Anyone up for mid week Foresthill ride?

[usedtobefast]

Mid week Foresthill ride - 8/29/18

I want to get my KTM 300 out ... can't wait for red sticker season at Metcalf and Hollister.

Anyone interested and able to do a mid week ride at Foresthill? Or other Sierra foothill area ride?

Thanks

 

[byke]

Gonna be dusty, but I'm down for a mid-week Foresthill ride

 

[usedtobefast]

Gonna be dusty, but I'm down for a mid-week Foresthill ride

Any day better/worse? For me, Tue/Wed/Thur is best.

I'm thinking I'll drive up day before, stay with a friend in Auburn, then day of ride, get to riding area around 8:30am. or 8am. or ??

So I could ride 8/29, 8/30, 9/5, or 9/6 .

Let me know how this is looking.

 

[byke]

Wednesday or Thursday would be great, I'm jonesing to ride! Are you thinking sugar pine or china wall?

 

[usedtobefast]

Great, let's do Wed 8/29.
Meet at 8:30am? or earlier?

I was thinking China Wall, but I haven't been up there in ages ... is Sugar Pine better/worse? I guess with Sugar Pine we could warm up on easier trails before getting to #5 & #6?

I'm planning on taking my KTM 300.

 

[byke]

Takes me ~90min to get there, so I could tell you I'd be there before 8:30am, but I'd be lying.

Yeah I dunno...trail 2 is a fun and easy warm up, plus the 5 connector is fun, then off to 6? Or we could do 6 and as much of the western states trail as our gas tanks allow. I'm easy, so whatever sounds more fun to you works for me.

 

[usedtobefast]

Sounds like a plan!

Wed 8/29, 8:30am, Sugar Pine staging area

I'll be in a silver CRV, white trailer, KTM 300 XC. And probably we'll be only vehicles in the place anyway.

 

[rt rider]

Rode the WST out of Michigan Bluff and looped 6 counter clockwise and back to the trucks on the WST on Saturday. It is definitely dusty in spots but at least it wasn’t too hot.

There is one tree down at the end of trail 6 if you go counter clockwise. Very close to the intersection of the WST and 6. So if you go clockwise on 6 you will hit it right away and that is the easier direction to get around. The rest of 6 was smooth sailing.

I did the WST trail down to the bigger suspension bridge. I think they have a name for the section as there is a ton of switchbacks. Probably a switchback every 20 feet or so. It was a lot of fun but I will not be riding that one again until we get some rain and it cools down.

Wish I could join you guys, have fun and ride safe!

 

[byke]

Clockwise on 6 is the way to go if we're seeking out the WST, got it. Thanks for the info, J. Nice thing about that bridge at the bottom of those switchbacks is the swimming hole! Jump in with your pants and all and you'll be cool enough to get to the top.

 

[Junkie]

Rode the WST out of Michigan Bluff and looped 6 counter clockwise and back to the trucks on the WST on Saturday. It is definitely dusty in spots but at least it wasn’t too hot.

There is one tree down at the end of trail 6 if you go counter clockwise. Very close to the intersection of the WST and 6. So if you go clockwise on 6 you will hit it right away and that is the easier direction to get around. The rest of 6 was smooth sailing.

I did the WST trail down to the bigger suspension bridge. I think they have a name for the section as there is a ton of switchbacks. Probably a switchback every 20 feet or so. It was a lot of fun but I will not be riding that one again until we get some rain and it cools down.

Wish I could join you guys, have fun and ride safe!

when you say "the bigger suspension bridge" where do you mean? I can't find anything about any suspension bridges other than Yankee Jims and Iowa Hill, and WST doesn't seem to go near them. If there's another one I'd like to go take a look at it sometime.

 

[byke]

Google "western states trail swinging bridge" and you'll find some info about it Can't quite find it on satellite view, I think because of the shade. No choice but to hit some tight switchbacks to get there, but it's such a nice spot to swim and hang out.

Had a great time riding with David today, I'm spent! Hit a downed tree for no good reason and it could have been bad, but got lucky and everything else was fun. Bit more challenging than I remember, seemed so much easier from my office chair..

 

[rt rider]

Part of me wishes I had a chainsaw and mount on the bike. Another part of me likes the downed trees for the added challenge.

Did you see the “improvements” they made? I miss the chain covered climb out of the wooden bridge. Lost a couple of shift levers there over the years.

I also noticed a few pallets of blocks. It will be interesting to see what they do with those.

 

[byke]

Was talking to David about that chain covered climb after the second bridge going CCW. It looked really daunting, but if you could hit that raised spot in the middle without being off far enough to deflect the tires, it was no problem. Reminded me of mini golf with a bunch of chaotic obstacles, but how they're designed for a hole-in-one if you could nail it just right.

Just pave the thing and be done with it. :laughing

 

[onto1wheel]

when you say "the bigger suspension bridge" where do you mean? I can't find anything about any suspension bridges other than Yankee Jims and Iowa Hill, and WST doesn't seem to go near them. If there's another one I'd like to go take a look at it sometime.

I do believe this is the one ye seek
search for
39.1021606, -120.6550823 (and zoom way in)

It had to be replaced a few years ago (it burned, if I remember the story). It's the one between devils thumb and last chance

 

[onto1wheel]

 

[usedtobefast]

Had an awesome ride! I feel like post enduro race today.

The only advice I had for the hard parts was to slightly close our eyes and not look.

It was an awesome day and ride, but it was very dusty ... but with only 2 bikes it wasn't too bad.

 

[rt rider]

Did you guys stage at Sugar Pine? If you stage out of Michigan Bluff you take the WST and the dust isn’t to bad as there is a lot of rock.

That being said, there are sections of the WST that are narrow and if you go off it is going to take multiple riders and ropes to possibly recover your bike. For example this one really sucked
https://instagram.com/p/BitOpf-BIwm/

 

[rt rider]

Here is a little better picture of the suspension bridge
https://instagram.com/p/BitOuUnBvVM/

 

[Junkie]

thanks for the bridge info. Now to figure out how someone who doesn't do a lot of dirt can get there...

 

[usedtobefast]

Did you guys stage at Sugar Pine? If you stage out of Michigan Bluff you take the WST and the dust isn’t to bad as there is a lot of rock.

That being said, there are sections of the WST that are narrow and if you go off it is going to take multiple riders and ropes to possibly recover your bike.

Yes, staged at Sugar Pine. 6 was enough for me! I'll need to do that a couple more times before trying something harder or more narrow.

With a diet of Metcalf, Hollister, and even D-36 enduros, you don't often ride on really technical or edge of cliff type of trails. Sure an enduro is hard, trying to ride fast all day, but the actual difficulty of negotiating the terrain isn't that bad.