Bergs Over the Rainbow

[Throttlemeister]

Yep pretty darn epic single track RR

Pot of Gold!

[fotobo]

Great job guys. That section between Salida and Poncha is not the most difficult but certainly is the scariest part to me. Although I have not ridden the whole trail as you guys did, just different sections. One of my buddies once rode that section on a 650L. Rufus and I had to stop and help him a couple of times though.

Once while we were in Salida, some of my buddies decided to ride down to Westcliff spend the night in a motel and ride back to Salida the next day. You guys are the only ones I know that have done the whole thing though.

[ModalGuy]

Great ride report! WHen I saw the first few pictures I thought "I'm never gonna ride the Rainbow, that looks too hard" The scenery and your ride report are so compelling I may have to add the Rainbow to my bucket list.

HighFive, you have at least 3 bikes in your stable. Can you give us the rational behind all your bikes? Of course I have a huge WR bias, but that 'berg sure is a pretty bike too. I think my next bike will be a tDub, but that's because I want to have an easy-to-ride bike for my children, wife and friends to come ride with me. We all have our reasons, I would just like to hear yours.

[lm248]

HF,
You have a PM
Thanks,
Les

[cyborg]

Originally Posted by ModalGuy

Great ride report! WHen I saw the first few pictures I thought "I'm never gonna ride the Rainbow, that looks too hard" The scenery and your ride report are so compelling I may have to add the Rainbow to my bucket list.

Modal, remember, we weren't taking pix on the hardest parts, and they were much worse than anything we showed on this RR.

Originally Posted by ModalGuy

HighFive, you have at least 3 bikes in your stable. Can you give us the rational behind all your bikes? Of course I have a huge WR bias, but that 'berg sure is a pretty bike too. I think my next bike will be a tDub, but that's because I want to have an easy-to-ride bike for my children, wife and friends to come ride with me. We all have our reasons, I would just like to hear yours.

HighFive can answer this, though he's away for a few days too. I used to have a WRR I rode on tough trails in WA and will say that I took HF's very nicely setup WRR up a few miles of the very rocky Northbound start of the Rainbow from Hayden and I rapidly turned around. Yes you could do it geared way down, but it was MUCH more work. It's a lot heavier than our Berg 390's, and a lot less torque for the really rocky sections, so constant tiring clutch feathering. Having a Rekluse also helps a lot. Just sayin'.

[fotobo]

Originally Posted by ModalGuy

Great ride report! WHen I saw the first few pictures I thought "I'm never gonna ride the Rainbow, that looks too hard" The scenery and your ride report are so compelling I may have to add the Rainbow to my bucket list.

HighFive, you have at least 3 bikes in your stable. Can you give us the rational behind all your bikes? Of course I have a huge WR bias, but that 'berg sure is a pretty bike too. I think my next bike will be a tDub, but that's because I want to have an easy-to-ride bike for my children, wife and friends to come ride with me. We all have our reasons, I would just like to hear yours.

I am not HighFive and I am sure he will give you answer when he can. I ride with HighFive and have three similar bikes in my stable. I have ridden his Husaberg and it almost feels like I am riding my 400KTM when I am on it. It is amazingly similar. I have also ridden his highly modified WR. I have a stone stock 09 WR. His WR is way above mine in handling and performance but it is no match for his Berg or my KTM, when we are talking tough single track.

Don't get me wrong the WR is a great little bike in it's element. I love mine. In fact I just returned from a trip to Co myself and I chose to take the WR instead of my KTM and KLR. We did one one stretch of very technical single track. 12 miles took us three hrs. My two buddies were on KTM525 and a Honda 450. I was really wishing I was on my KTM for that 12 miles. It was great on the jeep roads though, and even did a little highway riding on it. So it just depends on what kind of riding you are doing.

[GlennR]

Speaking of WR250R's, I don't understand why Yamaha chose to make them so heavy. The specs say 295 lbs (wet).

[Scribe]

[what broke now]

"remember, we weren't taking pix on the hardest parts"

Why is it nobody takes pictures of trail sections that:

1] Make them nearly black out from holding their breath so long
2] Make them wish they had taken that leak 5 minutes ago before they pulled the helmet down and rolled instead
3] Got them distracted and forgot clutch from brake because they were trying to recall where the latest copy of their will is
4] Make them forget form and technique and roll forward on only a cocktail of adrenaline, gut feel and horror

Gets a little busy sometimes on the trail.

[PDL]

Wow! What a trail! The Berg's looked great up there. Happy 50th! I hit 50 a few days ago myself

[Monty]

Great job guys! Thanks for taking the time.

Congratulations for knocking that off your bucket list, HF. Also on the 50th birthday.

Not only would I not try to take a KLR down that trail, I might not even walk down some of it.

I didn't see any mention of food cooked on a stick. Because HighFive has mastered that. I do have some food cooked on the engine ideas that I hope to try out soon. How does a hot lunch on the trail sound?

[Vinduroman]

Superb ride report, pics and videos.

Thank you for taking us along!

V-man

[ModalGuy]

Originally Posted by cyborg

Modal, remember, we weren't taking pix on the hardest parts, and they were much worse than anything we showed on this RR.

HighFive can answer this, though he's away for a few days too. I used to have a WRR I rode on tough trails in WA and will say that I took HF's very nicely setup WRR up a few miles of the very rocky Northbound start of the Rainbow from Hayden and I rapidly turned around. Yes you could do it geared way down, but it was MUCH more work. It's a lot heavier than our Berg 390's, and a lot less torque for the really rocky sections, so constant tiring clutch feathering. Having a Rekluse also helps a lot. Just sayin'.

Originally Posted by fotobo

I am not HighFive and I am sure he will give you answer when he can. I ride with HighFive and have three similar bikes in my stable. I have ridden his Husaberg and it almost feels like I am riding my 400KTM when I am on it. It is amazingly similar. I have also ridden his highly modified WR. I have a stone stock 09 WR. His WR is way above mine in handling and performance but it is no match for his Berg or my KTM, when we are talking tough single track.

Don't get me wrong the WR is a great little bike in it's element. I love mine. In fact I just returned from a trip to Co myself and I chose to take the WR instead of my KTM and KLR. We did one one stretch of very technical single track. 12 miles took us three hrs. My two buddies were on KTM525 and a Honda 450. I was really wishing I was on my KTM for that 12 miles. It was great on the jeep roads though, and even did a little highway riding on it. So it just depends on what kind of riding you are doing.

cyborg and fotobo: Great comments! I wasn't implying that I'd take my WR over the Rainbow, but thanks for advising me not to. Now I have a great excuse to add a Husaberg to my stable! I can only afford one bike right now and the WR was a good choice for me as my first dual sport bike and the first bike I've had in 15 years. The mighty little WR, this website and its members are teaching me much about adventure riding, my personal mental and physical limits and maintainence.

[Brown Dog]

1 Fine RR Guys

How many total miles is this Rainbow ?

How many days did it take you ?

Forgive me if I missed the fine print

[cyborg]

Originally Posted by what broke now

"remember, we weren't taking pix on the hardest parts"

Why is it nobody takes pictures of trail sections that:

1] Make them nearly black out from holding their breath so long
2] Make them wish they had taken that leak 5 minutes ago before they pulled the helmet down and rolled instead
3] Got them distracted and forgot clutch from brake because they were trying to recall where the latest copy of their will is
4] Make them forget form and technique and roll forward on only a cocktail of adrenaline, gut feel and horror

Gets a little busy sometimes on the trail.

Sounds about right.

Usually not much horror, for me anyway, but definitelty grim determination and "keep the momentum going!" no matter if your muscles were burning and you could not get enough oxygen in. Many of the worst climbs in particular you did NOT want to have to try and turn around on and ride down and do a re-try. That gave a lot of motivation to make it every time. HF of course using his superior trials skills and youthful strength was much smoother up these beastly sections, but I did see him sucking serious wind at the top on a few of them...


Brown Dog, Rainbow trail was 100 miles and a lot at 9,000 to 10,000 feet, plus gravel and paved returns to the somewhat centrally located Hayden Creek basecamp. We did it in 3 days. 2 days and 60 miles going South with a camp in the middle, and 1 day and 40 miles going North, riding light. Could definitely be done faster by strong, fast young punks with good knees, endless endurance, and good technical trail skills. Trail may be improved now with work crews we heard of but parts were in bad shape when we went through.