Clark White
Explorer
So yesterday I packed up the pig and went for an 1100gs based trail ride picnic. Kelly and I rode up Senator Highway and over the back side of Mt. Union where we strung out the hammock and had some Indian for lunch. After laying there enjoying the forest for a while we packed up and continued down to to 5 points to meet my buddy. We wanted to go to Crown King, but I'm not a fan or Senator Hwy. so we took Old Dandrea Ranch Rd. It was a beautiful way to go, but on a fully loaded bike with passenger that is one heck of a rough road.
Most of the road was just rough, but there was one hill that whooped my butt more then the rest. Had I just kept going I would have been fine, but it was getting dicey and Kelly wasn't wearing a jacket, so I didn't want to fall with her on the back. Turns out, stopping in the middle of the hill was a bad idea. Trying to get going again I fell over and Clay had to walk up to give me a push.
After much pushing I finally got goin and made it up the rest of the hill.
Clay came up with no problem, having a lot more experience and a much lighter bike then I
Coming down the other side was just as bad, but this time I didn't stop (not entirely by choice) so there are no pictures. About half way down my rear break got too hot and failed. Stopping with just the front break would have been suicide, so I came out on the clutch in 1st and hauled butt to the bottom, not saying a word to Kelly. When I finally stopped I suggested Kelly should get off so I could see why the rear failed. She had to think about what that meant, but after a second I got smacked up side the head (she later agreed that it was a good thing I didn't tell her while we were still going, it would have just scarred the crap out of her). We hung out next to a creek and prospect for about an hour just enjoying the water and sun.
From there out it was fairly easy going back on Senator. We had food and some beer at the old Saloon before getting back to town at 1130pm, for a total of almost 13hrs. I'm writing this on a Monday afternoon because I am too sore and tired from that ride to even think about doing anything productive today, but it was an awesome ride. After all, if you're not beat when you get back, you didn't pick a hard enough trail :bike_rider:
Clark White
Most of the road was just rough, but there was one hill that whooped my butt more then the rest. Had I just kept going I would have been fine, but it was getting dicey and Kelly wasn't wearing a jacket, so I didn't want to fall with her on the back. Turns out, stopping in the middle of the hill was a bad idea. Trying to get going again I fell over and Clay had to walk up to give me a push.
After much pushing I finally got goin and made it up the rest of the hill.
Clay came up with no problem, having a lot more experience and a much lighter bike then I
Coming down the other side was just as bad, but this time I didn't stop (not entirely by choice) so there are no pictures. About half way down my rear break got too hot and failed. Stopping with just the front break would have been suicide, so I came out on the clutch in 1st and hauled butt to the bottom, not saying a word to Kelly. When I finally stopped I suggested Kelly should get off so I could see why the rear failed. She had to think about what that meant, but after a second I got smacked up side the head (she later agreed that it was a good thing I didn't tell her while we were still going, it would have just scarred the crap out of her). We hung out next to a creek and prospect for about an hour just enjoying the water and sun.
From there out it was fairly easy going back on Senator. We had food and some beer at the old Saloon before getting back to town at 1130pm, for a total of almost 13hrs. I'm writing this on a Monday afternoon because I am too sore and tired from that ride to even think about doing anything productive today, but it was an awesome ride. After all, if you're not beat when you get back, you didn't pick a hard enough trail :bike_rider:
Clark White
