Mon July 20
Woke up in the morning and it was still cold. The day started off with breakfast. Then people startedsplitting off into groups of every size. I met brad from Ohio the night before and we decided to ride together and just before leaving, we joined a group of 7 others whom we knew may ride some harder stuff. I was actually a bit concerned as these guys have been riding enough that the stories of broken bikes, crashes, and crazy adventures from the night before, made me think i might be in over my head. But i still remember my days of off road riding and figured I would just fall back into it, and besides, I did just ride a few hundred miles of the TAT. One of the riders had completed in the GS Trophy event before, and 2 more were trying out for it. It’s a 4 man off road event that takes place every 2 years somewhere different in the world each time, I suggest looking it up, there are great videos of past events on YouTube.

We left camp and in moments were cruising at 50mph on twisting gravel roads. I was sure I would crash at any moment, but the more we rode, the more confident I got, but stayed cautious, because once you get comfortable, that’s when things go wrong. Glad to say I remembered that! Then we turned off onto some dirt trails and the fun started. There were some jumps, water crossings, trees, turns, and everything else an adventure rider can dream of, this was what I had been waiting for!  Then came some nice open trails that quickly became rock laidened trails. It became my most technical ride in 20yrs and I escaped unscaved. My bike though got a thorough initiation. There where a few ruts where the bike stood on its own and since it never fell over, didn’t count as a crash, we all agreed. After a particularly difficult pass through crazy rocks, steep terrain and a water crossing, we took a break, and were all congratulating each other and already reliving some of the tales. From our perch on a ridge, we saw someone riding 2 up and thought holy crap, they must be crazy or really talented. It ended up being a father and his son. He worked his way through the water crossing, solo, and then his bike proceeded to quit working. We spent probably 2 hours trying to get it going and towing it up a steep incline, as going back through the mars-like terrain didn’t seem like much of an option. During all the standing around and waiting, i walked off a little to go pee, and all i could think about was how mad i would be if i got attacked by a grizzly while peeing. Luckily, none where sighted.  After realizing a bike couldn’t tow the dead bike up the steep incline, we met a retired principal on a 4×4 gator that did the job. Our group had grown as earlier we had picked up a straggler, as we determined this is not the place to ride alone, not to mention it was grizzly bear country! Lesson learned, don’t ride back country routes alone. After the second hill, the guy that was riding the broken bike was able to get it going, but couldn’t get it into neutral. So part of the group split up and we all arrived back at the lodge. I think some of the guys went out for another ride, but I was exhausted, so I opted to drink beer instead. 

Some of the fellow Giants in that group where Brad, Kevin Schrader, Dimitrious, Kyle, Randy Owens, Claude, and I can’t remember the others that joined in along the way, but we all became better friends that day.

Miles 70, mostly off road.