Excerpt from a letter to a dualsport riding group about this last weekend's ride at Renfro Valley:
I've gotta say I'm really impressed by how awesome these dual sport blokes are. I was winded after about 1 hour in the mud, dumped enough times to start naming tree roots and rocks with intimate accolades, and will forever be in debt to the most generous man on a gasgas? 250? who picked my ass up out of the mud on 2 occasions cause my back was blown. It was particularly humbling when on the 2nd occasion he got me up on the bike, I was ready to go, only to fall the other way on the trail before I even let the clutch out. I will pick up the next poor sap who dumps in front of me, I swear.
After limping back to the hotel taking a long cut on the road which turned my ass to a shade of black and blue (love ktm seats), I shuffled up to my room, took a shower and a nap. Got up and went to dinner and guys were still out in what looked like a wet scene from that lobster fisherman show, and I thought.... how?
Went back to the warm cozy room only to be disturbed at 6:30pm from noise outside my room and 2 guys were just getting in! No food, nothing, just back from trail. And they said they were getting too old.... dang...
You are all supermen to me and I can only aspire to keep up with you. Jeff kicked my ass and Barry was somewhere in front of us and he lost me. I don't know how many passed me but in all fairness it was only because I was laying winded and broken in a face full of mud waiting for someone to roost over my back.
Cant wait till the next ride but beware young and old supermen.... these old broken bones will mend and I will get in shape. Look out for the orange (and hopefully not bleeding red) shape in front of you. He will do the whole trail...... I hope....
No, that's not me, but I'll not say it's never been me.
10 comments:
Yes it does.
First thing.
What I don't understand is how you justify staying on a trail that ends up throwing you several times in the same day.
Second thing.
If he got so tired from riding a motorcycle I've got to question his overal fitness level.
Something isn't adding up.
I'm not getting the full picture I guess.
Otherwise I gotta ask, Are there really such stupid people out there? Why didn't this guy know his limits?
That's actually pretty typical AP, once you get out on the trail you're nearly always better off finishing than trying to go back, unless the trail is just totally beyond what you can do. The problem with going back is meeting riders going the other way, that can get awkward if you're going uphill and they're coming down, neither of you can exactly stop and stand aside.
And, you'd be shocked at how physically fit you have to be to go trail riding.
Sounds absolutely miserable.
Great. Now I need a dual-sport.
Sucks to get old? Nah, not really. Age and experience compensates for a lot. Life for me is better now than when I was in my 30's.
I just love the line from an Eastwood movie. A man's got to know his limitations.
Good philosophy for anyone.
The idea of repeatedly falling off or being thrown off the bike, well, that just boggles my mind. How can they not know what their limits are?
Am I even correctly imagining the kind of riding being referred to by the author? Are these guys getting airborne or something? Are they going up or down vertical surfaces taller than their bike's wheelbase? Are the tree limbs reaching out and pulling them off the bike? I mean, WTF?
Yes, AP. It's eastern woods riding, single-track, mud, trees, roots, rocks like basketballs in the trail. It's not a sport, it's a sickness.
JAC I know this is OT, but how is Nate and his family? I don't do FB and I just wondered if they were able to escape that horrific flooding going on right now.
Spotted this past weekend: This is the bike I wish I could buy new today. I'd be torn between a naked bike and one decked out like this GL. Even the color is right, sigh...
I once owned the old Kawasaki Voyager, Mikesbo. The touring bike allows you to ride in weather you would not neccessarily be excited about on another bike, but at the price of being an excruciatingly boring mount.
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