Props to Uberkul and BeamerDon for all the work setting up FODS V. Great fun was had. Brad's "timid" Erin was way more agressive a rider than she made herself out to be. Riding Dad's bike up the Big Dune. :dribble:
The big Super Tenere is a good gravel road bike... And while it didn't do any dirt napping, a partially submerged rock at 45 mph did a nice job of putting a dent in the front rim. The 600 lb bike in loose rocky sand is a handful too, but plenty of throttle and TCS #2 setting got me through it just fine, if with a little pucker factor. I did realize that since Doug P. said it got worse from there, I was at my level of skill and risking some stupid stuff if I kept following the 350 lb 650s, so I decided to turn around. THEN we noticed my broken fender and dented rim!! Good thing too, I got 4 miles and the front tire went flat, partially un-seating from the rim bead.
I was still 9 miles from the pavement, so broke out the compressor and got lucky with some knee and hand action to hold the tire in against the bead and it aired back up! For a while there it looked like I would be walking the bike out with a lot of clutch action in the friction zone. Thankfully I was able to do some rock adjustment to the rim and get it aired up, make it out to the road and air up again, then ride back to the hotel. This was all on Thursday.
Note the spot w/o the dust, that's from the air leaking out of the bead area. No tubes on this girl either!
Don Stanley lent me a hammer back at the hotel and I did some
modification to the rim that helped, but it wasnt' dirt worthy.
Sadly, Friday was spent going to Vegas and getting my wheel fixed. Happily, it only took an hour at the shop and cost $42.50! Motorcycle Tire Center in Hederson ROCKS! After the fix, I rode back to DV and did some pavement tourism since I wasnt' too hip on doing the dirt along on the big girl with my limited skills. Still, 400 miles that day and some good fun in DV!
Somehow I missed the Big Trailie group on Sat too, which sucked, but I still went and had some fun, rode a little dirt and a little pavement before getting seriously rained on in Wild Rose Canyon, to the point where I was concerned about the potential for snow and flash flooding, so turned around before the summit and beat feet back to Armargosa Valley.
If I go to FODS VI, I'm bringing a fricking 250! And not a shiny one either.
