Big(ish) ride come Saturday

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=953420

I'm both excited, and a little nervous about this. I wasn't cleared to ride at all until about 60 days ago, and the weather hasn't been all that good. So it's been only a few hundred miles of puttering around locally. All good and fun, but still.

Thought I'd be taking the XL500 on this ride, but it's going to have to be the Harley.

So I'll be doing my best to behave, and be a wimp. I've already been given a heads up on several spots that I should take alternative routes (and the ride master gave me those alternatives). I'll have my GPS and will do my best to just bow out on those spots I just shouldn't go.

I'm a little nervous mostly because my judgement still isn't always right. Last week a friend called me back as I started to walk out right in front of traffic, and today I didn't see that dump truck. I can almost rationalize the dump truck because of the situation, but still, I didn't see him until he was a few feet from my door. I'm a whole lot better, but I'm still not all there.

I WILL bow out of the ride at any point that it becomes too much. If need be, I'll call my wife to come get me with the truck and trailer. I'll repeat this as many times as necessary along the route.

Guess actually I'm just suck'n up for prayers and well wishes.

Be careful, have fun. As long as you do your best to stay self aware and stay willing to bail if needed, go for it.

Do you have any riding buddies you trust to give you the "you need a Snickers" talk? Sometimes it's a good idea to have others monitoring your state of mind if you might miss something yourself...

Ah, yes. I'm supposed to meet up with Ddavidv. He's planning to come riding his Vstrom. I've ridden with him before.

Foxtrapper made my day far more entertaining than it otherwise would have been. He was the only man stupid...er, brave enough to show up to a dual sport ride with a Harley. Between his injury and the vibrations of the H-D engine further scrambling his brains, he managed to miss one of the detours suggested for him and instead followed us up a horribly rock strewn and very muddy hill, arriving at the top unscathed, much to the disbelief and delight of the Starbucks crowd on their BMWs, Tigers and KTMs. I just LOL'd and snapped a picture of the man as he dismounted. Just more proof it's the rider, not the bike.

I know the pics never show it, but that trail really doesn't look particularly technical...

"THE MAN" indeed, tis a fine line between genius and insanity.

docwyte wrote: I know the pics never show it, but that trail really doesn't look particularly technical...

Where we stopped for the photo on the top of the mountain, no. Trust me, it was steep, very rocky, and as muddy as what you see there. I didn't enjoy it much on my V-Strom, but every time I looked behind me Foxtrapper was keeping up.

The geography of that particular mountain was...interesting. It's slimy clay, well blended with rocks. Capped on top with sand. I had no traction in the mud, but there were more than enough rocks to bang into and slither over that I could keep on going. Slope was upwards of 20-30 degrees I guess, and snaked back and forth a bit. Probably nothing for an experienced rider with knobby tires. On a Road King, um, it was a bit much. But once started, there really wasn't any turning back. Dwight and I both crawled our way up. I would have thought he would pull away from me, but I guess our first gear ratios are similar. The sweeper in back on his KLR finally blasted past us both. He told us at the top he had no idea how we were riding that slowly and couldn't do it himself.

When I got up there the ride leader was a bit surprised to see me.

Some of the best came after you broke off Dwight. The group really broke up. I was with the sweeper and we were picking up lost strays. We finally ended up blasting along 40-60 mph on dirt lanes and farm roads. I got a lot more comfortable with dancing that big lady. Even finally threw it down hard (for me) into a dirt banked turn (not sure we were really on a road at that point, it looked like an atv trail around the back of a farm). In fact several times I'm not sure we weren't running through farms.

I must say, I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with riding after this day. Both with myself and the bike. This ride was fun, but I don't know that I'll try it again next year, at least not with the Harley.

There was one other area that was a bit of a handful. Remember near the beginning of the ride when we all came down a muddy road in the woods and crossed a creek (on a bridge) and then hooked left up that muddy embankment road? That climb up the embankment road was a spin and slide almost the whole way up for me. The guy down there cutting wood cracked up when he saw me rolling by.

Put a knobby on 'er

Congrats, that is bitchin to see a big ol beast out on a dirt road. Good to see you get back on the saddle!

TRoglodyte wrote: Put a knobby on 'er

Grin, Duro makes a knobby that will fit front and rear. Just a little light weight for the bike, and prone to shedding knobs. The guy who takes his Road King all over the planet runs them when he's being especially adventurous.

Great that you had fun!