Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Monday, March 08, 2010
Press on regardless.
I have done some hare-brained things on motorcycles before in my life, many of them at Warp Factor 9, but these guys are lunatics. My palms broke into a sweat just watching the video...
At one time I would've been next in line to try that, but then I quit doing drugs and came back to my senses. I guess I've been off dirt bikes too long. Now they have electric start.
I once watched two guys carry mountain bikes to the summit of Mount Lincoln (14,286 feet), and then launch down a 100 foot cliff into complete fog -- down to a 150% grade scree field for 4000 vertical feet.
I don't mind going fast on a bicycle, but if I want excitement like that I'll ride past pedestrians on the narrow sidewalks without going into the weeds. Between the ground being slightly melty on top, and my bike having 700x25 tires and clipped pedals, I'd sink quickly and probably end up doing the slow roll into the mud.
Probably because they are going at a prudent speed, on machines that are not too big for the job, and keeping their motorcycles under firm control.
I haven't ever driven a motorcycle, so maybe I miss something. But I have ridden similar trails on horses and three wheelers. It's all in not hurrying.
I think I put part of it down to my acrophobia and part of it down to not trusting the "sneeze factor" on dirt bikes.
Something I've always found interesting is that there's a lot less overlap between street sport and dirt sport riders than you'd think, and they both think the other are steely-eyed maniacs.
It looks fun to me. All except for the sections of loose scree. And probably because I'm sitting on my ass in front of the computer, watching OTHER people do it. :D
Tape camera to left side of helmet, don't look down or back unless stopped, and hope there isn't Juan Valdez and his burro going to pick coffee up there... looks like lots of fools in those hills, that isn't a goat path.
You can see the visor of the helmet up to the right. Could the wide angle lens on the helmet-cam makes the ground seem more distant and narrower - more dangerous? Must be some kind of optical image stabilization in-camera because the rider's head/image isn't bouncing around. When he looks back at his buddy (about 4:26-:27) it appears wide enough - but some of the rest of it is tight. He's not deflecting off rocks much and pushing in the scree-stuff, so the rebound is set way-soft in the suspension stroke which is what you want in rocks. One guy on a KTM, the other an XR and they're speaking German - could be using trials tires too, looks like Spain or northern Italy.
I would have tried it. They are using Trials bikes which are dirt bikes crossed with a goat. Dirt bikes are all about speed compared to those. the biggest problem would be fatigue. It looks like they ride about half a mile or so and that would wear you out. Minimum fall looks to be over 100 feet down, and could be more in some spots.
Yeah, I know about trials bikes, but trials competitions are rarely held halfway up a cliff, out of cell-phone service, and an hour's flight time from the nearest ER.
Odd... from the helmet looking down it seems there's barely room to put your toes - but whenever he looks back to his buddy it looks like there's a nice easy several feet of trail in most spots.
Assuming the latter's more likely - it looks fun to walk, except for the scree parts. :)
I have to disagree, I had a Beta Techno, Baxter had a Gas-Gas, Wes had a Scorpa, and we rode some trials out of Wes' backyard up in Boulder Creek - those aren't trials bikes. But they are using trials techniques and going slow. I believe the wide-angle camera lens exaggerates the height/fall views, there's some stuff down at Hollister on Troll Trail that would give equally scary first impressions, esp. if my friend Baxter was riding-camera, he's a nut.
Twin Trestles bridge on the Corona Pass road used to be a railroad trestle over a couple of gulches. The ties are gone, as well as the rails, but the timbers the rails were attached to are still there.
It's 15 feet down on the high side, and 1500 feet down on the other, but not to worry, the remaining timbers are a good 10 inches wide, and an easy trip on a road bike with your sweetie on the back.
At least I thought so.
Of course back then, I would have tried that trail, too, on a small trials bike.
Tam said "Something I've always found interesting is that there's a lot less overlap between street sport and dirt sport riders than you'd think, and they both think the other are steely-eyed maniacs."
Oddly enough, my riding buddies from the olden days ( 1976-1983) rode both street and raced off road, mostly hare scrambles in Ball Ground GA( through the rivers and over the woods). I guess most of us started on dirt bikes before we were old enough to have licenses for the street and kept up with both after we legally rode on the pavement.
The camera appears to be using a wide angle lens since you can see the handle bars and instruments, which I think makes the trail look narrower than it really is. Also, the newer four stoke bikes are a lot easier to ride on that type of terrain than the two stokes of days past.
If I had a modern dual purpose bike, I'd be out there in a minute.
I've gone between trees at 40 ish mph that only had about six inches of clearance on either side of my handle bars before. I was not that good of a racer so that was more scary to me than that trail in the video. ( I saw many a new racer to that track walking through the pits with a hacksaw to cut his bars down.) My biggest problem was going downhill. Uphill is no problem to stop, just pull in the clutch, but downhill is another matter for me. I guess if there hadn't been fourty-eleven pine trees on either side of those narrow trails it might not have been so bad.
I just wasn't that good at it ( if I was on a racing website, my handle should be dirtcrasher, haha), and couldn't afford decent tires ( or a real enduro racer instead of a motocross bike) on my salary, so I decided to go back to buying guns instead of motorcycle parts.
I've thought of riding in the woods again, but with no health insurance, the idea was fleeting.
For sure those bars are cut as short as possible. May not be a trials bike, but it sure is shaped like one. Although, a real trials bike probably wouldn't have stalled when he was trying to get up that rock step. I played around with dirt bikes back in south Jersey for a bit, before moving to CA. Enough to get comfortable with less than optimum tire grip. More interested in road racing. Wasn't interested in flat tracking. Didn't care for the idea of sticking my boot down and pitching it sideways at 90+ mph on a dirt track. Which is funny, considering I've dragged my foot, along with parts of my bike, drifting through paved corners faster than that. People are funny at what they will balk at. Worked with the wife of a National ranked flattracker at the company that sponsored him(was on same team as Kenny Roberts). 140 on the straights, 90+ cornering at the San Jose Mile on a Harley, and an earthquake that cracked the walls of the warehouse had him packed up and leaving for Michigan. (his wife followed him a couple months later)
At one time I would've been next in line to try that, but then I quit doing drugs and came back to my senses.
ReplyDeleteI guess I've been off dirt bikes too long. Now they have electric start.
I once watched two guys carry mountain bikes to the summit of Mount Lincoln (14,286 feet), and then launch down a 100 foot cliff into complete fog -- down to a 150% grade scree field for 4000 vertical feet.
ReplyDeleteAnd they didn't utter a word.
Gorram. I would not take that path with a pedal bike, much less one that had an engine.
ReplyDeleteThe individual manning that camera has larger gonads, by far, than I do, and I am not at all ashamed to admit it. Kudos to them for that, I suppose. 1
Definite potential for deceleration trauma if they f-up.
ReplyDeleteYeow! Traveling well in excess of 150 mph on a crotch rocket is ok, but that - that's crazy! ;)
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't pay me to WALK that path.
ReplyDeleteNo thankee ma'am, I was too hard to raise.
ReplyDeleteAnd Pappy's right; REAL trail bikes don't have electric start.
Now that's just nuckin' futz.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind going fast on a bicycle, but if I want excitement like that I'll ride past pedestrians on the narrow sidewalks without going into the weeds. Between the ground being slightly melty on top, and my bike having 700x25 tires and clipped pedals, I'd sink quickly and probably end up doing the slow roll into the mud.
ReplyDeleteThese guys... nutty as squirrel poop, I reckon.
Jim
Sweet jeebus. My anus puckered just watching that.
ReplyDeleteNo thank you.
John S.
Um, it doesn't look that scary to me.
ReplyDeleteProbably because they are going at a prudent speed, on machines that are not too big for the job, and keeping their motorcycles under firm control.
I haven't ever driven a motorcycle, so maybe I miss something. But I have ridden similar trails on horses and three wheelers. It's all in not hurrying.
staghounds,
ReplyDeleteI think I put part of it down to my acrophobia and part of it down to not trusting the "sneeze factor" on dirt bikes.
Something I've always found interesting is that there's a lot less overlap between street sport and dirt sport riders than you'd think, and they both think the other are steely-eyed maniacs.
I'd love to walk that trail. No way in the world you could get me there on a set of wheels though.
ReplyDeleteNot no how, not no way.
ReplyDeleteI intend to die peacefully, in my bed, at 90, with a good shot of single malt in my hand.
That trail looks very much like: " This Way to the Egress!!! "
It looks fun to me. All except for the sections of loose scree. And probably because I'm sitting on my ass in front of the computer, watching OTHER people do it. :D
ReplyDeleteI thought that little troubles at the two and three minutes marks might take me out of my chair.
ReplyDeleteMy height thing would probably mean I couldn't walk it.
Waugh ... I still have shivers thinking about it.
Regards.
Tape camera to left side of helmet, don't look down or back unless stopped, and hope there isn't Juan Valdez and his burro going to pick coffee up there... looks like lots of fools in those hills, that isn't a goat path.
ReplyDeleteYou can see the visor of the helmet up to the right. Could the wide angle lens on the helmet-cam makes the ground seem more distant and narrower - more dangerous? Must be some kind of optical image stabilization in-camera because the rider's head/image isn't bouncing around. When he looks back at his buddy (about 4:26-:27) it appears wide enough - but some of the rest of it is tight.
ReplyDeleteHe's not deflecting off rocks much and pushing in the scree-stuff, so the rebound is set way-soft in the suspension stroke which is what you want in rocks. One guy on a KTM, the other an XR and they're speaking German - could be using trials tires too, looks like Spain or northern Italy.
I would have tried it. They are using Trials bikes which are dirt bikes crossed with a goat. Dirt bikes are all about speed compared to those. the biggest problem would be fatigue. It looks like they ride about half a mile or so and that would wear you out. Minimum fall looks to be over 100 feet down, and could be more in some spots.
ReplyDeleteThose guys defenitely would be OK in my foxhole.
Yeah, I know about trials bikes, but trials competitions are rarely held halfway up a cliff, out of cell-phone service, and an hour's flight time from the nearest ER.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're Krauters, no doubt. That explains a lot.
ReplyDeleteI am scarred from that vid, too. Permanently.
I'd trust DirtCrashr's analysis of the trail though, he'd know about that sort of thing from his considerable perspective upon a KTM.
If you like vertigo, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw
ReplyDeleteOdd... from the helmet looking down it seems there's barely room to put your toes - but whenever he looks back to his buddy it looks like there's a nice easy several feet of trail in most spots.
ReplyDeleteAssuming the latter's more likely - it looks fun to walk, except for the scree parts. :)
I have to disagree, I had a Beta Techno, Baxter had a Gas-Gas, Wes had a Scorpa, and we rode some trials out of Wes' backyard up in Boulder Creek - those aren't trials bikes. But they are using trials techniques and going slow. I believe the wide-angle camera lens exaggerates the height/fall views, there's some stuff down at Hollister on Troll Trail that would give equally scary first impressions, esp. if my friend Baxter was riding-camera, he's a nut.
ReplyDelete"Big balls trail ride"
ReplyDeleteThere's mettle and then there's metal. Damn.
AT
Twin Trestles bridge on the Corona Pass road used to be a railroad trestle over a couple of gulches. The ties are gone, as well as the rails, but the timbers the rails were attached to are still there.
ReplyDeleteIt's 15 feet down on the high side, and 1500 feet down on the other, but not to worry, the remaining timbers are a good 10 inches wide, and an easy trip on a road bike with your sweetie on the back.
At least I thought so.
Of course back then, I would have tried that trail, too, on a small trials bike.
Rollins Pass Twin Trestles in Colorado? There's a picture of it Billll, looks do-able! :-)
ReplyDeleteHwy 40 from Berthoud Falls to Fraser looks awesome too.
Darwin award winner wannabees, methinks.
ReplyDeleteTam said
ReplyDelete"Something I've always found interesting is that there's a lot less overlap between street sport and dirt sport riders than you'd think, and they both think the other are steely-eyed maniacs."
Oddly enough, my riding buddies from the olden days ( 1976-1983) rode both street and raced off road, mostly hare scrambles in Ball Ground GA( through the rivers and over the woods).
I guess most of us started on dirt bikes before we were old enough to have licenses for the street and kept up with both after we legally rode on the pavement.
The camera appears to be using a wide angle lens since you can see the handle bars and instruments, which I think makes the trail look narrower than it really is.
Also, the newer four stoke bikes are a lot easier to ride on that type of terrain than the two stokes of days past.
If I had a modern dual purpose bike, I'd be out there in a minute.
I've gone between trees at 40 ish mph that only had about six inches of clearance on either side of my handle bars before. I was not that good of a racer so that was more scary to me than that trail in the video.
( I saw many a new racer to that track walking through the pits with a hacksaw to cut his bars down.)
My biggest problem was going downhill. Uphill is no problem to stop, just pull in the clutch, but downhill is another matter for me. I guess if there hadn't been fourty-eleven pine trees on either side of those narrow trails it might not have been so bad.
I just wasn't that good at it ( if I was on a racing website, my handle should be dirtcrasher, haha), and couldn't afford decent tires ( or a real enduro racer instead of a motocross bike) on my salary, so I decided to go back to buying guns instead of motorcycle parts.
I've thought of riding in the woods again, but with no health insurance, the idea was fleeting.
For sure those bars are cut as short as possible. May not be a trials bike, but it sure is shaped like one. Although, a real trials bike probably wouldn't have stalled when he was trying to get up that rock step.
ReplyDeleteI played around with dirt bikes back in south Jersey for a bit, before moving to CA. Enough to get comfortable with less than optimum tire grip. More interested in road racing. Wasn't interested in flat tracking. Didn't care for the idea of sticking my boot down and pitching it sideways at 90+ mph on a dirt track. Which is funny, considering I've dragged my foot, along with parts of my bike, drifting through paved corners faster than that.
People are funny at what they will balk at. Worked with the wife of a National ranked flattracker at the company that sponsored him(was on same team as Kenny Roberts). 140 on the straights, 90+ cornering at the San Jose Mile on a Harley, and an earthquake that cracked the walls of the warehouse had him packed up and leaving for Michigan. (his wife followed him a couple months later)