We go riding, not braking. Ride Report
I was so upset that I mounted my front tire and punctured the tube
that I left bike unattended for about three weeks, but saturday
evening my long time riding buddy Eduardo showed up at my home with
Fabio, a taxi driver who also rides. His bike was at my place so we
could replace cam chain, tensioner and assorted misc parts. He had
previously called with Paulo, professional car mechanic and garage
owner, another long time rider.
Sunday came and we met at the tire shop on the way to the ride for the
guy to fix the tire for me (this time was very expensive at US$3.5)
when Paulo arrived with another guy on a yellow honda bike.
After filling up tanks, I was about to give up. My bike started
running fuel from the carburetor overflow tube and what I thought was
drained battery was turning into a bad starter: Eduardo had to push-
start me so I could leave home and I figured low batt due to so many
weeks not starting the bike but the ride to the tire shop/gas station
would be enough to charge it... Paulo came along and with a
screwdriver handle he "fixed" my carb. Eduardo towed me again and bike
fired up... Not so confident, I followed the guys on the ride.
Before entering the real off road section, there is a developing
suburban area where the streets are loose gravel. I almost hit a
parked fiat uno when front brakes didn't brake as much as it should.
What? I missed the uno by the distance equivalent of the diameter of a
bald frog hair. Still shaking, I noticed a stream of something wet
coming from the fork seal area... Damn, why these things always leak
the brake side first? Leaky carb, leaky left fork tube, no starting...
This ride was shaping up to be a nightmare.
The jar trail. ahhhh, the jar trail... <g> the place where I learned
that quicksand isn't movies invention. Now, we have a trail riding on
top of the hills instead of on the middle of the valley. Almost at the
end of the trail we met a huge bunch of riders: lots with gf as
passengers, some with small 125cc street bikes, some with knobbies on
dual sports and one or two with trail bikes. I had to wait a long time
so the guy on that ybr125 could lift his bike from a rut... After
going under a string of barbed wire on an off camber trail the bike
stalled. I had no way to bump start it. I thought I could try short
circuiting the starter relay, just in case the problem is with it...
Well, to my surprise, bike started. :-)
After some riding on large and narrow roads we were almost getting
into zombie woods when Eduardo found himself a place to bury his bike.
Loose deep sticky mud, so sticky that the rope I had broke with all
the strenght of four dirt riders. The guy on the yellow honda got
slightly stuck as well, but not as deep as Eduardo, which bike took us
over half an hour to dig out of the mud.
Zombie woods at least! Mud was plenty, but kind of dried up. ZW mud is
tricky because it's thin and sticky but if you know where to ride,
that's no problem, just don't choose a wrong line! Aside Eduardo
crashing into such a mud puddle and myself having a vine hit my
handlebar throwing me and bike entangled on the bushes, nothing
remarkable happpened. I was enjoying the mud, because it was cleaning
the fork oil off of brake disk.
After zw, there is a huge hill that we like to climb. Eduardo did it
second attempt. I remember the struggle I had last time, doing that on
third attempt, that this time I didn't even tried. The yellow honda
dude broke his brake lever trying. See? bark busters worth they weight
in diamonds. I never will understand these round'n'round guys. They
are the entire time bragging they're "fast" but then if the trail
isn't at least "truck wide", these guys are **slow** and usually don't
let anyone pass, too bad the guy ain't a good trail rider, because he
brake too hard to get over mud puddles and larger rocks, while we,
trail riders, often speed up... I passed him lots of times doing
things like this and could have passed even more, if I was evil and
made him wet with mud. Well, from there on, I'd have a huge advantage,
I had slick brake disk, but I had something, he didn't had brake
lever... In the immortal words of a friend who always rode on marginal
brakes, we go "riding", not "braking"...
We had some fun on the grass hill and then headed for bar do doido for
quick a cold beverage. When we were leaving, I started bike, let it
idling and put the screwdriver I was using to short circuit the
starter relay on the area where street bikes have the dashboard so it
was easy to re-start bike when needed, while washing clean my goggles.
Bike sank on the kick stand and fall and the screwdriver handle poked
a hole on my front number plate... :-( The yellow honda guy got a
spare brake lever from another rider who was having a cold one too..
From there, a quick ride to a bar on the beach for lunch and having a
great time. Paulo have an endless supply of dirt jokes and the yellow
honda guy had a supply as big of taxi driver jokes. The taxi guy was
laughing, so I guess that was ok.
Then Eduardo started his paranoia. He suffers from chronicle noisitis,
a very nasty disease that makes you listen little noises on your bike
and think the engine will explode in the next second. He even machined
a long screw in the back of the cylinder to further press the cam
chain against the tensor, of course, he replaces lots of tensors, but
he's terminally sick and I don't think any head doctor can cure him.
He wanted to ride back on paved roads, risking a cop encounter and
having the bike seized by law! I hate when that happens. Took us a lot
of "man, I can't hear a thing" as for he replied "take you helmet off
and get your ear near the engine so you will hear". I was pissed, "I
have to take my helmet off to hear a noise?" Really. I mean, my bike
sounds like it came with a samba school battery in there and I don't
care, I know my bike is old and worn out, it's only noise, but it
doesn't mean I should replace every moving part on it. Eduardo bike's
is even older and noisier... But he's sick, let's forgive him... Paulo
leaded us home on a nice farm road that took us right into the train
tracks, easy, easy way home, skipping the nice trial section on the
black rock beach and the mango woods and the old lighthouse ruins... I
arrived home, showered and ordered a pizza. The guy never arrived even
after several phone calls and I had to go to bed on empty, too tired
and too lazy to pull out pans and start cooking rice or beans or pasta
or defrosting meat. I think I'm going to buy a rpg and drive by that
pizza place later this evening.... :-) Plan B: stocking on frozen food
which I don't like, but greatest food seasoning of all times is
hunger.
Next week I'm trying to race an enduro. Near home, no traveling and no
hotels required, but first I need a new fork seal a new front number
plate and a new starter relay... Eduardo needs a to visit a head
doctor and possibly, as Paulo suggests, new rocker arms and a new
tensioner actuator and getting rid of that tensioner screw...
-- T
> We go riding, not braking. Ride Report
> I was so upset that I mounted my front tire and punctured the tube
> that I left bike unattended for about three weeks, but saturday
> evening my long time riding buddy Eduardo showed up at my home with
> Fabio, a taxi driver who also rides. His bike was at my place so we
> could replace cam chain, tensioner and assorted misc parts. He had
> previously called with Paulo, professional car mechanic and garage
> owner, another long time rider.
> Sunday came and we met at the tire shop on the way to the ride for the
> guy to fix the tire for me (this time was very expensive at US$3.5)
> when Paulo arrived with another guy on a yellow honda bike.
> After filling up tanks, I was about to give up. My bike started
> running fuel from the carburetor overflow tube and what I thought was
> drained battery was turning into a bad starter: Eduardo had to push-
> start me so I could leave home and I figured low batt due to so many
> weeks not starting the bike but the ride to the tire shop/gas station
> would be enough to charge it... Paulo came along and with a
> screwdriver handle he "fixed" my carb. Eduardo towed me again and bike
> fired up... Not so confident, I followed the guys on the ride.
> Before entering the real off road section, there is a developing
> suburban area where the streets are loose gravel. I almost hit a
> parked fiat uno when front brakes didn't brake as much as it should.
> What? I missed the uno by the distance equivalent of the diameter of a
> bald frog hair. Still shaking, I noticed a stream of something wet
> coming from the fork seal area... Damn, why these things always leak
> the brake side first? Leaky carb, leaky left fork tube, no starting...
> This ride was shaping up to be a nightmare.
> The jar trail. ahhhh, the jar trail... <g> the place where I learned
> that quicksand isn't movies invention. Now, we have a trail riding on
> top of the hills instead of on the middle of the valley. Almost at the
> end of the trail we met a huge bunch of riders: lots with gf as
> passengers, some with small 125cc street bikes, some with knobbies on
> dual sports and one or two with trail bikes. I had to wait a long time
> so the guy on that ybr125 could lift his bike from a rut... After
> going under a string of barbed wire on an off camber trail the bike
> stalled. I had no way to bump start it. I thought I could try short
> circuiting the starter relay, just in case the problem is with it...
> Well, to my surprise, bike started. :-)
> After some riding on large and narrow roads we were almost getting
> into zombie woods when Eduardo found himself a place to bury his bike.
> Loose deep sticky mud, so sticky that the rope I had broke with all
> the strenght of four dirt riders. The guy on the yellow honda got
> slightly stuck as well, but not as deep as Eduardo, which bike took us
> over half an hour to dig out of the mud.
> Zombie woods at least! Mud was plenty, but kind of dried up. ZW mud is
> tricky because it's thin and sticky but if you know where to ride,
> that's no problem, just don't choose a wrong line! Aside Eduardo
> crashing into such a mud puddle and myself having a vine hit my
> handlebar throwing me and bike entangled on the bushes, nothing
> remarkable happpened. I was enjoying the mud, because it was cleaning
> the fork oil off of brake disk.
> After zw, there is a huge hill that we like to climb. Eduardo did it
> second attempt. I remember the struggle I had last time, doing that on
> third attempt, that this time I didn't even tried. The yellow honda
> dude broke his brake lever trying. See? bark busters worth they weight
> in diamonds. I never will understand these round'n'round guys. They
> are the entire time bragging they're "fast" but then if the trail
> isn't at least "truck wide", these guys are **slow** and usually don't
> let anyone pass, too bad the guy ain't a good trail rider, because he
> brake too hard to get over mud puddles and larger rocks, while we,
> trail riders, often speed up... I passed him lots of times doing
> things like this and could have passed even more, if I was evil and
> made him wet with mud. Well, from there on, I'd have a huge advantage,
> I had slick brake disk, but I had something, he didn't had brake
> lever... In the immortal words of a friend who always rode on marginal
> brakes, we go "riding", not "braking"...
> We had some fun on the grass hill and then headed for bar do doido for
> quick a cold beverage. When we were leaving, I started bike, let it
> idling and put the screwdriver I was using to short circuit the
> starter relay on the area where street bikes have the dashboard so it
> was easy to re-start bike when needed, while washing clean my goggles.
> Bike sank on the kick stand and fall and the screwdriver handle poked
> a hole on my front number plate... :-( The yellow honda guy got a
> spare brake lever from another rider who was having a cold one too..
> From there, a quick ride to a bar on the beach for lunch and having a
> great time. Paulo have an endless supply of dirt jokes and the yellow
> honda guy had a supply as big of taxi driver jokes. The taxi guy was
> laughing, so I guess that was ok.
> Then Eduardo started his paranoia. He suffers from chronicle noisitis,
> a very nasty disease that makes you listen little noises on your bike
> and think the engine will explode in the next second. He even machined
> a long screw in the back of the cylinder to further press the cam
> chain against the tensor, of course, he replaces lots of tensors, but
> he's terminally sick and I don't think any head doctor can cure him.
> He wanted to ride back on paved roads, risking a cop encounter and
> having the bike seized by law! I hate when that happens. Took us a lot
> of "man, I can't hear a thing" as for he replied "take you helmet off
> and get your ear near the engine so you will hear". I was pissed, "I
> have to take my helmet off to hear a noise?" Really. I mean, my bike
> sounds like it came with a samba school battery in there and I don't
> care, I know my bike is old and worn out, it's only noise, but it
> doesn't mean I should replace every moving part on it. Eduardo bike's
> is even older and noisier... But he's sick, let's forgive him... Paulo
> leaded us home on a nice farm road that took us right into the train
> tracks, easy, easy way home, skipping the nice trial section on the
> black rock beach and the mango woods and the old lighthouse ruins... I
> arrived home, showered and ordered a pizza. The guy never arrived even
> after several phone calls and I had to go to bed on empty, too tired
> and too lazy to pull out pans and start cooking rice or beans or pasta
> or defrosting meat. I think I'm going to buy a rpg and drive by that
> pizza place later this evening.... :-) Plan B: stocking on frozen food
> which I don't like, but greatest food seasoning of all times is
> hunger.
> Next week I'm trying to race an enduro. Near home, no traveling and no
> hotels required, but first I need a new fork seal a new front number
> plate and a new starter relay... Eduardo needs a to visit a head
> doctor and possibly, as Paulo suggests, new rocker arms and a new
> tensioner actuator and getting rid of that tensioner screw...
> -- T
So for you guys, a relatively *uneventful* ride ! ;:
Dave
XR650L_Dave wrote:
>> We go riding, not braking. Ride Report
You have SO MUCH FUN on your rides!
>> ...After going under a string of barbed wire on an off camber trail the
>> bike stalled. I had no way to bump start it. I thought I could try short
>> circuiting the starter relay, just in case the problem is with it... Well,
>> to my surprise, bike started. :-)
Long ago I had a steel bar that I used to start my 1950 Chevy (no screwdriver
big enough). People used to think it was funny when a pregnant lady attacked
her engine with a hunk of metal. Hey, it was easier than actually fixing the
problem. That was the car I had to roll down the hill to the gas station after
work to fill up the radiator so I could make it home. Eventually people
thought it was funny to see a pregnant lady under her car replacing a freeze
plug.
>> After some riding on large and narrow roads we were almost getting into
>> zombie woods when Eduardo found himself a place to bury his bike.
Some people are really talented that way.
>> I was enjoying the mud, because it was cleaning the fork oil off of brake
>> disk.
Are you familiar with the 'Pollyanna' attitude? If not -- it involves people
finding good in everything no matter how awful it is.
>> I arrived home, showered and ordered a pizza. The guy never arrived even
>> after several phone calls and I had to go to bed on empty, too tired and
>> too lazy to pull out pans and start cooking rice or beans or pasta or
>> defrosting meat. I think I'm going to buy a rpg and drive by that pizza
>> place later this evening.... :-)
That's fair. Offering delivery service means actually DELIVERING what was
ordered.
>> Plan B: stocking on frozen food which I don't like, but greatest food
>> seasoning of all times is hunger.
It also keeps you from finishing off your emergency food stash before you
actually need it.
> So for you guys, a relatively *uneventful* ride ! ;:
At least he didn't break any body parts. Pollyanna again :-)
--
Cheers, Bev
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Sign on restroom hand-dryer:
"Push button for a message from your congressman."
> Perhaps, but at some point a government develops a life of its own. The USA
> may have one of those now. No matter who you vote for, the government always
> gets in :-(
SKA-P Bla Bla Bla
-----------------
La inflación, malversación de los fondos de la nación,
las drogas, el alcohol, el paro, la corrupción,
todo esto ya se acabó.
Ya llegan elecciones me tienes que votar,
ya está aqui el salvador.
Que bonitas palabras digo en televisión,
marketing de salón.
No nos deis la vara con el rollo de siempre
anda ponte el mono y vete al tajo a ver que siennntés.
Te besaré, te abrazaré. A mil niños tendre que coger.
Bota aquí, bota allá, vota me, vota le
todos locos por el poder.
¿Que tiene la Moncloa que les hace olvidar
que fuí yo quien les voté?
Izquierdas o derechas todos quieren pastel.
Cumplid con vuestro deber.
No nos deis la vara con el rollo de siempre
anda ponte el mono y vete al tajo a ver que siennntés....
BLA, BLA, BLA... BLA, BLA, BLA, BLA...
BLA, BLA, BLA y más BLA.
Si tu BLA, yo más BLA,
tu BLABLALLO, BLA BLA BLA.
Ya llegan elecciones...
No nos deis la vara...
-- T
-> that's just perfect!
XML Sitemap
> I was so upset that I mounted my front tire and punctured the tube
> that I left bike unattended for about three weeks, but saturday
> evening my long time riding buddy Eduardo showed up at my home with
> Fabio, a taxi driver who also rides. His bike was at my place so we
> could replace cam chain, tensioner and assorted misc parts. He had
> previously called with Paulo, professional car mechanic and garage
> owner, another long time rider.
> Sunday came and we met at the tire shop on the way to the ride for the
> guy to fix the tire for me (this time was very expensive at US$3.5)
> when Paulo arrived with another guy on a yellow honda bike.
> After filling up tanks, I was about to give up. My bike started
> running fuel from the carburetor overflow tube and what I thought was
> drained battery was turning into a bad starter: Eduardo had to push-
> start me so I could leave home and I figured low batt due to so many
> weeks not starting the bike but the ride to the tire shop/gas station
> would be enough to charge it... Paulo came along and with a
> screwdriver handle he "fixed" my carb. Eduardo towed me again and bike
> fired up... Not so confident, I followed the guys on the ride.
> Before entering the real off road section, there is a developing
> suburban area where the streets are loose gravel. I almost hit a
> parked fiat uno when front brakes didn't brake as much as it should.
> What? I missed the uno by the distance equivalent of the diameter of a
> bald frog hair. Still shaking, I noticed a stream of something wet
> coming from the fork seal area... Damn, why these things always leak
> the brake side first? Leaky carb, leaky left fork tube, no starting...
> This ride was shaping up to be a nightmare.
> The jar trail. ahhhh, the jar trail... <g> the place where I learned
> that quicksand isn't movies invention. Now, we have a trail riding on
> top of the hills instead of on the middle of the valley. Almost at the
> end of the trail we met a huge bunch of riders: lots with gf as
> passengers, some with small 125cc street bikes, some with knobbies on
> dual sports and one or two with trail bikes. I had to wait a long time
> so the guy on that ybr125 could lift his bike from a rut... After
> going under a string of barbed wire on an off camber trail the bike
> stalled. I had no way to bump start it. I thought I could try short
> circuiting the starter relay, just in case the problem is with it...
> Well, to my surprise, bike started. :-)
> After some riding on large and narrow roads we were almost getting
> into zombie woods when Eduardo found himself a place to bury his bike.
> Loose deep sticky mud, so sticky that the rope I had broke with all
> the strenght of four dirt riders. The guy on the yellow honda got
> slightly stuck as well, but not as deep as Eduardo, which bike took us
> over half an hour to dig out of the mud.
> Zombie woods at least! Mud was plenty, but kind of dried up. ZW mud is
> tricky because it's thin and sticky but if you know where to ride,
> that's no problem, just don't choose a wrong line! Aside Eduardo
> crashing into such a mud puddle and myself having a vine hit my
> handlebar throwing me and bike entangled on the bushes, nothing
> remarkable happpened. I was enjoying the mud, because it was cleaning
> the fork oil off of brake disk.
> After zw, there is a huge hill that we like to climb. Eduardo did it
> second attempt. I remember the struggle I had last time, doing that on
> third attempt, that this time I didn't even tried. The yellow honda
> dude broke his brake lever trying. See? bark busters worth they weight
> in diamonds. I never will understand these round'n'round guys. They
> are the entire time bragging they're "fast" but then if the trail
> isn't at least "truck wide", these guys are **slow** and usually don't
> let anyone pass, too bad the guy ain't a good trail rider, because he
> brake too hard to get over mud puddles and larger rocks, while we,
> trail riders, often speed up... I passed him lots of times doing
> things like this and could have passed even more, if I was evil and
> made him wet with mud. Well, from there on, I'd have a huge advantage,
> I had slick brake disk, but I had something, he didn't had brake
> lever... In the immortal words of a friend who always rode on marginal
> brakes, we go "riding", not "braking"...
> We had some fun on the grass hill and then headed for bar do doido for
> quick a cold beverage. When we were leaving, I started bike, let it
> idling and put the screwdriver I was using to short circuit the
> starter relay on the area where street bikes have the dashboard so it
> was easy to re-start bike when needed, while washing clean my goggles.
> Bike sank on the kick stand and fall and the screwdriver handle poked
> a hole on my front number plate... :-( The yellow honda guy got a
> spare brake lever from another rider who was having a cold one too..
> From there, a quick ride to a bar on the beach for lunch and having a
> great time. Paulo have an endless supply of dirt jokes and the yellow
> honda guy had a supply as big of taxi driver jokes. The taxi guy was
> laughing, so I guess that was ok.
> Then Eduardo started his paranoia. He suffers from chronicle noisitis,
> a very nasty disease that makes you listen little noises on your bike
> and think the engine will explode in the next second. He even machined
> a long screw in the back of the cylinder to further press the cam
> chain against the tensor, of course, he replaces lots of tensors, but
> he's terminally sick and I don't think any head doctor can cure him.
> He wanted to ride back on paved roads, risking a cop encounter and
> having the bike seized by law! I hate when that happens. Took us a lot
> of "man, I can't hear a thing" as for he replied "take you helmet off
> and get your ear near the engine so you will hear". I was pissed, "I
> have to take my helmet off to hear a noise?" Really. I mean, my bike
> sounds like it came with a samba school battery in there and I don't
> care, I know my bike is old and worn out, it's only noise, but it
> doesn't mean I should replace every moving part on it. Eduardo bike's
> is even older and noisier... But he's sick, let's forgive him... Paulo
> leaded us home on a nice farm road that took us right into the train
> tracks, easy, easy way home, skipping the nice trial section on the
> black rock beach and the mango woods and the old lighthouse ruins... I
> arrived home, showered and ordered a pizza. The guy never arrived even
> after several phone calls and I had to go to bed on empty, too tired
> and too lazy to pull out pans and start cooking rice or beans or pasta
> or defrosting meat. I think I'm going to buy a rpg and drive by that
> pizza place later this evening.... :-) Plan B: stocking on frozen food
> which I don't like, but greatest food seasoning of all times is
> hunger.
> Next week I'm trying to race an enduro. Near home, no traveling and no
> hotels required, but first I need a new fork seal a new front number
> plate and a new starter relay... Eduardo needs a to visit a head
> doctor and possibly, as Paulo suggests, new rocker arms and a new
> tensioner actuator and getting rid of that tensioner screw...
> -- T