We had to leave a bike in the woods overnight!
We had rain last Wed & Thurs, the first appreciable rain since
sometime in June. It was a good two days of soaking drizzle, very
welcome after a dry and dusty summer...
Of course our first instinct was to head to the high country but since
Karen is out of town I took Moto the Dog to Doggie Daycare and had to
be back by 6:30 to pick him up. We may have been able to make the
longer trip but without a backup I was reluctant to chance it and
suggested we ride the "foothill" riding area about 45 minutes from
BOI.
IDPR trail map of the area:
http://www.trails.idaho.gov/?cC.492534%2C-115.789032&z &mt=esri_road
Photos of the area:
http://www.spodefest.net/rmd/mayday/
http://www.spodefest.net/rmd/tami_eric.htm
http://www.spodefest.net/rmd/baxter/
John, Murray and I showed up at the Willow Creek trailhead at 10am.
John had said another rider (Gordon KTM 525EXC) might show up, he was
already there by the time we arrived and informed us one more (Tim
brand new KTM 500XCW) was on his way. Murray and John were on their
250s and me on my trusty 200.
The dirt was perfect, dark brown and tacky, not too many puddles/mud.
Bright blue skies with a light wind. It was a bit cool to begin with
but we shed our jackets about 5 miles in.
We took our normal route into the depths of the riding area. Other
than a few too many rain ruts the riding was about as good as it gets
out there. It was nice to not have to deal with dust!
At the "apex" of the loop at about 30 miles we stopped for lunch. On
our way out from there I pronged a rock pretty hard while climbing a
loose shale uphill. By the time we made it back to the access road my
front end was feeling wobbly, looked down to see I had flatted the
front tire.
John had a spare tube so I used that instead of mucking with patching.
After a half hour we were on our way once again.
All was going well until we came out of a canyon at the bottom of the
Devil's Hole trail. It opens into a huge meadow but has a few too many
whoops across this otherwise beautiful scene. I was riding #4 and
could see 1/2/3 stopped in the middle of the meadow, looking at
Gordon's bike. I thought WTF broke? Another flat?
Gordon was flying along through the whoops in 4th gear, got a little
off line and cased an embedded lava rock. He went over the bars,
fortunately wasn't hurt but the bike didn't do so well.
He hit the rock on the left side, it pushed his bash plate into the
ignition cover, blew it into 4 pieces, damaged both the stator and the
flywheel/rotor:
http://www.spodefest.net/images/2011/gordon_broken.jpg
http://www.spodefest.net/images/2011/broke2.jpg
We were about 20 miles from the trucks, the only way out was up a
fairly steep rocky trail w/switchbacks. No way we'd be able to tow him
out or even up to a spot he could access with a quad or truck. We had
no choice other than to leave it there. We pushed it a ways off the
trail into a small ditch and covered it with pine boughs as well as we
could.
Tim and Gordon rode the 20 miles out doubled up. Glad it was them and
not me. :)
Gordon posted on FB last night that he had retrieved the bike, no
details on how they did it. I'll update when I hear more.
On the other hand, it's supposed to rain later today and tomorrow,
clear up by the weekend with seasonal temps in the mid 60s to low 70s.
Karen returns home on Wed, we will definitely be headed to the
mountains this weekend. Well, as long as it doesn't snow too much from
this system moving through. Checking a "Snotel" remote reporting
station near where we want to go, it looks like they got 6" last
Thurs, now down to 3", should be good to go by the weekend (he says
optimistically).
DJ
Late breaking update:
John just stopped by to pick up a couple of exhaust o-rings, said a
friend of Gordon's let him cannibilize a bike for the needed parts.
Three of them rode in on two bikes, repaired it in about 30 minutes
and rode it out.
DJ reports:
[cool ride report deleted]
> He hit the rock on the left side, it pushed his bash plate into the
> ignition cover, blew it into 4 pieces, damaged both the stator and the
> flywheel/rotor:
> http://www.spodefest.net/images/2011/gordon_broken.jpg
> http://www.spodefest.net/images/2011/broke2.jpg
Crap, that'll end your ride. Glad he got it out as easily as it sounds
he did.
Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.
> We had to leave a bike in the woods overnight!
> We had rain last Wed & Thurs, the first appreciable rain since
> sometime in June. It was a good two days of soaking drizzle, very
> welcome after a dry and dusty summer...
> Of course our first instinct was to head to the high country but since
> Karen is out of town I took Moto the Dog to Doggie Daycare and had to
> be back by 6:30 to pick him up. We may have been able to make the
> longer trip but without a backup I was reluctant to chance it and
> suggested we ride the "foothill" riding area about 45 minutes from
> BOI.
> IDPR trail map of the area:http://www.trails.idaho.gov/?c=43.492534%2C-115.789032&z=12&mt=esri_road
> Photos of the area:http://www.spodefest.net/rmd/mayday/http://www.spodefest.net/rmd/tami_eric.htmhttp://www.spodefest.net/rmd/baxter/
> John, Murray and I showed up at the Willow Creek trailhead at 10am.
> John had said another rider (Gordon KTM 525EXC) might show up, he was
> already there by the time we arrived and informed us one more (Tim
> brand new KTM 500XCW) was on his way. Murray and John were on their
> 250s and me on my trusty 200.
> The dirt was perfect, dark brown and tacky, not too many puddles/mud.
> Bright blue skies with a light wind. It was a bit cool to begin with
> but we shed our jackets about 5 miles in.
> We took our normal route into the depths of the riding area. Other
> than a few too many rain ruts the riding was about as good as it gets
> out there. It was nice to not have to deal with dust!
> At the "apex" of the loop at about 30 miles we stopped for lunch. On
> our way out from there I pronged a rock pretty hard while climbing a
> loose shale uphill. By the time we made it back to the access road my
> front end was feeling wobbly, looked down to see I had flatted the
> front tire.
> John had a spare tube so I used that instead of mucking with patching.
> After a half hour we were on our way once again.
> All was going well until we came out of a canyon at the bottom of the
> Devil's Hole trail. It opens into a huge meadow but has a few too many
> whoops across this otherwise beautiful scene. I was riding #4 and
> could see 1/2/3 stopped in the middle of the meadow, looking at
> Gordon's bike. I thought WTF broke? Another flat?
> Gordon was flying along through the whoops in 4th gear, got a little
> off line and cased an embedded lava rock. He went over the bars,
> fortunately wasn't hurt but the bike didn't do so well.
> He hit the rock on the left side, it pushed his bash plate into the
> ignition cover, blew it into 4 pieces, damaged both the stator and the
> flywheel/rotor:
> http://www.spodefest.net/images/2011/gordon_broken.jpghttp://www.spodefest.net/images/2011/broke2.jpg
> We were about 20 miles from the trucks, the only way out was up a
> fairly steep rocky trail w/switchbacks. No way we'd be able to tow him
> out or even up to a spot he could access with a quad or truck. We had
> no choice other than to leave it there. We pushed it a ways off the
> trail into a small ditch and covered it with pine boughs as well as we
> could.
> Tim and Gordon rode the 20 miles out doubled up. Glad it was them and
> not me. :)
> Gordon posted on FB last night that he had retrieved the bike, no
> details on how they did it. I'll update when I hear more.
> On the other hand, it's supposed to rain later today and tomorrow,
> clear up by the weekend with seasonal temps in the mid 60s to low 70s.
> Karen returns home on Wed, we will definitely be headed to the
> mountains this weekend. Well, as long as it doesn't snow too much from
> this system moving through. Checking a "Snotel" remote reporting
> station near where we want to go, it looks like they got 6" last
> Thurs, now down to 3", should be good to go by the weekend (he says
> optimistically).
> DJ
> Late breaking update:
> John just stopped by to pick up a couple of exhaust o-rings, said a
> friend of Gordon's let him cannibilize a bike for the needed parts.
> Three of them rode in on two bikes, repaired it in about 30 minutes
> and rode it out.
Ouch!
You might make it 20 miles on my XRL without the stator/magneto, but
not with the oil leakin' like that!
Dave
On 10/10/2011 10:51 AM, IdaSpode wrote:
> We had to leave a bike in the woods overnight!
<sad tale of woe snipped>
Charles' report was a lot happier :-(
> Late breaking update:
> John just stopped by to pick up a couple of exhaust o-rings, said a
> friend of Gordon's let him cannibilize a bike for the needed parts.
> Three of them rode in on two bikes, repaired it in about 30 minutes
> and rode it out.
Most fortunate that y'all survived. I once fixed a smashed case with
duct tape, and we had to leave two bikes in the woods for a week.
Dirtriding is a good way for city folk to learn survival skills.
--
Cheers, Bev
______________________________________________________
"Parasites plus suckers do not add up to a community."
-- Thomas Sowell
XML Sitemap
> ignition cover, blew it into 4 pieces, damaged both the stator and the
> flywheel/rotor:
> http://www.spodefest.net/images/2011/gordon_broken.jpg
> http://www.spodefest.net/images/2011/broke2.jpg