its been a month since my buddy and i have been able to get out and ride with our boys. today was a perfect opportunity and we took advantage of it. my boy is 10 and his are 10 and 12. we loaded up the truck/trailer and headed north to our local orv area which known as lake murray. great riding area of 6-700 acres that is full of trails. dirt is usually good but was great today. had lots of moisture in it but did not stick to the bikes.
first loop was kind of shaky. half mile in one of the boys blew a berm and had his xr 100 pin him. got him up and talked him into continuing. later in this same loop im following my son up a nasty rock strewn hill. well he is running out of momentum and he is almost at the top. i see him stabbing at his shifter which is a bad thing to do on an xr70. why? because after 1st gear comes neutral. the bike stops and he starts doing a matt hoffman on the ramp trick. that trick being riding backwards downhill with the throttle pinned and nothing happening because of the aformentioned neutral. i saw this happening so i rocket up behind him and hop off my bike and drop it in his path. it worked. he rode backwards 10 ft before slamming my bike. he ends up sprawled on top of the bikes but he picks himself up and we finish the loop.
we do the stupid lunch thing. you know the one where you stop at the gas station on the way and you pay 3 prices for nothing but chips, candy bars and dr. peppers. we play around the parking area for awhile before heading back out to the trees. two of the little ones have gone down hard on the first loop and are crawfishing about going out again. i talk them into going to a bowl area where they can work on their "freakstyle" moves and they agree. we do this for 30 min or so and they decide to do the second loop.
second loop starts late in the afternoon and the park which was once full has thinned considerably. we get our conga line together with me at the front, kids in the middle, and james(other dad) riding sweep. kids did awesome and stayed on top of their bikes instead of under them. everybody was using gears. (you know how kids like to pick a gear and rev the hell out of em or lug em to the point where they accelerate like rush hour traffic). we see some deer along the trail which brings up the "take us hunting" conversation later on the ride home. we are 7-8 miles in and it is getting dark. i pick trails back to the pick up. we are the next to last to leave. there was a ranger in the lot and we talked to him for awhile. bikes get loaded while the kids ran around. james and i debate when will the kids be old enough before we make them load while we stand around.
finally, we are loaded and headed home when we the hot topic becomes FOOD. is it going to be Carl's Jr. or McGeehe catfish. dads overruled the kids and we headed for the famous catfish eatery. did i mention it was ALL U CAN EAT? its so good they have a landing strip behind it and people fly their planes right up the building. food was awesome and did i mention it was ALL U CAN EAT? finished up with dessert and made our way to the truck. key fits the ignition but the belt on my pants didnt........anymore. we head south worn out and very full. great day to be king.
roost while we can :aj:
first loop was kind of shaky. half mile in one of the boys blew a berm and had his xr 100 pin him. got him up and talked him into continuing. later in this same loop im following my son up a nasty rock strewn hill. well he is running out of momentum and he is almost at the top. i see him stabbing at his shifter which is a bad thing to do on an xr70. why? because after 1st gear comes neutral. the bike stops and he starts doing a matt hoffman on the ramp trick. that trick being riding backwards downhill with the throttle pinned and nothing happening because of the aformentioned neutral. i saw this happening so i rocket up behind him and hop off my bike and drop it in his path. it worked. he rode backwards 10 ft before slamming my bike. he ends up sprawled on top of the bikes but he picks himself up and we finish the loop.
we do the stupid lunch thing. you know the one where you stop at the gas station on the way and you pay 3 prices for nothing but chips, candy bars and dr. peppers. we play around the parking area for awhile before heading back out to the trees. two of the little ones have gone down hard on the first loop and are crawfishing about going out again. i talk them into going to a bowl area where they can work on their "freakstyle" moves and they agree. we do this for 30 min or so and they decide to do the second loop.
second loop starts late in the afternoon and the park which was once full has thinned considerably. we get our conga line together with me at the front, kids in the middle, and james(other dad) riding sweep. kids did awesome and stayed on top of their bikes instead of under them. everybody was using gears. (you know how kids like to pick a gear and rev the hell out of em or lug em to the point where they accelerate like rush hour traffic). we see some deer along the trail which brings up the "take us hunting" conversation later on the ride home. we are 7-8 miles in and it is getting dark. i pick trails back to the pick up. we are the next to last to leave. there was a ranger in the lot and we talked to him for awhile. bikes get loaded while the kids ran around. james and i debate when will the kids be old enough before we make them load while we stand around.
finally, we are loaded and headed home when we the hot topic becomes FOOD. is it going to be Carl's Jr. or McGeehe catfish. dads overruled the kids and we headed for the famous catfish eatery. did i mention it was ALL U CAN EAT? its so good they have a landing strip behind it and people fly their planes right up the building. food was awesome and did i mention it was ALL U CAN EAT? finished up with dessert and made our way to the truck. key fits the ignition but the belt on my pants didnt........anymore. we head south worn out and very full. great day to be king.
roost while we can :aj:
