RR: Thursday

[Michelle]

As Thursday was a public holiday here, (remembrance of those who gave their lives for our freedom in WW1), we decided to go riding. Henk was going away for the weekend to compete in an enduro, and I hadn't ridden the weekend before (he'd competed in another enduro), so I knew I had to get on my bike for a change.

Over summer, the club's been running rides in a clay-based forest, which have been great fun apart from the first ride where I think I broke my thumb or some stupid bone near it (on the first ride of the day so that ruined the day). (At the beginning of the season, the KDX was feeling too tall and I commented somewhere that by the end of the series I should be okay with it there - I was).

Anyway, this forest has helped my confidence and Thursday was going to be my riding buddy's first day on her new bike (handmedown from her husband - RM250). This bike does not inspire confidence with either the rider or the person riding with her/him, as the number of times it's either been towed out or pushed out of the forest has long been forgotten. But the problem has been fixed (jury is still out on this, but looking good so far). The XR200 had been sold, so it was the RM or no riding.

She did really, really well. I kept telling her that by the time she was used to the bike I wouldn't be able to keep up and we spent the day pushing each other along. I preferred to be at the back due to the previous problems - I didn't want her stuck somewhere with the bike broken down. The only hassle she really had was the bike stalling on downhills, but we'll practice those and I still think the idle should be turned up to make the bike easier for her to ride.

I managed to dump my bike once while out on my own - I thought the track went straight ahead and didn't make the turn (in the trees, but the guys I was hoping to keep ahead of didn't get past me, but then again, were they even behind me?).

My friend had a few problems adjusting to the height of the bike (hmmm, she thought the track went straight ahead when it didn't and dumped it on a nice sandy corner & couldn't touch the ground, doh, maybe we should've looked better lol). (Jen, that was at the lookout where we waited for the Fantic to stop boiling its brains out).

The trails were easy, but we still had a good day. The best thing about it was the fact that my friend no longer has her XR200 and I think she was enjoying riding more (her last ride on the XR, she commented, as the bike came off the trailer, that she hated the bike).

Basically I'm starting to enjoy riding again, which has been a pretty long fight for me. Henk's got quite a few races coming up he wants to do, so who knows, if I don't get my ride time, I'll follow Andrew's advice and just go & do one to enjoy the experience of something different ;) Time will tell. In the meantime, I think I'm back to my old self (a good or bad thing, I'm undecided).
Michelle

 

[Motololo]

Hi, Michelle. I'm new on the board but I've seen the photos that CSL and CJrider took on their trip to New Zealand and I must say that it's absolutly gorgeous!

 

[bbbom]

Good to hear you are getting back into it Michelle!

I did my first ever full blown superwoman crash yesterday. Karl's friend brought his son out so they could ride with us. The boy is 13 (about the same size as Pat is at age 9) and rides a new CR80R like Pat's.

They had a blast riding and I was having a good day with no crashes and I even made it up The Hill easily but then we headed on up the ridge on the next hill (the boys had gone on ahead bypassing the hill). I was going pretty fast in 3rd up the rocky, rutted, rooty hill and suddenly saw the stick that we have been going around - too late, I had to lay the bike down or get smacked in the neck by the huge pointy stick. I was laughing so hard I could barely get my bike back up and the guys were long gone. I caught up to them where they were waiting for me and we took off on our way home.

We got to the rock outcropping bank that I've popped over easily numerous times. It's straight up, about 6' tall with an outcropping of rock about 4' up that makes it challenging. Karl zipped up it, his buddy zipped up it and I went for it as usual but this time my bike hit a bit harder than normal and the next thing I knew, I was staring down at my front fender doing a handstand on the bars, thinking "This is gonna HURT!!!" I started laughing and tumbled to the ground - surprisingly I didn't hurt anything on my body or my bike.

The guys had stopped to make sure I made it over the bank. Karl's buddy was very concerned about me but Karl missed the whole thing because his buddy was parked directly behind him. All he saw was a bike & body laying on the ground.

They both ran over to me as I continued laughing. We were all shocked and amazed that I hadn't hurt anything. Karl's buddy said it was a perfect full out superman and I just kinda made a swan dive as I landed (thanks to years of volleyball!) and that he could hear me giggling as I flew through the air. Karl was laughing and made the comment that the new top end in my bike gives it a bit more torque (THAT's what happended). All I can figure out is that I must have given it a bit too much throttle at the top kicking up the rear end and tossing my butt up into the air. At least I held onto the bars!

We are going back tonight to try it again since I'm a bit apprehensive on that little section even though I've gone up it many many times. I think I'll put on some extra padding!

The best part of the weekend though was last night. My daughter took her first spin on the 74MR50. She tried the KX60 about 2 weeks ago but the clutch was too hard for her to control and the bike was a little too tall and heavy for her. We picked up the MR Saturday from my brother (this is the same bike that my nephew and my son learned to ride trails on).

My son gave her a quick lesson on the clutch and off she went zooming around the driveway. She got up to second gear and did great starting and stopping. We'll be getting her out on the trails on it this week!

 

[GETMETOCA]

Bbbom......have you no fear???? :scream: Glad you lived to tell......

 

[Michelle]

So is Pat big or the friend small?

So is The Hill going to be the hill soon or not yet? It's funny how you have to laugh when you're not hurt when guys are around, just so they don't molly-coddle you too much (i.e. at all). That was one of the first things I learnt when learning to ride. Now if I'm hurt I just go quiet (after the profanities, or maybe it's before, it's all automatic lol), lucky that doesn't happen often. Maybe I should've played more volleyball as it seems to help you a lot :)

Motololo, NZ is lovely, just not Auckland (where we barely get out of as there's plenty of riding nearby). If you're ever coming out this way, yell out.

Oh, one other thing we got up to. I decided we needed a gals' ride so we took a couple of others - one I thought was a really good & fast rider but when I'd wait for her, she'd go past & then stop instead of just going (guess next time we go riding together I'll tell her to keep going, I just want to keep the group as a group rather than 4 chicks out riding alone). That really surprised me and I should get rid of my preconceptions as to what others are like before I've seen them ride (including you lot, but I still reckon I'd be way slower than everyone else and I'm real good at stuffing up stupid little things and surviving others). The other woman did really well too and I think we'll be meeting up for other rides when time permits (she's the same as me, will push herself to try to keep up with other women, but with her partner will just cruise along thinking he'll wait).

Bbbom, has your aunt sent you the photos yet of you playing in the mud? (loading pix takes forever, and I didn't notice them on your pix page last week when I looked).
Michelle

 

[bbbom]

Getmetoca, I have fear but I refuse to let the dirt win! Okay, maybe I'm just stubborn!

Michelle, I got the pictures and they are :think: entertaining. I scanned them but haven't had time to upload them, hopefully by this weekend.

Pat is one of the tallest kids in his class and he is the youngest in his class - with a late birthday he was supposed to wait a year to start school but I wanted him to start early as long as he could handle it. I'm glad I did because school is very easy for him and he already gets bored (quite like I was) plus, he isn't the BIGGEST kid in class this way. The new friend is a smaller kid and he won't be one of the tall guys anytime in the future but, he's a good rider and handled the fullsize CR80R pretty well. Another 2 inches in height & he'll be perfect on the trails. He and Pat traded bikes, he was trying to talk his dad into putting the smaller rims on his but, his dad wants him to get used to riding with the taller bike since that's what he has to deal with and the kid probably will too. (He did mention something about getting his YZ250 shortened a bit though because it makes it tough in the trails.)

The Hill is getting to be less of a challenge. Now that I'm getting used to lofting the front end, I let it bounce up off the rocks and just go with the flow. Much easier than fighting it or paddling up the hill.

We made it out to the bank last night. We took a little loop with the kids, my daughter getting used to the clutch and shifting on the old MR50. She's cruising now!! She had one good fall, got up smiling and said she was fine (she's a tough little monster).

On the way back it was time to tackle The Bank. Karl climbed it and waited for me. I lined up and my gut started bubbling up - I was so nervous. Karl shouted instructions, mainly to get my speed up and let it carry me over the top instead of gassing it on the face. Yeah, yeah, yeah but I'm ascared!!! :scream: So I went for it, too slow :eek: up went the front tire just to the very top of the bank and eerrrchhhhhh we rolled back down and flopped over! :think: Now I'm mad!

Picked the bike up, Karl hopped down and said to watch him do it. He climbs it like a pro and brings the bike back down for me. I'm sitting there, on my bike with my gut in a knot & my head spinning. "Gotta do it, gotta do it........"

So I'm thinking, "okay, too slow is worse than too fast. I've done this soo many times, there is no problem well, except for the stumps and huge logs on the top if you go too fast. Oh, don't think about those, you've never even hit them. Worse thing that's happened is gassing it at the top and superwomaning, well and going too slow and falling over. Oh no, life insurance is paid up, medical is in force, I can type with one hand, I'm gonna die........."

I threw it into first, gassed it (probably shut my eyes) and popped up & over with just a little bump at the top, my butt came off the seat about a foot, along with my feet off the pegs but I stayed on the bike with the rubber side down. Not a smooth climb like I used to do but, I made it. Karl did mention that my body positioning was TERRIBLE!! Something about I wasn't riding a sofa! :think: So, next time I have to work on standing UP but, at least I survived and the Bank didn't win this time!

As far as the preconceived idea of other rider's talents, I know what you are talking about. Doesn't matter who I ride with or if they are telling me how great I'm doing, I still always feel like the slow poke spode in the group, even on the kid's rides! I think it's just because we are new to the sport or it could be because I fall over still.

 

[needsprayer]

bbbom ,

"Karl did mention that my body positioning was TERRIBLE!! Something about I wasn't riding a sofa!"

Now that is really great stuff. Ooops, got caught peeking. :) :aj: :p

I took a spill due to a rut. I call it the mouth from HELL. Gapping mouth with rock teeth. You gotta laugh when you get hurt, otherwise it really hurts.