T.Low
Expedition Leader
For a few years my wife's family has taken a week long holiday at Whistler BC. I would commandeer a friend's downhill mountain bike so my dirtbiking brother in law could ride the chairlift section of the mountain with me ( he refuses to pedal). This year he returned the favor as we went to Lake Chelan, Wa. for the second summer in a row.
Jason let me ride his beloved Gasgas 450 FSE as he commandeered his buddie's Husaberg for himself. (Thats what happens when you leave things at your buddie's house for him to work on). J has three other bikes at the house, but the Gasgas is his favorite.
Now, while I do still mountain bike quite a bit, I haven't spent anytime on a dirtbike since junior high, 30 (holy cow) some-odd years ago. Granted, I was quite the little motocrosser in my youth, but that was in my youth! I'm 225lbs theses days.
I've lusted over his Gasgas dual sport for a while now. Its a fuel injected '05 model, and he has added his personal mapping program to the fuel injection system and wired it into his high beam light switch. To engage the factory fuel injection settings, I turn the lights on to low beam. To change to his personal fuel injection settings, I turn the lights on high beam.
He also has a steering stabilizer. I must admit, I did not know this was an option for motorcylces.
He likes the Gasgas not only for the fuel injection, but also because it is such a light, nimble, and flickable street legal dirtbike. A dual sport of course, but much more of a dirt bike. It is never riddin to the trails; always trailered. He likes a soft knobby (not quite street legal) on the front and a Pirelli trials tire on the rear. He said that while it is license plated, an aspiring young police officer could still have a field day writing tickets if he really wanted to. Same for the Husaberg.
Oh, and me without my Motorcycle Endorsement. Hmm. Risk assessment says go for it.
Speaking of which, I've never heard of a Husaberg before. It certainly looked ************.(Sorry for the language but thats the main impression I get from it). Austrian bike. He said its KTM's unofficial R&D Dept. Husaberg comes out with something, then two years later, KTM is doing it.
The Rides
For this year's vacation (as well as last year's) the family rents a 5 bedroom house in a relatively posh, gated vacation home neighborhood actually closer to Manson than Chelan, right at the base of the mountains. Wapato Point. Last year my wife and I arrived at the vacation home after driving the van 100 miles thru the mountains on forest service roads from Winthrop, a route Jerry Horn gave us. (It was awesome, I recommend it). For this year's motorcylce ride, we rode right from the house on pavement dressed in full motocross armor and within only about 3 miles we hit the gravel FS roads.
Our goal for Friday evening was to go to The Methow and back by way of 8200 to 8210, to 4010. About 35 miles along Coyote Ridge to Squaw Creek Ridge and down Black Canyon Creek. My goal was to make it thru the day with out laying 'er down.
I welcomed the few miles of pavement to scrape the rust off my motorcyling skills. There really wasn't any traffic on the road toward the mountain so I took that time to move the bike around underneath me, power out of turns, break hard with the front brake, and just generally get a feal for the bike.
As we hit FS 8200, north, I was suprised at how squirrely the gravel was for me. The fresh gravel itself was deeper than it needed to be, but I didn't think it was thick enough to make me as gun shy as I was. Does the gravel thing go away after time, Mick? I think my sprained knee from a mountain bike crash was still all too fresh in my mind.
About 1/2 mile into the gravel we turned right onto 8210 which was more dirt and less gravel. 8210 was nice and steep from the git go. In an hour or so we went from 1100ft elevation to 5780. Much of the single lane road had 50-75ft cliffs off the right side. Niiiice. That being said I was happier riding in the right tire track than the left considering the blind corners are left hander's on the way up the mountain (north bound). Yes, we had fun but always slowed for the blind corners just incase some yahoo in an Astro van might be heading round the bend. You never know.
Jason mostly rode in the left tire track in the beginning, usually in formation just behind my rear wheel as to keep an eye on me and also not get too dusted. He would often pick an opportune time to throttle it ahead and flat track the corners and get air off the drainage whoops. In his dust I would take care to spot any large rocks thru the dust that I might hit and riccoche over the side of the cliff. I must have done that well cause it never happenned. I realized right awwy that I see a lot more of the scenery while in the van as compared to on the bike. I don't like to take my eyes off the road while on the bike. But I actually already relaized this from my mountain bike comparisons.
I gained confidence as we rode, familiar skills coming back to me. Once away from the cliffs I started roostering out of corners a bit and ...it was just a blast. I love the attention it demands from you. I like that kind of focus.
Well, we passed our turn off at 4010 due to ...uhm...slightly excessive speed. But its ok as we found Parrish Peak just beyond, on Squaw Creek Ridge, with its incredible views. From there, I could point out the Waterville Plateau, across the Columbia about 25 miles away, where I first off roaded my van last year, as well as a few other areas in the distance. Mountain tops, Lake Chelan, all in the increbile 360 degree view.
I recommend a jaunt to Parish Peak if you are ever in the vicintiy. Its a nice drive, high ground clearence preferred. Lunch with a view as good as any.
Since it was late to begin with (Friday after travel) we knew it was turn around time, so we did. The Methow would have to wait for another day. On the way down I was pushing the limits of my self imposed conservative boundaries. Wow, what a blast.We didn't see anyone the entire 3 hour ride.
Saturday we thought we'd wake early and ride in the cool morning air. Didn't happen. We started the 4 strokes at about noon. I thought of going to Douglas Canyon, but thats before I realiized how not a dual sport his bikes actually are. He didn't want to chew up his front knobbies on that much pavement and he was more than excited to go back up to attempt the Methow again.
We retraced our route from the previous day, this time turning around after again blowing by the 4010 sign. Hey, they are kinda hidden. 4010 was more loose gravel with cliffs and we got bored and changed plans mid route to go back up and find some trails. We did find some great little trails and then also continued on 8020 and it was beautiful.
We soon hit turnaround time and headed home to Wapato Point again.
By the end, I felt a little better in the gravel, had riddin a few small wheelies, copped a little air here and there, and never layed 'er down.
I got a little misty eyed in the goggles a time or two during the two rides this weekend, because we just found out a week prior to the vacation that J has Stage 3 Non Hodgkins Lymphoma at age 37 and we don't know...well, we just don't know, I guess.
My wife took a couple of pics as we left the vacation house, I'll post them for the heck of it when I get them on this computer. Till then, here are pics of the area from last year when I went thru in my van (heading south bound).
I think I may be hooked again. What a great time. Thanks for reading.
Jason let me ride his beloved Gasgas 450 FSE as he commandeered his buddie's Husaberg for himself. (Thats what happens when you leave things at your buddie's house for him to work on). J has three other bikes at the house, but the Gasgas is his favorite.
Now, while I do still mountain bike quite a bit, I haven't spent anytime on a dirtbike since junior high, 30 (holy cow) some-odd years ago. Granted, I was quite the little motocrosser in my youth, but that was in my youth! I'm 225lbs theses days.
I've lusted over his Gasgas dual sport for a while now. Its a fuel injected '05 model, and he has added his personal mapping program to the fuel injection system and wired it into his high beam light switch. To engage the factory fuel injection settings, I turn the lights on to low beam. To change to his personal fuel injection settings, I turn the lights on high beam.
He also has a steering stabilizer. I must admit, I did not know this was an option for motorcylces.
He likes the Gasgas not only for the fuel injection, but also because it is such a light, nimble, and flickable street legal dirtbike. A dual sport of course, but much more of a dirt bike. It is never riddin to the trails; always trailered. He likes a soft knobby (not quite street legal) on the front and a Pirelli trials tire on the rear. He said that while it is license plated, an aspiring young police officer could still have a field day writing tickets if he really wanted to. Same for the Husaberg.
Oh, and me without my Motorcycle Endorsement. Hmm. Risk assessment says go for it.
Speaking of which, I've never heard of a Husaberg before. It certainly looked ************.(Sorry for the language but thats the main impression I get from it). Austrian bike. He said its KTM's unofficial R&D Dept. Husaberg comes out with something, then two years later, KTM is doing it.
The Rides
For this year's vacation (as well as last year's) the family rents a 5 bedroom house in a relatively posh, gated vacation home neighborhood actually closer to Manson than Chelan, right at the base of the mountains. Wapato Point. Last year my wife and I arrived at the vacation home after driving the van 100 miles thru the mountains on forest service roads from Winthrop, a route Jerry Horn gave us. (It was awesome, I recommend it). For this year's motorcylce ride, we rode right from the house on pavement dressed in full motocross armor and within only about 3 miles we hit the gravel FS roads.
Our goal for Friday evening was to go to The Methow and back by way of 8200 to 8210, to 4010. About 35 miles along Coyote Ridge to Squaw Creek Ridge and down Black Canyon Creek. My goal was to make it thru the day with out laying 'er down.
I welcomed the few miles of pavement to scrape the rust off my motorcyling skills. There really wasn't any traffic on the road toward the mountain so I took that time to move the bike around underneath me, power out of turns, break hard with the front brake, and just generally get a feal for the bike.
As we hit FS 8200, north, I was suprised at how squirrely the gravel was for me. The fresh gravel itself was deeper than it needed to be, but I didn't think it was thick enough to make me as gun shy as I was. Does the gravel thing go away after time, Mick? I think my sprained knee from a mountain bike crash was still all too fresh in my mind.
About 1/2 mile into the gravel we turned right onto 8210 which was more dirt and less gravel. 8210 was nice and steep from the git go. In an hour or so we went from 1100ft elevation to 5780. Much of the single lane road had 50-75ft cliffs off the right side. Niiiice. That being said I was happier riding in the right tire track than the left considering the blind corners are left hander's on the way up the mountain (north bound). Yes, we had fun but always slowed for the blind corners just incase some yahoo in an Astro van might be heading round the bend. You never know.
Jason mostly rode in the left tire track in the beginning, usually in formation just behind my rear wheel as to keep an eye on me and also not get too dusted. He would often pick an opportune time to throttle it ahead and flat track the corners and get air off the drainage whoops. In his dust I would take care to spot any large rocks thru the dust that I might hit and riccoche over the side of the cliff. I must have done that well cause it never happenned. I realized right awwy that I see a lot more of the scenery while in the van as compared to on the bike. I don't like to take my eyes off the road while on the bike. But I actually already relaized this from my mountain bike comparisons.
I gained confidence as we rode, familiar skills coming back to me. Once away from the cliffs I started roostering out of corners a bit and ...it was just a blast. I love the attention it demands from you. I like that kind of focus.
Well, we passed our turn off at 4010 due to ...uhm...slightly excessive speed. But its ok as we found Parrish Peak just beyond, on Squaw Creek Ridge, with its incredible views. From there, I could point out the Waterville Plateau, across the Columbia about 25 miles away, where I first off roaded my van last year, as well as a few other areas in the distance. Mountain tops, Lake Chelan, all in the increbile 360 degree view.
I recommend a jaunt to Parish Peak if you are ever in the vicintiy. Its a nice drive, high ground clearence preferred. Lunch with a view as good as any.
Since it was late to begin with (Friday after travel) we knew it was turn around time, so we did. The Methow would have to wait for another day. On the way down I was pushing the limits of my self imposed conservative boundaries. Wow, what a blast.We didn't see anyone the entire 3 hour ride.
Saturday we thought we'd wake early and ride in the cool morning air. Didn't happen. We started the 4 strokes at about noon. I thought of going to Douglas Canyon, but thats before I realiized how not a dual sport his bikes actually are. He didn't want to chew up his front knobbies on that much pavement and he was more than excited to go back up to attempt the Methow again.
We retraced our route from the previous day, this time turning around after again blowing by the 4010 sign. Hey, they are kinda hidden. 4010 was more loose gravel with cliffs and we got bored and changed plans mid route to go back up and find some trails. We did find some great little trails and then also continued on 8020 and it was beautiful.
We soon hit turnaround time and headed home to Wapato Point again.
By the end, I felt a little better in the gravel, had riddin a few small wheelies, copped a little air here and there, and never layed 'er down.
I got a little misty eyed in the goggles a time or two during the two rides this weekend, because we just found out a week prior to the vacation that J has Stage 3 Non Hodgkins Lymphoma at age 37 and we don't know...well, we just don't know, I guess.
My wife took a couple of pics as we left the vacation house, I'll post them for the heck of it when I get them on this computer. Till then, here are pics of the area from last year when I went thru in my van (heading south bound).
I think I may be hooked again. What a great time. Thanks for reading.
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