Kestrel
Well-known member
...and now... I think I understand why people stop riding on the street.
:afm199
So a long time ago, I sold my SV650 and picked up a Honda XR250L that I thought was in great shape. It wasn't, and that whole thing became a "learning experience"... I never got the chance to take it 'off road' like I envisioned I would, and while there were a few cold and miserable forest service road trips, overall it was somewhat of a shitty experience. Sold it.
A VFR came, then rather regrettably went two years later went to pay for tuition... My situation improved, and along came a late model plated dirt DR350. I have/had dreams of cross country trans american trail sort of BS (which *will* eventually happen), but mostly the plan was lots of forest service road exploration in western NC, and maybe thoughts of motarding it out at some point.
Well... the motarding happened this past year. Motards are the best thing ever, and I'm not sure I'll ever want a sport bike on the street again... (Well that's probably a lie, but for <60mph, it holds true.) (See http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=501129)
But *getting* to western NC on a motard DR350 wasn't all that much fun, even with highway gearing.... so I purchased a little Harbor Freight folding trailer, and voila.. problem solved.
Well... a friend of mine was nervously struggling to come to grips with her CBR250R, so I finally convinced her to pick up an XR100 to assist in helping with developing her riding skills.
So my new-to-riding friend and I hit up Brown Mountain OHV in western NC last weekend. Truth be told, it was too much for a first time dirt rider. Lots of rocks, and drought like conditions over the last few months has the dirt akin to fine powder... Lots of sliding, but lots of fun. Even so, she had a great time even with the crashes here and there. She's a trooper! The little XR is a beast, too! From what I can gather, you can just throw it in first gear, and it'll climb up almost anything within reason - seems very beginner friendly. Here's the two of them posing in front of some of NC's finest penis shaped graffiti.
So that was fun. I got home and said to myself... Well rather than unpack everything, why don't I just leave the bikes on the trailer and stuff it all into the garage to facilitate another easy weekend of dirt bike riding? Sounded good, and so I did. This time, I threw my girlfriend in the car, and we headed an hour south down the highway to Carolina Adventure World.
Unstoppable Swedish dirt bike hauling machine in the parking lot...
Carolina Adventure World (CAW) appears to cater pretty heavily to the ATV / side by side crowd.. Trails are approximately ATV width, and traverse pine & hardwood forests. Clay and sedimentary soil mixture in the woods with 'service roads' that go from trail to trail.
Didn't take any photos, but here are a few from Google that other riders took...
They've got trails... access roads... single track... sort of double track... creek crossings..... serious hill climbs.. circle track.... outdoor moto-x track... bath house, camping etc etc etc... A little expensive for a day pass ($32), but I suppose that's the price paid for a private riding facility. A lot of the material was significantly more beginner friendly than the public OHV options, so I deemed the higher price a necessary evil, and happily paid the man.
For most of the day, I trailed my girlfriend as she tackled basic access roads and eventually a few of the 'green' trails. Her only prior riding experience was the Honda dirt MSF training facility (see http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=497120). That was earlier in the summer, so there was a little bit of remembering that needed to take place in the morning... Slow and patient pace as she recalled and put into practice what she had been taught earlier in the summer...
After lunch we shifted the focus away from service road type stuff, and onto the 'green' beginner trails. Inadvertently ended up on a blue with a decent rocky downhill section followed by a tough hill climb, but I ended up riding those sections for her.
In the last hour of daylight, I dropped her back at the car and headed out for 40 minutes of solo riding at a substantially faster pace... and it was in that last 40 minute that everything started to make sense.
I started to push harder. With an IRC GP110 dual purpose tire up front, and a Shinko 244 out back, I wasn't exactly doing myself favors where traction was concerned. The Shinko was remarkably predictable in its slides.. It was actually quite good! The IRC front, on the other hand, was being pushed far in excess of its capabilities, and repeatedly found myself in two wheel drifts as I threw myself into corners, looking for birms or ruts in which to give myself a little more traction.
The whole thing devolved into this sort of dirty version of Hunter S. Thompson faster and faster whatever, but needless to say... I'm hooked. This is in many ways just as thrilling as a hard street pace. I'm surprised how quickly I took to dirt riding, and I can't wait to go back... in fact...
Trailer is back in the garage, bikes still loaded, and ready to go on Sunday. :thumbup
:afm199
So a long time ago, I sold my SV650 and picked up a Honda XR250L that I thought was in great shape. It wasn't, and that whole thing became a "learning experience"... I never got the chance to take it 'off road' like I envisioned I would, and while there were a few cold and miserable forest service road trips, overall it was somewhat of a shitty experience. Sold it.
A VFR came, then rather regrettably went two years later went to pay for tuition... My situation improved, and along came a late model plated dirt DR350. I have/had dreams of cross country trans american trail sort of BS (which *will* eventually happen), but mostly the plan was lots of forest service road exploration in western NC, and maybe thoughts of motarding it out at some point.
Well... the motarding happened this past year. Motards are the best thing ever, and I'm not sure I'll ever want a sport bike on the street again... (Well that's probably a lie, but for <60mph, it holds true.) (See http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=501129)
But *getting* to western NC on a motard DR350 wasn't all that much fun, even with highway gearing.... so I purchased a little Harbor Freight folding trailer, and voila.. problem solved.
Well... a friend of mine was nervously struggling to come to grips with her CBR250R, so I finally convinced her to pick up an XR100 to assist in helping with developing her riding skills.
So my new-to-riding friend and I hit up Brown Mountain OHV in western NC last weekend. Truth be told, it was too much for a first time dirt rider. Lots of rocks, and drought like conditions over the last few months has the dirt akin to fine powder... Lots of sliding, but lots of fun. Even so, she had a great time even with the crashes here and there. She's a trooper! The little XR is a beast, too! From what I can gather, you can just throw it in first gear, and it'll climb up almost anything within reason - seems very beginner friendly. Here's the two of them posing in front of some of NC's finest penis shaped graffiti.
So that was fun. I got home and said to myself... Well rather than unpack everything, why don't I just leave the bikes on the trailer and stuff it all into the garage to facilitate another easy weekend of dirt bike riding? Sounded good, and so I did. This time, I threw my girlfriend in the car, and we headed an hour south down the highway to Carolina Adventure World.
Unstoppable Swedish dirt bike hauling machine in the parking lot...
Carolina Adventure World (CAW) appears to cater pretty heavily to the ATV / side by side crowd.. Trails are approximately ATV width, and traverse pine & hardwood forests. Clay and sedimentary soil mixture in the woods with 'service roads' that go from trail to trail.
Didn't take any photos, but here are a few from Google that other riders took...
They've got trails... access roads... single track... sort of double track... creek crossings..... serious hill climbs.. circle track.... outdoor moto-x track... bath house, camping etc etc etc... A little expensive for a day pass ($32), but I suppose that's the price paid for a private riding facility. A lot of the material was significantly more beginner friendly than the public OHV options, so I deemed the higher price a necessary evil, and happily paid the man.
For most of the day, I trailed my girlfriend as she tackled basic access roads and eventually a few of the 'green' trails. Her only prior riding experience was the Honda dirt MSF training facility (see http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=497120). That was earlier in the summer, so there was a little bit of remembering that needed to take place in the morning... Slow and patient pace as she recalled and put into practice what she had been taught earlier in the summer...
After lunch we shifted the focus away from service road type stuff, and onto the 'green' beginner trails. Inadvertently ended up on a blue with a decent rocky downhill section followed by a tough hill climb, but I ended up riding those sections for her.
In the last hour of daylight, I dropped her back at the car and headed out for 40 minutes of solo riding at a substantially faster pace... and it was in that last 40 minute that everything started to make sense.
I started to push harder. With an IRC GP110 dual purpose tire up front, and a Shinko 244 out back, I wasn't exactly doing myself favors where traction was concerned. The Shinko was remarkably predictable in its slides.. It was actually quite good! The IRC front, on the other hand, was being pushed far in excess of its capabilities, and repeatedly found myself in two wheel drifts as I threw myself into corners, looking for birms or ruts in which to give myself a little more traction.
The whole thing devolved into this sort of dirty version of Hunter S. Thompson faster and faster whatever, but needless to say... I'm hooked. This is in many ways just as thrilling as a hard street pace. I'm surprised how quickly I took to dirt riding, and I can't wait to go back... in fact...
Trailer is back in the garage, bikes still loaded, and ready to go on Sunday. :thumbup
arty :ride :thumbup
