RUTS North DS Ride

[CDA]

I have not posted a ride report in some time (maybe because my riding has been far and few in between), so I figured I would share this one.

Rack and I rode this event last year and thought we would do it again this year. We added a few more guys to the list so there was 7 total.

This ride is put on by the RUTS North out of district 36. It is a two day event and runs from Just outside of Jackson, Ca through the forest and into Minden, NV. Once you hit Minden, you crash for the night and do another route back to Jackson the next day.

We did 168 miles on Saturday and 162 on Sunday. It is a combo of fire roads, jeep trails, single track, MTB trails and pavement. There are some long sections of pavement on this ride as it is hard for the club to link some of the mountain ranges without hitting some hwy, but in all it is a great ride and outstanding views.

Here is #5jr loaded up on Friday morning heading to work before we take off and met the crew in Jackson.

After work I headed out and met the crew in Jackson. Up early Sat morning to grab some go juice and food and headed out to check in and get ready to ride.

Here is the crew getting checked in.

I got my number for the event....They must know me (#5)

When we pulled in, I kept hearing this Rave music and sure enough, they had a rave going on all night and through the weekend...6am, one person on the turn table and one person bouncing around....

Had a little riders meeting and listening to the D36 pres tell us there are some big rocks out there, so watch out...

This bike was pretty cool. He had some family members battling cancer so he did a cancer scheme on his bike.

Alright, we are suited up and ready to head out.....


Stay tuned....

 

[CDA]

It was pretty dusty as there was not moisture on the ground in a lot of the sections so we spread out some, but we kept pretty close and was able to keep moving.
Here is Rack coming out of a section before we crossed over the HWY.

A little selfie.

Not sure what happened on these shots. I was pulling my camera out and snapping pictures while I was riding. This was a nice over grown section. I kind of like the way the pics came out though.


Pictures do not give credit to the views.

Small stop before we head down the pavement a short stance and hook off into the forest again.

Rack giving chase..

Some of the rivers running through the mountains....Looks refreshing.


Stay Tuned...

 

[CDA]

Here is a handful of shots of the crew as they cruised in and out of sections.

Taking a small break.



Stay tuned....

 

[CDA]

Looking out to where we are off to next..

Another view..

We crossed paths with this sign/trail a few times. I don't think we ever made it onto this trail though. Looking it up, it runs from San Francisco Bay to the upper sierras.

Put the camera away as we hit an awesome single trail that ran us down through the trees... I had my first meeting with a downed tree in this section and let's just say, it was spectacular....

We popped out on the hwy and headed on down the road....

We pulled in here for some fuel and a snack..


you can see the pavement is wet as is in it looks like it is currently raining, but no rain on us. We must of been chasing it...We could hear the thunder though, but never got the rain.

Stay Tuned...

 

[CDA]

We had to cruise some pavement here as mentioned it was hard link some sections. The views were cool and you can see some more nice wet pavement that made a few of our riders a little nervous...


Stay Tuned...

 

[CDA]

We ended up in a little town called Markleeville for lunch. We ate at this old place that used to be called The Cut Throat Saloon. They had a great hamburger there.


This is really how big this town is.



We hit a small gas station up the road and headed out of town for some more adventure....

Stay Tuned..

 

[CDA]

OK, let's finish out Day 1. So after lunch we headed back up the pavement for a few miles and then jumped on a fire road that took us right pass a controlled burn area. Signs were posted that said "Caution, Heavy smoke and live fire" I should have stopped and snapped a pic, but I was rolling.
Here are some random shots of the area.

The arrow that is pointing to 89 is where we came from. We are heading to Leviathan mine, with a detour...


Selfie with the road behind us. That road was super dusty and where the fire was. They were dozing it and that made it worst until we caught and past the dozer.

You can see some of the burnt area here.

Made our way to these towers and we are heading down to some awesome single track.


Stay Tuned...

 

[CDA]

I had to stop on this section and take a few shots of the trail. Enjoy.....

Once we rode out of this section we road down a fire road for about a mile and dropped into the famous 22 river crossings.....Stay Tuned

 

[CDA]

Last year we hit 22 river crossings and had a blast until we got to the end and ran into a massive beaver damn and there was no way around it. We had to turn around and go back out. This year, Rack e-mailed the club to see if they pre-ran the section to see if it was passable. They told us they put a hole in the damn and the water was draining and passable, just a little deep. So we made sure to take this route again.
This is just before the crossing, but since I was in front of a few guys, I stopped and took a few shots.


#5jr enjoying the outdoors and little water to wash of the dust.


After this, I put the camera away and hit the last crossing. After that we hit a jeep trail that was full of large rocks and let's say Rocks were not my friend that day...
I had a hard get off running about 40 mph and slammed my whole left side into the rock garden. I was jacked up. I couldn't even stand, but knowing we had about 40 miles left to ride, I peeled myself up off the ground, somehow climbed on my bike and took off. I did not pull the camera out after this, so that ends the ride for Saturday.

Stay tuned for Sunday's adventure...

 

[Rolls]

That's some pretty country. I've ridden it many times on my street bike and always wondered how cool it would be to explore off road.


Hwy 4?

 

[CDA]

That's some pretty country. I've ridden it many times on my street bike and always wondered how cool it would be to explore off road.


Hwy 4?

Yup, that is hwy 4. We had to put some serious pavement riding on this road as there is not a way to get out of there on dirt. Ran this down to 89 and then jumped in the hills. Some nice lakes and views along this route and a ton of people enjoying the outdoors. Made it fun with the wet pavement and all the cars.

 

[jeremymach2015]

awesome ride report, been itching to get back out west for some mountain riding

 

[CDA]

awesome ride report, been itching to get back out west for some mountain riding

Thanks. Working on the pictures from day 2, heading back. Will get that posted before the day is over.

 

[CDA]

OK, let's get Day 2 off and running. My rock body slam really took it's toll on me and I was moving a little slow at 5am. My left leg had a huge bruise right on the thigh muscle making it really hard to put pressure on it. I just needed to get dressed and on the bike. The left eye was forming a good shiner and the left wrist had a sweet bruise forming as well. With a 160+ miles of riding in front of me, I put that out of my mind and we were on the bikes at 7am and riding.

We did a 40 mile loop out into the desert of Minden. This consisted of some fast and tight sandwashes, sweet single track, some whooped out sections and a couple farm roads. This is just want I needed to get the muscles loose for the rest of the day. I figured out that my tires increased in air pressure over the coarse of riding on Sat and the front was well over 20psi (that could have been most of my issues). I lowered both tires to 15psi and the feel came back.

Some of the terrain and views of the lower desert.


We will make are way back to town in the background and head over those mountains.


After a 40 mile loop, we hit the gas station for fuel and a quick snack before hitting pavement and heading over the hill towards South Lake Tahoe.


Stay Tuned...

 

[CDA]

After gas and quick snack, we hit the hwy and headed over the hill. I jumped out front and took some pictures of the valley Minden below as well as the guys blasting by on the hwy.


Stay Tuned....