It was a great time! Met EMS and the whole gang for the first time, and it was the first time I've ever even seen the Rocky Gap trails. I got there on Friday, and Eric, Mike, and myself went for a short ride before the rest got there. Eric and Mike can ride like the wind! It took me a little bit to get my sea legs, but after a while I could keep up. I wasn't riding over my head for the most part, but I was out of my comfort level at those speeds on those trails.

Those are the hardest trails I've been on to date. Sure, I've ridden on rocks and some nasty hill climbs before, but not 21 miles of them stretched end-to-end! As Eric said, "...these rocks can really mess you up!". I low-sided on Friday after completing one of the rough spots (Doh!) and broke the front brake lever. I could still get 2 fingers on it though, so no problem.

On Saturday, the group kind of split up, with Eric and the fast guys heading out first, and the "B-Team" bringing up the rear. Since I hadn't ridden the whole trail yet (and didn't want to break anything else), I chose to ride with the slower group. Jim on his KTM 990 was absolutely super-human! He went everywhere that everybody else did, with the exception of one nasty hill. It was amazing to watch him man-handle that 500lb. bike around.

We did the whole trail on Saturday, and I was pretty proud of myself for not going down once all day. I had "moments", but I stayed upright. Unfortunately, I had to bug out Saturday night, but it was a lot of fun!







The only problem Jim had on his 990. He got a little off course, and once his front wheel went over the berm, he slid off the trail.












The "B-Team" taking a breather.



Skuse's knee after he low-sided his KTM 525. What you can't see is the softball-sized knot on his shin!



Some more KTM 990 action...

 

I had a couple epiphanies out on the trail. First, I definitely need to get a set a bark busters. Second, a 1/4-turn throttle with a pumper carb in those rocks is nothing more than an on/off switch! I'll be better prepared next time.

 

Good to meet you man. Wish i would have seen jim launch that 990 off the ramp.... Man im sore today....

 

chit I would have loved to see the 990 go off the ramp lol

 

That crash i had was the first fast crash i have had, and im surprised that the bike wasnt worse than the fender... i hit those trees hard, the kid on the kdx behind me said after the first tree hit on the left side of the bars, he said i was doing a stoppie til i hit the other trees, said my back tire was off the ground, happend so fast, i laid there for about 10 mins, my leg hurt bad, and when i landed i hit my head on the ground hard too, hard enough to see stars... and they picked the bike off of me... i was scared to look at the front of it, then i was relieved, just the fender.... and its only 18$, i bent the bars on the lowside, so new bars too.... but it held up well for a pretty fast biff.... even got road rash from the tree bark... but damn was it fun.... great ride... had alot of people too... 15 guys i think saturday morning...

 

Good to meet you and all of the guys too! It's about $15 for a new brake lever, so that's not too bad. I got up on Sunday, and besides the usual aches and pains, the arches of my feet hurt from standing on the pegs all day! Never had that happen before. I guess that's how you know it was a good ride.

 

ANOTHER SHOT OF HIS LEG...


AND ME LOOKING AT MY BIKE LIKE,,, DAMN, BROKE FENDER.

 

so where you from mustang????

 

Northwestern PA, about 60 miles south of Warren, or 150 miles north of Pittsburgh. I actually only live about 1 1/2 hours from the trails, but I trucked my bike up too. Like EMS, I didn't want to load all of that crap on my bike, plus I wanted a way home in case I did something really stupid.

 

Nice pics and report, Eric and mustang. It's cool you guys got to hook up and ride. Those trails look like a lot of fun. That 990 is a beast.