The East coast crew is having a hard time getting together for rides but I have been riding with CFR guy at TC and saw his post on the Tri-Couty Dual Sport ride in Prot Elizebeth NJ. I have a good plate on the WR and it was only about a 1.5 hour drive so what the hell. Got on the grounds and there ware a good number of riders, campers and bikes staged in the large lot. I droped the bike on the ground and got signed in and some grub. Plenty to eat on this run from start to finish including a hot dog stand and bon fire at about mile 35 or so of the 88 mile trip.
We got off shortly after the rider meet and were under way shortly after 9 on a brisk but clear and calm day. It did not take to long to get the groove of the day. Ungelating sandy single track linked with some fire roads and very little paved roads. I was thinking as a dual sport ride there might be more road riding and after a while I started thinking, man 88 miles in the dirt is going to be a hard day! It was, but very fun. The ride ended up with about a 25 mile Hero single track option meaning there was a power line by pass for the larger bikes or smaller hearts :laugh: . This was GREAT single track, very tight, with lots of narrow tree "gates" . Man Im glad I cut my bars down as much as possible when I got the bike. CRF guy was banging around like a pine pinball with his full width bars. I was able to keep gliding through most of it in 2nd gear with some very tight 1st gear work for minutes at a time. I really got the hang of the high speed woods "grooving" after a while buy loading the bike up into the sandy berms and keeping my momentem around the turns. My GPR dampener really earned its keep today, I was able to work the knob through the wide range of terain and man with my very unsure footed (in the sand) 749 front tire I would have eaten sand at least 10 times. And the ability to crank it down to 1 in the tight single track was hudge!
I did get a bit to saucy in the end singel track section and dinged a tree I intended to clear, thus T-ing up square on a 3" round tree on the other side of the trail. A well executed hi side sumersault had me landing more or less on my feet. I recovered the bike took a look over things, and a few swift boots to the front tire had it riding ture, or so I thought untill a few minutes later I went to hit the front brake and the lever hit the bar! Doooh! :yell: . The hit had loosened the front brake line banjo bolt at the master cylinder. I stopped at the next section brake and was able to tighten it up and burp bleed the air out in short order and the front brake held up the rest of the ride. By the end of that last section, I was out of water, and on reserve fule. After a dip in the 3' deep mud pool the corse workers roped IN the trail!!!!! I was happy to roll back into base and grub out on the pulled port sandwich and chicken on the bone! We ate up, cleaned up, and loaded up and it was a great day. I have not ridden NJ in years and this was a great welcome back. I would do it again anyday! Well, maybe not tomorrow, we will see how I feel. CRF guy said there is a Dual Sport ride next Sunday with the Meteor MC group I think. Sounds cool to me. I hope I can make it.
We got off shortly after the rider meet and were under way shortly after 9 on a brisk but clear and calm day. It did not take to long to get the groove of the day. Ungelating sandy single track linked with some fire roads and very little paved roads. I was thinking as a dual sport ride there might be more road riding and after a while I started thinking, man 88 miles in the dirt is going to be a hard day! It was, but very fun. The ride ended up with about a 25 mile Hero single track option meaning there was a power line by pass for the larger bikes or smaller hearts :laugh: . This was GREAT single track, very tight, with lots of narrow tree "gates" . Man Im glad I cut my bars down as much as possible when I got the bike. CRF guy was banging around like a pine pinball with his full width bars. I was able to keep gliding through most of it in 2nd gear with some very tight 1st gear work for minutes at a time. I really got the hang of the high speed woods "grooving" after a while buy loading the bike up into the sandy berms and keeping my momentem around the turns. My GPR dampener really earned its keep today, I was able to work the knob through the wide range of terain and man with my very unsure footed (in the sand) 749 front tire I would have eaten sand at least 10 times. And the ability to crank it down to 1 in the tight single track was hudge!
I did get a bit to saucy in the end singel track section and dinged a tree I intended to clear, thus T-ing up square on a 3" round tree on the other side of the trail. A well executed hi side sumersault had me landing more or less on my feet. I recovered the bike took a look over things, and a few swift boots to the front tire had it riding ture, or so I thought untill a few minutes later I went to hit the front brake and the lever hit the bar! Doooh! :yell: . The hit had loosened the front brake line banjo bolt at the master cylinder. I stopped at the next section brake and was able to tighten it up and burp bleed the air out in short order and the front brake held up the rest of the ride. By the end of that last section, I was out of water, and on reserve fule. After a dip in the 3' deep mud pool the corse workers roped IN the trail!!!!! I was happy to roll back into base and grub out on the pulled port sandwich and chicken on the bone! We ate up, cleaned up, and loaded up and it was a great day. I have not ridden NJ in years and this was a great welcome back. I would do it again anyday! Well, maybe not tomorrow, we will see how I feel. CRF guy said there is a Dual Sport ride next Sunday with the Meteor MC group I think. Sounds cool to me. I hope I can make it.
