NATRA Cinco de Soggy Nutz

[Fencejumper09]

When one of your riding buddies posts this picture;



you know what time of year it is!!

The Cinco De Mayo Deez Nutz ride was planned out of necessity to show our respects for past Spring Nutz rides and the bonds that they formed!!

I am still working through the hours of video and many pictures to build this report but just wanted to get it started so I don't start forgetting the details!

Follow along for an insight into the shenanigans that make these rides so memorable!

[Fencejumper09]

After the above photo was posted on a Facebook group, the wheels started turning in everyone's heads on how we could possibly live up to previous Spring Nutz rides. The answer, WE CAN'T!! 

There is no way to try to recreate these events so we decided to instead, pay homage to them!
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How the story begins from my perspective!

My wife and I came to an agreement that I would be given permission to go to Colorado in July of this year but, I would have to severely cut back on overnight trips for the rest of the year! (I am okay with this)

In April I get a text from my wife while sitting at work that she is planning a trip to Columbia, SC for the 1 year birthday of her college roommate's daughter. I replied with "Would you like me to come with you?" to which I received the response "You don't HAVE to!"



After a few more texts to confirm that this wasn't a trap, I started trying to figure out who was available May 5th weekend for a camp n ride!

[Fencejumper09]

After some correspondence with @Mulley @kylepeterson and @Brian A we decided a camp n' ride at NATRA would begin to fill the void in our hearts!

The plan was to take Friday off work and head up to West Point, TN for a weekend of shenanigans with some great guys and motorcycles! We decided it would be best to not even try to plan out the riding as we never stick to the plan and typically end up just stringing random trails together. This normally ends well and this trip was no exception!

I sent out some feelers to some friends that just recently made the transition into dirt riding from the street and to my surprise I received ecstatic affirmation from one named Clay. Clay had ridden his TTR 3 times in the dirt and on nothing more technical than the double track at The Ridge. NATRA would be a great place to get his feet wet in the world of singletrack. We decided to shoot for a 9:00am time of departure from my house. Based on past experience I was expecting Clay to show up at 9:30 but to my surprise I received a text at 8:15 saying he was on his way! At that moment I realized how excited he must be! We had loaded most of the supplies the night before so we through the rest of the gear in the truck and tied everything down then we were off!

I did a bad job of documenting the trip up but here is the firewood I brought! It was a little rotten!


We planned to meet up with Brian in Athens, AL and after filling up with gas we planned to head to Jack's just a mere 4 minutes off of the planned route for a little lunch. Well, my phone misunderstood and took us to the middle of nowhere to Jack's Ranch! No burgers in sight! We continued on to Hardee's instead only adding about 15 minutes to the trip!

The forecast for the weekend was calling for rain and thunderstorms so I came prepared with the Tarp Mahal! We set up camp by stringing up our hammocks and the 26' x 30' to provide some shelter for the impending rain!



Brad arrived and we sat around talking about technology, street riding, and outlaw country before deciding we should probably hit the trails!

[kylepeterson]

that was a really fun weekend, in spite of all the rain.

maybe Alex can ride next time!

[Fencejumper09]

After a little bit of bike prep and equipment checks, we were ready to hit some trails!

NATRA has a truly amazing trail system with some fun flowing singletrack which was a good departure from the "hard enduro" training several of us have been focusing.

This was Clay's first taste of true single track and I can honestly say he killed it! Now if I could only get him to sign up to this fantastic forum!



We messed around on a portion of Loop A for a couple of hours with Brad setting a blistering pace while putting forth little effort! I was pushing it pretty hard just to stay in his dust cloud and decided I should lay off "the pipe" a little and grab some video of the newb!



Riding behind Clay may have pushed him a little out of his comfort zone, causing a couple bobbles!







@Brian A looked like he was enjoying himself as well!



Look at me beating Brad!



It was a solid afternoon of riding some trails!



We decided to make our way back to the campsite to see if the rest of the crew had arrived yet!
We stopped along the way to play at the tank trap!







We headed down the trail to check out Cupcake bridge that @kylepeterson and I helpped build a couple years ago! It is holding up nicely!
Clay got some air on the way down!



Da Bridge!



We headed back to the truck to relax a little, cook some dinner and prepare for the night ride! Here is the video from the day's activities!

[Fencejumper09]

We got back to camp to find Kyle unloading and helped him (just a little) set up camp. @AT-AT showed as we were cooking some sausage over the campfire. He started working on his lighting set-up for the night ride. Brian W and Sterlin showed up and started to get their bikes ready for the evening's festivities.

It was nearly 11:00pm by the time we had everyone and their bikes ready to hit the woods but some bikes were less ready. Alex's bike would die after short periods of idle or if any throttle was applied. Everyone agreed that it was probably a fueling issue so he poured out some fuel and it was foamy and milky looking so we proceeded to dump his tank and drain his carb. Within 30 minutes we had fresh gas in the YZ and it was running "ok". We took off and I was planning to ride sweep as my stomach was not feeling right after the 3 sausages I ate for dinner. I didn't make it a mile down the trail before I felt the gurgle and impending vomitous evacuation. The feeling subsided so I continued on and the group found a nice hill climb that separated the men from the boys. A couple of us climbed it and came back down. While hanging out at the bottom of the hill my stomach started feeling worse and Alex's bike was still acting up. I decided to call it a night and head back to the truck. The rest of the group followed to try some further repairs on Alex's bike. The night ride was done for me but the group made their way to No man's Land and The Wall. Hopefully someone will post some pictures!

[Fencejumper09]

Saturday morning was a downpour with thunder and lightening waking most of us up several times. I believe I got out of my hammock around 8:00am and started making some breakfast burritos. The campsite had thoroughly been soaked and the mud was thick! I was feeling better and the breakfast burritos were just what I needed!

We sat around camp, in the rain, waiting for a break to start getting ready for the day's ride. We gained another rider and lost one as well but the group hit the trails with soggy boots and foggy goggles!



It wasn't long before issues started. We made it to the bottom of a valley before Alex's YZ gave up the ghost. Spark plugs were changed, gas was changed, and legs were wore out! Nothing would get that beast to run. The towing process started without much thought given to the easiest way out (which turned out to be the opposite of whatever we chose). We questioned our decision but pushed forward up rocky and rooted trails covered in slimy mud. We finally made it to a clearing and a "road" where we could make up some ground!



This road lead to quite the mud hole where of course, the tow rope snapped right in the deepest part! Alex thinking to himself "This can't get any worse" though he never expressed any sort of anger or sadness to the group, we could see it in his demeanor!



The road turned into a red clay soupy mess the consistency of gravy and the tow vehicle struggled with traction but excelled at the most disrespectful display of roosting we had ever seen! This was the highlight of the trip for Clay and he still hasn't stopped laughing about it!



We finally made it to Ore Rd where the towing was easy!



I stopped short over one of the hills and turned around just in time to catch Clay warming up his dance moves for the upcoming evening's festivities!



With Alex's bike at its final resting place for the ride, he packed up and the rest of the group ate lunch. The remainder of the group decided to head back out to try to find some more single track!

On the road I was showing off with some 10 o'clock wheelies and Sterlin tried to impress all the chicks with a one handed sideways tail whip wheelie. It did not end and unfortunately my GoPro was not running. Fortunately Sterlin is invincible, he jumped  and brushed his shoulders off then we hit the trail again. We took some double track, made a couple wrong turns and then Sterlin got bored and tried to make his own trail!



We ended up finding some good singletrack with some technical elevation changes! Clay sure takes the saying "put your nuts on the tank" seriously!



Fun!



I think we wore Clay out!



We ended the day's ride with some fast flowing singletrack in the pines but there were some deep water holes! It was another solid day of riding but we were all ready to head back to camp for a cold beer!

[Fencejumper09]

When we got back to camp it was no time before the beers were cracked and the whiskey was flowing! We proceeded with cooking the best camp fire meal I have ever had. Sterlin and Brian took care of dinner and it was an insane spread of sausage, venison sausage, veggies, purple potatoes bread, and even rice! We feasted like kings!



Shortly after dinner the alcohol started getting the best of our judgment! The music turned to throbbing EDM and sipping beers turned to chugging them. The razr crew just up the road even came to check on the festivities because it sounded like a Russian rave! Those boys were toasted, and just getting ready to head out on their evening ride. We encouraged some wheelies and donuts and they were much obliged to perform!

The dance party at our site continued culminating into a wheelie competition of the unwheelieable TTR. With a couple clutch drops and close calls Sterlin and I proved to the world you could wheelie a TTR! Brian and I proceeded to try and follow Alex's example and blow up our YZ but they are build like tanks and took the donuts, burnouts and wheelies in stride. Pictures and wheelies were nearly impossible with the fog and 2 stroke smoke in the air! Shenanigans finally slowed down and once our ears stopped pounding we all found our beds for the evening! It was a hello of a shindig!!

[Fencejumper09]

How could I forget campfire cookies and DJ Kyle P!! I still can't believe how late Kyle stayed up!