MoRon 11-14-06

To say that I led the TNR on Nov 14th might be a little exaggeration, but I did make a few decisions.

For one, in light of the recent Sheriff activity at 5-corners, I decided to avoid it. Secondly, I was tired of tamarancho and decided to ride in our favorite territory, except 5-corners. Third, when confronted with a possible ranger in an area I’m not really familiar with, I decided to follow Jon.

Earlier, I called Danny Forer to ask how I could avoid 5-corners. If anybody knew, it would be Danny. “No, you can’t avoid it unless you ride road on bofax and enter by the ranger station, or ride road to Ross.” Wrong, Danny. It’s very simple. Just a little hike-a-bike up Bald Hill trail for a 200 foot elevation gain. Then ride quietly on to 6-points. I don’t know about anyone else, but just the idea that I might have fooled the rangers made the hike-a-bike worth it.

Fuzzy’s message to rangers: you are enhancing our lives. You have no idea how much more fun we have, running from you. The stupider the law, the more fun it is breaking it. Keep busting 60+ year old men trying to engage in a healthy activity. That makes it so much easier to disrespect you, fools.

Fuzzy, Pete & Maggie (out for a short test ride), Sully, Karen, Jon, Dana, Russell, Russell’s friend (sorry, takes me 3X to get a name), Craig.

The party was early, near the end of Yolanda, and that turned out to be a good decision, since the group would soon split into 3. Yolanda. Better every time.

No positive ID on the ranger. Look, folks, if you wait around to confirm it’s a ranger, you’re gonna get a ticket. When a horse sees a white rag on the ground, he doesn’t always think it’s a predator. Sometimes he thinks, “maybe it’s not a predator, but it would be fun to spook anyways and try to throw my rider.” So, yes, it was a ranger last night. And while I’m at it, no, it was not a wildlife observation camera. It was big brother ranger, baby!

FUZZY

• Pumpkin group details --Briggr1 10:45, 17 November 2006 (PST)

So as we all came out to right where Pumpkin Ridge trail starts, I got in front and didn't waste any time getting on the dirt, as this is a wide open spot, and the ranger vibe was heavy. Craig was right behind me, and Jeremiah close behind him. I got about 40 yards onto the trail and saw car lights coming around the corner from the north. "CAR!!!!!!!! PEDAL!!!!!! GO GO GO!!!!!" The three of us do, and just act like we didn't see the car, and basically did not turn around until we got to the Madrone trailhead. We later found out from Karen that she hid herself behind a tree/rock right at the gate, Chris and Dana bailed down Fish Grade and Jon and Fuzzy went down the other way. I'm not completely clear who went which way, but we split into 3 (sorta 4) groups.

5 minutes go by at the Madrone trailhead... The 3 of us wonder...did the rest get caught? "I think I see lights..." nope. I decide to go back up to at least the steps and see if I can see what happened. Right as I get to the top of the stair section, I see lights. I whistle and Karen echoes back. Cool! I didn't realize at this point that she was alone. We ride back to the trailhead where Craig and Jeremiah are, and Karen spills the story on us... She saw the car, hid herself, the other folks bailed back down the way we came from, the car started to drive towards the lake, then stopped, backed up, then just went forward again. After they were around the corner, so was she.

So now the 4 of us go down Madrone and it's fun as hell. Karen is all smiles and fully stoked that she met back up with us and had peeps to ride down it with. As we regroup at the bottom I swore I saw two other bike lights off to the right. We head up the road back to 5 corners (fuck it at this point!), it's all clear. On to 2 owl, where we meet up with Dana and Chris again, and back to Iron Springs.

Here's a nice map http://www.marinwater.org/documents/01.24.06_VstrMap_color.pdf