Black Dog Ride 2011 - Sunday Ride

So after the first day of dirt road and highway riding I was thinking that this gig wasn't for me.  Sunday morning it became clear who the real men were here (and a few hardy women)...half the camp was gone and the population at the rider's meeting had been nuked in half.  Though we were a little haggard, we were the riders that were here for the long haul...
 After picking up the roll chart, the moods had lifted a bit.  Comments like "sweet!  Only 57 miles and it looks like all single-track!" were flying and I was stoked to get going.  I was one of two 2-stroke bikes there and it was finally starting to look like I brought the right bike.  Here's the track showing the Sunday ride (shown in blue):

After riding on damn dirt road again for about 5 miles and eating dust of all the bozos that just HAD to get past us, we stopped for a trash-picking and flower-smelling stop.
  Side-note...we were picking trash up to help the ride look good to the forest service, who would like to see nothing more than to have us banned from doing this gig.  It felt good to clean up the area, and we were amazed to find the things we did...I found a full 40 oz. miller chilling on the road the first day...

Mmmm..pretty...now let's ride!  To be honest, I didn't get a lot of pictures between this point and these next pictures, which were taken about 1/3 through the ride.  I was just having too much fun on the trails and I just plain forgot to take em!  I'll sum it up though...one REALLY rocky section called 'The Rubicon Trail'...like rocks the size of babies, man!  Many of the bozos that HAD to pass us on the dirt road got all snotted up in this section and I never did see them come in...must have punted and turned around.  My trusty 200 was perfect, and I was having the time of my life...
  After the Rubicon, we stopped a bit at this cool lake and picked some more trash...I found a snake hiding under a can and decided that was enough trash for the day!  I HATE SNAKES!

 

  After the rocky section, it turned into great non-rocky forest single-track and 4-wheeler trails..

   These were the kind of Oregon trails I was jonesin' to see and ride.  This was the reason I wanted to ride in Oregon...it was gorgeous, loamy soil with a few roots here and there surrounded by lush green forest.  I've never ridden in anything like this before, and the loamy soil sent me bushwackin' off the trail a few times when I tried to use the front brake in the corners...turns out you have to brake BEFORE the corners - weird!  Of course if I was riding a 4-stroke like everyone else it would have been just a chop of the throttle into the corner, roll on out...but I just had to be little different...
  After this section, we rode a TON of single-track that was an absolute BLAST!  There was a section that they had the riders to go through three small loops of single track in an ORV park, which is where I saw this awesome brand-new KTM 300

  Turns out it belonged to the rider that planned all the single-track riding for the day.  We don't know what his name is, and I didn't get a picture of him (he's a bit shy), but we dubbed him 'Fancy-Pants' because he was decked out in white KTM riding gear that was as spotless as his bike was...
  After the ORV park area, we got into some rockier and rooted single-track and 4-wheeler trails.  This is a shot of Mount Hood from a burned section of the forest trail...

 After a bit of the rocky crap, there was this really great outlook area...

Mount St. Helens on the left, Mount Baker on the right

Mount Baker on the left, Mount Adams on the right

Mount Hood, baby!

  ...so right after this vista was a section of mountain bike trails with some sick jumps on them.  We were told to stay off...most looked pretty modest and I could see doing on a mountain bike, but there were a couple that looked pretty sick and no way would I dare it on any vehicle.  Pretty cool mountain-biking area...
  About this time we were about 5 miles from the end and I realized after almost bushwacking off the trail a few times that I was BEAT!  I was out of water, hungry, and the trails were rocky, rooted, and dusty.  My arms and hands were tired from constant clutching, braking, and standing up, and and my monkey-butt from the day before was starting to grow again.  Around every corner was more nasty rocky single-track...I kept thinking "Great!  More rocks and roots!  Awsome!  Oh how I wish there were more rocks!".  What kept me going was thinking what our cookie (Kymn) back at camp was whipping up for tonight's dinner...   
  We all made it back, and I've never been so hot and tired after a ride!  It was a real challenge!  After stripping off all my gear except my pants, I realized I hadn't checked in after the ride!  So all the gear went back on to ride the last challenge - bike-balance.  Basically stay in a 8'x20' rectangle for as long as you can without touching your feet to the ground.  Every second you do this, a point was earned...
  About an hour later, they had the awards ceremony for the riders that did all three days: Friday night ride, Saturday ride, and the Sunday ride.  They handed out some great prizes and trophys for the top point-earners...the top in points in our group went to Jackson - ninth place overall!
  I surprised to get the 'Smallest Vehicle Award'...turns out I was the only one that did all three days on a 2-stroke, and it was still the smallest-cc bike there including the 4-strokes!  Quite a few people were amazed at this...which makes me kind wonder what I'm missing out on with the 4-stroke bikes???  I guess I'll never know...
  It stayed nice all weekend...until that night.  Then I witnessed a for-real Oregon thunderstorm.  A couple strikes and thunder booms had me jumping out of my skin...

   I also have to say something about my trusted steed...a 2004 KTM 200 EXC...this bike continues to amaze me with it's ability to go ANYWHERE.  With an oversized gas tank I out-lasted many of the 4-strokes in our group and it's agility was orgasmic in the single-track.  KTM makes amazing bikes!

  Special Thanks to:
 Kymn (cookie) - Thanks for the great meals and hauling my bike across two states!
 Russ - Thanks for letting me crash in the trailer.
 Jason - for inviting me to this shindig