SHNF Ride Report

[gotdurt]

Had a blast... since we (my family) were sick, we ended up not traveling to the inlaws, so John (Irondawg) and I headed out Friday morning, bright and early to meet Don (BatCountry), Scott (Greasemonkey) and Bryan (OLDERMXER) for some riding and camping... Got up Saturday morning to meet the rest of the gang...

But... I have to be "Dad" and "Dear" for the next day or so to make up for my absence, so you'll have to wait for my side of the story. Hopefully I'll have some video to show; I didn't get to use my helmet cam because I forgot the mount, but I was able to grab a little with Squeaky's. Hopefully there'll be more pictures than what I took...

All I had on the trail Friday was the cell phone cam... Scott on the left, Bryan, then John laying down... we were both sick, and he was feeling pretty bad on Friday. At this point we had ridden one section and were waiting on Don who was back at the camp fixing a flat tire... went flat before we ever got out :lol2:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i54/gotdurt/twt%20stuff/Photo0029.jpg

The camp:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i54/gotdurt/twt%20stuff/DSC_7025.jpg

[Squeaky]

If the amount of fun had on the trails is calculated by the amount of soreness felt through your body the day after the ride - then WOOHOO! I had a heck of a time! :lol2:

I'm getting ready to go ride on pavement today so my report will have to wait, but I'd like to thank Casey for getting this together, getting some footage recorded, allowing me to get my first roosting taken care of, and for not coming back to get me out of the mud puddle while wearing the camera. No proof! :trust:

Thanks also to everyone in the group for waiting on me all day. Glad I could accomodae some nice long breaks and stopping points for y'all. ;-)

[gotdurt]

Friday

So we rolled in a little before noon Friday, John and I both feeling like crap... we were beginning to question whether we did the right thing :doh:. Scott and Don hadn't made it in yet, so we started setting up camp. Scott rolled up maybe 10 minutes later, then Don after another 10... pretty good timing I'd say :clap:

A little while later I got a call from Bryan saying that he had just driven through Conroe, so we agreed we'd meet him at the 233 trail head. We suited up and hit the road for the east side.

About the time we got to the end of Kelly Pond road, Don noticed his tire was low :doh:. Scott's bicycle pump wasn't doing the trick, so we headed back to camp to try Don's electric pump... nothing. So, we left Don at the camp with some tire irons and headed out :lol2:

Our plan was to hop on the western 1375 crossing and ride that leg up to to the parking area to meet Bryan. We turned on the trail and were instantly greeted with GIANT whoops... the biggest I've ever seen out there, especially on this section. The trail surface was great though, and we got a workout on the way to meet Bryan. Bryan had been waiting for about 1/2 an hour and was ready to go, so we sat for a little while to wait for Don, then hit the trail again.

The second section was awesome, and I was beginning to feel much better, until I tucked in a slick turn, then discovered, after trying to walk, how slick the trail really was :shock: I was really surprised at the pace I was able to keep up to that point on the slick surface, I guess ignorance really is bliss :zen: Of course, this new discovery screwed with my head, and the rest of the ride was crap :doh:

John still wasn't feeling well, so we bailed out on Parrish road and headed for 1374 back to New Waverly to catch 1375 to the Phelps area for some DSing... only to discover that about 70% of some great dirt had been paved since I was last out there 10+ years ago... it was still a nice loop though, and we found ourselves back at camp about the time the sun was setting. after some brats and fireside chatting we all turned in pretty early :sleep:

[BatCountry]

Here are a few pics and a video i grabbed on my phone while we were out on Saturday (sorry about the crap quality). Had a great time and SHNF is my fav place to ride so far in TX. Thanks to every one who helped me with my chumpy flat repairs and jones'n for tubes, John, Scott, and (CeeBee who i owe a trailside favor to now :phead: :chug: ). Brian PM me your address and i'll send your man-beer purse back to you. Again had an awesome time, Casey when we going again?

Trail head Saturday morning.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3035/3071557020_e74e1f6ba0.jpg
Waiting at another mud hole. Three of us got stuck in mudholes, Casey, Squeaky and me too, i guess i was jealous.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3294/3071555706_4ab97c251e.jpg
Work on GotDurt's rear tube that was shifting around.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3003/3071558124_0883b430ca.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3070719673_f0b6a1359d.jpg
the designated tire mate for 2008
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3009/3071555552_07c04eb8bb.jpg
one of two 650l's that laughed in the face of all the sand, mud, whoops, ruts and roots.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3254/3071553528_e2123c55b9.jpg
Compelling action video of a rear tube adjustment until we get the helmet cam footage.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/art_of_don_alexander/3071554126/

[Jbay]

added to the Friday group

Squeaky, Jamie, Justin showed up just in time, a new TWT Richard on a XRL (who I never saw riding since he was too fast but had the Trailwings too),

umm who else? there were a few mechanical difficulties...

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff142/jbay524/840A0335.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff142/jbay524/840A0336.jpg

nor sure what all the Harley and Goldwingers thought as they passed by

it was great fun, ill bring the kiddo next time

[Greasemonkey]

Had a good time folks and it was close to home.
Riding the pig being setup for luggage was a bear on fri..
Traded it for the ktm on sat and the day was much better.
Did Casey say whoops!!!!!!




Weather was blah all day sat.,then started raining on my way home.
Still better than putting up christmas lights.Called it just about right.

Uh,Justin[is that right]get you some boots ;-)

[gotdurt]

What thuh....?!?! Squeaky, you shall, from here-forth, be known as "Sneaky" :argh: This card you gave me is missing the first 1/2 of the footage I took! :miffed: I even went and bought a card reader for this... You need to make it right by posting the entire length of footage from the parking lot to the moment you made me pass you... look at it this way, no one's going to make it past the first few seconds anyway :lol2: No, seriously though, I think we had some fun footage and you need to let me have it :trust:

So, anyway... Saturday morning I arose at about 7, soon followed by John, and got the fire going again. John and I both were feeling fetter, other than some congestion, so we ate breakfast and got ready to head out to meet the others.

We arrived a little after 9 to find Bryan, Jay and Richard (it was Richard, right? Or was it Robert? Dang I'm bad with names...) waiting at the trail head. We waited around until about 10:15, and no one else showed, so we lined up to hit the trail... I turned around to check that everyone was ready, just in time to see Squeaky's crew coming down the road...

Squeaky had brought her wireless helmet cam, which was good since I forgot the mount to mine :doh: Unfortunately, it kept shutting off, probably from boredom following Squeaky :-P (Oh yea, I did! You will not live this down :-P). Actually I was pretty impressed with her riding; it was quite fluid and graceful, but we you'll never see that since she stole the only evidence :whatever:.

At one point she got hung on a root, and I watched as she spun the tire; it began to slide to the right, almost to freedom, then she stopped... I told her to do it again, that it would get past the root, so what did she do? She dumped the clutch and wailed on the gas, showering me with damp sand :argh: I lifted the back of her bike and she was on her way...

Eventually she made me pass her, which apparently she'd soon regret when she got stuck in a mud hole :rofl: I had set off to catch the others. I was moving at a pretty good pace when I came to another water hole, and headed right for the middle, which thus far had proved to be the best line in most cases... well, this wasn't one of those cases :doh: I was actually a little to the right of middle, and as soon as I hit it, was quickly slowed to a revving halt... my front tire had made it over the dry edge, but the back wheel was under water... :uhoh: So I rocked, spun, and rocked some more, and finally, after showering the forest in stinky, muddy water, sang my way to dry earth :pray:

I came up on everyone stopping for a breather and to wait on Squeaky. When she didn't show up right away, a few of us moved on, then stopped on the other side of another water hole.

We waited. Talked. Waited some more. I was having problems with my grips spinning on the bars, and John happened to have some wire with him, so he went about wiring my grips for me... of course I wasn't about to stop him, so I let him do it :mrgreen: Meanwhile, I noticed my rear valve stem at an acute angle... this is not good... I decided to let it go for a little while since I didn't want to take any longer than we already had... which reminds me, where's Squeaky??? I became concerned that she got stuck in the same hole I did, and cringed at the thought of here haven taken the same line... Well, eventually, after some more waiting we see headlights in the woods; it's them. She of course is apprehensive about crossing this hole, which looked much worse than it was, in fact the many tracks going around it were worse.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i54/gotdurt/th_shnf112908-1.jpg (http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i54/gotdurt/?action=view&current=shnf112908-1.flv)

"I bet she's stuck in that mud hole I got stuck in"... sheesh, did I say that enough times? :roll: Well, in fact it wasn't that hole, it was one before it.

So off we go:
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i54/gotdurt/th_shnf112908-2.jpg (http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i54/gotdurt/?action=view&current=shnf112908-2.flv)



We stop again, and I decide it's best to do something about this tube... so John and I go to work rotating it back. Everyone else shows up, and we're off again.
http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i54/gotdurt/th_shnf112908-3.jpg (http://s69.photobucket.com/albums/i54/gotdurt/?action=view&current=shnf112908-3.flv)

Unfortunately the cam shut off before things got good, but we were about to start having some serious fun at this point. John built up a nice pace for a while, rocking and rolling through the woods, when I started smelling gas... I yelled at John (my horn wasn't on the bike), but he had his earplugs in and didn't hear, so I looked down to see if maybe my vent hose popped off, which it sometimes does, only to find it still intact. I looked up just in time to see John go into a turn, but it was too late for me, so I blew the turn, then dropped the bike. I lifted it back up to find gas dripping from the rear of the bike... the leak appeared to be coming from the airbox :ponder: Well, I blamed the whoops and got back on the trail.

We made another rest stop at the next service road crossing for a regroup. Shortly after that I came up on a rider lifting his tricked-out KTM upright... number 33 was on the side panel. Of course, I have to assume that a rider on a bike like this with race numbers will likely catch us, then have to pass our group, so I let him get his bike up and get going ahead of us... well, you know what they say about those who 'assume' :doh: Yea, it was bad, and this guy would not pull over. John honked we all revved, I rode his back tire, John honked some more, and finally after a few minutes, he gave in, and received a well deserved roosting for his stubborness.

At one point I got behind Don on his new(ish)-to-him DRZ400E, and watch him flog the heck out of it for the next few miles; we were flying pretty good :dude: Unfortunately, he paid for it at the 2nd 1375 crossing, where he apparently discovered a flat tire due to a ripped valve stem. By that time though, I was with Scott waiting at the next fork, and one by one, the others showed up, then moved on, back to the parking area... everyone but Don and John and Squeaky... even CeeBee rode by (apparently he came in after we left), saying had given them a tube. I waited some more, then decided to head back to the highway, out of fear that they might have decided to just take the highway back to camp... But, I rolled up and they were still there, just finishing up. In the mean time, Squeaky came cruising down the highway - from the west...:scratch: She was looking for the non-trail way back to the truck :lol2: I pointed her in the right direction, and off she roared...

Don had also discovered a bolt missing from his subframe, so in light of this and the 21" tube in his back tire, he planned to take it easy on the rest of the trail back. Well, little by little, we sped up to a moderate to brisk pace and had a pretty fun ride back.

After bidding farewell, we were on our way back to the camp. By this time the temperature had dropped considerably, and it was cold on the road. Once on the highway it began to rain, a very painful rain... my lips and cheeks were stung by the drops, despite efforts to hide behind the number plate. Once back to camp, it started to thunder, and we rushed to get everything loaded up. We were finally on the road by about 4pm, and Don followed us back...

[BatCountry]

Great summarization Casey. I had a blast trying to keep pace with you and John but i'm afraid me and my bike will need an over hall to maintain those kinds of speeds for any amount of time.
Heh heh, Bryan is too tall for video. :mrgreen:
Otherwise the video was great, wish we could locate that "lost" video footage though.
-D

[je2000]

So how'd the KLX hold up? Wish I could've come, sounded like a great time.

[Jbay]

we went to Crooked Creek today, after the XRL the 230F was a blast, I don't think I have ever rode it so well with so little effort

dumped the XRL once yesterday into a nice soft sand berm, layed it over at maybe a 30 degree angle; usually my legs are sore, today forearms, shoulders, and upper back from wrastling with da pig

one of the video has a good look at Brian on the KLX (only you can't see the sand), when Matt grows out of the CRF100F the KLX would be a nice addition

SHNF is free for those under 16yrs, not sure if the annual $25 pass is for the entire family but will call http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/texas/recreation/sam_houston/multi-use_trail.shtml

[jar675]

Thanks Casey! Another great ride through the timber. It was good to see and meet everyone! I can't wait to do the next one. :rider:

[Squeaky]

Ok, I've looked and I have three video files - one is just a few seconds long and the other two are what you posted. YOU have the original and I have the copy!

Anyway... my pics:

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053677_NYJFC-M.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053625_FCCFm-O.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053572_CisrP-M.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053494_Godgg-M.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053353_wPhqQ-M.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053425_uQhV2-M.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053296_kwj5A-M.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053765_NE8kV-M.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053805_RSayu-M.jpg

http://squeaky.smugmug.com/photos/428053852_fzJhK-M.jpg

[gotdurt]

Ok, I've looked and I have three video files - one is just a few seconds long and the other two are what you posted. YOU have the original and I have the copy!

:huh2:


Sounds terribly suspicious to me, but okay, I'll give you the benefit of doubt... this time...

You know, I was thinking (no jokes please), if I used duct tape to hold your cam on my helmet, why couldn't I use it on mine??? I even had velcro in place to help :doh: Then we could've had all this madness on tape...

[DaveC]

That looked like fun!
Question: if they give tickets for not having plates in the parking lot how do ATVs get to the trail? Maybe this new cheif well change this harasment policy.

[gotdurt]

That looked like fun!
Question: if they give tickets for not having plates in the parking lot how do ATVs get to the trail? Maybe this new cheif well change this harasment policy.

They give tickets for riding around in the parking area without plates; you have to ride (or maybe walk the bikes) directly to the trails... I think this is to cut down on people goofing off in the parking area and tearing it up.

[JTM]

I had a great time and can't wait till the next ride. Hopefully I have boots next time

[4734]

They give tickets for riding around in the parking area without plates; you have to ride (or maybe walk the bikes) directly to the trails... I think this is to cut down on people goofing off in the parking area and tearing it up.

I have never had a problem with riding from the parking lot to the trailhead. But then I also don't play around in the parking lot.

On the forest road....well I still have a copy of that ticket.:doh:

I was there Saturday but I got there early and parked on the right hand side of the parking lot and hit the trail at 9:15. Did a trail loop ate lunch and did another loop. The trails were great, just enough moisture to keep the dust down and provided good traction.

[OLDERMXER]

I had a great time and can't wait till the next ride. Hopefully I have boots next time

I sure had a blast. BIG THANKS to CASEY for setting this ride up. Great meeting & seeing everyone that joined in on the fun.

Justin, I've got you some boots, but it'll cost you a trip to Highlands. ;-) PM me!

Don, thanks for the offer but you really don't need to mail the back pack. I know I seemed concerned about it Saturday but it was only because I like to carry food & water when I ride & I had no way to do that without it. I already found a replacement laying around the house. Maybe we'll ride again soon & I see about it then. Glad I was able to help out for such a worthy cause. :lol2:

je2000; You would have been proud of the KLX. No problems at all. It handled the 70 + MPH hwy on Friday & the deepest sand, whoops, & mud the forest could toss up on Saturday. However my acheing back is another story.:doh:

I'll be ready for the next one.

bryan
06 KLX-250

[poser]

dang looks like a ton of fun!
Man I gotta get a dirt bike!

[thumper]

Yeah, looks like y'all had a good time. Sorry I missed it....had the flu.:giveup:

[OLDERMXER]

Yeah, looks like y'all had a good time. Sorry I missed it....had the flu.:giveup:

I sure was looking forward to doing some good trails with you Tim. Hope you are feeling better.

[Tourmeister]

:tab Casey, I am impressed that you still had our back line number here at the office! The old 800 number had to be changed. Apparently, a cable provider's number was REAL close to ours and we were getting hammered with calls from angry people with complaints about their cable bills :doh: They got even angrier when we informed them they had called the wrong number :lol2: Anyway, we made a snap decision Thursday evening to head to Dallas to see some friends, catch the TWT lunch at Vitto's Friday, hit the Dallas World Aquarium with the kids Friday afternoon, then head East towards Quitman on Saturday morning for a big family gathering. A cousin of ours lives on about 180 acres out that way. Dad brought the Razor and ATV, so we got to play :trust:

[gotdurt]

:tab Casey, I am impressed that you still had our back line number here at the office!
Yea, me too :lol2: I have a handful of numbers for you guys, never know which one is which though :doh:

[aircrftmec]

where is this place? and what does shnf stand for?

Thanks

[gotdurt]

where is this place? and what does shnf stand for?

Thanks
Sam Houston National Forest (http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/texas/recreation/sam_houston/samhouston_gen_info.shtml), the trails are west of New Waverly, north of Lake Conroe.

[FJRSTAR]

where is this place? and what does shnf stand for?

Thanks

Right there near where Bigfoot lives and plays...

[texas_hippie]

where is this place? and what does shnf stand for?

Thanks

I sent you a private message with a link to the Nat'l forest. It's from another websites forum. Good info there.