Back to where it all started.

With all the negative things happening in the airline world recently and my impending lay-off from United Airlines, I've been fairly obsessed with finding a new job/career. This new obsession has prevented me from getting much riding done and due to the lack of flying jobs, it hasn't been very conducive to a positive outlook on my life. So a couple days ago I just made up my mind that I needed to go out and just ride for a bit to clear my mind of all the negativity.

I had to haul a few things out to my friend Tony's house in Enumclaw so I hitched up the motorcycle trailer to my old pickup and off I went. After dropping off the items at Tony's, I unloaded the WR and headed off toward my old stomping grounds.

Rewind

My family moved to Enumclaw when I was in the 2nd grade. My dad had purchased a 1974 Honda XR75 about that same time and as a young boy, I thought that it was too big for me to ride. I tried it but after crashing it once, I was afraid of it, so it sat buried in our basement for quite some time.

I don't remember how old I was but sometime in the next few years, I was inspired by our neighbor, Jerry, who was (is) the coolest guy I ever met. Jerry had an old Honda 100 and rode it around our neighborhood, (we lived on a dirt road). I distinctly remember that as I watched him ride past our house one day that I thought that I should be riding a motorcycle... and then I remembered that in fact we already had a motorcycle.

I proceeded to uncover the old XR from the piles of crap in the basement, (a feat in of itself), and eventually got it out in the driveway. I'd like to say that it fired right up on the first kick but I honestly don't remember. I do remember that once I got it running, (probably with help from Dad), that I started out VERY slowly. I remember that I would ride up and down the dirt road in front of our house in FIRST GEAR. I was afraid of going faster. This lasted for at least a day or two. I finally got the balls to actually shift into SECOND GEAR and I was progressively getting bolder and bolder. I don't know how long it took but I eventually was able to actually use ALL the gears and at some point in the following months I actually was wanting a bike that would go faster than the XR was capable of. My brother started riding as well and we would take turns on the little gray bike until Dad decided that we needed another one. We went and bought a brand new 1979 XR80... it was red... and it was cool. It also had a 5th gear which was one more than the old 75 had. Dale and I rode these bikes every chance we got and spent many an hour in the trails and dirt roads in the hills near our house.

Fast forward nearly 30 years (holy crap!!!, am I really that old???)... I turned on to the old neighborhood road (it's still dirt) and as I left the pavement I remembered the time I was spinning a doughnut in the gravel when the neighbor, Gary, drove up on his way home from work and he scolded me for tearing up the road that he had just fixed. I also remembered all the dips and mudpuddles from those many years ago, even though they had changed a thousand times over, I could see them in my mind. Actually, aside from a few trees that were missing, the old neighborhood hadn't changed all that much.

I rode slowly up and down the entire length of the old dirt road and just took my mind back to a time where jobs and stresses of adult life were non-existent. I was 9 years old again, even if it was only for a few minutes, and just living each moment to ride my motorcycle.

Here's what our old house looks like today.

It was a nice diversion and it did take my mind off of the negative stuff that is going on in my life. I'm glad I made the journey and hopefully I won't wait until another 30 years go by before I swing by again.

Flashback... Quad style

As you may have noticed, it's been a while since I've posted any ride reports. That has a lot to do with the number of rides I've been on since July... exactly ZERO. I can come up with a bunch of excuses ranging from getting ready for the 2008 Burris Drags or spending in inordinate amount of time searching for a new job, but they'd end up just being excuses just the same. So instead of that lets just say I've dropped the ball when it came to getting off my butt and going riding.

My lack of riding came to an end yesterday, sort-of. My neighbor, Joe, came over yesterday morning in a bit of a huff. It seems that he had loaded up his truck and trailer with 2 quads and his buddy called at the last minute to cancel. Now it seems that Joe was pretty determined to go riding but didn't want to go alone, which is smart since the ride site is vast and wooded and a bad crash might leave you stranded until you died... alone. He had made a few calls to see if any of his other buddies wanted to go but to no avail. He then came over to see if I wanted to go. Initially, I really wasn't that interested since I had, (and still have), tons of things to do around the house but after a bit of arm twisting, I conceded. I got all my riding crap together and within 30 minutes, we were on the road.

We got to Tahuya, (the same place I found our dog Lola), and proceeded to unload the 4-wheeled machines. I used to own a 1991 Honda TRX-250X and I really enjoyed riding it many years ago but I honestly hadn't ridden a quad in probably 16 years. Joe was letting me ride his Honda TRX-300EX (nice to have electric start!). I was not sure how quickly I'd pick it back up but I figured it wouldn't be too tough. I turned out to be almost immediate. I took to it like the proverbial duck to water and within a couple minutes I was ripping through the trails as quickly as I'd dare without being stupid. It was pretty enjoyable and at that point I was glad I'd agreed to go.

After a 45 minute ride or so we took a break near the truck, grabbed a snack and headed back out for more. The second half of the ride was awesome as instead of riding in the open areas we rode on a bunch of narrower, technical trails which is my favorite type of riding.

We ended up not riding all day as Joe had to go to work that evening but the half-day ride was just what I needed to get out in the beautiful weather and get some time in the saddle.

I still prefer the 2-wheeled bikes but it was kinda fun to "turn back the clock" and ride the quads like I used to.

"Big Time"

ok, so it's only a relatively unknown motorcycle magazine that you probably wouldn't find at any magazine rack at your local book store, but it's a start.

If you have been reading my stories on here then you might remember my experience at the 2008 Sparkplug Enduro. Well, I submitted that story to a few motorcycle rags to see if anyone would be interested in a story about a newbie attempting to ride an organized Enduro event. I got a couple replies but the only one who actually was interested in publishing my story was Trailrider Magazine. It's in the July 2008 issue. It's been editied down a bit and I think it did take away from some of the humor I attempted but overall it is intact and I'm proud to have it in there. I realize it's a small feat but it's the first time I've ever even submitted anything so to have it actually in print form I think is kinda cool.

Thanks to MACE and Trailrider Magazine!

Always use protection!

I've always leaned more toward the daring and risky endeavours such as riding dirt bikes, flying ultralight aircraft, and walking through "5 points" near Birmingham, Alabama at night on a layover. It's usually a calculated risk though and not the "throw all caution to the wind" kind of deal. I also like to have some form of protection whether it's a helmet to keep my melon intact or a parachute to keep the "splat" sounds to a minimum.

So because Yamaha "cheaped out" and didn't put a skidplate on the WR from the factory, I thought in order to prevent smashing the crankcase on a rock or tree root, I'd install an aftermarket plate.

I read a few forum posts and looked at a few photos of the limited selection of skidplates to choose from and I settled on the one from Thumpertalk.com. It is reasonably priced and looks like it'll do the job well.

It was an extremely easy install. Anyone with the ability to locate and use an 8mm and a 10mm wrench could do the job.

The before & after photos of the install (and my dirty bike) are below.

Low.. Ri... Der

ok, so it's only 3/4 inch lower but every bit helps. I don't have any updated photos yet but last night I lowered the WR using the shock mount adjuster and was able to get it a little lower for my short legs. I think I may get the aftermarket lowering link when it becomes available. I'll post pictures of that when it happens.

No more uglies

I finally got rid of the last of the ugly looking lights on my WR. I installed the Zeta handguards that have flashers integrated into the plastic part of the guards. They look great and are MUCH nicer than the old stock flashers. My only issue with the new flashers is I couldn't figure out how to make the running lights work in addition to the flashers. I just have the flasher part working. If I find out a way to make them both work I'll hook it up, otherwise I'll leave it as is.





Here's the latest photo of the WR with the new mods!

No luck at the Wet Duck.

Well, at least when it came to the hand I was dealt. Since this ride was the "Wet Duck Poker Run", everyone selected cards at various checkpoints in order to complete a poker hand. I started out smokin' with an ACE of Hearts! I hadn't even been on the course yet and I was already kicking butt!


I decided to ride the short/easy course since I really didn't know what to expect on the long/hard course. The short course was 18 miles so I figured even if it was difficult, it wouldn't take me all flippin' day.


After paying my $25 and collecting my first card, I headed down the trail. I started around 9:40 so I was somewhere toward the back of the pack I think. I used some of the lessons learned from my Sparkplug experience so I ended up with a very enjoyable ride! One thing I did was wear my new Alpinestars Tech 3 boots (pictured below) and it was excellent for ankle/shin protection. It also helped keep my feet much drier than wearing the crappy work boots I wore last ride.

The down side was shifting. The boots are so stiff that I might as well have been wearing skiboots. I couldn't flex my ankle much at all so I often had to move my entire leg to shift up. I do believe that over time it will get easier as the boot softens up, until then I'll just have to do the best I can. Maybe I should wear them everywhere to break 'em in? My wife would love that.



After about 5 miles on the trail I came upon a lady riding with one kid on the back of her Suzuki and another kid riding in front of her on a little 80cc bike (possibly even smaller). She was doing great! The trail was easy but I'm not too sure how I would've done with someone on the back of my bike. I was impressed and I thought it was cool that they were out having fun. She let me by as I was a bit faster. I wasn't in a hurry but it was a nice gesture. A mile or less down the trail I was passed by a guy and his wife/girlfriend who were both good riders. Shortly after that the girl crashed on a corner. I stopped in order to not hit her and make sure everyone was ok. While I was pulled over, the mom and her kids came up and just rode on by, which was totally fine. The funny thing was I heard her say to her kids, "see, sometimes slower is faster". I just about crapped my pants. If you read my Sparkplug experience you'll remember that I was using that same theory during much of my ride. It was just really funny to me at the time hearing her tell her kids that.

The rest of the ride included fun trails that were hilly and muddy but nothing too difficult. In fact, I didn't crash once! I'd like to tell you that it's because I've become a much better rider in 2 weeks but the reality is the trail was just much less challenging. I have to say I never encountered a tree root that rivaled the many I ran into during the Sparkplug. I was actually kind of hoping to find ONE so I could stop a take a photo to include here in the blog but I only came upon easy ones. Maybe next time?

I came upon the first checkpoint, which basically is just a place to pick up another card for the poker hand. I selected a KING of Clubs and was thinking a couple things. 1. I've got a good start to a promising poker hand and 2. Why is the first checkpoint nearly 14 miles into an 18 mile course? Don't we have to get 5 cards?


The next checkpoint was just a few minutes away and this is where things started going to hell. I drew a THREE of Diamonds. That definitely didn't help my hand at all.



On the last couple miles of the trail I started to recognize a few things. I realized that I was riding very near where I found the abandoned puppy (Lola). I briefly thought about how little and dirty she was and how difficult is was for her to breathe. I remembered tucking her under my sweatshirt and riding back to the truck. I then thought about how absolutely freakin' crazy she is now, and big. She's a ball of energy and just wants to play constantly until it's time to just drop. It's a bunch of work for us but considering how she's almost fully recovered and she seems very happy, it's worth it.



I pulled into the "Finish line" and realized I only had 3 cards. I thought that maybe I'd missed a checkpoint. Not really sure if I did or not. The dude said to pick 2 cards so I did. I selected a SEVEN of Hearts and a FIVE of Clubs. After starting out so well, my poker hand turned sour. I felt like I was in Vegas.



I decided I'd had enough and decided I wasn't going to wait 3+ hours for the awards ceremony. I loaded up and headed home.

I had a great time and was happy about the entire day. I ate better and brought water. I still didn't use my Camelback but I didn't ride long enough to need it. I've decided that it's mandatory that I lower the bike. I had multiple occasions where I nearly crashed because I had a hard time reaching the ground. That will be my next modification to the WR.


Had fun and didn't get injured... and NO tree roots! Woo Hoo!