The Pine Barrens 500

This was without question the hardest thing i have ever done. So much fun. The ride was broken up over 3 days all starting and ending at the same hotel in the middle of nowhere New Jersey. Each day we would start between 8am and 9:30am and it would be about an 8 hour ride depending on how fast your group was and how many times you wrecked/ cried/ pooped your pants. Here is a picture of some of our group from day 1:



Tons of fun all day long. For me it was very challenging but i am sure that the more experienced guys were kind of bored with the pace. It seemed pretty damn fast. I only had one fall that day and it was very low speed and i Just kind of fell over in the soft sand. I hate sand. Ther were some parts that were just a wide dirt road that oyu could haul ass and hang off the bike on. Dirt riding is very different than most of the stuff that i have learned about street riding. When in doubt give it more gas. This was hard to get going but awesome the few times i did it right. Always use the rear brake. that is weird but cool when you do correctly. Then the sadistic bastards would end the day with a wicked final 5 miles. it was tight trails with whoops and water holes and then of course sand. fun but very hard. It was a good way to go for one final blast that wasnt too fast but was still really hard. it makes the final 2 mile (or so ) ride back to the hotel feel like a cool down lap, very relaxing and quiet after a day of cursing myself and crying.




day 2 was the easier day. it was for the guy who jsut wanted to go for a ride and not kill themselves on their huge BMW's. Most of the guys on the big bikes were still going for it but i can't imagine it was easy. It had some hard stuff and some really fast stuff that we got lost on. The ride was all based on a few GPS routes that the organizers would email out prior to the day's rider meeting. i am sure that it wouldnt be easy to go as fast as we were going and still read to little map. i gotta get one of those things! On day 2 we rode out to the beach:



This was a fun easier day with lots of street riding. most of the streets that we were riding on were decently twisty especially for the coast of New Jersey. We were moving a little slower on tuesday so we didn't finish till it was almost dark. If you think you are going to die riding these trails during the day then riding them in the dark is a very special experience. (Gigantic headlight. anyone?) No one got hurt in the dark so i'll call it a success.

Day 3 was back to the brutal stuff. They have a tradition of making day 3 the hardest and they stuck to it.



It looks pretty and peaceful but it is deep sand and it sucks.

We went back to some trails that we had riden on the first day but they werent really any easier. the day was a blas tand it ended at just the right time. we were packing up our gear and ehading out by around 5:45pm. of course all the other guys had the common sense to bring their bikes down in a trailer. This means that they also got to [ut the bike back into the trailer and drive home. That would have been nice. Instead i rode home on my bike.
With the stock seat.
For 2 hours.
Plus it was cold.



The PB500 was a great weekend and without a doubt it was the hardest fun i have ever had. I know that I'll be signing up for it next year, and a few other events too.

Now to find a rear wheel. changing tires sucks.