BSWIFT

Sponsoring Member
N. Texas SP
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 25, 1999
7,926
43
What an unbelievable New Year's Eve day. Temps in the 70's and several Spodes out for a day of riding. OldMaiconut, Lorin, OKKX'r, DWreck, Treetalker, myself and a couple of new guys geared up for the day. I was first to start my bike. 3 kicks and Brutus came to life. Soon there after Brutus coughed and fell silent. After several more kicks and a few backfires, it was evident that I fouled a plug. So began the trash talk. While I began removing the seat and tank, everyone else finished putting the gear on and got the bikes warmed up. 4 mins later, I was putting the tools up, thru my leg over and gave a kick. In my haste, I forgot to put the plug cap back on. :yikes: So, I repeat taking the seat and tank off and reassemble this time about 10 mins. That 14-15 mins seemed like forever as I was bombarded by NTSP style, no holds bared banter. :eek:
Soon we were out on the trails. Lorin was in the lead and actually seemed to be running a good warm up pace, instead of his usual race pace. Things were going pretty good but I was having a bad time washing out the front end. I was staying upright but was really fighting in the loose dry sand. Finally, I went into a left hander, the front end pushed, pushed some more and then, grabbed. Full left lock of the handlebars with me nearly going over the bars. Draper 1, BSwift 0.
Up I go and we are starting to pick up the pace a bit but still not race pace. Lorin makes a right hander and I see out of the corner of my eye, a HUGE mud hole. Lorin only hesitates a second and FWO he goes thru with MAJOR sticky roost behind him. I'm able to slow to mis the roost, I look for my line and go to rail the high side of the mud hole. This is where I did my first ever Superman Mud Dive! :bang: My left barkbuster hit a limb and gave me a quick bump, I recovered and stayed on the throttle. The problem is, the branch broke off of the tree and was attached to the bark buster. Within a few feet, the branch wedged into the brush and instant full left lock resulted. I was leaned way right and on the gas as the bike lauched out of the berm. I went face/chest first into the abyss, Brutus decided to join me only upside down with the bars submerged 8". OKKX'r helped me upright Brutus and everyone got a good chuckle out the site. I wish this was the last episode of the day but luck was not with me. I washed out 6-7 more times. Nothing bad, all low speed but go-downs all the same. Draper 9, BSWIFT, muddy!
All and all I had a great time but I don't really know whether to change the tire or front end settings or just not ride Draper. I know I'll ride Draper again but that was very frustrating.
 

DWreck

~SPONSOR~
Apr 14, 2002
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Good report Brian. I had been to Draper a couple of times before but had no idea that there were that many miles of trail. I'm not sure of the mileage but we managed to run a 125 out of gas before lunch, rode a bunch that afternoon and never saw the same trail twice. A big thanks to Butch and Lorin for being the trail guides. As much as I enjoy the 500 it's nice to take a break and go somewhere else for a change of pace. The back trails we took had a lot of sand and my recent trips to Little Sahara really paid off as I felt unusually comfortable there. Somehow I was able to avoid all the mud holes that seemed to swallow the others and came away crash free with the clean bike award. It had been a while since we have had a group ride like that and we had a good pace and the whole pack stayed together amazingly well. Lee has definitely picked up the pace since the last time I rode with him. Lets do it again!
 

OldMaiconut

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Apr 28, 2001
483
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Yep, there's a lot of trail at Draper, that's why I like it. There is quite a bit more that we didn't ride too. The loop we take we usually have to ourselves, which is nice. It was refreshing for me to have someone else be the entertainment provider. Usually I find the biggest mudhole at a place and crash into it. If you all thought that Lorin and I were the trail guides...... how come no one followed us across the creek???
 

BSWIFT

Sponsoring Member
N. Texas SP
LIFETIME SPONSOR
Nov 25, 1999
7,926
43
OldMaiconut said:
how come no one followed us across the creek???
Self preservation after your near get off! :nener:
 

Lorin

LIFETIME SPONSOR
Jun 25, 1999
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I was impressed by the riders, and time that we had riding. The rider level was close enough that we didnt have to do much waiting, etc.... We really should do that again fairly soon. As I have said before, my house is open if anyone has a long drive the day before, etc. Maybe we could do a riding weekend with Draper on one day, and Muenster or the 500 on the next.
 

tx246

~SPONSOR~
May 8, 2001
1,306
1
lorin,
like the idea of a two day tour of oklahoma. ride the 500 sat and draper sun and i would only be 3 hrs from home at the end of the day.
 

DWreck

~SPONSOR~
Apr 14, 2002
1,480
0
tx246 said:
lorin,
like the idea of a two day tour of oklahoma. ride the 500 sat and draper sun and i would only be 3 hrs from home at the end of the day.

Sounds good to me. All we need is some decent weather.
 
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