I’ve just noticed that I have failed to mentioned that I will be taking a two week vacation and riding the motorcycle to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I’ll be riding out there with my dad and some of his friends.
Looks to be about a 4,000 mile round trip. It will take most of the middle of August. Not exactly sure what to expect, but it should be interesting at least.
I particpated in the cvotc event in Danville this sunday. I had a blast, got worn out, and finish fourth place in my class (novice). Of course, that was out of four. Oh well. First event. A couple of stupid mistakes got me 5’s (highest possible score, with 0 being best). Without that I think I would of been close to second. First place finisher was way out in front, but he was an experienced enduro/scrambles rider.
I thought I was going to get some pics, but I was on the bike from 11am to about 5:30, so didn’t really get a chance. Everyone in my class was riding a sherco 2.9, and made me think that maybe it would be wise to alter the appearance of my bike. They all start looking the same with a bit of mud on them.
As of Friday morning, I still hadn’t completely decided what to do for the extended 4th of July weekend. Eventually decided I should visit my parents.
Then it occurred to me that it would be fun to be able to ride the trials bike on my parents land. But how to get the bike there. I don’t own a truck or a trailer, and my car doesn’t have a trailer hitch.
But perhaps the motorcycle would fit inside the car. It was worth a shot.
So after some measurements with the tape measure, I went to work putting the bike in the back seat of my car. First step was to get the back seat out. Then some minor dissasemly of the bike (wheels, rear fender, and gas tank off). Then a bit of munging, and it fit.
Once I got it packed up, headed home, and unpacked it in the morning.
My parents have 8 or so acres, so I had plenty of room to ride. The most fun was the creek crossings. Though I ended up with the bike stuck halfway up the bank plenty of times.
Setup some random man made obstacles as well (car ramps, logs, wood piles, etc). So got some practice in. The heat was a bit rough though.
Got a call 8:30am this morning from the guy I bought the trials bike from to see if I wanted to go riding today. Well yeah! (I figured out the clutch problem yesterday wasn’t as bad as it first seemed).
The Carolina Virginia Observed Trials Clubs local stomping ground is a 100+ acre plot near Bunn. One of the members gracefully lets club members ride out there almost every Sunday. The property is pretty nice with a lot of gulleys, and some huge rocks. There are several trials sections already marked and ready for riding.
I enjoyed the heck out of it. But it is difficult. I expected that. But of course, it’s harder than it looks. But then, I can of expected that as well.
It took a while to get a feel for the bike. Getting used to the controls, all of which are pretty sensitive. The bikes can turn incredibly tightly if you know what your doing. I started to get a feel for that, being able to make tight circles, maybe 6 feet in diameter, but thats still a huge sloppy turn for trails riding.
I started off just following the owner of the property through some trails. The owner, Jim, is an older gentlemen (62 I believe). I was quite impressed at the stuff he was doing just showing me the super easy stuff. But that was just a warm up, the guy can ride his buttocks off. Very impressive.
One of the things that took some getting used to was diving between trees that were just barely far enough apart for the handlebars to fit through. I caught a bar end on a tree on many occasions. The other folks riding claim that you eventually start ignoring the trees. By the end of the day, I started to see what they meant as I started to get used to where the bike would fit and where it wouldn’t.
The bikes are designed for low end power and torque, but also for quick throttle response and instant on power for jumping over obstacles. Which means throttle control is pretty critical. For the most part I avoided the classic “pin the throttle and run into a tree”. A mere sampling suffered my lack of control.
I think my favorite riding was either a long uphill gully that one of the sections ran down. Or another section that included a huge rock outcropping that was a lot of fun to climb and descend. The rocks in the area look to be granite and were dry today, so provided a ton of traction. This particular section had about a 20 foot rise in elevation comprised of about 6 large stones each about two foot high and five feet ride. So kind of like riding up and down a giant stone stair case. Pretty darn cool.
Lots of chit chat about riding technique and skills and what not. The folks there were incredibly helpful in showing me the ropes.
Oh, that style of riding definitely exercise muscles I normally don’t. I’m already sore, so tomorrow should be interesting. Also picked up a fair share of bruises. Next time I think I’ll be a bit more prepared gear wise.
Some of the pics from Rolling Thunder. Didn’t get many good pics.
Decided to take a couple pics of the Bonneville in its current state.
Riding around rural northern Virginia a bit reminded me of a rule of thumb:
“church” and “school” roads are presumably built when there isn’t much else in the area, and therefore tend to wind around farms and creeks and hills.
“old” roads tend to be just that. Older roads that are no longer sufficent for modern traffic. They often tend to be two lanes and twisted.
Another rule of thumb might be “Roads named after neighboring towns tend to be interesting”. These roads tend to be old as well, and usually pretty long, and often posted at a higher speed (45 or 55 mph). If they throw in an “old” all the better.
Over the weekend I rode up to northern Virginia to visit family. Then rode with my dad, brother in law, and others to Fort Washington, MD and back. Lots of nice roads up that way. Sunday rode back up to Fort Washington, then into DC as part of the “Rolling Thunder” group. Then home on Monday. A touch over 900 miles in total.
The new taller (up to an 18 tooth from a 17 tooth) front sprocket on the bike doesn’t seem to effect the gas mileage much. It’s geared about 5% taller, but highway mileage seemed to stay around 50mpg. But then, the point wasn’t to improve the mileage, but to get a bit more usable first gear, and a little less buzz at highway speeds. Which seems to be the case. I don’t think I’ll be going for the 19 tooth sprocket. Even for the big trip out west later this summer.
In Fredericksburg, VA visititing my sister over the weekend. Rode up yesterday, hit a bit of a storm. Rode 200 miles today.
I bought a new toy.
Aka, a observed trials motorcycle. It’s rad.
It’s 290cc 2 stroke engine and two big grippy tires. And not much else. The whole bike weighs 150lbs.
You use it to climb over rocks. And logs. And small cars. And giant boulders. I will probably use it to fall down a lot.