Mini Bike- Mini Local Adventuring NX250 Ontario

[ArthDuro]

Hey folks this will be the home of my mini ride reports.
I say mini not to waste your time as these reports will not be nearly as exciting or awe-inspiring as the rest on this site.
This is to find a home for some of the previous posts of mine and for future adventures.

Hope you enjoy it

[ArthDuro]

Thumpers on the move - Mini Ontario Adventure

Hey gang as I said in one of my previous posts my most recent ride took
place in a beautiful area not too far from my home. One NX250 and one
CBR125R. This was a 7hr riding day of pure fun. For the purpose of a photo-
show here is a little RR.

To say a little about the place: The Trans Canada Trail
goes through this area for a reason. The Niagara escarpment
(a geographical feature responsible for Niagara falls) makes
for some really interesting roads.

There is everything from smooth pavement to really rough and rugged
pavement to long stretches of smooth and rough gravel to some tight trail
type two tracks, that wind up and down the escarpment and through the
countryside, along creeks, farms, quarries and other lovely things and places.

The properties in this area a stunning and folks living here are definitely
lucky people in my mind. Easily said, this was one of the most amazing days I had
riding all year. Because of the close proximity and quality of riding I plan to
be back here often to hone my riding skills and just enjoy the experience.

Here are a few pics from the ride:

After about and hour of riding on 80-100km/hr roads (I must say,
this does tend to get a little tasking on our bikes in high head winds)
we have arrived to the general area know as Caledon but
more precisely we are not far from the Forks of the Credit Road the Jewel of this ride.


The day was pretty chill because the sun kept being covered by little clouds
so the rest of the day was warm/cold, on and off, pretty randomly, however that didn't
affect the pleasure of the ride much.


I think even the horses were happy to see us, we certainly were happy to
see them. I love horses... And the area is simply stunning. It is hard to stop
for photos though, because the riding is simply soo much fun.



After riding for a little while we have arrived to the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park.
Which is pretty much a tiny park by Canadian standards with hiking trails
centered around a central pond. Not too much to see if you are not ready to get off the bike,
and hike around a little bit, but it is a nice destination for us to reach and take some pics of the bikes,
have our pre-packed lunch and talk about where to ride next.


The gravel roads were a blast for me, but my buddy on his CBR found them
quite hairy and I am not surprised. Kudos to his spirit though he was ready
to take to the challenge on his bicycle tires.


Damn my bike is starting to look nice, I love my bike






It really is nice here.

The next leg of the ride we wanted to head to a little farmhouse ruin we
saw the last time we were up here. On the way there some more lovely
roads, few hairy hairpins and cute, quiet towns with nice people.


Turning of the main road on to the dual track CBR undeterred


Well ok we didn't go far but still "way to go CBR!"








I kept looking further ahead on the road and decided that I will go a little
further and do my first mudhole and have some "off-road" fun


Love this photo, my NX and I getting dirty

Soon after this it was time to head back to the highway and the almost
boring ride home in comparison to the last 5 hrs.
Here are some candid shots to encapsulate the spirit of the ride.


Godly CBR shot


You can see in the reflection on the visor, I am flying at 0 km/hr


My bike looks so good now, even the paparazzi can't resist but show up


The paparazzi photo


No trip would be complete with out the little lady getting some attention


If this face doesn't sum up my feelings of that day, nothing will
The very very happy face of yours truly

Hope you enjoy it and get out there some more, summer is winding down.

[ArthDuro]

So a new installment of the NX's Ontario travels

This weekend - a thanks giving weekend here in Canada -
I covered about 800km on various fun to ride roads around there.
It was a very eventful weekend, first since I did an oil change on the bike
and added the zMax I was curious to cover some milage and see if there
would be a noticable difference and secondly because I experienced my
first "stuck on the side of the road" scenario on one of the rides.

So the story goes;

Figured out some map planing, not for the sakes of getting lost as these
rides are short and simple from the navigation perspective, but for the sakes
of finding good twisty roads and cool spots to stop and explore.
I packed my tools, spare(clear) visor, and lunch in my little bag,
taped the map to the tank, bungied everything to the rack and I was ready to go.



My travels would take me via some well known riding roads about 75km
northwest of downtown Toronto. I would spend almost 5 hrs exploring the twisty roads,
some long gravel driveways, and dirt farm field access roads.
I am a sucker for adventure so I always look for a way to get off the main
roads even if it just ends up taking me to somebody's property.

Here is a pic of the bike as I started getting close to the cool roads.
You can kinda see the Niagara Escarpment in the background.


A few of the dirt/gravel driveways I explored


The fall colours are in full blast as leaves are changing colour and falling all over the place


This was a fun (challenging little down hill bit)


Not sure if you can tell but I was really really happy


Some more interesting sites, such as this
- video surveilance on a public road - that's a first for me in Canada


On the top of this road I got of the bike super fast to try and take some pictures and when
I got back to the bike it was on the ground in a big puddle of gasoline.

I was pretty pissed, I am not sure what happened but I am suspecting the worst,
I didn't put the bike on steady enough of ground and it tipped and fell over,
likely due to the slope I left it on and the high wind.
Suddenly I was not as happy anymore.

Pick up the bike; mirror knocked off, the recently refurbished exhaust guard bent and scratched,
newly painted right side cover panel slightly scratched, bent brake pedal.
Ok take some time chill, breathe deep, ok I push the bike a little to a more comfortable spot on
the side of the road and away from all the gas.


I turn it on and try the start it but the starter just spins away, now I get even more worried.
I am 100 klicks from home, and nooo way in hell I could afford a tow.

Relax I say to myself, what can it be, the fall was not hard, it can't be that bad.
I realize that because of all the fuel it is quite possible that the carb or the engine are flooded.
So the tools are out, the side panels come off, the tank is lifted up slightly and the spark plug is out.
Oh it is wet - ok let it dry out, check the carb all looks good.

Few minutes and bunch of mosquito bites later the plug is back in and on the first click the bike starts.
Pheeeeeewww
I am feeling much better, but still kicking myself for letting this happen.
So I bend the break pedal out, put the mirror back on and
I am on my marry way feeling like I really accomplished something.

I was feeling happy again

Still loving his little bike, and the places it takes me

[ArthDuro]

grr wrote this whole thing and lost it here is attempt number 2

Eventhough I already rode about 700km this season.
I really don't have any ride reports to speak of until now,
major reason being the crappy camera that chooses when to and when
not to work on it's own random schedule.

So to continue in the spirit of the previous reports...

This ride started as a trip to work for me on a really nice warm day
first one this nice of the 2009 riding season.
The goal was to finish up at work early and then head to meet up with a bunch of ADVers at
our favorite coffee shed in a rather nice area of Caledon I wrote about before.

The bike is warmed up and ready to go.

did I mention I did a whole lot of work on her over the winter? we will save that story for another occasion

The route back an forth from work is not worth a note as it is 50km of gridlocked crap slab in the heart of the megacity.
However I thoroughly enjoyed it somehow, maybe because I was finally able to ride to work again.

Then it was finally time to head off to the cool roads, and to try and meet the gang before they all took off.

It takes a good 70 - 80km of painful, straight, heavy traffic slab riding to get to the fun stuff
but here I was, my favorite road.

this is actually a road that goes through an equestrian community
(yeep people, breed, raise and ride horses all around, what a lovely way to spend your days)

A few more from the same spot

nXraid lookin good

if you look close enough you can just barely make out a horsie in the background
(did I mention I love horses...probably)

Ok enough screwing around, I was already late, time to ride or I will miss everyone

ok well this one took some funny fence post balancing and then a quick run to the bike for a pose
heck people rarely take photos of me so I gotta do what I can while the camera is agreeing
Ride ArthDuro Ride!

ah yes so I finally make it and to my surprise everyone is still there and folks are still arriving
The NX is now in big bike company but she is still holding her own, the rider is another story


all the fellas where there and some I wasn't expecting, a great bunch of bikes
and even better group of people


bench racing and something about stuff in your teeth


some more bench racing


what and advrider does when he is missing a seat on his bike
you are my hero Motorhead!


some cool guys cool bike

Did I ever mention how fortunate I consider myself for meeting this bunch?
Man some truly amazing folks there, and heck they will go sooo far out of their way just to help my sorry ass.
Here is a funny photo that sums up a lot of these outings, we love you Doughy!

and man can that boy ride!!

That was it for bench racing and lattes, it was time to head back.
This time I followed a bunch of much more experienced riders up some roads I knew well
and to say the least I got my ass handed too me. I got a heck of a lot of learning to do.

After witnessing how much improvement my riding was in need of, I decided to go to my favorite dirt lot for some more practice.

a glory shot of the nXraid in the lot, and with a bit of dirt too

The coolest thing about the training session this time was not the dirt.
After zooming around, skidding and sliding I notice this big bird on a sign post just sitting there.
I was like "heck, that is one big bird" and when I looked closer I was stunned to see
that it was a hawk or a falcon. A bird of prey in the heart of a 2mil+ mega city!!
And it was just sitting there watching me, either for food or amusement, either way I was still blown away.
Man you just gotta love Canada for this, nothing like this happens anywhere else I have been before.
I took a photo of it that didn't turn out that well but at least I got it (thanks camera)
When I went in for a closer look it took off, but still wow.


After that I figured my good luck cards were already stacked pretty nicely for one day and it was time to head home.
The old girl worked hard today and earned herself a nice shower.

clean now, but ready to get dirty again

still loving my wee bike and the places it takes me

[ArthDuro]

a few pics from last weekend's mini adventure


gasing up with the good stuff

exploration

sights

sights

sight seeing

sight seeing

frolicking

frolicking

frolicking

still loving the wee bike and the places it takes me

[rtwdoug]

Hey Dragan!
I hope your doin good. snowin up there yet?


Doug

[ArthDuro]

hey Doug!
I am just passing the days screwing studs in my tires.
Waiting for all the snow to freeze sufficiently so I can move me and the sled dogs to a much warmer igloo.

haha but seriously no snow yet though the highs have been reaching 5 celsius this whole week. how nice ha.
Let me know when you need to test some parkas or antifreeze.

[ArthDuro]

So this was the first weekend in a quite some time that we had temps above 0C and to me that ment put the bike back together and get out there.


Even though most of the snow was melted and streets were pretty dry
once I hit the dirt road it changed pretty fast.
Super slippy on my TW's but was super fun too.
At least I got to scratch the itch a little and didn't freeze.

I had the camera out with me one day and pulled it out when it got late
hence the super crappy photos, but man what a blast







this little road looked like this most of the way
hence the zero traction environment title


but I was still happy can you tell?


still loving my wee bike and the places it takes me

[ScottFla]

That's a cool looking bike.

[Thorne]

[GB]

Spring's in the air! We should be back on two wheels earlier this year, unless the no winter winter goes out like a lion!

[ArthDuro]

indeed if march and april remain snowless
but that is fun too

should have ridden to work today, but I fly to Brazil in a few hours so no point. nice day

[alekomotto]

Wikked! I'm seriously overdue for one of these trips. Count me in on the next one!

[ArthDuro]

So it was one of those days when you just decide to sacrifice work time
and productivity for something as painful as riding
Judging by the number of bikes out on the roads there I was not the only one.

So I strapped the ol'bag to the rack got a bottle of water and some cookies and headed out to some familiar grounds. Soon we were where I like it - in hill country..



It was really nice to ride these roads in their hard packed and un-rutted state. Over the winter they were much hairier to get through.
Maintenance-Shmaintenance



one of my fav short stretches of dirt road,
cuz I can get there fast


I like going up it more then down...no wait change that to both


soon after it was time for some twisties and a quick break before heading home


now if you think of inmate handles this is pretty funny


what a great day!
still loving my wee bike and the places it takes me

[kojack]

awsome bike arthduro,

still the number one bike for my wife......