When does 100 Off Road miles = Not Much?

I had an opportunity to ride a new area with a new riding buddy named Lyle. He is 72 years young and rides a big 520 KTM. This guy is not afraid to go for a 6 to 8 hour ride at the drop of a hat. I was lucky enough to have him take me on a ride he is familiar with that would have taken me weeks to explore and find my way around.
We passed old abandoned farm/ranch houses, defunct mines and cattle watering holes all hidden away in areas that would take the average Joe a long time to find. Lyle told me to expect about 6 hours for a ride time, but it turned into 8 hours when we decided to explore a couple of routes Lyle had not been on yet. That is when the fun started.
We had taken a turn off that led through a cattle pen that had a freshly made trail up the side of a rather nasty looking hill that was very rocky and made by some sort of ATV or side by side vehicle. About half way up I noticed my clutch pull being a bit strange so I stopped to inspect why.  I discovered that I only had about 5 or 6 wire strands holding on the clutch cable. The wire had started to fray and was not going to last much longer. We were about 50 miles into our ride. When I caught up to Lyle I told him of my clutch cable problem and he asked how much was it holding by. I said “Not Much”, but I would only use it when I really needed it so I could make it back. So we turned around and headed back giving up the chance to explore this new trail.
As we head back we had to stop a few times for Lyle to put drops in his eyes due to the fact they dry out after 4 or 5 hours of riding. Remember he is 72 years old and that is his only limitation, stopping to put drops in his eyes. After he put drops in I asked him how his eyes were and if he could see again. Guess what his response was…………….Not Much!  He said he was literally having trouble seeing some of the dips in the trail and had fallen over once because of it.
So after a few minutes we continued on and worked our way back to the trucks all the while passing some incredible views at the top of the passes that allowed us to look into two different valleys at the same time. We passed more abandoned mines on the way that I intend to go back and explore. One mine had a natural drainage through the rocks that the miners had built a rock catch basin to have a water supply. It was large enough that I think they probably used it for a bath tub as well.  By now we are approaching the 80 to 90 mile mark for this ride and I ask Lyle during one of our stops how much gas he has left. He takes a look at his tank and says…………..Not Much.  But he was not yet on reserve so no need to worry yet, since I have about 125 mile range on my bike.
We finally make it back to the trucks at just about the 100 mile mark.  I take another look at my clutch cable and find I still have 5 or so wires holding so it was a good ride!  Then I think about the trouble I had getting up a couple of hills on this ride and look closely at my rear tire and laugh.  I hollered over to Lyle as he was loading his bike and said take a guess at how much rear tire I have left and he said, “Let me guess……..Not Much!”.
So the next time someone asks you what are you doing or what have you been up to lately and you answer with the typical Not Much, don’t be surprised if they ask you if you want to go for a ride. Especially if it is me calling!
Yup, it was a good ride.  

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