Saturday night ride

 Well, our intentions were to go for a couple of hours ride in an area
we have never gone. The Forest Service map clearly shows a good sized
loop about twenty five miles long but also says "4WD" in places which
got our attention. We turned right off of Death Valley Road onto
Mazorka Canyon road and parked a little late in the day but still
sunny. I donned my down jacket but nothing extra other than riding
gear. We started up hill and quickly got into sections with snow on
the road. We rode around the side areas to avoid the snow and made our
way along pretty well. We stopped along the way to admire the scenery
which was spectacular but paid little attention to time which was
getting short. It starts getting dark around four now Around five it
is very dark. We checked our maps and they only showed the road as a
loop. when we got fully back in the country we discovered roads that
shouldn't have existed because they wern't on the maps. My riding
buddy has an inate ability to discern which way to go partly due to
his experience as a surveyor working for Caltrans. His bike has a
headlight as well as mine but my headlight bulb burned out years ago
and was never replaced. I had to follow him using his light. We
followed the road for miles and came to a series of switchbacks on a
northly slope and they were covered in snow wal to wall. We carefully
worked our way downhill and managed only one crash. My buddy. He
picked up his bike and we continued. My IT 175 has fairly new Dunlop
756s on it which saved my ass riding in the snow. It only got sideways
on me once coming down the hill. The moon was out in a tiny sliver but
helped me to see my way in the snow. I was about frozen after a couple
of hours of this riding when we finally came upon the truck. I was
ecstatic. We loaded up our bikes and ended up at a Sizzler for some
protien refurbishment. I don't think I have ever had such a hard ride
in my life. I knew that to complain would be fruitless and to ride on
was the only answer. My fingers were frozen and would have gladly
traded my riding gloves for some ski gloves. Otherwise it was a good
overall experience and I was glad we didn't have to spend the night
out there.
OF

 
So, uh... when you gettin' that light bulb?

Glad you are OK

  oldfart reports:



Sheesh, sounds like an adventure and fun.



Not Ralls was it?


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.

 winter rides i stop often & dangle my hands over the exhaust... i have
notice snowmobile riders have grip warmers <grin> wonder how much watts
those things require??
john

 john notes:


I had them on my WR250 and they worked fine.  When
I replaced the bars I didn't reinstall them, wishing I had
about now.


Go fast. Take chances.
Mike S.