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[QUOTE="placelast, post: 1066702, member: 22683"] I took my usual Fri. afternoon off and the first order of business was a nap as I had a looooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnggggggg drive ahead of me, and you will see. But as I laid my head to rest the faint thumping sound of the neighbor’s music selection could be heard – no nappie today! So I loaded up the truck, and they moved to Fresno…to pick up my new-2-me bike. Last week my son and I took a mini vacation/road trip to Yosemite/Kings Canyon/Sequoia National Forest, just for practice and fun (600 miles of tire squealing in his fat-tired and HiPo chipped M3 wannabe Beamer 325is); this week we are going up the coast of NorCA (redwoods), Oregon and WA state, then swinging back down Mt. Rainer, St. Helens, Columbia River Gorge (by George, but he may not notice nor care), Crater Lake, Lassen NF, and maybe Hwy 49 or Lake Tahoe – beyond that it gets blurry and let me take you back to motorcycling before I lose you. So on our way to Yosemite Matt Cassle, the owner of the KTM RFS in question and for sale meet at a place near the Park entrance at a riding area, 4k’ in elevation, called Miami Creek. There’s no one there except us and one or two others but we never see the others. Now this becomes my 7th buy-a-bike test ride. I suit up and speed off being led by a local, Matt. Meanwhile I’m getting used to this bike and liking it on some of the mid-difficulty trails. Then we come to a fork and he reaches down and pats the “most difficult” symbol as with an affectionate hand on the lower left cheek of a (drink) server then flashes a thumbs up! What a character. Now on this trail we are dodging the bushes, having to duck left, then right, and wiggle the bars one side, then the other; off-cambers, steep inclines and descends. And I was thinking: doesn’t he know I’m on a loaner/maybe/test ride? I don’t want to break the guys bike – sheesh – give me a break. Up to this point I was staying with him but once it got tight – no way – he put some time on until one steep, rutted section where I got a pass but then found false neutral! Dang! And between the bike and a tree my leg/foot was stuck. I finally got free although he approached in time to see me vulnerable with bike on its side. Shucks. We got restarted on that slope, then up and over the top onto a fire road. Boy this thing does get sideways too; I know the ‘ol guy – the ‘89r or somethin’, somethin’ – would sure like it too. We then connected to other trails and the stream crossings, greenery; with ferns, trees and bushes was just a sight to behold. Several rutted mud spots has us wanting for clean crossings. Heh! Some test ride – I get this guy's bike muddy too. Well Matt takes more than the allotted ½ hour and we do the major trails in just under an hour. Big mid-week fun. Thanks Matt. Now back at camp I change back into street clothes and do business – I want this thing. The seller bites my offer and we load it up on Matt’s pick’emup for safe keeping in his garage until later. So later it is as I (are you still with me?) do the 3-hour drive to Fresno. And they actually have rush-hour traffic, of which there was no choice to engage. I arrive maybe 10 minutes early and Matt drives up to his house. We go directly to the meat of it in his garage and do KTM-talk/tango. He was gracious enough to previously wash it and touch up the spokes, but never did that revalve we talked about – I guess you get what you can. I eye his 450 for parts don’t grab score any (when he’s not looking) as they are all attached, nor would fit in my pockets either; I need to practice some fast moves in order to up my bling… After spending too much time KTM-talking we load up and I head south to Bako (as in Bakersfield). Booooorrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnnggggg! Stopping for fuel I called Dirt Bike Dave; he insisted I stop but I’m sure he wanted to see my new horse, and was out on the curb with flashlight. He introduces me to his nice wife and I get the fine house tour – he has room for a tennis court in the back yard! My stop was short, as I needed to make some more progress before collapsing. On the climb up and over the southern tip of the Sierras and into the high desert I began to wonder why I failed to bring directions to the enduro campsite – bonehead here. Ya know, I could be wandering around the desert looking for arrows like a lost explorer all night. I followed my dirt-rider instincts and at every highway intersection did not see the usual TWMC arrows, and the trail boss for this even was himself from Bako to boot. Surely I will see an arrow at the next highway intersection, but nope! I kept driving further and deeper into the desert, away from civilization, and closer to Death Valley, for those of you who may be unfamiliar with this part of the country. It gets way lonely out there in the dark, on those lonesome roads late at night. Pat Mojave, past Jawbone Canyon, Past Garlock, Past Johannesburg in the distance. At one point I was about to fall asleep at the wheel when there’s this huge rush and dust cloud engulfing me and my pickup at highway speed, threatening to take the wheel from me. So I wrestle that bandit mano-a-mano for several rounds – I’m wide-awake now! Two hours had passed before I finally see a club arrow way out by Charlie’s Place, a Stonehenge outcropping. There’s many a motor home and toy box setup, yet only one other unloading as I pull in at 11pm. I asked if they were TWMC, and they affirmed. I find the huge-est rock to park by, hoping to break wind although no amount of maneuvering does much good. With the 1/3 moon as my light the pickup-bed tent goes up and I crawl in my bag at midnight to a sky full of stars. Sat. morn comes early as usual for me. I meander to say hello to long-time and club-founding members for catch up. The trail boss is too busy in his mind to give me something to help with so after making the rounds I wander back to my rock and adjust the levers and bark busters on my new ride. I had like all day to fiddle, and it was turned into something useful when rigging up a helmet light. 55 watts, with fuse. Ya know an in-gann-ear (I are one) has to fiddle, otherwise there’s no faddle (ing). Must do my alma-matter some pride. During one of my chair moments 2Stroke4Fun pulls in and circles his wagon. I help to confuse matters of course and we almost christen his trailer, 2x; kind of reminds me of being back on the farm and almost losing another finger. Ever meet a farmer or mechanic missing a finger? Well I hope Chris’ wife isn’t reading this otherwise she may just have to come out next time to supervise us stooges. It really wasn’t that bad although a little embellishment makes a good read, eh? So Chris gets the smoker going (finger lickin’ good a comin’!) and with the heat we resign to parking in the lawn chairs all afternoon – the heat drained the little ambition we had to ride. We did visit the Scar camp. They met up with some friends of whom were here for the first time. After some chat we meandered over to the potluck buffet. Chris’ meat was a big hit and by far the best plate. Thanks man. The kids were doing the limbo or whatever that game is called when you move the stick lower and lower and try to go under flat-footed. Note none of the adults were trying, or even mentioned joining in the game. Thumbs shows in his party attire and we later make it over to back to rock camp to ready for the night loops. Now we have some variety here: Scar’s friend Baja Design/aftermarket; Scar with his duct-taped flashlights, moreover shod with spoke-delight light-sticks (whatta gimmick; does that mean you stole them from the little Scars? Bad daddy); Thumbs with OEM; Chris OEM’d with MTB supplement. And lastly: me; spec’d-engineered again, running at design, proper-calculated load by the thick book I paid dearly for in college. So here we head off on the last minute together, into the dark. It was fun for one second, as I was sweep for our minute. Between the well-lit dust and squirrelly sand whoops and washes, and being on an unfamiliar bike, it was near the almost-fun mode. Well, maybe better although I had too many new things to get used to. We were running the kid’s loop and I was for one very glad as it could not be much more difficult in the dark. Am I a wimp or squid? No falls, but oh so clumsy trying to get a rhythm which seemed to escape my grasp. I need more visual feedback to get my coordination. Loosing the course once I took Scar and his friend with my lost ness but thanks to Scar we found some tape and rejoined. Actually – not to diminish his effort but maybe I was the only one lost? Funny thing about night riding is not just the whole how-do-you-get–a-rhythm thing but also the fact it’s sure adds another dimension to riding; the short loops seem so much longer, and memorizing terrain features with each pass difficult. Kind of like being new to timekeeping. The end came all too soon with refreshments via a remote cooler filled with ice and beverages. After a social 20 minutes we all left and returned to camp. Strange thing as I was plodding along my vision was for the worse. I repeatedly wiped my goggles, swore before the next night ride I’d change my goggle lens to clear, then accepted the fact my eyes may be older than the rest of my body, and slowly made it back to camp. Odd. Then I discovered my dilemma: my light’s lens pointed skyways. Whodunit? Some burning logs later, we call it a night. Next morning comes fast as the fast boys of the SoCaWreckingCrew scramble for position. Before the start they all get to take my new scooter for a spin; I’ve never seen consecutive starter-button-inspired smiles. The crew scoots away, and I sweep to my check 2.1 miles out on the second loop. We setup our tiebreaker behind some rocks and wait for the check burns to occur. Tony is too hot, as was Chris; Scar manages to zero it or near zeros it (sorry: I scored everyone who passed thru.) With everyone’s passing I rode the loop back to camp, loaded up and headed out. See ya’all at Troy Meadows campsite come July 4th weekend. How about a Saturday night-ride to Monache Meadows, near the south fork of the Kern down the jeep road? [/QUOTE]
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Who to Ride With, Where to Ride
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