HIXON 03/01/08

[dirt dame 561]

I was delighted to find not only Ozzy, but also Digdug, Spaugh and Papaalex all at the park and ride on El Norte Parkway this morning. We quickly hopped back on the freeway and caravanned out to Anza. There was just enough room for all our vehicles to squeeze into my favorite parking area. Then it was just a matter of gearing up under warm and sunny skies, so we could embark on our great adventure.

We headed up the fire road and went west into the valley there, to hook up with our first specialty of the day, "Nutcracker" trail. You'd have to ask Spaugh how we arrived at that name for the singletrack . Anyway I hadn't been there for about three or four years and was anxious to see how it was doing these days. It was doing quite nicely and made us do plenty of work to negotiate its treacherous rollercoaster hills.

Here, we see Spaugh doing the "No Traction two step" before having to resort to horsing the bike up the hill.

There was a tight sandy hairpin turn at the bottom of the hill, so it was hard to get a nicely lined up, good run at it.

Digdug was next.

But he didn't stick to the decomposed granite sand too much better than Spaugh did.

Papa tried the high line and made the rest of us look like a bunch of beginners

Here is a shot of some hillside teamwork

Ozzy follows Alexs line with success.

In the groove on a groovy hillside. Kickstand not a necessity for parking here.

Papaalex watches Spaugh working his way up on the next hillclimb

Here is Ozzy waiting his turn at the bottom, then he chugs up.

Bikes all in a conga line

And everybody has made it up the hill. One little green Kawolski in a sea of Austrian bikes.

After making it to the end of that trail, we decided to do a little pavement and took to the road headed for Anza and some lunch, after which we hightailed it for Allesandro. I finally went down Allesandro after a five year absence. It was not a pretty experience for me , especially when a tree grabbed me by the arm and pulled me over into it. I was trapped, my right leg under the KLX, my right arm pinned to my body and a bunch of branches poking me in the helmet . So I turned off the gas tap and started snapping off branches around my head with my left hand. Then I snapped off the branches that were pinning my right arm in place, then I got to use both hands to snap all the remaining branches from around the machine, the handlebars and my right leg and finally wriggled free and uprighted myself. I think the rest of the group was already in another time zone by then

The gang resting while waiting for me to catch up to them at an uncharacteristically level, wide, smooth spot on Allesandro trail.

We headed to the bottom, but after the tree mugged me, the KLX felt and handled like a floor safe bouncing down the steep and jagged inclines. I was tired and kept rising to every opportunity to fall down along the way. Finally we made it to the creekbed, which had a rarely seen commodity in it; water

We stopped here for a rest before our final rocky stretch. As you can see, it became overcast by now.

A couple of us were singing the praises of two stroke power for the job of tackling Allesandro, while we took our break.

The rocks conspired against Spaugh because they knew he forgot his knee guards

I was pretty beat after that, but managed to lead the group up Hixon trail and maintain a pretty decent clip while doing so. We headed back down the fire road to our vehicles to wrap up another really great dualsport adventure. Thanks Papaalex, Ozzy, Digdug and Spaugh for the great company. We did just shy of sixty miles for the day.

[ozzy 0]

VERY NICE MIMI. DON'T BE SO HARD ON YOUR SELF YOU LED A GREAT RIDE AT A GOOD PACE.

THANKS OZ

[Spaugh 1]

Sweeet Ride! I'm pretty beat. Hixon is now in my top 3 list. Nutcracker trail is a bit too rutted for my taste, but the other two were sweet. Great ride guys, lets do another technical ride again asap. Jacumba next weekend?

I'll toss my pics up tomorrow, but they didn't come out as good as Mimi's.

brad

[dirt dame 561]

Sweeet Ride! I'm pretty beat. Hixon is now in my top 3 list. Nutcracker trail is a bit too rutted for my taste, but the other two were sweet. Great ride guys, lets do another technical ride again asap. Jacumba next weekend?

Hixon may be my all time favorite trail, with its mix of light technical and speed sections, not to mention the really nice scenery. I bet that I have ridden that trail dozens and dozens of times over the past six years and have only encountered other riders on it once or twice.

[ADV Bum 205]

Spaugh it seems the new tank was throwing off the riding style. It will be nice on the B2R ride. Now that I see that thing, combined with Pyro's tanker I dont think we need to carry any extra gas.

[roostingu 0]

Looks like I missed a good one, from the pics I can see you have some challenging single track there, being challenged by traction and foilage. Looking foward to some of the same soon.

[dirt dame 561]

Looks like I missed a good one, from the pics I can see you have some challenging single track there, being challenged by traction and foilage. Looking foward to some of the same soon.

You will no doubt enjoy a Pinnacles/Arrowhead ride over Redonda Ridge trail. I am sure there will be at least a couple of those later this spring.

[Crawdaddy 96]

Hixon may be my all time favorite trail, with its mix of light technical and speed sections, not to mention the really nice scenery. I bet that I have ridden that trail dozens and dozens of times over the past six years and have only encountered other riders on it once or twice.

Hixon is a blast.....I'd encourage everyone to take a spin on that GPS loop I posted way back when from Warner Springs to Idyllwild and back (go HERE for write up & pictures) , or the abbreviated file/tracks I posted HERE, because if you enjoy the Hixon/Allesandro type of terrain you'll also enjoy that single track off Thomas Mtn Rd. and the short single track up by Idyllwild.....I REALLY like the one up by Idyllwild.......slow and tight....but fun!

Maybe I'll see ya out there next time....

[DigDug 0]

You will no doubt enjoy a Pinnacles/Arrowhead ride over Redonda Ridge trail. I am sure there will be at least a couple of those later this spring.

I'm just waiting for the snow to melt!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone get your high altitude jetting ready!!!! (shut up Joliet with your fuel injected machine...)

Thanks for the ride everyone - I had a great time riding and spending a Saturday with some good company. I really need to find my camera though....

Like everyone has said so far - good trails, conditions were just about perfect! A little chilly on the roads, but perfect temperature for the trails. I'm still wanting to go check out the trails north of Hixon, near Idyllwild, as well as more great singletrack.

[roostingu 0]

Looks like I missed a good one, from the pics I can see you have some challenging single track there, being challenged by traction and foilage. Looking foward to some of the same soon.

You will no doubt enjoy a Pinnacles/Arrowhead ride over Redonda Ridge trail. I am sure there will be at least a couple of those later this spring.

I should be out there early may God willing . looking forward to meeting and riding. After the video I took over the ride that DD and HP and I took in Anza I can see it would be much more interesting in the single track tech stuff to see realtime video of attempts at various obstacles?

[Spaugh 1]

some guy from another forum was telling me about the soboba invitational event and how technical the trails were etc. Does anyone know what trails they ride for that event? Its in the general area that we were in I think.

[dirt dame 561]

some guy from another forum was telling me about the soboba invitational event and how technical the trails were etc. Does anyone know what trails they ride for that event? Its in the general area that we were in I think.

the website is irs-media.net and it will cost about 75 dollars to ride this event. They are holding it in March this year. The whole course is run exclusively on the Soboba reservation just east of San Jacinto. Some people think that this event is a real blast. I went last February and wouldn't go back. They really won't turn anybody down who will give them a good check for 75 bucks, so there can end up being 500 to 600 riders all on a thirty mile loop together with some hairy technical stuff out there. Bail-outs and by-passes are few and far between, the dust is thick and if you don't like deeply grooved trails, don't even bother with this event. Some of the ruts are so deep, a bike will disappear over the top of the handlebars in them. Bottlenecks are numerous and can hold up a huge string of riders for up to an hour and a half. If you do go, wait for the afternoon run to start, after most of the people have broken down, given up or otherwise dropped out.

I'd stick to Hixon if I were you. Nutcracker trail was sort of a mini-Soboba but with prettier scenery and it doesn't have an entry fee.

[Spaugh 1]

ya, I have no interest in doing the event, not into mass gatherings (notice I opted out of the desert dash). Too high profile for me. Just wondered if it was the same trails we ran.

[papaalex 5]

Great ride...thanks everybody for a company

Nutcracker was fun, down Allesandro was my first time and going up is on my list already, Hixon got more rocky from last spring and was very happy not to be on DR650 this time...This ride was a good break for me from the desert, I loved that stuff.

Perhaps, see you all in Jucumba next weekend.

papa.

[ozzy 0]

thanks again for the ride yesterday, spaugh whers your pics. I just got back from riding with bikeslut at corral, and pine valleys open again.

spaugh start a post for jacumba that sounds like a good ride. mimi pm me if you want to go tomorrow.

OZ

[dirt dame 561]

Yeah Spaugh where's yer pix?

[Spaugh 1]

Yeah Spaugh where's yer pix?

don't worry, im just letting the anticipation build up. stay tuned...

[Spaugh 1]

And for the big anti climax, here are the pics I took. I really need to work on my photography skills.

I got some video too, I'll try and find a place to stash those and share with you guys.

[dirt dame 561]

Whups, looks like I wasn't speedy enough for the speed burst sequence mode on your camera!

Nice shots anyway.

[roostingu 0]

Whups, looks like I wasn't speedy enough for the speed burst sequence mode on your camera!

Nice shots anyway.

Mimi, in that first shot is that someone sitting on your handlebars? Kinda helps keep the front on the ground

[dirt dame 561]

Mimi, in that first shot is that someone sitting on your handlebars? Kinda helps keep the front on the ground

Uh....no. Riding a KLX just makes you feel like somebody is sitting on your handlebars. (especially when riding down Allesandro)

[atckirk 0]

Uh....no. Riding a KLX just makes you feel like somebody is sitting on your handlebars. (especially when riding down Allesandro)

You must ride your KLX better than I ride my DRZ cause you still have your rear blinkers! If mine weren't flush on the fender I would have knocked them off many many times now. I know what you mean about feeling like your riding two up when all by yourself. Oh well all that weight makes the ride plush and stable, yeah that's it!

ATCKirk.

[Gery XT-225 0]

Great write-up and pictures post... Thanks for taking us along with your awesome trail adventure last weekend.

Ride safe,

Gery

[dirt dame 561]

You must ride your KLX better than I ride my DRZ cause you still have your rear blinkers! If mine weren't flush on the fender I would have knocked them off many many times now. I know what you mean about feeling like your riding two up when all by yourself. Oh well all that weight makes the ride plush and stable, yeah that's it!

ATCKirk.

I was surprised that I hadn't damaged the front ones, let alone the rear blinkers, after the tree crash. I was looking at the blinkers yesterday, while giving the muddy little machine a post-ride bubble bath and there wasn't even any scratch marks on them.