square 31 is on the map. I could tell I am 1/4 of the way up the hillclimb section before it starts to level out or start going down. So remember that if you are in Stonyford and trying to figure out where you are. But yeah I was at about 2000 feet and I had about 500 more feet to climb.

Here I'm taking a break because the controller has overheated again. From here I believe this is the last climb. Now I don't mind relaxing taking a break after each climb but daylights a burnin. Haha at one point I was putting water in my mouth from my camelbak and was spitting on the controllers heatsink! Next time I will remember to bring a small spray bottle. Not much room for a runup here, will have to rely on the electric motor torque to get me up to speed.

We make it to the top of that one. It level out for a bit.

Then here comes a new challenger. Seriously if your bike couldn't climb these hills you could get stuck out here. Kinda like if you go down a huge dune and you don't have the power to climb back up it your stuck you'd need to find another way.

Anyway I believe this was the last steep climb and well the bike overheated at the top and lost power. The good thing is the light bee was so light I was able to push it the rest of the way at the top.

Yeah it's no joke

Another angle just to show you how steep that one was.

 

[HadesOmega]

What was used to block it, gathered wood? No sign?

The trail wasn't on the map so I'm assuming it's some old trail that they closed. There was a large pile of lumber blocking it. I guess that's how they do it at Stony =P

 

[HadesOmega]

So I made it to the top 2500 feet. It was pretty smooth sailing from there would be occasional hillclimb or downhill but it wasn't anything compared to what I just rode up. So from here I got a choice if I want to continue on Trail 31 or ride Trail 48 Salt Ridge. I look at the contour lines on the map and Trail 31 will take us back to that intersection were we started from on the M5. HOWEVER, if goes down a whole lot and start to climb a whole lot till you get to the intersection. Trail 48 is more level, rather than drop down again and go back up I decided to take 48 it would be easier. There were occasional climbs, I remember this trail also I've ridden this one before.

At some point it spits you out on the M5. From there I just rode the M5 or the trails that parallel it back to the intersection.

Then I make it back and play on the little play track at the bottom for a couple laps.

Then it's time to head back to camp and put the bike on the trailer thanks for the ride Light Bee. The battery was about 40% when I made it back and I made it back just before it got totally dark. Stony definitely tested the Light Bee out, definitely better to come on a cooler day if you are going to ride an electric bike out here.

That's it I packed up and left in the morning. It's been fun Stonyford! Will post videos up when I get to it. All I can say is it it's this much fun trail riding an small electric bike I can't wait to ride the Storm Bee. I have to say I've been wanting more power at Stony, the Light Bee was just enough power. One thing you want at Stony is POWER the next thing you want is TRACTION haha. A lot of the climbs at Stony are rutted and in the ruts is loose dirt/gravel and you need power and momentum to over that stuff ' Fortunately the bike was so light if I didn't make it to the top I could get off and walk it up and give it some throttle.