We went riding yesterday, helping out to put on a club event (yeah, half my life is spent doing it, but it has its own rewards & is fun). We had to fix a few things before we could help out (due to things having gone wrong at the event we hosted last weekend, which we didn't realise until Monday had even happened).
We went exploring on the way back to meet the others and went down a track we've only used a couple of times, to find the end blocked by huge trees, lots of sand - a skid site they've now abandoned. The track's just short, with a down & uphill. We couldn't find another way out, so had to go back the way we'd gone. I was in the back, Henk out front. The uphill was ugly the other way (meaning it was okay going down), with soft sand, stumps, crap on the ground, whatever. My friend's husband & I watched Henk go up on his 360ktm, then he went to go & got about 3/4 way up before falling off the track & having to come back down. 2nd attempt he made it.
Okay, I'm not as good a rider (or quick) and on a KDX200 (the other guy was on a GG450), so I'm thinking the guys can help me up when I get stuck. I start the bike, chuck it into first (mistake #1), finish going down the hill (couple of bumps at the bottom, not overly fun & caused me to be real cautious). I'd thought the hill had a bit where it smoothed out (mistake #2), where I could change to 2nd & stand up. It was the sort of hill you had to be in the right gear to start with, as it was really busy concentration wise (well, for me, in any case). I'm sitting on the bike, in the wrong gear, thinking, any time now would be good to stand & change gear, what about now, hey, now's a good time, watch out for that cutty grass, watch out for whatever, blah blah blah, hey, that's where D fell off the track, hmm, just saved that, oh good, I can change gear now, oh, too late, I'm there.
The guys had been sitting at the top of the hill (flat area) listening to me revving the crap out of my bike, waiting for the sound to stop (i.e. me fall off). I'd had to drop the throttle a couple of times just to control the ascent, I'd also had to stop myself falling off the back of the bike (hence not being able to stand once seated).
It was a hill I wouldn't have thought I'd make it up (in any gear), but hey, I did it. I wanted to practice later, but as I was on my own with no one knowing where I was, thought that was a dumb idea - next time :)
I tried following a line Henk had taken at another point to get over some nasty stuff, but went a bit lower than he had & found a hole for my back wheel to get stuck in (too slow). I then climbed off the bike & let Henk get the bike over for me hehehe (hey, I was conserving my energy)
I know the trip has changed me in many ways, for the better or worse, who knows - Henk thinks I'm worse, I think he's more painful lol. We've been busy since I got home, so I haven't been online much, I've tried to keep uptodate with what's going on here, but that's about all. Oh, he's about to buy a new puter with a scanner, so then I can finally scan & post the pix, not forgotten - my scanner at work my supervisor stole (his broke), so it's been awkward to scan there.
We went exploring on the way back to meet the others and went down a track we've only used a couple of times, to find the end blocked by huge trees, lots of sand - a skid site they've now abandoned. The track's just short, with a down & uphill. We couldn't find another way out, so had to go back the way we'd gone. I was in the back, Henk out front. The uphill was ugly the other way (meaning it was okay going down), with soft sand, stumps, crap on the ground, whatever. My friend's husband & I watched Henk go up on his 360ktm, then he went to go & got about 3/4 way up before falling off the track & having to come back down. 2nd attempt he made it.
Okay, I'm not as good a rider (or quick) and on a KDX200 (the other guy was on a GG450), so I'm thinking the guys can help me up when I get stuck. I start the bike, chuck it into first (mistake #1), finish going down the hill (couple of bumps at the bottom, not overly fun & caused me to be real cautious). I'd thought the hill had a bit where it smoothed out (mistake #2), where I could change to 2nd & stand up. It was the sort of hill you had to be in the right gear to start with, as it was really busy concentration wise (well, for me, in any case). I'm sitting on the bike, in the wrong gear, thinking, any time now would be good to stand & change gear, what about now, hey, now's a good time, watch out for that cutty grass, watch out for whatever, blah blah blah, hey, that's where D fell off the track, hmm, just saved that, oh good, I can change gear now, oh, too late, I'm there.
The guys had been sitting at the top of the hill (flat area) listening to me revving the crap out of my bike, waiting for the sound to stop (i.e. me fall off). I'd had to drop the throttle a couple of times just to control the ascent, I'd also had to stop myself falling off the back of the bike (hence not being able to stand once seated).
It was a hill I wouldn't have thought I'd make it up (in any gear), but hey, I did it. I wanted to practice later, but as I was on my own with no one knowing where I was, thought that was a dumb idea - next time :)
I tried following a line Henk had taken at another point to get over some nasty stuff, but went a bit lower than he had & found a hole for my back wheel to get stuck in (too slow). I then climbed off the bike & let Henk get the bike over for me hehehe (hey, I was conserving my energy)
I know the trip has changed me in many ways, for the better or worse, who knows - Henk thinks I'm worse, I think he's more painful lol. We've been busy since I got home, so I haven't been online much, I've tried to keep uptodate with what's going on here, but that's about all. Oh, he's about to buy a new puter with a scanner, so then I can finally scan & post the pix, not forgotten - my scanner at work my supervisor stole (his broke), so it's been awkward to scan there.
