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Adams Ranch 5/12/12

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RollingJ

RollingJ

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Messages
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Location
Lake Charles, La
First Name
Joel
Last Name
Sims
A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to invite a few riders to join me to explore nearly 1000 acres of ranch between Bastrop and Smithville.

So, I assembled the A-team, who were sworn to secrecy:

AustinJake
FiddyK
GreenEggs&Ham
JT
Meriden
MotoTex
RollingJ:)
Silverbullet
Tjrockit


We warmed up on the south side of the ranch, where we found some mud, high-speed farm roads, and a freshly shredded field. It was too wet and the thistle too high to ride right down to the river, so that will have to wait for next time. We stopped to look at the Rock Garden, plotted lines for the afternoon, and then proceeded to ride through a 5'x5' culvert under the freeway to get to the north side. Meriden had to quit playing hookey and get back to work, so he peeled off.

The north side is 'The Jewel' of this place, but it's hard to describe. It is basically a five-fingered valley composed of large-grained sand and chunky rocks. It burned almost completely in the 2009 and 2011 Bastrop fires, so the landscape is a surreal one that is just starting to recover. This area has a tremendous amount of potential, and we just started to scratch the surface. Elevation change is the name of this game.

We backtracked to the Ranch House for lunch and recovery, then we cut a line through the Rock Garden and tested it out. I had a spectacular meeting with a big rock and a small tree.

We headed back under the freeway to The Jewel and proceeded to tear it up. We did another crazy, blind lap each direction, and then headed back to base.

We called it a day sometime after 1.

The ranch's owner was very happy and seems to be willing to let us come out again. I know he liked the trail clearing we did in the Rock Garden.

Thanks to all that attended. You all represented our DS community with class.

I will be editing the video over the next couple days, but if you have any photos, please post them here.
 
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Re: Adam's Ranch 5/12/12

Thanks for the Double Top Secret opportunity, Joel.

It was the perfect shakedown ride for the reborn DRZ.

It was also a pleasure to meet several new folks and ride with many I've met before for the first time.

Still have a few bugs to work out on the bike, and look forward to riding with y'all some more.

Hope you recover from the knee-moan-ya soon.
 
Re: Adam's Ranch 5/12/12

It was a great time. Sorry, I left my camera in the truck. :doh: I thought about it when we were on the North side, but was having too much fun to say "wait here". :rofl: Good day riding with friends. I even plastered JT with mud at one of the wet spots, :oops: even though I didn't know he was back there. I hope someone took a picture of that! :haha:
It was good to see everyone today. Let's Ride!
Sam
 
Re: Adam's Ranch 5/12/12

Excellent ride!! Took me almost an hour to get all the mud off my bike. :eek2:

I loved that area on the other side of the highway. So awesome cutting a new trail through the trees and wild flowers. Weather was perfect. Simply a beautiful day. :rider:

Thanks gentlemen for another great memory. :clap:
 
Re: Adam's Ranch 5/12/12

There are a few curse words in the audio, so be aware.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5aS0FcDVXw"]Adam's Ranch First Ride - YouTube[/ame]

Yet again, I live up to my sig line. Enjoy.
 
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So how exactly do we get on this "A" list? Looks like a lot of fun.
 
Re: Adam's Ranch 5/12/12

Looks like fun? Any chance of this getting opened up for other riders?
 
Re: Adam's Ranch 5/12/12

The list of riders I wanted to invite was much longer than would have been prudent for a ride testing the waters. In the end I went with my One Day ET450 crew and riders who have led me around their secret spots.

The ranch owner was surprised to see that we kept going back out to ride after stopping by the trucks for water breaks. He wasn't sure we were having any fun. I informed him that 'The Jewel' is just that and we were grinning from ear to ear. I called him last night after the dust settled and we talked about another group or two coming out to define and burn in the trail we established. He seemed positive on the idea. So, I told him to let me know when he is ready, and when he does I will PM invites to the next lucky folks.

I seriously doubt that the ranch will ever be open to public riding, but Sam was estimating that close to 20 miles of very challenging trail could be cut.
 
Re: Adam's Ranch 5/12/12

Thanks for making this happen Joel. It was a great ride and always nice meeting some new TWT'ers.

I was really surprised by the varied terrain found on the ranch. Also with the work that was started and planned for clearing trails it will only get better. If I'm lucky enough to get invited again I will definitely be trailering the dirt bike instead of riding there.

_
 
Re: Adam's Ranch 5/12/12

jqueen said:
So how exactly do we get on this "A" list? Looks like a lot of fun.
Click to expand...

:trust:

I'll second that. My bike is way to clean (now that's all put back together ) AR can be rough on bikes.
 
I have about 10 minutes of video of us cracking jokes as we waited for him to finish.
 
First of all thanks again Joel for the invitation. Sorry that I couldn't ride the whole day.

One thing of note was that we have been getting some rain in the area recently. There was lots of standing water on the roads and Gotier's Trace was wet in a lot of places. Shades of things to come.
DSCN1806.jpg


This was easily the best road on the place other than the drive way.
DSCN1808.jpg


More like most of the riding during the first hour. I had forgotten how wet and soggy a field can be. I had clearly made the wrong tire selection (no knobbies) and ended sinking up to the axle not too far from here. I own a couple of guys a push.
DSCN1809.jpg


Let's see: Husky, Suzuki, Kawasaki, KTM, Honda and BMW made the ride. I think the smallest was a 220, the biggest a 650.
DSCN1814.jpg


AJ and fiddyk.
DSCN1817.jpg



It was a great day. Sorry I had to bow out so early. Back to tire shopping.

m
 
A camp/ride weekend there would be really cool.
 
Hey RJ, sorry for the late post as I was on the road. Looks like I missed a great ride.:doh: Great pics and VID:eek2:..:eek2:..:lol2: :clap: Thanks for the invite and hope to make the next one! :clap: :flip:
 
I adjusted the auto-decomp and slapped in a 14amp/hr Shorai LiIon battery and the Fire Breathing Dragon has e-start again!

My knee feels like nothing ever happened, but my ankle is still a little stiff from my upside-down adventure in the Rock Garden.

I mentioned the interest in a weekend camp-n-ride to the owner and he is mulling over the idea, if reasonable camping and riding fees apply. If we figure something out, you can bet I will post it up.
 
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