Fly Helmet + 1000's of Miles = Happy #33

 First Anniversary of FLY helmet

 

It is almost a year of wearing a FLY helmet for riding and a Baja 1000 race.  It has been very comfortable and seemed to hold up well despite having hundreds of hours and literally thousands of miles on it. Rest assured it has had the lining removed and washed several times during this constant state of flogging/use! 

I have also done trail work in it, which without the air flow, has resulted in it being thoroughly drenched in sweat. Those of you that have had to put a soaking wet helmet back on know exactly what I am talking about.  As disgusting as that sounds it has always cleaned up and washed up well enough I don’t mind  heading off on a new adventure once it has been cleaned up. 

I have grown very accustomed to the bright orange color and find it has several advantages, easy to locate when I set it down somewhere, easy for anyone on a group ride to identify me and very easy for anyone to pick me out of a crowd on a ride or during a race. Also, I think it looks great in photos!

So to sum it up, Comfort, durability, easy to maintain and good looks. What more could you ask for?

#33

‘Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions’

Works Connection Pumps You Up!

WORKS CONNECTION NALA & SUSPENSION PUMP
I have been using the Works Connection pump along with the No Air Loss Adapter (NALA) for approximately a year now. I have been very impressed with the ease of use and accuracy of the gauge.
The NALA is another tool that increases the consistency of your pressure by guaranteeing you have the same pressure each and every time you use your pump to set your forks. Also the gauge is so accurate with its digital display and bleeder button anyone can do it.
Having just recently acquired my first dual suspended mountain bike with air forks and shock opens up a whole new use and makes the Works Connection gauge and NALA even more exciting and valuable to have in the tool box!

The pump and NALA are light enough and small enough to actually take in my back pack to adjust and experiment on the trail. It has made dialing in my pressures and getting my suspension set up correctly so much quicker and easier I can’t wait for the next ride to do more trail side tuning.
I think I have found my new favorite tool in my toolbox. All I can say is if you don’t have one, move over when you hear “on your left” because my suspension is working so good I will be coming through!
#33

Riding Moab with “The Bad News Bears”

Riding Moab

Since he is newly retired (1 year) my sometime riding buddy ‘Recon’ got the idea he should rent a house and have a bunch of his buddies meet up and ride for a week. It was sold to us as a week of motorcycle riding, mountain biking, golfing and possibly some river rafting. It worked out pretty well with only the river rafting getting the axe because we simply ran out of time!

It was a great week and I had no idea I was meeting up with an older version of the “Bad News Bears!” The Characters in this real life movie were Recon, Todd, Rick, Tom and two new players I had never met, Duane and Craig. A brief description is Recon the hurry up and we can do two rides if you guys will just get ready guy.  Todd the slower paced more methodical and let’s think this out guy.  Rick the HADD (hyper attention deficit disorder) guy.  Tom the kid from the family with money that wants to polish his bikes before and after he rides them guy. Then two new acquaintances, Duane the only non-prison worker in the group that enjoyed recording the trip with pictures and was more techno savvy than the rest of us by using his computer to watch ride videos guy.  Craig the up for anything as long as you can keep him pointed in the right direction and self-appointed Chef/BBQ extraordinaire guy.
I had no idea of what to expect with these guys all together in a house for a week. As it turned out it was the most fun I have had in several of my moto trips! It was nonstop entertainment after the first day of settling in and they let the clowning begin.

We rode mountain bikes on Slick Rock trail and Porcupine Rim Trail. The riding and scenery was spectacular with breath taking views on both. Everyone had a great time and no one got hurt even with a couple of minor crashes!  Duane our resident photographer made the comment that the pictures would not do this place justice, it has to be seen. I think Porcupine Rim fell into the category of ‘Best Ride Ever!’
We rode motorcycles around the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park which took us somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 hours. Along the way we stopped at sheer cliffs that dropped several hundred feet and you could ride right up to the edge. You could even sit on the edge and hang your feet over the side, well except for Tom. I think he had to stop and polish his bike whenever we started to get near the cliffs!  Everyone started rolling right along until Rick decided to slide himself and his KLR 650 in the dirt like he was sliding into home plate head first!  I looked in my mirror just in time to see an enormous cloud of dust! I stopped my bike and started back to where he was.  He was already up and brushing the dirt from the front of himself, so I figured he must be ok because he is dusting himself off. By then the other guys were rolling up and I started yelling for them to take pictures! The cameras came out and we couldn’t help but laughing because he looked like Pig Pen!  Rick was giggling at himself too.  A few minutes and we were on our way.  This ride ended up being about 160 miles and we were about half way so ol’ Ricky may have been getting a bit tired.  So maybe it was time for a rest/lunch stop. We took a break and had our snacks then were back on the trail. More excellent views and lots of miles.  
Then it happened again, but this time Rick didn’t slide, he tipped over on a short steep hill climb. A KLR 650 is not exactly a lightweight so down he goes in a heap. No harm, no foul and no injury. Until we get the bike up and discover he has broken his clutch perch. Oops, spare levers but no spare perch. So it became a patch job. Of course everyone’s first thought is Duct Tape!  I thought the same thing and then realized I fit right in with this group! Oh Hell, we are a bunch of okie/rednecks!  Then after reconsidering we came up with the Zip Tie fix!  So now we are just plain ol’ rednecks. But the duct tape was still in our back pocket if necessary.  7 Zip Ties later and we are back on the trail.
We enjoyed the rest of the ride and took in lots of amazing scenery with Duane doing the best he could to capture it on camera.

The rest of the week had us all thoroughly enjoying ourselves with each ride and each meal being dubbed as “the best ride/dinner ever!”  I asked Chef Craig once what was for dinner and he told me I had two choices, 1. Take it.  2. Or leave it!   I found out in a hurry that this wasn’t Burger King!
Maybe this can become an annual event, if so I am in!

#33

“Just because it is a bad idea doesn’t mean it won’t be a good time!”

Lots of pictures in the photo gallery!

5 Miles of Hell!

Yes, there truly is a trail that has been given this name. It is outside of Green River, Utah.  I had heard of it from a couple of riders and figured since I was going to meet a few buddies in Moab, Utah I might as well swing by and check it out.
This area has some spectacular rock formations because of the upheaval in the earth’s crust over the past umpteen million years! It has also provided some very challenging terrain to test a dirt bike riders’ skills. One of those test area has been named “5 Miles of Hell” and marked with patches of white paint so a rider can follow without getting lost and riding off into an abyss.
 Another thing the paint does is make it very easy to find the established route while he or she is tired! Believe me when I tell you that you are going to get tired. It took me somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 hours to cover the difficult section which turned out to be closer to 7 miles!
Only one tip over when I failed to make a climb that resulted in a skinned up forearm, then a few wrenches were necessary to loosen the throttle assembly and bark buster so my throttle would turn freely.
While blazing along at a whopping 2.3 miles an hour I met a couple of riders on the trail that were from Colorado. Scott and John who were riding 250 & 300 2 stroke off road bikes, smart boys! Or should I say smart men! I stopped to chat with them and discovered they were 68 and 67 years old respectively. These guys became my heroes instantly! To be out tackling that trail at that age showed a lot of skill, determination and courage! I was apprehensive and I am a full ten years younger. I want to be like them in ten years!

After our chat we rode on and became a group of three which was fine by me cause now I had someone to call 911 for me! We soldiered on until we came to a wall I was told by my new riding partners was known as “The Crux”. Holy smokers, I was wondering how other riders go up this but thought if others can get up it so can we. So we parked our bikes and walked up for a closer look and to plot our intended route. There were several options but we settled on what appeared to be the safest but included turning our bikes around by hand at one point to have a better shot at making it. It worked perfectly with none of us crashing and breaking anything or injuring ourselves.
When we finally got to the top of the Crux we stopped and noticed a tree decorated with several remnants of others attempts at the Crux. There were broken brake and clutch levers, a radiator louver, a bent up radiator guard that obviously didn’t work well enough and a twisted and busted up radiator! Oh and a couple of left over radiator shrouds that had been ripped from the bikes. We may have been overly cautious but none of us was ordering parts.
Right after we conquered the Crux we came to a marker on the trail that was marked as a bail out point from 5 Miles of Hell leading back to Lone Man trail. A short break and discussion and it was decided that Scott and John would take the bail out as John was having a problem with cramps in his hands. So we said our good byes and I was off on my own again to see what the rest of the trail had to offer.
As it turned out more of the same without the “Crux”, but plenty of substitutes to keep me guessing as to whether or not I would survive this ordeal. It seemed every few hundred yards there would be some sort of stair step climb, a crevasse to scale or a decent into an area I just hoped I could get back up out of. I stopped once to take a picture and wondered how in the hell did someone figure out what path to take, then it dawned on me. Stupid, just looking at the surroundings and I realized it was usually the path of least resistance. That was sort of scary!
I finally got through the difficult stuff and found the end of the trail with a sign designating it as “5 MOH”. I was so proud of myself I signed in the book, as #33 of course, and then took Lone Man trail back to the truck. Funny how those 2-foot-deep whoops on the return trail didn’t seem very difficult!

If you think you need to challenge yourself, give me a call.  I will tell you how to find 5-MOH!!!  You didn’t really think I was going to offer to go with you did you!  

#33    

“Make your life a mission, not an intermission”    

Lil LIGHTNING Power Pack

Riding so many miles so far away from anyone and quite often by myself, I had an epiphany. I am all alone out here exploring new areas in canyons, sand washes and deserted hills and must rely on my bike and myself to fix anything that goes bad or it is an overnight stay and a very long walk to help. More often than not I do not have cell phone reception, so it is that kind of remote.
My current off road bike is a KTM 500 xcw that has an electric start with a kick start back up. Just one of the many reasons I chose it. Batteries fail and the kick starter is my insurance, but since I do ride on occasion with others that ride bikes without kick starters I don’t want to choose between riding a very long way out double or leaving the guy there.
A while back I was shown a slick little device called the LIL LIGHTNING jumper pack by a buddy, Matt, that owns a motorcycle shop in Butte, Montana. It was very compact and Matt said it would jump his street bike several times and could jump a car. I was a bit skeptical at the car part but ordered one and have been carrying it for a year now.

In that years’ time it has been used 3 times! Twice on a guy with a kick start equipped 530 KTM that couldn’t start it on our ride in the middle of a 7-mile-long sand wash and the battery was kaput! No one in our group was looking forward to towing him out of a long sand wash with a strap. The lightning pack fired his bike up and we were back on our way. Twice, he stalled!
Then the third time was to start a borrowed Nissan Pathfinder while I was in San Felipe, Mexico! It actually did start the V-6 Nissan. I was impressed because this is their smallest compact version. They make two more upsized models for heavy applications.

On this last trip to Baja I pulled it out of my pack to show it to one of the guys with no kick start option on a new Husky. To my surprise the Lithium-ion battery had swelled and ruptured the outer casing. The contents were still contained inside with no mess and the pack still showed a full charge on the test lights! When I returned home from the trip I called the toll free number and spoke to Karen who simply asked me when I bought it as it had a one-year warranty. It was one year to the month! She laughed and said “you pushed it right to the limit didn’t you!”
She told me to box it up and send it back to her and she would send me a new one upon receiving it. Now that is customer service and standing behind your product. When I use up this next one I will certainly replace it with another LIL LIGHTNING!
#33
‘wear out, don’t rust out – get out and Ride’