Let's go ride some tough stuff in Big Bear

[Crawdaddy 96]

Doug and I had a good ride today……we threw a ~76 mile loop together which included 5 HW sections from previous Big Bear Run events (Gold Mtn, John Bull, Delamar Mtn, Heartbreak Ridge, and some short fire road near town)……all thrills/no spills (though we both struggled a bit on Delamar……that ~500’ climb is loose/nasty)…….otherwise the HWs were all no BFD……though I felt like I was cheating riding the WR250R with trials tires front and rear……I just tractored up everything relatively easily with the exception of Delamar where I got deflected off to the side and had to restart……..Doug chose to ride with a “cooked” MT21 rear tire and I think (I know) he was regretting that decision………that said, the trails will seem so much easier to him when he comes back with a MT43 for the event next month……he’s probably spooning it on as I’m typing this …..to his credit, he kicked ass today even with a worthless rear tire.

A few pics:

Pulled over for a pic on the way up as we climbed above the clouds:

We zipped up Gold Mtn and crossed the infamous Rock field…….we’ve ridden it enough that we know the line ……it can be intimidating if you’ve never seen it/ridden it but once you figure out the line it’s really no big deal…..

From Gold Mountain we cut over to John Bull…..a few pics along John Bull:

Ummmmm …..what’s that ……aw crap, tree across the trail…….no big deal……we just cut up around it on the high side (too many branches to ride over it…….we tried to break one off to make room but we weren’t manly enough)

We got held up for a bit by a bunch of jeeps on John Bull……they had driven up to the tree and hung a u-turn…….we waited patiently…..until patience ran out and we rode around’em……..one guy was spotting trying to figure out the line……we just rode by laughing inside out helmets…….I think they had two wheel envy at that point :fool:

Snow was a non issue

Lot’s of fallen trees…….but most were a non issue

Studying the GPS for alternatives…..

We hit a number of closed trails today and re-routed……REALLY irritating........especially since I was on an official inspection vehicle

Obligatory photo at the Old Mine structure before Jacoby Canyon

Heading back down Heartbreak Ridge…..hearts Unbroken

Pretty sure the owner of this car at the bottom of Heartbreak Ridge DID have his heart broken……

Neat little cabin as we climbed back up towards Hwy 38

After we crossed Hwy 38 we hit a really neat old two track turned single track……fun way back into town…..didn’t snap any pics….

Great day – Thanks for having me along Doug

[Strega 0]

Looked like a fun trip, bummed to have missed out on it, but work kept me close to home

[bikeslut 1]

¤EDIT

We are bailing- weather report calling for 20 degrees, slush and snow- we are up for an adventure, but not THAT much of one- we are bummed (no offense Mike) but we will persevere...hixon/Allesandro/Thomas, etc is the new plan

Nice pics/report¤end edit

We're out to do some of the same trails right now

Hopefully we'll do as well

[dirt dame 559]

Very nice pics. Maybe I'll have to give the trials tires a whirl now that summer is almost upon us.

[Crawdaddy 96]

¤EDIT.......We are bailing- weather report calling for 20 degrees, slush and snow- we are up for an adventure, but not THAT much of one- we are bummed

That IS a bummer.......it was high 40's when we started around 10am yesterday.......chilly but the sun was out and we knew we'd be working/bouncing through rocks on Gold Mountain so we figured that would warm us up........we just went with flight vests, no jackets........turned out to be a good decision because it probably warmed up to low 60's (?) at elevation later in the day and it felt even warmer with the Sun beating down.......the fact that we were riding slow/technical stuff rather than cruising high speed fire roads also kept us warm........that said, we finished up late in the afternoon, temps were dropping, sun was gone, and we were both cold on those last few high speed/road miles back to the truck (I flipped the switch on my heated grips!)......when we pulled away the truck temp light said 43 but it felt colder......

[riceless950 0]

Fun stuff Chris! If you give me a heads-up next time you're in the neighborhood, I'd like to join you.

[Bagstr 287]

Nice Loop Gents!

You two make it look like a "Walk in the Park", but I know better.

So now the Big 250 is a Tractor as well as all it's other attributes. You truly have shown us that the Little WR does.."wait for it," Go Anywhere.

[2Wheels 0]

Thanks for the write up and pics.

[Spaugh 1]

good work getting up delamar mnt guys. I know that silty hill climb and it is not easy.

[Crawdaddy 96]

good work getting up delamar mnt guys. I know that silty hill climb and it is not easy.

Yes, I recall reading about your Delamar experience Here :clapping:

[pyro 1]

awesomeness! I gotta get up there to ride one of these days. Great pics thx! :clapping:

[DigDug 0]

Thanks Crawdaddy for following me around the trails and keeping me company on a beautiful day in the mountains. It was a bit cool, but that was perfect for the technical trails we rode. Lots of good miles and great scenery. Chris pretty much summed up the day, so I'll get right to the pictures!

Gearing up - Still a little snow on those mountains back there. We pretty much decided that Onyx Summit was a no-go due to the snow from the start.

Crawdaddy's fancy boots!!! Caution - these are not "Strega approved" footwear!

The might WR with Crawdaddy working it's way up Gold Mountain - I think we both picked the wrong line on this obstacle. Ahh well, that's what a pre-run is for, right?

Crawdaddy on one of the easier sections of Gold Mountain.. The trail was in pretty good shape. Seems like the waves of heavy Jeeps had packed the rocks in nice and tight. Letting them interlock so they don't move around as much under your tires.. Just watch those loose ones between the two-tracks.

Gold Mountain down we headed over to John Bull. Again, it seemed like trail maintenance had made the rougher sections easier. It seemed like there were good lines to pick through rather than having to boulder hop like I remember. Here's Crawdaddy on one boulder field:

And up a slick (is there such a thing on the MT43 shod tractor WR?) hill on John Bull:

The vistas at altitude were spectacular! These photos don't even do them justice!

Making good progress until we came to some winter trail damage. The Jeep guys coming the other way wound up having to turn around, being on bikes we were able to, um, make our way past. Like Chris said, we thought for a little while about how to go over it, but decided a short detour was a better idea. I suppose I ought to buy one of those chainsaw mounts for my Pro Moto Billet rack!

Later on John Bull. Crawdaddy working his way around the last Jeep blocking the trail. It's nice to be on a bike and only have to worry about getting one set of tires through an obstacle!

John Bull down, we picked our way thorough some cool two-tracks and fire roads over to Delamar. It's quite a bit cleaner than the past few years (not as many rocks and tree roots it seems to me) but just as slick and powdery - and it's only going to get worse as the rest of the moisture leaves the soil! Delamar got me pretty good as I was spinning with my crappy knobs and the bike decided to hook up on one of those hidden rocks - up comes the front wheel and off goes DigDug.. No problem.. just a good workout to get the bike back on it's feet and a little manhandling to get the bike in the right line and off again. Lots of clutch slipping to keep traction and I'm up the hill.

Here's Chris chugging up with the dual-trials-tire-shod WR:

Delamar is going to be pretty wild on "game day" if they throw it in (and I'm pretty sure they will!). It might be one of those times when you stop at the bottom, air down your trials tires (yes, I'm putting one on for the event!) to like 3 PSI, motor up, and air it back up at the top. Might take less time than struggling with traction on the way up! Although, an edge or two on the knobs of my worn MT21 might have helped:

From there, mostly downhill, fire roads, fun stuff back across the mountain. Ran into some of that cool white stuff:

And a few more logs. This one didn't quite impede our progress like the previous ones:

More beautiful views!

We did have to modify the route just a little. It seems like our overzealous 'public servants' have closed off quite a few formerly-legal trails and roads up there. Here's one such trail. Or did they just turn this into a nice little "trials bike" section? Not like it'd be all that hard to get around on either side, but we decided to be good boys and find a different way to link the tracks.

A few more fire-roads back across the mountain then down Jacoby Canyon (no big deal - although the rocks could take their toll on a tired rider for sure), to the pavement. We decided to leave the track and head back and top off gas tanks and Camelbaks. We were unsure of what was going to be open and wanted to have plenty gas in case we had to backtrack. Luckily, it was all pretty much open to as far as we wanted to ride. Down to Cactus Flats OHV area and out some cool OHV trails and down the canyon on the fast, but rocky, fire road. Over Hearbreak Ridge and back down. Had to stop and take the old car for a spin (why do dualsporters alway take cheezy pictures like this one?)

Following the track up to the little green cabin. More cheezy dualsporter pictures:

Beautiful day on the mountain!

From there, wound our way through the final rocky trails up to the highway. We were running short on time so decided we'd skip Onyx (knowing the trail would either be closed with a gate or by snow) and hit a cool trail I remember from the 2007 run. Sweet little canyon that winds its way up the back side of Onyx. A few neat little stream crossings, and climbs and we were up to the fire road. We followed the easy, but scenic, fire roads back down into town and rode pavement back to the truck.

Beautiful day!!! Thanks again Crawdaddy for following me around and keeping my out of trouble. I've got to get that tire swapped out. Replace those worn sprockets and chain, and then I'm ready for another pre-run up there! Stay tuned for another one riders!

[Crawdaddy 96]

Thanks Crawdaddy for following me around the trails and keeping me company on a beautiful day in the mountains.

Likewise......and yep, hug the right side/trees on the first couple of significant obstacles on Gold Mtn.......I made a bad choice and wound up at a step center left with no momentum......had to dismount to avoid looping it (that was the only dismount of the day.....which, unfortunately, was caught with Doug's camera! )

[mediaguy 0]

Was that Pipes Cyn you came up?

[Zoot 0]

Sooo looking forward to the BBTR ride this year! Think I'll send the app and book my room today.

[Crawdaddy 96]

Was that Pipes Cyn you came up?

I don't know the name of that short section that runs up from 38.......is that what you're referring too?.........we hung a left off 38 at Heart Bar Campground.......there was a small berm to cross to get on the trail/road but no signage so we assumed it was open............according to my topo it heads towards Wild Horse Spring/Meadows....then we hooked up with some fireroad and came out by the Ski Resort before dropping back into town along the golf course.....

[Dirtdiver 2]

Chris, It looks like you had a great day through some challenging country. I also went to BB last weekend and camped at Bigpine flats. This is what we woke up to on Sunday...

[Crawdaddy 96]

Chris, It looks like you had a great day through some challenging country. I also went to BB last weekend and camped at Bigpine flats. This is what we woke up to on Sunday...

Yikes!

How do you like that Neduro mirror on the 230F? I may pick up one of those for my WR (I took off my big ticket ADV mirrors up there and just ran with a the cheapo Acerbis on the left side......I removed it from my KTM but I'd rather just leave my KTM alone rather than switching back and forth.........need to pick up a decent left mirror for rugged dualsporting.....the Acerbis will pass for street legal but it's relatively useless)

[Dirtdiver 2]

This was my first outing with the mirror. It seems great. I wish I would have gotten one with the longer arm linkage. I got the short one and I see more elbow than anything else. You are welcome to try it sometime. i am sorry that I missed your sturday ride. I would like to try some of the harder stuff like you guys did.

I have gotten some great info from neduro and want to support him.

steve

How do you like that Neduro mirror on the 230F? I may pick up one of those for my WR (I took off my big ticket ADV mirrors up there and just ran with a the cheapo Acerbis on the left side......I removed it from my KTM but I'd rather just leave my KTM alone rather than switching back and forth.........need to pick up a decent left mirror for rugged dualsporting.....the Acerbis will pass for street legal but it's relatively useless)

[Strega 0]

Great pics!

[hobiee 28]

i'm having flashbacks.................

[Crawdaddy 96]

i'm having flashbacks.................

But no AZ./UT. "clay" so dealing with the snow isn't quite as bad......

[toofast4uu 0]

Nice RR there Chris!! that's a serious rock run!! I might try that trials tire on my next run (here on the east coast)

Keep those reports coming!!