What a day Bswift, Sawtooth, my son, and I had at Sunrise West in Checotah, OK. The weather was great, partly sunny with a constant breeze from the South, and the dirt even better. This was my inaugural ride on the 02 CR 250 I picked up on Saturday. The track is right next to the interstate and when Sawtooth saw it the excitement level went off the meter. We pull in next to Bswift, shake hands and unload the bikes. Sawtooth took to the track first and proceeded to auger in to a table top that had a single jump in front of it on the first lap. After some words of wisdom from myself and more importantly, Bswift (Thanks!). Sawtooth understands the importance of taking a sight lap.
I suit up and start up the mighty red rooster to see what owning a Honda is all about. Now everyone needs to understand, I always said I'd never own a Honda. Lets cut to the chase. This is the BEST bike I have every owned. After less then 12 laps I attacked and clear obstacles I would have not tried on my old rusty 97 YZ 250. The motor hits hard in the mid range and pulls from there. The only complaint I can find is it goes through the gears very quickly. I adapted by trying to stay in the mid range hit to clear various obstacles. After a number of laps I make a few personal adjustments to the rear brake pedal height, idle and one click in on the forks compression which all add to the fun factor.
Mean while, Sawtooth does a flying W that I didn't see. He comes back to the truck with his pride and stomach hurt. After more words of wisdom from Bswift (thanks again!)about basic bike control and turns. Sawtooth heads out to practice standing up and turns. By the end of the day he is doing much better, gaining skill and confidence, all thanks to my good friend Bswift. During one of these talks with Sawtooth, Bswift makes a classic Heartland Spode quote. "You can take the fastest guy here that can clear all the jumps, but if he can't do corners, he ain't fast", I turned and looked at Bswift and said, man thats a classic quote I gotta post. So there you go buddy!
All in all, it was a great day. The only thing that would have made it fantastic is if the rest of the Heartland Spodes could have been there.