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General Moto | Off-Topic Posts
Weekend report
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[QUOTE="firecracker22, post: 129016, member: 20316"] [b]Sharla's weekend--long[/b] Wow, you weekend sounds pretty tough. Mine was horrible. Steve and I went up to the Mad River trails, in the eastern slopes of the Cascades. We had a 40-ish mile ride planned. I was having an "off day" for some reason—I was very tense, why I don’t know, and my arm was pumping up bad and I was losing throttle control because of it. I was frustrated already 5 miles into the ride! Not a good beginning. Well Steve asked me if I wanted to try a "slightly more challenging trail" and silly me, I said "Sure." Well even though I knew I wasn’t at my optimum performance I did want to get off the main trail because there were kids on XRs (who were faster than me but their dads weren’t) and hikers and mountain bikers. All were nice however, it’s good to exchange smiles and waves with the non-motorized crowd and know they don’t ALL hate us. So we take the less-trodden path. It went well for a time but slowly worsened. It was open hillside high up in the mountains where the big fire was 7 years ago, so it was pretty dry, no underbrush. LOTS of rocks. Parts of the trail looked like stairsteps. I was getting tired fast and frustrated faster. I was sitting down a lot which made it worse but every time I stood up I’d tense up my arm and lose control of the throttle. The funny thing is, I didn’t hit the ground that often, but I can’t count how many times I stalled out. Part of the reason I stalled so easily is we are still trying to adjust my clutch; if I have it in far enough to where it’s comfortable to grab, it drags and kills the engine when you pull it in and try to stop, and makes it impossible to start. But if you move it out to where it doesn’t do that anymore, it feels like it’s waaayy out there and hard to grab. So we messed with that for a while and found an unhappy medium. We missed the trail we wanted to take, and there was no way I wanted to back track through the nastiest 5 miles of the trip to find it, so we altered our ride plans and continued on. Steve chose this moment—too far in for me to change my mind and after I was too tired to hit him—that we were on expert-level trails. Compared to these, the Pend Oreille trails of the NWSF June 16-17 were freeways. Literally. Steep, rocky, lots of switchbacks and narrow. I told Steve I’d rather wait until I’m an expert to go on expert trails next time! I was so mad. If I’d known it was going to be like this, I would have stayed down with the mtn. bikers and kids. There’s a darn good reason we were the only ones on the trails. Steve is known for taking people on punishing trails—"Haugland Rides" are famous for battered bikes and bruised bodies. For some silly reason I though I would be exempt from this type of treatment because I was dating Steve. Unfortunately, that was not the case. We rode up to the top of a fire lookout, and chatted with the nice lady there for a while. Tyee Peak is 6600 feet and the view was incredible—we could see Mt. Rainier, Glacier Peak and the Entiat river valley, and out to the east WA flat lands at Waterville and beyond. By then I was getting angry and frustrated though, so the rest was welcome. One thing boosted my ego—the lady said she’d never seen a woman make it up there. So I felt a little better. Until we got going again, anyway. My confidence was shattered and I was going slower than normal and having problems with stuff I normally can handle. I was soooo frustrated and angry at myself I just wanted to go home, but the truck was 25 miles away. :eek: I have never been so frustrated. Ever. I was more upset than I ever have been at all. I was almost crying. Okay, so I did cry. Out of sheer frustration that I couldn’t handle the trail and because I felt like I was screwing up on things I should well be able to do and because it’s so discouraging since I feel as if I’ve worked so hard to get better and still make the same mistakes. I was angry with myself. I didn’t lash out at Steve this time, though I made some sarcastic comments that made him laugh at me, so at least I managed to control my temper at him. I just want to be a good rider and I don’t seem to be able to do it! Looking at the trail, I can see the line I should take, and I know not to look off to the side or directly at the rock I want to avoid. I freeze up in tough situations and screw up. The last section of the trail was beautiful but filled with the gnarliest switchbacks I have ever seen. I bulldogged down almost all of them and Steve said that’s okay, they were pretty scary. Finally back down into the river valley, I had my worst wreck of the day. The trail was maybe 10 inches wide across a loose shale talus slope. I was going okay, in second gear and standing for part of it, when I came upon a car-tire-sized rock right in the middle leaving only inches on the outside to go around it. Okay. I shifted into first, put my feet down and inched around it but still caught the side of it and it tilted me over. Down the talus slope. My bike and I only slid about 10 feet (THANK GOD!) right to where it dropped off nearly vertical the remaining 40 feet to the creek bed. It was so loose I needed Steve to drag me back onto the trail. We hooked our trail packs through the spokes and drug the bike back onto the trail. Amazingly, both bike and I were fine! No bruises, just a few stickers from the raspberry vine I grabbed on my way down, and 2 small scratches in my shroud. No dents in my pipe, bars still straight, nothing at all smashed or broken. Except for my confidence, which was nearly gone at that point anyway. I rode like a squid the rest of the way which increased my frustration because I knew I looked terrible. We arrived at the truck after sundown, and by the time bikes were loaded it was full dark. To top it off, Steve was nodding off and I had to drive home! I had an absolutely terrible day. It wasn’t even fun. I was so frustrated that I wanted to throw a tantrum and held it back by a thin hair. The terrain was so tough it wasn’t even challenging, it was wayyy over my head. I didn’t ride yesterday. I’m not as sore as I thought I’d be—little muscle soreness mostly in my neck (probably from being tense) that went away by yesterday afternoon. No bruises. That part still amazes me. So I think I am burning out and do not plan on riding next weekend. But I have a little voice inside calling me a pansy for wimping out. I HATE not being able to do this! Nothing gets to me more because I have never wanted anything so badly as I want to become a good rider! After all the nasty trails I’ve been on I still can’t hack it! Grrr. :mad: [/QUOTE]
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General Moto | Off-Topic Posts
Weekend report
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