Видео

It's been a few years since I've ridden in the UP. I gotta get back up there, they've got some nice trails.

Thanks! Definitely a challenging trail and unfortunately the GoPro does not do justice to just how steep some of these trails are. But man are you rewarded when you reach the top with some spectacular views.

Definitely, the views are ridiculous!! My brother and I rode some of it a few weeks ago, we are older and from the Midwest. This was the first trail we tried in Idaho. To put it bluntly this trail overwhelmed us at first. But it was totally worth the effort. Our introduction to steep side hills really messed with our heads. Lol

@@notgamingwithmax Same here, older flatlander from SE Michigan. Yeah, there is no warm-up on Red Ridge, straight in its a pretty major climb that seems to just keep going up. If I remember right, it was something like 1,000 ft of elevation in the first mile.

@@pro5mark Yep, steep for sure. My brother and I tried it and while I made it to the top, I can't say it didn't scare me a bit. I was more worried about my brother, he's older than me by quite a bit and has a few health issues, and on top of that forgot his Inhaler at the RV. I was worried if we continued on what could happen if it was that hard the entire way. We opted to go back get his meds and pick up the trail a few miles down the road. It was still a great ride and we still made it to one of the summits. It was pretty epic! I kind of wish we rode that trail later in our trip as we started to get more comfortable with the difficulty later on. My brother lives only a few miles from the Michigan Tomahawk B+C loop so that's what we mostly ride. This was a huge wake-up call.

Which is more difficult, riding Indian creek loop clockwise or counter clockwise?

Nope, all legal motorized trails. They are seasonal but legal to ride with an Idaho ORV sticker. Idaho dept of parks & rec has an awesome online trail map with all the ATV, UTV, Motorcycle, and non-motorized trails. You can even download them for use on a GPS or phone.👍

Thanks! If you don't find them on Skeleton Creek there will be plenty of other opportunities for death on your way to Featherville, I know we found some.😁

@@pro5mark I have no doubt!!!

For sure! One of my favorite trails in Michigan.

There are a ton of beautiful trails in that area. We were there for 5 days and only rode a handful of them. This was the second time riding in Idaho for me and hope to make the trek out there again, soon.

Thanks!👍 We did, but barely. One of the guys broke a chain about a mile from the end of the trail. luckily we had a spare master link and were able to make it to Atlanta for lunch.

​@@pro5mark He's lucky you guys had a spare! That's great, we ate there as well. 👍

LOL, lots of opportunities to lose a bike on the trails out there. I'm not sure what you'd do if it went all the way to the bottom. Gotta love the Beta, it's way more capable than I'll ever be.

I was a bit queezy riding up it. 😁 It was worth it though, the video doesn't do it justice and there is no way I can describe how amazing the views are from the lookout.

@@pro5mark I know what you mean. When we drove out to Washington, every other turn was like driving into a postcard.

Yes, yes it is!

It definitely reminded me of Michigan but with more rolling hills, hard-pack, and rocks... No sand or whoops to be found anywhere. The loop was around 43 miles but it had a fair bit of 2-track mixed in. We did a loop in the afternoon that was far more challenging with even more hills and rocks. I should have a video up in the next few days of that loop.

I don't think so, most of the side hills were pretty steep and I believe the video shows it pretty accurately at the edges of the trail. Further up and down the side hills, the fish eye flattens it.

@@pro5mark Thanks for the reply. I'll be riding up in Palisades on October 3rd and 4th. If anyone wants to ride with me, that would be great.

@@TobySJCA I'd love to, but just got back from a week in the Featherville area. I don't think I could do another 30-hour drive this soon.😆

You are correct. It's hard to see in the video how slick the Muddy Creek/Elk Mountian trail was, we decided to turn around and head back to Bear Creek. From there we hit Warm Springs and wound up back on the Elk Mountain trail (have another video of that segment). By that time, it was later in the day and the trails had dried up. Loved riding out there, awesome trails and epic views.

@@pro5mark it would be impossible to get up that if it was slick. Tough enough dry. My wife and I loved it

That's the Deadman Creek trail, just after the connection to Elk Mountain Ridge. It connects to Bear Creek at the other end. We made a loop starting at the Bear Creek trailhead, riding Bear Creek (273/274) to Warm Springs (148) to Elk Mountain (147) which ties into Elk Mountain Ridge (130). From there we rode Deadman Creek (042) to Bear Creek (274/273) and back to the trailhead. If you haven't come across it yet, there is an excellent online trail map for Idaho. Here's the link. idaho.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=ec451196747346558c999bc7cdf1a728

@@pro5mark excellent! Thanks. I have a good map of all the trails. And you explained exactly where this is to me. Thanks!

Definitely, a must-do if you're heading there. But if it's in the early season, beware, the locals told us a lot of the trail is underwater due to the snow melt off.

@@pro5mark what do you consider the early season? Considering riding out there end of June. Can we still do this trail, red ridge, big and little burns? When do the mountains around 9k feet clear up?

@@elmateo487 I think you'll be okay at the end of June and on the trails you listed with them being at a higher elevation. The locals were specifically talking about the Bear Creek trail because it's mainly in a valley and follows the creek. As far as the when the snow clears, I can't really answer that one, I'm from Michigan and have only been out west in the fall. Ride safe and post up some vids when you get back, I'll love to see them.

these trails look to be wayyyyyyy out in no man's land!!!

@@CLAYKREBSI actually did this trail on the Wallace to Avery route. Didn’t get it on video, but it definitely is an “alright” trail. Not fun when you’re tired haha.

Just about every trail we rode had some challenging sections, especially for a flatlander from SE Michigan, but overall it was probably the Elk Mountain/Elk Mountain Ridge trails. I only say this because of the amount of time you spend on tight off-camber trails with not much room for error. It's not sheer cliffs but if you make a mistake, chances are very high that you and your bike will tumble a long way down the mountain. The GoPro doesn't do justice to just how steep things are but starting at around the 2-minute mark in the video below, the trail starts to turn more difficult, and at 7 minutes you can see a good example of the off-camber stuff. ruclips.net/video/yU6VPEy89co/видео.html

@@pro5mark thanks! Great videos.

I love 700. I was running a 600 series and the larger, brighter screen of the 700 makes it much easier to read, especially at speed or quick glance. It's mounted using a custom mount I make. I don't like RAM mounts because they tend to move around too much when the trail gets rough. The one I make allows for some adjustment and mounts to the bar clamps. I do sell them in limited quantities, if you're interested to see what it is, head over to the vendor's section of the ADVRiders forums advrider.com/f/threads/gps-amps-mounting-system.1513897/. I'd be up for some riding. My email is under the About tab, shoot me your contact info and I'll do the same.

Thanks and couldn't agree more, so glad you suggested we make the trip out there. Can't wait for next year!

Out of everything we rode, I have to say there wasn't a bad trail, they were all pretty awesome. My favorite was probably the North and South Fork Indian Creek loop. Technically it is mostly in Wyoming but it's right on the border so we'll call it Idaho. It has a little of everything, technical rocky section, challenging climbs, faster flowing singletrack, cliff edges, switchback descents, and amazing views everywhere.

@@pro5mark The cliff edges are the only thing that concerns me, scares the heck out of me LOL, even though I have never experienced them first hand. Where did you camp/stay when you were there? Any recommendations?

@@vince5946 The cliff edges really aren't that bad, you barely notice them while you're riding LOL. There are a couple of campgrounds near where we were riding, we stayed at Calamity Campground. It was nice and worked well for us but they have no electricity and only pit toilets. All of the trails were within riding distance except for the North/South Fork Indian Creek trail which was about a 25 minute drive. There are also a bunch of trails about an hour north that we had planned to ride but never made it, a week just isn't enough.

Shinko Cheaters. A 216 fatty in the front and a 525 in the rear at about 4 to 5 psi with Tubliss. Very pleased with their performance, the only areas I had an issue with grip was in the wet snotty stuff but I'm not sure any tire would be great in that situation. The front and rear tires would pack up and become one heavy mass of muddy clay.

They got about a foot of rain the night before this ride.

Thanks Joshua. Yeah as Jeff said, tons of rain the night before. Trail was super slick and snotty spot, tough to stay on line, tricky hill climbs, and had a couple close calls when I grabbing a little too much brake. We did ride it the opposite direction a couple of time throughout the week and definitely a fun trail.

Haha, there were a lot of sighs of relief that week. This was roughly a 2,200 foot climb in about 2.5 miles, that's tough on an out of shape flat lander.

Why wait, we should go NOW!

The forks have been re-valved. This is my second season on the bike, I went the first season, about 90 hours, without the re-valve hoping they would break-in and get a little more compliant... They did not! Stock they were very stiff, ridable and awesome when really pushed and riding fast but I don't spend much time riding at that pace anymore. Steve at After Hours Cycle (afterhourscycle.com) did the work and I'm very happy with it. They are still a bit on the stiff side but are now able to soak up rocks and roots in the slow technical stuff without the front end bouncing off object and darting around while still being very capable in the faster whoop sections we have here in Michigan.

Thanks Jeff. For sure a good time and definitely no chance of dust after something like 2 1/2 to 3" of rain.

I got tired of editing the swear word out, it was easier just to put beeps in.😁👍

I know right. It was some great riding and great people to hang with. Can't wait to do it again.

Man, what a fun trip that was. I enjoyed all the trails we rode but a week was not long enough. So many trail, so little time.

Thanks, Jeff, it was a great weekend! The bike wash also worked as a GoPro wash, swamped it enough it sounded like it was underwater for a bit. lol With as bad as 2020 was we still managed to have a pretty damn good riding season. Count me in for Gold Creek or really anything out west. You have a great winter too, looking forward to the spring so we can start riding again.

Yeah, a hit like that most likely would have ended the weekend without them. I do love the 300, it's a great all-around bike. It loves the tight stuff but can still do more open dual sport and some light adventure riding.

Do it !!! You wont regret it

@@jeffreydurante2cyclecycles337 I just need to spin it right with the wife, lol. "Babe, I think YOU should get a bike."

Not yet, most likely pull them this weekend and take them to my suspension guy.

Very fun, hard to tell from the video but had some nice challenging hills climbs and a lot of the trail was off camber. If you get a chance to get down to Tennessee or Kentucky you won't be disappointed. We've been heading south to get and early start on the riding season the last few years and it has been some great riding.

@@pro5mark There is a big group of Beta riders from the thumb and south of us that head to Tennessee every spring for an early start too around Nashville area, I'll probably join them this spring

You really should, you won't regret it.

The trails in the U.P. don't see the traffic like the stuff downstate, to the point some are actually hard to navigate due to the overgrowth of ferns and brush. No problems with ticks but because of the mosquitoes I usually douse myself pretty good with bug spray before heading into the woods.

@@pro5mark Maybe I’ll try this one next summer. We usually ride the western UP a few times a year. Baraga plains loop is definitely one worth checking out if you haven’t. This spring the ticks were pretty bad, even down here at home. I spray my gear with permethrin, which seems to keep them off.

@@awesomefish100 Looks like a cool trail, next time we're up there going to have to ride it.

Thanks, Jeff. The loop is 2.5 miles of tight singletrack and just a bit of ORV. The video is uncut except for one spot where I stopped for a second, so per the video, it took me 10 minutes 50 seconds to do the full loop. Works out to be an average speed of around 14mph... not bad for an out of shape old guy. 😉 I didn't do any post-processing and I'm using the same camera so you should be able to get the same quality. I'll shoot you an email with the settings I'm using.

@@pro5mark I use gopro studio which i think may be starting to do weird things. I have edited over 100 videos wirhout the issues im having now. Which is fast motion setting even though i did not set it for fast speed

Every time I'm out there I think of stopping in but when I'm done riding I'm usually pretty sweaty and in need of a shower.

No, not yet but I plan to have them reworked over the offseason. For the high-speed stuff like in this video, they work fairly well. On more technical trails where you have a lot of ruts, roots, and rocks it's a different story, they are very harsh on the initial hit. I have also had some issues with the front end deflecting when hitting trail obstacles that I'm sure is from the harshness. I've made countless adjustments to them with almost no noticeable improvement but wanted to get a season in on the stock setup just to make sure of the changes I wanted done. Other than the forks I've been extremely happy with the bike.

A long time ago, my friend. I really shouldn't have been riding these technical trails alone. Luckily for me (no so much for the bike), I came to my senses before anything major happened.

@@pro5mark I kept thinking of the Segway inventor and the guy that got wedged in the canyon and had to cut off his own arm... glad neither happened to you.

@@johnconklin9039 Me too.

Yes, 2020 Beta 300rr Race Edition. I'm from Michigan so, yes, I did have to re-jet. My home elevation is around 700 feet above sea level and we were riding from around 8,000 to 12,500 feet. I was running a 35 pilot, 158 main, and a NECJ needle. The jetting was good except off idle where there was a lot of bog, not great for that type of riding. Unfortunately, I didn't have the jets to correct it so I rode it like that.

@@pro5mark I am from the thumb of Michigan, What dealer did you get your Beta from? I have a 17 xtrainer and a 2019 390RR race that I bought From Bennett powersports in Marlette. I use the 390 as my adventure bike. I have a place in the UP off grid that I do a lot of my riding.

@@vince5946 Southeast corner here. Got my bike from Steve at After Hours Cycle out of Dearborn. Bought a 2015 Beta 300rr from him that I put over 300 hours. He always treated me right on parts and service for that bike so when it was time to upgrade I went back to him.

@@pro5mark I rode with steve a few years back with a group or guys I think it was at Higgins lake if I remember right. He's an engineer at Ford too if I remember. Small world