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What did you do to your dirty bike today?

byke said:
... Some trail club smoothed out most of the tough spots on trail 6 ...
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I was hoping you were kidding or exaggerating, but i'm getting the feeling you are not :(
I typically seek out the gnarly stuff, so this makes me sad
 
I heard from a rock crawler buddy that Jeep (tm) does that to the rubicon every year so all the dumbasses who show up in stock jeeps to the Jeep Jamboree (tm) can make it through.
They have a trail crew out for at least a week beforehand. (What I heard)

Luckily I had my first run with my homebuilt FJ40 early in the season so it was still a pain in the ass.
 
onto1wheel said:
I was hoping you were kidding or exaggerating, but i'm getting the feeling you are not :(
I typically seek out the gnarly stuff, so this makes me sad
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Same here. Tahoe NF needs to follow the Sierra NF's lead and put a sign up telling users to maintain the integrity of the trail. This one is at the southern entrance to the Dusy Ershim Trail. Grammatical error aside, I couldn't have been happier to see it...

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WoodsChick
 
^^^That's awesome to see them appreciate the challenge.

onto1wheel said:
I was hoping you were kidding or exaggerating, but i'm getting the feeling you are not :(
I typically seek out the gnarly stuff, so this makes me sad
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Made me sad too, but this was I think three or more years ago, so...whatever, plus we still have those fun WST switchbacks by devil's thumb and Rock Lobster(?) at Georgetown. Trail 6 was a little overhyped anyway. It was basically a really cool trail that most people could do, except there were three or four very short sections that were tough. If you got through them well, they accounted for about one minute of ride time, so it really wasn't significant, time-wise, imo. I took a noob buddy through it and rode his bike a couple times, it was fine.

augustiron said:
I heard from a rock crawler buddy that Jeep (tm) does that to the rubicon every year so all the dumbasses who show up in stock jeeps to the Jeep Jamboree (tm) can make it through.
They have a trail crew out for at least a week beforehand. (What I heard)

Luckily I had my first run with my homebuilt FJ40 early in the season so it was still a pain in the ass.
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I think they've been chipping away at it for a while. I've seen some funny memes on the crawler forums where they post a photo of a freeway with text that says something like "Rubicon 2012/2013/2014/etc".

A buddy and I tried to ride some of it from Loon Lake on dirt bikes and got to this field of rocks that were like 2ft to 3ft in size and we started to go through it, but eventually said eff it. It was pretty early on, maybe 3-5 miles. Does that sound familiar? Were there any/many other sections like that? I'd like to try again if it's not just that for twenty miles.
 
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That's a good sign, could use more of them.
I thought it was common knowledge among the experienced crawlers to remove any helper rocks they placed once they get through (?) I guess lots of users still need some edumacation....
Dusy Ershim? I gotta try that trail some day soon

WoodsChick said:
Same here. Tahoe NF needs to follow the Sierra NF's lead and put a sign up telling users to maintain the integrity of the trail. This one is at the southern entrance to the Dusy Ershim Trail. Grammatical error aside, I couldn't have been happier to see it...

P8010358.jpg



WoodsChick
Click to expand...
 
byke said:
A buddy and I tried to ride some of it from Loon Lake on dirt bikes and got to this field of rocks that were like 2ft to 3ft in size and we started to go through it, but eventually said eff it. It was pretty early on, maybe 3-5 miles. Does that sound familiar? Were there any/many other sections like that? I'd like to try again if it's not just that for twenty miles.
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There are definitely challenging parts and there are easy parts to the Rubicon, all the way through.
One might conclude that the challenging parts really aren't that challenging, as the one and only time I rode it was on my KLR650. This was 10 years ago, so the trail may have gotten better, or maybe worse since then, I dunno. I'm ready for more of it though, I can tell you that!
 
onto1wheel said:
That's a good sign, could use more of them.
I thought it was common knowledge among the experienced crawlers to remove any helper rocks they placed once they get through (?) I guess lots of users still need some edumacation....
Dusy Ershim? I gotta try that trail some day soon
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Dusy makes the Con look like a picnic.
 
Duffil said:
Dusy makes the Con look like a picnic.
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I think the thing that makes the Dusy more difficult (other than Thompson Hill :laughing) is that it's almost twice as long and at much higher elevation. The Rubicon is a little over 17 miles long and runs between 6000' and 7150'. The Dusy starts at about 9600' on the northern end and immediately starts climbing through rocks and boulders, goes up to 10000', then levels out at about 9800' for awhile, then 9000', then ends at about 8400' after 32 miles. Little mistakes are magnified by the elevation. I knocked the wind out of myself the first time I rode it and I seriously thought I was going to die. Also, there are no bail-outs. You've got about 300' on either side of the trail and then it's wilderness, so you either go back the way you came or soldier on to the finish. Super rewarding, though. One of the most beautiful and scenic trails I've ever ridden.


My friend Steve at the top of Thompson Hill...
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Me almost to the bottom of Thompson Hill...
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Just to keep this on topic, I went out to the garage and gazed longingly upon my neglected 2-stroke and wished I was riding it on this fine day. Does that count?



WoodsChick
 
The foreground in pics one and two are exactly like what I found at the Rubicon. The rider looks like he has a trail to follow with smaller rocks, but it wasn't like that on the Rubicon. It went on for at least a few hundred feet and who knows how much longer because it was out of sight. I do like a little bit, but it gets old doing that for days. Like sand whoops, or jumps, lots of fun, but not endlessly. I'll have to try it again.
 
I'm off on Tuesday and Wednesday, I'd love to ride the Rubicon or this Thompson hill or Dusy. I'm red sticker itching for different terrain.
 
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KooLaid said:
I'm off on Tuesday and Wednesday, I'd love to ride the Rubicon or this Thompson hill or Dusy. I'm red sticker itching for different terrain.
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I might be able to do rubicon on Wednesday, if you're interested. Kinda short notice for me, but i'll check my work situation for the week on Monday.
Have you done rubicon before? I think I could do an out and back without getting too lost.
doug
 
heya woodschick, I remember your awesome thread for the dusy trail. Any plans to lead a ride out there this summer? :cool
 
well...although i'll probably have the day off, this idea doesn't seem to have any interest, and given how it's supposed to be 84 at loon lake and 103 crossing the valley, I think i'll stay in Santa Cruz where it's nice and cool.

onto1wheel said:
I might be able to do rubicon on Wednesday, if you're interested. Kinda short notice for me, but i'll check my work situation for the week on Monday.
Have you done rubicon before? I think I could do an out and back without getting too lost.
doug
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Those Dusy rocks are just silly. I can do that stuff just fine in small doses.

Otherwise, I need a beer. Like a Pedro Point Something.
 
I like the idea but too soon for me since I'm still waiting on parts to help Boulder proof my sxf a little better. All I've gotten in so far is a kick stand lol. So waiting on skid plate and handguards. It's a big trip for me since I'm kinda far from Tahoe
 
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Tore off the rear end to grease the swingarm and linkage bearings. (I thought I just did this but my notes say it was around 60 hours ago.) Quit because it started getting warm.

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