Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Fall campout, version 2

with some of us missing the first early fall campout it was time to pack up & head to Potter's pasture to do "Version II"

remnants from one year ago, MINUS the foot of white, fluffy stuff!

after watching the sun set from Highline it was time to turn on the lights

and do an excellent night ride

the breakfast club after a drizzly night of camping

there was no lack of good food or,

FRESH water!

this windmill is a welcome landmark after a long week in the "real world" what a great way to spend a weekend with friends, bikes & everything else that goes with it.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Late Summer

A number of folks participated in the camp out this weekend. I'm sure we'll have stories and pics show up in the next few days. I had "life" to attend to, so I managed to sneak in a night ride on Friday with CQ and Todd the "Owl Whisperer", along with a solo sunrise ride on Sunday.

CQ on Highline

Bob doing an evening flyover

The Bob's Eye View

The top of Horseshoe on Sunday A.M.

Looking up the single track cut below Drunken Karen

Saturday, September 4, 2010

End of Summer Camp Out

The end of summer camp out is coming this weekend (9/10-9/12). I don't recall a lot of the details, but there will be night riding on Friday and Saturday night, potluck on Saturday evening, and the usual camp out stuff.

Some of the guys are heading over to Wellfleet to race on Saturday, while others will hold down the fort back at the pasture.

On Sunday Paul is challenging folks to a "Bike/Run/Bike" race at 1:00. Although it sounds like fun, I'll be doing a personal "Bike/Bike/Bike". Others had talked about doing a"Bike/Drink/Bike". A small contingent will no doubt be doing the "Drink/Drink/Sleep". Mix and match any three . . . the key is just to have fun.

Oh yeah, meet at the "new" camp unless you're a hermit, then feel free to hide out at the "old" camp.

Update: Paul just posted all the details over on the Cycle Sport Facebook Page. Here's what's up;


Potter's Pasture fall camp out is this weekend Sept.10-12 at new camp. It's a good time for the whole family. Great mtb trails for all levels, night rides, music around the camp fire, kiddy trail, games for the kids, numerous camp sites and a just for fun bike run bike dualathalon on Sun. 12th at 1pm. Each segment is 3 miles long. Single and 2 person teams are welcomed. No fee or prizes just a friendly competition with like minded people. Wellfleet has brought back there mtb race, Sat. 11th at 9am for check in at the Fire House. A 10-12 mile race it sounds. The cost is $20.00. Some of us are going to car pool from Potters to the race and should be back by 1230.


Looks to be a load of fun. The weather should be great and the trails are in excellent shape.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Last Gasp Triathlon 8/21/10


This note copied from Paul's Facebook posting; Ron Snell and I are putting on a last Gasp, just for fun triathlon at Potter's Pasture. Aug. 21st at 8am. No fee, medals or time. We will meet at the new campground. Bring your mtb or cycle cross bike. Course layout has a twist to it. We will leave as a group and ride 10 miles of gravel and paved roads to Jeffery Lake, then do a open water swim in a cove near the dam, then ride our bikes 9 miles back to camp on paved and gravel roads. Then run or walk a 5k on the trails at Potters. At the start of each event we will wait for everybody to catch up before heading out again. There will be a Pot Luck dinner afterwards, so bring your favorite dish. Paul Siebert from Aurora may join us and if so he will bring his trusty Guitar. Should be a lot of fun hope to see u there.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Better Late


Just a few pics from a couple of weeks ago.

The water in the pond has reached the edge of the "high" route on Freeway.


The Desert canyon continues to grow.


One should definitely take the high road around this point. Even the fence used to mark the edge of the drop off has fallen into the hole.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

The Bozeman Connection

Tuesday May 18th started off like every other Tuesday , up at 5 and off to the office to irradiated by the computer screen for eight hours. I was well into the morning when I spoke with Llama only to find out he was not able to hit the TNR at the "South 40 " location . Bob "The Man " was also out . While toiling away I decided a look at MTBR was in order. Maybe that would spark some renewed passion in me. I cruised a couple of boards and then noticed I had a private message !!! Sweet !! It was from a contact I had made that was from Bozeman MT. and they were going to camp and do a layover ride at Potters on the return trip home. I suppose my TNR conundrum is now solved . Now if you've ever been to Potters you know cell phones only function in the "phone booth" so after several missed calls I received a text that they were at Potters. I shut down and hit the road for the thirty mile commute home to load up for the twenty mile drive to the trail head at old camp. The Bozeman crew had went out for a quick ride before I arrived so I took off to find them. I had a darn near full loop in when I ran into Paul B and Jeff. We headed back to camp to regroup . Tyson and Matt were back from the adventure they had on a few of the not so well traveled trails they found. We chatted awhile and the hit the real goods that Potters has to offer . The loop took us on the classic route that includes Church Grove,Upper Hornitos, 6 Man climb " Lower Hornitos , The Desert , and Ceder Ridge. Paul B and his crew bailed when we arrived back at camp. The Bozeman crew and I chatted it up and had some beer that they brought with them . I had a decision to make on the way out between BEER or good FIREWOOD as an offering to the visitors. I chose firewood because it was suppose to cool off and we were between rains . I had a great time riding with you guys and hope to see you again . Maybe next time in Big Sky Country !!!
CQ in exile

Monday, July 5, 2010

Slingbladin' at Potters

Drove out to the pasture today for some maintenance & soon found out I was all alone & not wanting to get the van stuck or having a lot of extra time to hike back to trails that need trimming I spent a couple hours opening up the new camp area.

East camp before

East camp after, should be plenty of parking for several vehicles to base a ride out of or a mowing session on the east end of the pasture

Billy Bob Thornton's "slingblade" has nothing on mine!


Friday, July 2, 2010

Trail Work Monday 7-5-2010

It sounds like a lot of the crew will be out at Potter's on Monday to do some trail work. Paul is camping out, the Coyote may make an appearance, and numerous others will be out. Come if you can, bring your trimmers, push mowers (some trails can't be accessed with the brush hog), and weed whackers.

Paul made some notes from his last trip to the pasture about what needs to be done;

"Need to hit the access trails and the local favorites first.

Trails to chain saw; Church Grove and cut off, South end of Trail Ridge by the pew, Sweetness, Tripple By-Pass, Potters Perfection the down hill single trk (which was the old way up it), and theres 200 ft left to trim in the middle of Zipper. That would be a good start.

Trails to weed eat; Horse Shoe Canyon (push mower), Rip-Off Ridge, there's three flat sections by the barbed wire fence on First Way by the dirt road, if we dont get to them soon we'll lose them till spring, the middle section of Tunnel vission in the woods, there's a grassy section about 300 ft long."

I would add that Cedar Ridge needs chainsaw and dirt work and 6 Guy needs some trimming near the drop off at the bottom.

Hope to see everyone trimming AND riding this week.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Paul Hates Grass

Paul had a mechanical with the mower yesterday, but I learned this morning that he got if fixed in typical MacGyver/Paul fashion and kept mowing until 10:00 last night. That's right, he mowed until 10:00. Keep that one in your mind when you think it takes too much work to trim the cedar that just smacked your face when you're bombing down a trail. Paul either loves mowing or has some sort of unresolved personal issues with vegetation. The dude is a mowing animal!

Paul says that most of the open areas are rideable and ready for your holiday weekend. We all owe Paul for his attack on grass. Now it's our turn to finish the job and tidy up what's left.

Paul's trusty mowing steed.

Mowing off into the sunset . . . seriously.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Progress

Paul has been on the move with the trail work. He found the mower, arranged the purchase, got to work, broke the mower, and shelled out more cash to fix it. The good news is that we will soon have our trails back. The bad news is that we still have a lot of hand work to do.

If you ride Potter's, think about donating a few bucks to finish paying for the mower. Paul has paid more than his fair share.

If you don't swing the pulaski out there, you should be overwhelmed with guilt and chip in. If you have never held a mcleod, think about coming out and seeing one in person (you can even use one of mine). If you want to know what a "fall line" is and why we've been rerouting some old trails, come on over. If you like beer, help with some water bars and we'll share.

The new rig ready for work.


Reclaiming "Pump Hill"

P.S. If you said to yourself; "What's a mcleod?", or "Pulaski who?". Slap yourself with a tapered head tube (I guess the cool kids are in to it) and get to Googling.


Sunday, June 20, 2010

Ante Up and Kick In

It's time for pasture riders to come together to help make Potter's rideable again. Currently the grass and trees have grown to a degree that riding is almost impossible. If we can get a number folks together, I'll rent the brush hog and help out as well. Over the past year, there have been only a few who have helped with the mowing, trimming, and dirt work. With all the rain (and subsequent vegetative growth), it's just too much for the few of us to tackle with hope of success.

Post a reply in the comments section with your availability if you are able to help out. If there are no takers, then I'll be heading for Wyoming this weekend to get a helping of singletrack.

The pictures below were taken before another 4+ inches of rain fell on the area.

"Camp Trail" . . . good luck finding this one.


The first climb on "Rip Off" is dangerously green.


The entrance to "Brian's Way"


The CQ/Llama secondary fire pit at new camp.


This is what some trails should look like if we get it mowed soon.


For now, the wildlife have their run of the place.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Green Alert

Summer is taking hold of the pasture and a few friendly reminders are necessary.

Start looking at your calendars, because we're going to need to get a group together to mow some of the taller grass and trim back the cedar growth (Church Grove is getting dangerous).


The cows are in. This means that closing gates behind you is critical. Additionally, cows are docile animals, but are very large and powerful. If spooked, they can be dangerous. When approaching the herd, slow down, talk to them in calm voice, and try to pass on the outskirts of the group. Never go barreling at full speed through the center of a mass of cows, they will freak out and endanger themselves and you.

With cows comes dung, so keep your mouth closed, wipe off your water bottles, and call out the "freshies" so your buddies behind you can take appropriate action.


The snakes are out in full force. We've seen far more in the past month that all of last season.


Many snakes are harmless, but beware, the rattlers are out. Be careful in the tall grass, keep the tires rolling, and use the buddy system. You don't want to be alone if you get bit by one of these nasties. Even if you have a cell phone, the valleys offer no reception.

I have more video to edit that includes a cool run down Hornitos, and an old post from "CQ in Electronic Exile" that needs to get done, but for now, the trails are calling.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Last Video for a While

Here's a video from "Two Dogs".


Paul says that he's got the shakiness solved on the camera and I've got the compressed video quality issues almost solved. Look for some really cool stuff to come.

By Request

This was omitted in one of the videos below, but a few of the guys really wanted to see it . . . let the jeering continue. (Update: now with decent quality video.)

Saturday, May 15, 2010

One More

Here's an update to this post from earlier. Now using better quality video. The video uploader directly through blogger stinks, Vimeo is really slick.



Video Sampler

There are several stories to be told, but the short version is this . . .


Paul was trying out his new Hero cam. Count on more video to come. The video quality is a mess in this clip. I've got it sorted out, but I'm over my weekly Vimeo allotment . . . will reload it later in the week.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Trail Work

Dear Riders,

Right now the trails are in great shape, but soon there will be grass to mow, trees to trim (there are actually plenty now that need it), and new trails to build. Potters has some great stuff, but there are also a host of trails that erode quickly and have no real thought to the design. When much of the trail building is done by a walking steak (cows), we really can't expect too much thoughtful design.

The unique situation we have at the pasture makes new trail construction incredibly easy. There are no boards to ask approval, no bureaucracy to woo, just you and a shovel. If designing the next Hornitos is not your style, grab a saw and walk down your favorite trail and clean it up. It's time to "do work, son".

Sincerely,
Llama

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Trail Etiquette, or An Open Letter to Two Unknown Riders


Normally, we keep things bland and factual on this blog, but a trip to the pasture today requires that the normal riding recount be suspended for a note on trail etiquette at Potter's pasture.


Today I headed out to the pasture with "The Man" - not to be confused with the man who's trying to keep us down, or a guy over at Goldman Sachs, but Bob The Man - maker of fine kayaks and other creations . . . I digress already . . . so Bob and I are riding along on our way from the top of "Church Grove" over to "Horseshoe Canyon" via "Bulldozer" road, when we see a couple of riders in the distance.


We bombed down "Bulldozer" and I caught up to a couple of strangers at the water tank near the entrance to "Horseshoe Canyon". Before I was upon them, they mounted their bikes and headed off. As I approached the riders, I realized that I had no idea who they were. I said: "Good afternoon" . . . no response. I rode a few more feet behind them and said; "Nice afternoon, huh?" . . . still no response. I said; "Nice dog, I don't think I've seen you out here before" . . . still no direct response from the bikers. I now am assuming that they still didn't hear me. At this point, biker one says to biker two; "I think we have a tailgater back there". Biker two responds with something unintelligible. At this point I was well past the entrance to "Horseshoe Canyon" where Bob would no doubt be looking for me, so I gave up on being cordial to these turkeys and turned around.

So . . . who were you? Why do you bring the big city attitude to this humble little place? Maybe you were a West Coaster who is use to ignoring your fellow man. No? Maybe you were a high profile public figure who didn't want to get busted enjoying such a pedestrian activity as riding a bike on dirt. No? Maybe you saw me riding toward you in my knickers and thought I might be a little "off". . .


I assure you that knickers are an acceptable form of cycling apparel, and are much more manly than lycra shorts.

We've had a few more new comers and non-locals at the trails since we've been doing a bit of sharing with this blog and on MTBR.


Hopefully we wont regret letting more folks know about the riding here.

If you come to Potter's, there are many things you should know. I guess we'll have cover all of them in future posts, since we can no longer assume that visitors have any shred of common sense. The most important rule, the one that guides all others, is to be friendly.

If you're new to the trails, most likely the guys you find riding are locals who know where to find the good trails.


We're the guys who do the trail work and know where the cool new trails are . . . before we're done building them and listing them on the map.


Maybe you just didn't want to talk to Bob. We all felt like that in the beginning, but we promise you won't have play the game demonstrated below to ride the trails.


In all seriousness, You never know when the rider you blow off might be Mr. Potter himself.



You don't have to ride with us, just acknowledge other riders with a kind greeting. Phrases like; "Hello", "Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening", or "Hey, Nice Knickers" are excellent choices.

If you're new to the area, drop us a line and apologize for behaving like a diva. If you are a local, hang your head in shame and bring the post ride beer next time. Newcastle is good, Guinness works as well, if you bring Odells Bourbon Barrel Stout, you can be a jerk any time you want.


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

2010 Spring Camp Out Summary

As the sun set on Friday night, the anticipation of tacky dirt and perfect temperatures fill out minds.


CQ and PB headed out in 22* temps for a sunrise loop to kick of the Saturday riding.


CQ at the church pew on Church Grove praying to the MTB gods for good riding.


Prayers were answered as Georgie and Lady Bug head up Potter's Perfection.


Alex on the approach to PP.


Todd rockin' the SS on the first chute of Horsehoe Canyon.


Lil' Llama getting a fix of dirt on the Test Loop (probably time to rename that trail). She calls it the "Bean Stalk" since it heads to the sky.


The only casualty.


Lots of folks camped with a huge variety of gear choices.


The rarely viewed dirt pace line.


Alex cleaning the bottom section of Rhem's Way.