Land-Between-the-Lakes LBL . . . OR . . . Hatfield & McC

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 09:13 pm Jul 16 2008

'Hope the guy lying amongst the rocks was OK . . .

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 06:35 pm Jul 21 2008

Well . . . we figured we averaged somewhere between 80-100 miles per day.

What a place. Rocks. And a few more rocks. We rode everything from easy trails to the "extreme difficult" trails (we didn't finish the worst ones but gave 'em a shot). Turns out the singletrack is some pretty tough stuff so we picked the easiest one and . . . it ended up being pretty easy.

Some pics coming soon I'm sure - I took a few before my batteries ran out, Tom Moody and Rick took much more.

The cabin was without a doubt a good choice over camping. Having a place to get away from the intense heat (and some rain last night) was a huge relief, and the very reasonable amenities made life pretty pleasant.

But the best was the company - what a great bunch of guys. It's one thing for near strangers to get together, another to get along so well and enjoy each other's company. And with an age range of 16 to 49.

No one got hurt very badly and the only bike issue was one flat last night. I had vine hanging down in a loop actually get wrapped around my neck and - before it pulled me off of the bike - manage to slide for a moment or two so I've got a cute rope-burn lookin' abrasion on the front of my neck and some slight bruising. Other than that the normal bruises, mild abrasions, blisters, and sore bodies.

There's several stories coming out of this ride so I'll let the others take over!

radonc73 · Post by **radonc73** » 05:25 am Jul 22 2008

Sounds great cann't wait for pictures.

Post by **Rick** » 08:33 pm Jul 22 2008

Im trying to get some pics up........I think they are too big. Trying to shrink them down........sorry, be patient.

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 08:47 pm Jul 22 2008

Rick wrote:Im trying to get some pics up........I think they are too big. Trying to shrink them down........sorry, be patient.

PATIENT MY AXX!!

Post by **Rick** » 09:03 pm Jul 22 2008

Well, all the pics r too big, so i will try and post a link........http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd77/f2793/Sorry, maybe one of u can stick them in an album 4 me!

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 09:09 pm Jul 22 2008

Did you try scaling down the picture size within the camera?

Post by **Rick** » 09:10 pm Jul 22 2008

nope. would take forever now. See link above.

TWMOODY · Post by **TWMOODY** » 09:19 pm Jul 22 2008

Here's my story and I'm sticken to it.

This was my best trip to H&M !
The trails were great, the people were great and the beer was cold
after the ride

I was for the most part elected the front man cause I knew the trails
pretty good but I had Austin (Kirk's son) on my tail pushing me so I
had to let him lead to the next marker.
Once I let him by me he was gone till we got to the next trail change,
all I seen was the dust he left behind.
All the guys got along great and we rode together like we had riden
together many times.
We had some pretty tough climbs in a couple of the extreme trails
that we made and a couple we couldn't make.
I only have a few pics but will post them.

The pic here is of WR450 Rick attempting a rock hill and started spitting rocks half way up. The pic really doesn't do justice of the incline as the
pic was taken standing and the same hill.

[img]http:500:375]http://kdxrider.net/forums/modules/albu ... .sized.jpg[/img]

This is a pic of Kirk, Austin and Rick waiting at the bottom of a hill climb
for WR Rick to make it up.

And the last pic is of Rick and Tom in the calm before the storm.
The group went out for the last ride on Sunday night about 6pm
and took the road to Mann to ride some single track.
Right before we got to the single track Austin spiked a rock and lost
the front tire sending his Dad back to pick up the truck to haul the bike back. Bummer for him as he was wanting to ride the REAL TOUGH single
track all day.
After the single track Jim and WR Rick wanted to ride the road back to the
cabin but I had the brilliant idea to take the trails back.
We were about 25 miles and a 45 minute ride away.
About half way back it started getting dark fast, as we were in thick woods
we didn't notice the black clouds swooping in. We crossed the side of the mountain into dust storm and couldn't see 5 feet ahead.
Then started a down pour that at least stopped the dust but now couldn't
see the trail due to the rain.
Finally we get to the trail head in Gilbert which comes down about 1000ft
that was filled with clay in the switch backs making it impossible to ride
and the bikes sliding down hill with the front brakes locked up while walking them through

We see lights at we approach the bottom of the mountain.
Then Rick says he's been on reserve for quite a while and doesn't think
he can make it back to the cabin (another 5 miles away)
We stopped and grabbed a cup at Speedway and transferred gas from my
bike to his and made it back at about 10pm in the pitch black raining night.

Post by **Rick** » 09:31 pm Jul 22 2008

After I got home, and washed my bike, i was gunna start it up. I figured i'd see how much gas was in it, so i took off the cap. Dry Dry Dry! Not even a dime sized puddle! I made it in on fumes Tom! Wow....

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 09:35 pm Jul 22 2008

Tom fixed us breakfast on Sunday - bacon and eggs!! It was awesome.

One of the trails we took Sunday was rated "extreme difficult" where they recommended quads have 4-wheel drive with winches which was actually a blast until the first major undertaking. This climb was cut into the hill, was quite steep, and had large, misshapen rocks that made those things we call navigation and traction wishful thinking. The pictures truly don't do the situation justice, but here's a shot of two of us trying to turn a bike around so it could be brought back down:

The other "extreme" trail we took Saturday. I only made it up partially and ended up trying to wrestle the bike in the heat. After a few miserable attempts I felt like throwing the bike over the side, completely disgusted and entirely whipped!

My favorite trails were the extreme trail we took Sunday up until we hit the gnarly hill, the "most difficult" or black trails we took Saturday, and the "medium difficult" or blue trails.

TWMOODY · Post by **TWMOODY** » 09:42 pm Jul 22 2008

My bike is still dirty nasty strapped to the trailer.
4 hours sleep 540 mile ride home= no energy
Tomorrow is another day.

Post by **KDX Butterfly** » 05:31 am Jul 23 2008

Appreciation of the pics (from you, too, Rick!) and the awesome story of what sounds like a great time.

crf_kdx · Post by **crf_kdx** » 07:29 pm Jul 23 2008

The Jones boys had a good time at H & M!! It's always nice to get to ride/explore a new location. The trails there ranged from the sedate to the gnarly. H & M reminded me some of Black Mountain near Hazard, KY and Winrock/Coal Creek at Oak Ridge, TN. The bike/ATV/UTE trails were somewhat like the "jeep loop" at LBL and like LBL there were hills to challenge the skill level of all riders although at H & M all the hills seemingly had rocks to be dealt with where LBL has both rocky & dirt hill climbs.

As noted by others, the company was grand and I appreciated the effort everyone made to make Austin feel comfortable. I'd certainly be game for other riding adventures in the future!!

Kirk

Post by **Rick** » 09:17 pm Jul 29 2008

Sorry for the late post, but I too had a great time! The company was fantastic! Very diverse. Everybody rode great, and the ole' 250 performed wonderfully. I liked the fact that you could ride on the streets. Heres a pic of us at a Hardee's, after riding 35 miles or so, on the trails to get there.

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 10:01 pm Jul 29 2008

I forgot about this picture . . . a bunch of thoroughly whipped bikers. Whipped from the heat and from the "extreme difficulty" stuff followed by the pounding we took making our way towards Man.

Post by **Rick** » 10:23 pm Jul 29 2008

Here's Jim and Austin, holding up a bolder, about 1700' up! What Stamina!

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 11:20 am Jul 30 2008

I can remember the way I felt at that point . . . shot, f*cked, snakebit, and powder-burnt.

But I can't say that there's any better reason to have felt that way!!

Post by **Indawoods** » 02:35 pm Jul 30 2008

Did you guys stay hydrated? Sounds like you were out of energy ALLOT!

Snickers bar and plenty of fluids!!!!!

Jeb · Post by **Jeb** » 05:07 pm Jul 30 2008

It was very hot, low to mid 90s. And we traversed some pretty tough ground, which in and of itself was rough, always battling rocky and lumpy ground. The problem worsened if you got stuck on a gnarly uphill and ended up fighting the bike. This happened to me on a couple of occasions and wore me down really quickly.

I went through about 3 liters each day (2 X 1.5 liters in hydration pack) and started each day out with a big bottle of water. I don't think you could drink too much water in these situations. Probably would be a good idea to start loading up days before.

On Sunday I bought a few of the Clifbars and thought they worked pretty well. Didn't taste very good but they did revive me - complex carbs are good for that. http://www.clifbar.com/food/products_clif_bar/

Plus I'm just old and overweight! And I'm probably whining a little which makes me a bit of a wimp.

The Snickers bar are a good thought - sugar for the instant energy, peanuts for the long term (simple AND complex carbs).

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Land-Between-the-Lakes LBL . . . OR . . . Hatfield & McC

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