Well, Sat. morning I finally figured out a way to straighten the bent sub-frame on 'boy Jrs. YZ, pieced the bike back together, and declared to the boy that Monday A.M. he and I were gonna ride.
Mon. A.M., let the boy sleep in 'til 9:00, kick back, read the paper, breakfast, 2 cups of coffee, then it's down to 76 for some fuel.
We get back to the house, gas the bikes, get dressed, and head out of the garage toward the open desert near the house. The boy hasn't ridden since February, so he's a little nervous, so I take him on a couple of easy trails to warm up. A half hour later he's ready for adventure, so we ride towards the truck stop.
At the truck stop riding area I have him check fuel and he's still got two thirds of a tank, (he's got an MX tank, but my E/XC holds over 3 gallons, so I never check my fuel until he's low), so I announce to him that I'm finally gonna take him up to the Phelan ridges. He's stoked! He's been begging to go up there after hearing all the stories from the Wrecking Crew rides, but I kept telling him he wasn't ready yet.
We hit the powerline road and motor up to the top of the pass, then follow the ridge to one of the overlooks were I give him a chance to take in the view. After talking about technique a little, we head out on some of the easier ridges (rated 'difficult') and he's having a blast! :aj:
He DID have 2 get-offs into the brush today that required my assistance to help drag the bike out. (Actually these bushes were more like trees!) The first wasn't his fault, as he had lost his back brake, and couldn't brake-slide the tight turn at the bottom of a downhill section, and slid straight into the ****/tree.
The second one was a bonehead move on his part, and I chewed him out (nicely) for it, pointing out that he should never jump over anything that he cannot see the other side of unless he's checked out the landing area before jumping! :o He got some good scratches out of that one, so hopefully he learned something. There was also a memorial cross put up nearby, and I pointed out to him that perhaps that young man had blindly jumped the same place but wasn't as lucky as my son was when he landed. This is the down side to teaching our kids to ride: it can be dangerous, and that part of it makes me crazy! :scream:
So now we hit the powerlines again and head back topwards the house. By now it's after 1:00 PM, and the swimming pool is calling us.
We get to the house, park the bikes, strip off the gear and head straight for our swim trunks and the pool. I throw some dogs on the grill, jump in and soak while they're cooking, then we have a nice lunch. It was a fitting end to a great day of riding.
:) :cool:
Mon. A.M., let the boy sleep in 'til 9:00, kick back, read the paper, breakfast, 2 cups of coffee, then it's down to 76 for some fuel.
We get back to the house, gas the bikes, get dressed, and head out of the garage toward the open desert near the house. The boy hasn't ridden since February, so he's a little nervous, so I take him on a couple of easy trails to warm up. A half hour later he's ready for adventure, so we ride towards the truck stop.
At the truck stop riding area I have him check fuel and he's still got two thirds of a tank, (he's got an MX tank, but my E/XC holds over 3 gallons, so I never check my fuel until he's low), so I announce to him that I'm finally gonna take him up to the Phelan ridges. He's stoked! He's been begging to go up there after hearing all the stories from the Wrecking Crew rides, but I kept telling him he wasn't ready yet.
We hit the powerline road and motor up to the top of the pass, then follow the ridge to one of the overlooks were I give him a chance to take in the view. After talking about technique a little, we head out on some of the easier ridges (rated 'difficult') and he's having a blast! :aj:
He DID have 2 get-offs into the brush today that required my assistance to help drag the bike out. (Actually these bushes were more like trees!) The first wasn't his fault, as he had lost his back brake, and couldn't brake-slide the tight turn at the bottom of a downhill section, and slid straight into the ****/tree.
The second one was a bonehead move on his part, and I chewed him out (nicely) for it, pointing out that he should never jump over anything that he cannot see the other side of unless he's checked out the landing area before jumping! :o He got some good scratches out of that one, so hopefully he learned something. There was also a memorial cross put up nearby, and I pointed out to him that perhaps that young man had blindly jumped the same place but wasn't as lucky as my son was when he landed. This is the down side to teaching our kids to ride: it can be dangerous, and that part of it makes me crazy! :scream:
So now we hit the powerlines again and head back topwards the house. By now it's after 1:00 PM, and the swimming pool is calling us.
We get to the house, park the bikes, strip off the gear and head straight for our swim trunks and the pool. I throw some dogs on the grill, jump in and soak while they're cooking, then we have a nice lunch. It was a fitting end to a great day of riding.
:) :cool: