Washington Dirty Face Dualsport 2014 pre-ride (pics)

[slowbike]

Yesterday two of us that lay out the course did some scouting for next year's event.

As expected we ran in to some snow along Entiat Ridge.   Fall colors were in abundance too.

We are headed back out to ride today in about an hour.  It's cold this morning again.... 41 degrees at 9:45am.


















 

[shrubitup]

Good to see the colors. Didn't see too many at Little Naches on 5Oct. 

[RX2RIDE]

Awesome event, had a lot of fun. maybe next year try to avoid that way overgrown trail. Other than that, epic event....Oh and kill all the musquito's before the ride......  :-)

Edited October 10, 2013 by RX2RIDE

[cougbike]

First time last year   Great event!  Now I know where the name came from  X2

[highmarker]

fwiw, as I remember, it came from Dirtyface Peak, but ya

[slowbike]

We did some more riding today.  Less snow along Entiat Ridge today compared to yesterday.

 

That overgrown 2-track (which was basically a single track with the amount of brush on it) isn't planned for the course for 2014.

For 2013, we had a "super easy option" to bypass it since it wasn't good for really big bikes or novice riders.

Trust me, I hate that section too - and think about riding it about 4 times while laying out and sweeping the course, then a person REALLY hates it.

 

It stayed sunny today, but the wind was howling at Sugarloaf L.O. and at Chumstick Mtn.

 

My DRZ has some electrical issues:

 

Part 1:  The grip heaters are intermittent, and have been for at least the last 2 years.  Not a huge show stopper previously since I don't ride in the cold much anymore like we did this weekend.  I replaced the switch, but that didn't fix the problem.

 

Part 2: While using the grip heaters, the battery was not charging well, so If I turned off the bike, the battery didn't have enough juice to start the bike.  With the grip heaters off, the battery would charge, though today there were a few times that I ran with them off, and starting the bike, the battery was weak, or didn't start it at all.

Could be a loose connection.  I will check things over when I get home.  I keep the DRZ on a battery tender when the bike is at home.

 

I will get some pics ot today's ride posted within the next few days.

 

There's some road reconstruction going on below Chumstick - that was quite a surprise.  It's in preparation for a logging operation.

We encountered a large bulldozer and a equally large track-hoe

Edited October 11, 2013 by slowbike