The Do It All Ride!

I just finished a ride with a couple of new riding buddies, Bob and Pat of Helena, Montana. These guys have some secret squirrel trails hidden away that I don’t think get used very often by the looks of parts of the trail. So I was lucky or unlucky enough to get shown the way around some very obscure areas.

After riding the loop Bob showed us I can see why they don’t get used very often. Once you take a guy on this ride he probably always has a reason he can’t make it the next time! You know like I have to mow the lawn or I have a pile of dishes I gotta get done so I can take my wife shopping, etc.

We rode some absolutely awesome almost unridden trails that we had to move logs or cut downed trees with the chainsaw Bob brought in a backpack in order to make it through. I guess I should have caught on when Bob brought the chainsaw, sometimes I am a little slow. Then there were rock sections that resembled the Erzberg Rodeo. All of this was great fun and quite challenging, but just to make sure we didn’t get bored our point man Bob mixes in a little MUD/SWAMP along the way. Did I just say a little bit of Mud? How about over an hour of helping each other get through the FIRST swamp as we each took turns getting stuck. It took having the other two guys push, pull and lift while you tried to get your bike moving.

I have not gone over the bars in quite some time but this swamp was going to take care of that. I had the bright idea that if I went just fast enough to keep the bike driving forward I should be able to make it through the 50 yds of water and muck. Well it was all going according to plan until I found the bottomless water hole that stopped my bike so abruptly that I was looking straight down at the ground while the bike was doing a nose wheelie! Stopped instantly, motionless until I tipped over sideways with me pinned under the bike in the muck. It was so soft and so deep that I could not get up because my leg was pinned under the bike and every time I tried to push myself up with my hands they simply went deeper in the mud until my shoulder was on the ground! There was NO WAY to get up until my two compadres came over and lifted the bike to get my leg out from under it. Then, get this; I still could not push myself up because my hands kept going into the mud up to the shoulder repeatedly as I tried to push myself up. I literally had to ask Pat to come close enough that I could put my hand on top of his boot in order to have enough of a base to push myself up out of the mud. Crazy!

So once we cleared this little hurdle we continued on to some really cool trails that were not really trails but more of a direction on a side hill that required I track our ride leader Bob to hopefully go in the right direction. This eventually became a real trail and I was told we were headed back since this was the second half of the loop. It was now about 4pm and we had been out for just over 4 hours and covered a whopping 25 miles so it was actually turning into my kind of ride. I always like a challenge, Thanks guys! I figured if the second half of this ride was anything like the first, we should be done between 7 and 8 pm. Since I have a Baja Designs Squadron II headlight I knew I was in better shape than both Bob and Pat. I can actually trail ride comfortably with this lighting system as opposed to the stockers on the other bikes.

The rest of the ride was pretty straightforward except for one more mud pit in a heavily wooded section that we got off our bikes and walked before attempting it. We sloshed through and only spent about 30 minutes or so on it.

We arrived back at the truck at about 7 pm loaded our bikes and headed for a cool beverage on our way home. I fully intend to go back and ride with Bob and Pat, unless I have to take my wife shopping.

#33

‘You cannot hang out with negative people and expect to live a positive life’

Pit Crew Rehab Tour Extended

The last update on the #33 pit crew (Cheryl) had her hobbling along on crutches for an estimated 4 weeks as recommended by the doctor.

4 weeks came and went so it was time for another trip to an Urgent care in Montana for another x-ray to find out how the foot was progressing. Well the news was not as good as we had hoped. The fractured bone was healing but not at the rate we had expected. So the physician sentenced her to another 2 to 4 weeks of crutch time. The idea is that there be no weight bearing on that foot until the fracture was deemed healed enough. So that means 2 to 4 more weeks of carting around a huge wrapped foot or wear the oversized splint/boot they apparently repossessed from some basketball player with a size 16 shoe.

Fortunately we have a buddy, aka Montana John, who spent a great many years working in the prosthetic profession making and fitting people with prosthetic devices so that they may live a more normal life.  Montana John or M.J.  offered to make an insert that would do the same thing as the monster boot and could actually be worn in a tennis shoe. It would offer the needed support without the exaggerated size and bulkiness of the boot.

M.J. takes me and the shoe down to his shop and proceeds to bust out a custom insert support. He does it by shaping leather, hard special purpose made plastic and some glue along with a short stint on a machine that he uses to grind and shape the pieces until he is holding a finished product. It doesn’t take him long either, I would guess he had it together in less than an hour. I think he has done this before!

So for the next few weeks #33’s pit crew can hobble around  with a more normal looking shoe, but the crutches are still a dead giveaway that living in the mobile ghetto can be dangerous!

I wonder if I should get her a helmet while she is on crutches………………just sayin’

#33

“Aspire to Inspire before you Expire”

Group Hug!

Group Ride/Hug!

The past week or so has seen a variety of riders show up for a ride with #33. They all brought their own personalities, much to my benefit.

It was a fun filled and entertaining week for me with such a wide variation of riders. Guys ranging from 40 yrs to 72 yrs of age.

The young group (the 40 and 50ish riders) rode at a much quicker pace than you would expect from a bunch of aspiring Geezers.  Rod, Mark and Kevin made up the group and rode their normal trails at what was probably their normal pace which makes a card carrying Geezer like me have to huff and puff to chase them around the trails all day. But they did take me on some of the coolest single track trails this side of Idaho. It was my good fortune to be allowed into their local playground and be shown the way around because I could have ridden the same area for a month or more and maybe not stumbled onto some of their best stuff. It is not exactly marked or on the map. Kind of gives you an idea of how much fun it was doesn’t it? Thanks guys!

The next group had a couple of qualifying Geezers at 65 and 72 years old. Doug (aka Senor Kirby) and Kerry (aka El Guapo) both of Baja fame. Since they were visiting and riding somewhere they had never seen before with me now becoming the guide, the pace took on a more ooh and aah pace to be able to take it all in. Of course there was the occasional pick up the bike after a tip over break built in. One time the bike did go down an embankment and had to be hauled back up onto the trail and since I was leading the ride and out in front I didn’t see the carnage. When they failed to show up a little ways down the trail I went back to see what was holding them up. I obviously had waited just long enough before I went to check on them because they had JUST gotten the bike back up on the trail and were exhausted. So they sat down on the side of the trail in the shade to catch their breath and have a drink. I wasn’t really tired but I sat down anyway. Hee Hee.

When we continued on we had a great time and took in some awesome views from a couple of fire lookouts. The photos just don’t do it justice. By the end of the day we had covered 82 miles with single track, fire roads that the boys just loved sliding the corners and views that allowed us to see all the way to Mt. Lassen from Red Rock Look Out. As Senor Kirby and El Guapo rolled up to the truck and put their bikes on the side stands I was to witness one final act of bike handling. Or mishandling, if you prefer. I watched as Senor Kirby attempted to dismount his KTM 500 exc. He apparently forgets on occasion about the fender pack on the rear of the bike. As his leg snags on the pack the bike tips and down he goes in a heap! I am cracking up because he still had all his protective gear on and is completely dressed for the occasion. I ask him if he is alright and he mutters something I can’t quite make out, so he may have been cussing me out. That is when I burst out laughing and bust out the camera at the same time!  After I snapped a couple of pictures I did pick his bike up for him. I am not a completely heartless guy! El Guapo just stood there and chuckled.

The other group ride was just me and my buddy Ed. Now Ed does things a little different, he likes to be prepared. FOR ANYTHING. So that means Ed carries as much crap on his body and bike as I do. I do it because I am often out for several hours and sometimes 30 to 50 miles from any kind of help. To give you an idea of his preparedness, everything is wrapped up and stored in a separate container with labels as to what is inside. It takes about 5 minutes to go through and read all the labels to find what you actually need when we do have an issue on the trail. If he ever breaks those reading glasses he uses to find the tools and parts needed he is in deep trouble unless he has a spare pair of those too. I wouldn’t put it past him. His wife calls him O.K.  Sterken (his last name) if that is any indication. The OK stands for Over Kill. Ha! She cracked me up.

I think I will start calling him ‘Puncture’ since our last few rides have resulted in him getting a flat front tire. Of course this one was caused by the tire iron we found inside the tire after breaking it down. Maybe he should have had a label on the tire irons. Just an idea. I watched as he fixed his flat but was secretly putting the clock on him. It took a bit over and hour for the repair. After all he had to break out the reading glasses to be able to read all the labels so he could find the correct equipment container to fix the flat. Luckily he was able to patch it because when I asked him if he had a spare tube to change it out he got real quiet just before he used a cuss word directed at me.

Hey, OK/Puncture you may want to throw a spare tube in if you think you could find a container for it, oh and maybe another container to account for the tire irons used………….I’m just sayin’.

#33

“We don’t stop riding because we grow old, we grow old because we stop riding”

Rehab Tour Extended!

Just about the time I think I am making a little bit of progress on the rehab tour Murphy raises his ugly head!  Only this time it is not me, finally, Thank Goodness. It seems like the past year all I have been doing is trying to recover from some sort of riding related injury.

Well now I have help.  It seems Cheryl wants to make sure I don’t go through all this fun of rehabbing alone. Sometimes she is so thoughtful! She was walking along minding her own business………well actually she was disembarking from the mobile ghetto (Weekend Warrior) when she slipped and twisted her ankle. I am still waiting for the breathalyzer results before I pass judgment. I am also wondering who will get me my beverages now?

So a trip to the local E.R. was in order and the X-ray revealed a fractured bone in the foot. Since no cast is used on this type of injury, it is considered a ‘no weight bearing’ injury. What that means is that for the next 4 weeks she can’t put any weight on it until it begins to heal or it would require surgery and pins to keep it in place.

Now this is truly ‘The Rehab Tour’ with two gimps in the same trailer parked under a tree while the truck is in the shop for repairs!  I can’t wait to see what is going to happen next!  Oh well, it just rained so I am going riding and my therapy is still in progress.

#33

‘Happiness is not an absence of problems; but the ability to deal with them’

A Beary Good Ride!

The Rehab Tour Rolls Along!

The rehab tour has been interesting so far.  I have been on some awesome rides with some interesting people. Howard (The Mayor), Barry (the Janitor), Darren (Doo Rag) and Rodney (Bonk) Johnson. On some excellent rides like The Big Dipper, The Butt Rock trail, and Doo Rags favorite, The Helmet Rock trail that caused him to say, ‘I’m not riding my bike up that!’ when we came to a cobby granite outcropping of rocks.

But the most interesting thing so far was the dual sport on the KLR 650 with Cheryl. It started out as an excellent sightseeing tour to a place we were told about called the ‘High Lakes’.  A really cool ride with incredible vistas and remote roads that allowed us to ride for hours and never see anyone.  Right up to the moment a HUGE cinnamon colored Bear blasted out of the bushes about 50 feet in front of us. We were stopped at the time wondering how much further we should go because we were kinda lost and weren’t sure how much worse the road/trail in front of us was going to deteriorate. So far it had gotten very rough and rocky, especially considering we were on the KLR 650.

As we sat in a trough worn into the road in-between bushes lining both sides, the bike was running when the bear charges out of the bushes directly in front of us and thankfully turned and ran the opposite direction. As I sat there frozen, not believing what I was seeing, I realized if he had turned toward us there was nowhere to go and not enough room to turn around in that corridor of bushes with two of us on the bike. I would have had no choice but to pop a wheelie and dump Cheryl off the back as bait until I could get my .45 Officers model out of my pocket!

Thankfully I never had to and we just waited until he was well out of sight and continued on down the road. We stopped a few hundred yards down the road to take a photo and Cheryl was reluctant to stay around too long. She asked me if I thought he was gone and I said, ‘Sure, he was more scared of us than we were of him. He is probably still running’. I kept one eye on the surrounding area and the bike running while she took the picture!

We found our way out of there and made it back to civilization just in time to have an early dinner and head back to the mobile ghetto (our Weekend Warrior).

I can’t wait for our next outing, maybe we will see a mountain lion. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

#33

“An attitude is contagious, is yours worth catching?”