Kenny Carlile

Today, we headed out to Brown's Camp to try to get some Spring riding in. It had been pretty dry and relatively warm this last week and we were hoping that the weather would hold. Thankfully, it did and we were able to get a few hours of trail riding in.

On our way in, we pulled into Roger's Camp. I had never been there before, but I knew it was just off the highway on the way in to Brown's Camp. There were a ton of vehicles parked there, so we thought that the area would be really busy, but we later found out that Brown's Camp was relatively dead in comparison. We didn't even get out of the truck at Roger's Camp. I just wanted to see the spot and tag it with my GPS unit for later reference.

Brown's Camp (proper) is still closed to parking, so we had to park along the road by the nearby intersection like the last time, which worked out fine. We mostly rode the logging roads and a few small bits of real trails. We rode the logging roads up and around Military Trail and those to the North of Clyde's Trail, which we affectionately called "Fish Pond Road".

This was the first time that all three of us had gone trail riding together. Paxton had mostly ridden in fields and other open play areas, so this was a new experience. In addition to the trail aspect, this is the first time that he's really had to deal with uphills and downhills. He was very nervous with the downhills at first, but we took our time, did some practicing, and once he got the hang of it, he did great, even bombing a few (small) hills that I thought he would have been too nervous to try on his first day of riding hills.

Pax even tackled his first real (non-logging road) trail at the Kids Loop behind Brown's Camp. It was by far the most technical riding he did all day and he executed it great without incident! He really liked it too. I'm so proud!

We also found a little play area called something like "Sand Pile Play Area" not too far from Brown's Camp. While we were loading up the gear and bikes, Paxton practiced some MX-style laps. This would be a fun area for kids to play around in when it's not 1) filled with mud and HUGE puddles and 2) not filled with yayhoos of the quad and bike variety (mostly quads).

It was an easy day of riding for me, but it was a blast. I love getting out to ride with Dena and Pax. Seeing them have fun and learn is at least as much fun for me as a long day pounding trails or track…probably more fun.

This was the first chance I've had to ride my bike since adding my DRD Quiet Core muffler insert and my Fastway F-5 footpegs. The Quiet Core wasn't noticeable in terms of performance loss, but it also didn't seem significantly quieter. But as for the footpegs: AWESOME! I love them. I suspected that I would and I've liked them when I've tried them on other bikes, but I'm extremely happy that I finally spent the money and got them.

Brown's Camp 4/11/09