Bergs Over the Rainbow

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. :eek1 How does a hot lunch on the trail sound?

Superb ride report, pics and videos.

Thank you for taking us along!

V-man

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.

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

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.

Of course since we were doing a cool-down loop around Salida, we had to stop and say howdy to Hayduke and Bonnie Abbzug at FatTees and BeadSong










also sorta proof I rode HighFive's mighty nicely set up WRR a little bit on the Rainbow...

Really enjoyed seeing your Tees Hayduke, and buying a few. They were well received by the Tribe back at Rancho Highfive in Okiehoma. Thanks again for swapping out the Mountain shirt size for my wife. She loves it!

HF

Been out of pocket several days…..back at Mission Control now. I'll try to catch up on all the questions & comments.

First, I'd like to just say "THANKS" to everyone who read this report and all the enthusiastic support. Its a lot of work to document this kind of trail and then load up all the photos and stuff. I enjoy doing it well enough….and I'm glad that others take a liking to it. I hope the effort added another piece to the puzzle, so to speak.

Good question Glenn, I've not decided yet. Still basking in my personal achievement…it feels real good. I've been wanting to return to Big Bend Ranch State Park. I have some unfinished business down there. Then maybe, head into Mexico for a while. I'd like that. But, there's still so much waiting to be seen right here in my own backyard. Hhhhmmm...decisions...decisions.....

I've sifted thru numerous bikes over the years, and seemed to have settled on these three…..for a while anyway. They are known as Mobile, Agile, & Hostile. And they all love getting dirty. I doubt I'll have another "street only" motorcycle.

The F800GS is my long-haul pack mule. Passing speed, wind protection, and comfort…I can cover a lot of ground fast with very little fatigue. I think its the most favorite bike I've ever owned.

The WR250R is my short-haul pack mule. Faster than any posted speed limit, and capable of going ANYWHERE. I'll ride it near & far. I think its definitely the most favorite bike I've ever owned.

The Husaberg FE390 is my dream machine for the trails. Surprisingly decent on the road, but purpose built for the Rainbow. Its really what I bought it for. I've been on a narrow-minded mission for years. The Berg is hardcore….borderline eleven (on the scale of 10), for me. A serious single-track weapon. Its kind of like an Observed Trials bike with long legs and comfort. I am absolutely positively certain this is my most favorite bike that I've ever owned.

Stability on the road. You won't believe have smooth and stable this 250 is running 70 mph down the pavement, and carving thru the twisties. I think Yamaha was seeking a balance between both worlds. Quite possibly the best "true dualsport" ever made. Its not a plated dirtbike. Nor is it just another street bike that can get dirty. Its really something in between that is one of the most capable all-around dualsport bikes I've ever enjoyed owning. Fun on the road and fun on the trails. Master of neither. Its a good choice when you can only have ONE, and you want to play on both sides of the fence. Dirt bike fun with street bike maintenance and a 400 watt alternator (read "heated gear").

great r.r. I just returned a few weeks ago from a nine day trip, including two spent riding the Rainbow from Sargents on the north end (over Marshall pass) to pick up the singletrack down to Hayden rd (where we'd had enough at 85 miles to hayden Rd., popped out on the highway down to westcliff for the night for 110 mile or so total). Second day we did the 30 miles of trail from Westcliff to Hayden Road, up thru Salida to the north nine miles of the rainbow (my favorite section) and back over Marshall pass in a torrential rain/hail storm right on top of the pass.

Great thing about the Rainbow is all the different ways you can ride it. Camping in the middle as you did looks like a great option.

We then moved camp over to Spring Creek Reservoir where KTM Talk was having their big ride/campout in the meadow right up the road from us. Did three more days and about 300 miles more riding.

Awesome week of riding.

Ahh... Phantom Canyon right? one of the most BEAUTIFUL places I've ever ridden.

For someone who's never had a dirt bike these photos make me realize just how much I've missed. Great going is all I can say! Thanks for taking the time to do this RR. It's really great. Makes my knees shake just looking at some of the photos!

Gary "Oldone"

Grampa’s Lake Superior Ride
Grampa’s National Monument Ride

brought back memories of scoring many UTE cup events... Id stll cheat with the trials bike!

Thanks for sharing great pictures, of some very pretty country. Rode Phantom Canyon a week and a half ago on my GSA, it is just an enjoyable ride.

love the rr guys looks truly awesome.

hf i noticed that in the early pics you had a wolfman carry all at the front but later on it disappears .... is that for any particular reason ? i was looking to get one for carrying my spare tube ....

Love the Rainbow Trail. I rarely ride it as it is about 3 hours each way to get there and I don't do camping

Shot this video from the last trip. It gets "interesting" around 1:35 to 1:39 with the sidehill trail. The 'Berg must be part mountain goat, it works so well in the rocks and gnarly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c7TBQwVnqo

Nice video Duken4evr

Gives a good taste of the trail and shows the steepness of those shelf trails and the fun rocks. Rocks, oh yeah, rocks and more rocks. They don't call 'em the Rockies for nothin.

I had brought a GoPro on the trip, but HF kept me so busy riding I never got around to digging out that gadget and hooking it up. I have the wireless on/off for it now, so perhaps next time...

WOW!
OMG!
Talk about exposed and narrow! :eek1

I'm "In".
Thanks for sharing this insanity with us.
Q~

This was awesome. I'm looking for a 'Berg now to do this trip with!

Actually, just looking through some old photos and I think I rode some of this on my mountain bike a while back! Awesome!

Great RR guys.

The single track looks totally awesome. Would love to ride that trail one day on a Berg.

Cheers