Lighting the fire.

A couple weeks ago, my brother called me and says that we should get together and "play a little xbox or something". Then he suggests that the "something" could be riding motorcycles. He somewhat jokingly said that I should find a friend with a spare bike and see if we could borrow it. I said, "ok", let me check on that. I knew that Chuck had an XT250 that was normally not ridden much so I presented the idea to him about borrowing it and going for a ride, and he agreed.

The day of the ride we met at the Belfair McDonalds and in addition to Dale, Myself and Chuck, Kelly joined us and it just so happened that Marty and Cheryl were there too. Marty and Cheryl were camping at Tahuya anyway so it was cool to see them.

I had chosen to ride Tahuya because of the variety of trails. There are plenty of easy trails that wouldn't be too difficult for Dale to start out on. You see, my brother hadn't ridden a dirt bike since we were living in Enumclaw back in the 80's. I knew he could ride but I figured he'd be pretty rusty after such a long time so I wanted to keep it low key so he wouldn't get frustrated or injured.

Dale was riding my bike and I was riding Chuck's 250. We headed out on a few quad trails and it was an easy-going ride. In just a short time, Dale looked as though he'd been riding motorcycles all his life. He was doing great.

Here's Kelly, Chuck and myself figuring out where we are, while Marty looks to be focused on a sandwich.

At some point Kelly became the ride leader and he led us off on a trail I had never seen before. In a short time, the trail became increasingly difficult. I was a bit concerned that Dale would be having difficulty getting through some of this because it was so narrow and tricky. I reminded him that it wasn't a race and he didn't need to try to go fast. There were some steep drop offs along the trail that could be pretty treacherous if you took a corner too quickly. At one point I had Dale pass me and I rode at the back of the pack. This gave me a good view to watch Dale ride my WR through this tough trail. I was impressed and proud at how well he was able to negotiate the trail. He didn't seem rusty at all. Once we got to the end of the rough section, we took a quick break.

Here's Chuck doing what he does best.

After our break we spent the rest of the day cruising through the various trails of Tahuya and just enjoying the day.

As it got a bit later, Dale needed to get headed home so he and I found the nearest road and 10 minutes later we were at the truck and getting loaded up to head home. Ahhh, the beauty of riding a street legal dirt bike.

Dale, Marty, Chuck and I

On the way home I could tell Dale had really enjoyed himself. I brought up the idea that he should get a bike of his own so we could ride together more often. He agreed but wasn't sure he could afford it just yet. I knew that the odds were against him getting one but I still thought it would be cool.

Fast-forward a week or two:

Dale calls me up and says he's looking for a bike to buy. After a bit of searching, he finds a 2005 Suzuki DRZ400 and brings it home. It looks like a great bike for him and I'm looking forward to riding with him.

More to come...