Adventure in Ohio?

Yup, got my phone, thanks for pointing me out.

And yes, all you Katoom riders look alike. Orange, with some black....there were only 150 of you there not like I'd have any trouble picking you out.

That would be me. Nice to have breakfast with you Mike.

Sorry I forgot your name, should remember Gabby, it was the nick-name of my neighbor and dad's co-worker growing up.



I need to get south more, I have a yearly permit for Wayne so maybe someday we can meet up for a ride

I hadn't gotten around to pulling the pics off my phone til I saw your post...so I'll jump in here with my take. First off, thanks again to Swingset (aka Craig) for creating the route in the first place...and to Steve for letting me ride one of his bikes again.

speaking of the bike, its an 09 Kawi Sherpa 250, as seen here:



cant remember what road this was taken on, but Steve was busy GPSing trying to make sure we were still on route...meanwhile, I circled back 100 feet or so and took this picture of some guys shed made up to look like a dugout. Must be a big Cleveland Indians fan, coz I remember see a couple other Indians things in the yard.

Anyway, the bike: when I threw my leg over it at Steve's at 715 am saturday morning...she had 58 miles on the odo....when we got back she had 281...big day for a new bike...and for my ass as well...yowch...anyway, for a bike utterly unfarkled or modded in any way, she did alright. Very capable bike in stock fettle. Took everything we tossed her way (mostly pavement and gavel) and kept asking for more. And more we kept giving her. The section of Swingsets route called BBA Optional 3 was a real treat and challenge for both of us:

(cant control how the RWGPS maps come up...but for a better view of this section, zoom in a bit and click on the drop-menu in the upper right corner for the satellite view)

<iframe src="http://ridewithgps.com/routes/518798/embed" frameborder="0" height="500px" width="100%"></iframe>

it started off as some nice dirt two track...but quickly degenerated into not much more than a path through the grasses/weeds/bushes....only semi difficult because the overgrowth hid many of the holes and ruts...there were a few mudholes that were no problem but prolly would have been horrendous 6 or 8 weeks ago when it was still wet. but the real fun was still to come... the last mile or so of this section was uphill most of the way...fairly steep uphill and pretty much gnarly, rocky, and rutted and I cant wait to take the XR up there and ride it again. sorry, no pics but maybe Craig has some he can toss in here. But I'll hand it to the Sherpa that she handled it with aplomb. I never thought I was gonna get stuck or not have the grunt to make it...in fact, I'm pretty sure I did the whole climb in 3rd, then 2nd gear...never had to resort to 1st gear tractoring....Steve on the KTM just blasted up it, of course.

The Sherpa does have some flaws, like all bikes. The stock suspension is pretty much gooey-soft...needs some major stiffening, particularly up front...and I found the brakes adequate, but only just. another disc up front would make them grab the way they really should. And of course, given its gearing and carb tune, its not going anywhere in a hurry...but it does go, and even stock it is capable of hitting 70 mph (as indicated on the LED speedo). It does feel kind of...um...light, like maybe I wasnt in complete contact with the road surface...at 70 though, so I dont recommend such speeds. Steve got the bike for his son to learn to ride on, and as such I highly recommend it as a very good starter bike. Capable both on and off road and very nimble handling...the boy should have many happy hours aboard the Sherpa.

here's my pics of the bridge from Steve's post:



we discussed riding across the bridge, as it was sturdy enough, but decided that since the big crosspiece was intact on the other side, thus requiring us to come right back, there wasnt any point.



here's Steve trying to come to grips with his GPS (we all know this feeling, right?) about mid-ride:



now, not to get all political, but here's part of whats wrong with America, in my opinion...even an itty-bitty country cemetery has a big-ass list of rules....



anyway, we had a good long ride, with an excellent lunch stop at Jack Havanna's in Zanesville, where we consumed some tasty bbq wings and pork shanks and, even more welcomed, some nice cold beers to wash the dust from our throats...

and yeah, for some reason, every dog we saw lit out after Steve like he was a rolling slab of pork ribs, to which he would reply with a serious burst of KTM acceleration...but after failing to catch him, they barely glanced my way as I putted past on the Sherpa....the last two, a pair of hound dogs who were in perfect position to nail me from both sides, just looked at me as I blatted slowly around the corner towards them...strange...but I attribute it to my ultra cool personality

Speaking of the Bootleg, here's a few photos from the Caveman section I took. Just photos for now, man it was hot, I don't know how some of those guys kept going.




















I'll try to get videos up tomorrow.

:eek1:eek1:eek1

:eek1 Kept going, I don't know how they started going on that!

The heat's why I bailed out of the caveman sections.

I wonder how many people actually tried those sections? I did 1 & 2 and something called a bunny trail which weren't bad for someone with skill but for anyone lacking confidence, or crappy tires, they were a nightmare. There were very few tire tracks when I did go through them. Section 3 started the real hard stuff which was those rocks. I started section 3 when I dabbed off a rock with nothing to touch down on except what was 30" below me. So I had to bail leaving the bike upside down (to which I believe there is video evidence of). When I picked the bike up sweat was pouring out of ever pore in my body and my eyes were burning from it so I just hit the road to cool down.

I didn't even attempt the caveman sections, kudos to the guys that did.

For someone of my age and skill it's a game of diminishing returns. I look at a giant rock pile and think "self, is there something on the other side of those rocks that's so glorious I need to ride over them for? What's that? A t-shirt if I succeed? Fuck that, t-shirts are really really cheap and a broken fibula is not."

Yeah, there's the satisfaction thing....but I got really satisfied when I conquered Super Mario Brothers. I'm fine with not riding over a huge pile of rocks at this point in my life.

Hopefully our ride to vintage days will be a little less gruesome.

You aren't that old, though I did notice AARP members did seem to outnumber those without gray hair.

[Indiana Jones] It ain't the years, it's the mileage [/Indiana Jones]

Even when I was younger I never really rode with any discipline or training, just jumped on in total ignorance and rode...never had the money or connections to learn offroad by anyone that knew what they were doing, so I never even tried anything that required trials skills, and my bike was utterly inappropriate for it. I paid for that naivete too, 25 years later I still have lingering shoulder stingers and knee issues from wrecking when I was a teenager.

Coming back to it so much later in life, it's hard to instill that skill set without a learning curve that involves some broken stuff (me and the bike). I look at some things like that and think "Yeah, if I wasn't worried about going to work Monday, I would do it". And, that's true, I know I have the physical ability to do that stuff but I'm not ready for the damage. In a chicken shit way, just knowing I could and would if things were different is kinda enough for me.

I reviewed all my video and it looks like I won't have anything worthy of submitting to Americas Funniest Home Video, so there goes my $10k.


Mike there were several people who got to the last section and decided their skid plate was worth more than a t-shirt. There was one guy who did an endo off the table rock close to the end and went into the ditch with the bike coming down on top of him.:eek1 He was okay but with all the trees all the photo shows is a blue spot between a background of green and brown.
I'm a little sun burned today so it will be a good day to stay inside and get video up on You tube from the ride.

does that mean you dont have me falling off the first rock on video
didnt get to see anyone for long, had to preride and check arrows
that was a shit load of great single track
hope you guys had fun

You were at Swingset's ride last Saturday? I assume you were the guy out front with Swingset and Sean? I was there on my black DL650 with TKCs.

You need to get your 250 out to our trails at the property. 50 minute lap times for the AA enduro guys for the 12.5 mile single track loop.

Oh no, I got you and your little theatric bow afterwards. Very classic

The caveman section looks like some of the trials sections I used to ride.:huh I would try it with a trials bike,but I don't think I could pull the front wheel high enough on the 426 to even start. I rode a section like that,not as big rocks,on the last GNCC I raced on my Quad. It was easier after the first lap, but when I came to that section the first time, I thought what kind of sick MFer would put this in a race track.

Alright, fuck this. I'm tired of missing these good dual sports and I'm tired of working like a dog every weekend (granted, a dog that lies around and does nothing, but a dog nonetheless).

Knobs on order for the WR. 1 - size smaller front sprocket on order. Firming up the suspension for my fat ass. Medical insurance updated. Sick leave request pre-formatted.

When's the next one?

Also, the rock garden shot was not the motivation for this.

From what I saw, most of that stuff was well above even the hardened riders abilities and I know I'd probably have broken either my bike or my freshly repaired lower back. I've seen you ride and I doubt you'd been killed or mamed on the 1st 2 sections or the bunny trail.

But I was the same way when I started riding, jumped in alone on a '79 XL125. 2 years later and 3 days after I had my own insurance, I entered the Bear Creek 100 and the only way I got a trophy was because I didn't give up and attrition moved me up the leader board.





After that it has been all downhill wasting dollar after dollar wearing out bikes. I did learn two things that people told me years ago, slow down to go fast (or practice it slow before trying it fast) and practice the most what you suck at the most. The last one ended up being the most fun I had over the years.

I took a year off from racing in '89 when I unloaded my 250EXC and FT500 and bought my Transalp the morning of my ACL replacement. I watched as many videos as I could during that time from guys like Bailey, Glover and others. After I was healed up I borrowed a bike and without any practice, entered a scamble and started on the back row. I kept reminding myself the video techniques and I actually rid myself of many bad habits. (many, not all ) In a race where I'd normally struggled to go fast, always out of control and totally exausted, I eased my way through the pack to a 2nd place finish and wasn't even remotely as tired. The next evening, I bought a new (used) 250 from Dirt Works.

I still enjoy attempting the hard way around or over obstacles, more to make sure I still can when the time arises!!

Unless their frail and weak, people are never too old to learn (not just riding), most people are just too damn stubborn. Many of my friends over the years only wanted to ride and never take time to practice anything. One dumped litterally thousands into a bike that he couldn't ride. Every week, last in the C class so he'd try to make it faster with cash. He quit to go drag racing, a sport where money rules!