New to the forum, from the NWT, would like to ride south

chilledspode · Post by **chilledspode** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 9:19 am

Greetings!

My name's Mark and my 25 word bio goes like this: 42 married with 2 daughters 4 and 2yrs, civil engineer cleaning up abandoned mine sites, been riding for over 25yrs, my wife rides and hopefully the girls will to.

There has been a steady group of us up here in Yellowknife that have been riding together for nearly 30yrs. Now that we are officially old we have decided to start riding other areas, and hopefully do an enduro/HS/poker derby. We have an old Alberta 125/250/open champion (same year) and then the rest of us play riders but we can manage to get through terrain most would call unrideable. :-)

If some one could recommend some places and dates in alberta this summer that a group of older trail riders would have fun and be welcome at, it would sure be appreciated.

Some pics of the rides we do can be found here - best viewed with IE (doesn't render well with Firefox)

http://www.theedge.ca/dwhartt/ykdirt.htm

and a few others:
http://216.165.194.66/ktmtalk/photogall ... ng_wow.jpg
http://216.165.194.66/ktmtalk/photogall ... CF3D6C.jpg
http://216.165.194.66/ktmtalk/photogall ... 004_86.jpg

Cheers

Mark

Shibby! · Post by **Shibby!** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 10:05 am

Hey mark, welcome!

Got some really nice pictures in there and looks like you guys have a few nice toys!! Sleds look nice, but I haven't had much experience on them, but I bet they are great fun! Supermoto's would be sooo much fun but I can't get myself to sell my street bike to get a "city" only, or slower, curvy road bike only. Funny as it sounds but I do 6-10 000 KM bike trips on my bikes every year.

Either way nice bikes, but you gotta tell the story of the white bike thats under water!! That looks crazy!

From the pictures it looks like the riding around here differs quite a bit from there. Looks like great fun up there, but just different terrain here.

I think you guys would like the riding around here!

chilledspode · Post by **chilledspode** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 6:36 pm

Hi Shibby

The SMC is a new thing for me - my last street bike was a 500 gamma and where we live it was lucky that I didn't end up in jail as the fastest paved road is rated at 70km/hr! The SMC is a hoot in a small town and a giggle - clutch it in 3rd and your gone....

The water pic: it is right at the start of a 20km ride so you start with it and end with it. :-) It is in fact a road under the water with about 2ft tall shoulders and a strong current coming from the pics right to left. This current is where the reeds are open and it tends to push you off you line as you are rdidng across - the bottom is 2-6inch marbles so holding a steady line is tough even without the current. The current continues to drive you to the right side of the road (time to remember the part about the 2 ft high road shoulder) Kerwin is right on the edge of going 2ft deeper instantly, and he knows it!

Half the bikes ride through, half drown out.

Cheers

Mark

Post by **dirtyboy** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 7:40 pm

That water would be enough to send me the other way. Yikes!

Welcome to the board, Mark.

chilledspode · Post by **chilledspode** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:16 am

Unfortunately water is a necessary evil up here - if you avoided all the water you'd end riding in your driveway...

As part of my original post, I was looking for info on rides in the alberta area that might be appropriate for a group of washed up trail riders to journey to.

We are reasonably accomplished riders but few of us are racers, and those that were can still put the motor to the rest of us. :-)

We were hoping to find something was geared for families, but only the boys would come this year and then next year bring the clans. Start a annual pilgrimidge thing

Cheers

Mark

Canadian · Post by **Canadian** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:43 pm

Hey Chilledspode,

Looking at your pictures brough back a lot of memories. I learned how to ride in the sand pits. Spent a lot of time behind the golf course and the trail from Kam Lake to the pits. Good times. Unfortunately/fortunately I haven't been back in about 6 years. Though I was just talking to the wife the other day that I might have to go on a m/c pilgrammage (sp?). Maybe I'll have to add that to one of my preferred destinations.
If you're looking for some places to ride around here there are quite a few. Popular places include Maclean Creek, Waiporous and the Crowsnest Pass. Personally, I'm most familiar with the Pass. Look into license and reg. before you get too excited though.
IMHO, YK was the best terrain I ever rode. Post more pics so I can relive those days!!!
Later,

Steve.

Post by **Spinalguy** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:53 pm

Mark,
Welcome to RMDRA.
There are several riding areas within 45 mins to 2 hours from Calgary. Hundreds and hundreds of kms of single track trail that you boys would like.

Make Calgary your destination and we will hook you up for riding.
Tom

chilledspode · Post by **chilledspode** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:30 am

Canadian wrote:Hey Chilledspode,

Looking at your pictures brough back a lot of memories. I learned how to ride in the sand pits. Spent a lot of time behind the golf course and the trail from Kam Lake to the pits. Good times. Unfortunately/fortunately I haven't been back in about 6 years. Though I was just talking to the wife the other day that I might have to go on a m/c pilgrammage (sp?). Maybe I'll have to add that to one of my preferred destinations.
If you're looking for some places to ride around here there are quite a few. Popular places include Maclean Creek, Waiporous and the Crowsnest Pass. Personally, I'm most familiar with the Pass. Look into license and reg. before you get too excited though.
IMHO, YK was the best terrain I ever rode. Post more pics so I can relive those days!!!
Later,

Steve.

Small world!

6yrs ago I was riding a pretty tricked out CR500 with my buds Pook and Harttless. The water crossing pics are from the Vee Lake road access to Berry Hill. We are working on a site for the pics - will let you know when we get it up again.

My 300 is fully insured plated and street legal in NWT - will I require additional permitting to ride in Alberta?

If you decide to come up let me know..

Cheers and I'll keep in touch...

Mark

chilledspode · Post by **chilledspode** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:36 am

Spinalguy wrote:Mark,
Welcome to RMDRA.
There are several riding areas within 45 mins to 2 hours from Calgary. Hundreds and hundreds of kms of single track trail that you boys would like.

Make Calgary your destination and we will hook you up for riding.
Tom

Hi Tom!

All we need is some dates to make a plan around... It is a 2 day haul and we are a busy bunch so we need to plan months in advance. Are there enduros/HS's on certain long weekends or some trail riding event that in future years might be good to bring the families down to? Like I say it would be ideal to know that say, every year for the Aug long weekend we should be in Calgary for riding....

I am not a racer so I know nothing about this stuff...

Cheers and thanks

Mark

DirtGirl · Post by **DirtGirl** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 12:08 pm

check out the Alberta Dirt Riders web page. That is where the schedule is listed.
www.albertadirtriders.com

look under cross-country/hare scramble and you will see the 2006 schedule. There are a few races that are back to back and might make a nice week long trip, such as Crowsnest. The maps are posted 1-2weeks in advance.

Welcome aboard.

Post by **dirtyboy** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 8:41 pm

chilledspode wrote:My 300 is fully insured plated and street legal in NWT - will I require additional permitting to ride in Alberta?

Mark, to ride offroad in Alberta you need whatever you need in your own jurisdiction (NWT). As long as you staying short time. I forget the time but I think it's like 30 or 60 days.

chilledspode · Post by **chilledspode** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:24 pm

Dirtyboy,

Well at least the licensing part is easy... :-)

Thanks to all, must go start planning with the others...

Mark