Trenton Rally

Here is a pic of the bike which died being pushed out of the water.
A shorted battery apparently.

It'd help if I actually included the pic...

Here is one from the other side, for scale, depth, etc...

This thing seems to lose the attachment if you preview????

pre-ride, my steed front and centre...

The oil change tent, a popular site.
Did my first oil change!

The tent and I, settling in.
Rally site in background...

Is this one of you guys?
Just a snap of a rider on the trail...

Ducky,

So THAT was you! I do owe you several beers for your help-many, many, many thanks.

Believe it or not, we found the TX kid's bag after only about 5 minutes of searching. He was really happy, and pledged that I wouldn't be buying any of my own beer that night. Funny, I never saw him again after we got back to camp. . .

BTW, that water section was a lot easier when I didn't ride over my head. When we went back to look for the bag, we were taking it slow, and it was actually fairly easy. I gotta quit trying to keep up with the fast guys, I guess!

Robin

Hell I was there wearing my ADVrider shirt on thursday looking to stir up shit with the bmwrt.com people.

R_Crabbb....naw does mean any such thing...just that ya don't give up......

You both deserved to be in that group...you both did a fine job and if you read my personal quote...Well all fall sooner or later...I just happen to like later alittle better..lol


Glad it all worked out regarding the TX kids bag..... Funny you say you couldn't find him again because I also looked for him and he seemed to fall off the face of Canada after he got back... Was really looking to throwing back a few cold Labatts Blue ....after I took a paint scraper to my face to remove the soot from that R/R dust....

Nice pics all... Glad to hear Arbey is up and around. Youth is good for something

Greg

Thanks for the kind words ducky!
I started out unsure about a lot of things re. riding on dirt, and have to confess to a couple of foot draggers in the first sandy sections. The guy in front of me kept standing up, but he also kept falling over. Not really encouraging...
I have a lot of mountain bike experience, but it took a while to get used to the (large and many) differences.
I broke the back wheel loose many times before I got used to "power on demand", and the fact that you can use the engine for braking while descending loose surfaces was a revelation (much better than my original "grab brake lever" reflex. (this tends to work better when the right brake lever is your rear brake)
All in all, a very good learning experience.

Shazam

Hey we all have to start somewhere.......I always believe you jump in with both feet and then learn how to swim...of course I am from Southern NJ and we are alittle backwards down here in the Pine Barrens..lol I figure if ya don't swim ya sink...but at least ya tried....and from what I saw ya swam just fine....

Looking forward to next years ride in WV and in fact I will be doing an off road trek down there to scope out next years GS ride.....I may suggest a 2 hour GS (dirt riding) school at MOA next year the first day there so the inexperienced can at least enjoy most of the ride without the death grip and dangly leg syndrom under sandy conditions...

If you guys ever get over this way drop me an email and I will show you around the Pinelands and our fine white sugar sand trails....we have over 800,000 acres just waiting to be played in....

what do you mean ... youth!!!! 45 going on 60 from a physical perspective ... but 45 going on 25 from an attitude perspective.

We can make the difference!!!

Ducky,

I think the dirt riding school is a fantastic idea. During the early part of the ride, I saw WAY too many people drop their feet the first time they saw sand. A natural reaction, but people don't realize how much control you lose, and that you're putting your leg in harm's way. Got stuck behind two guys (French, maybe?) who were getting more mileage from their shoe leather than their tires. One of them dropped the bike because of it, too.

Talking to some of the guys I rode up with, one of whom went on the GS ride (mandarin orange GS, he and another guy were lost, and the faster group caught up with them just after the marsh), and they lamented that they just didn't have the background to be confident in the dirt. One guy I rode up with didn't go on the ride because of this lack of experience/confidence. The class you're talking about would be a lot less intimidating to people than the whole GS ride, and might encourage them to cross over to the dusty side. . .

I definitely plan to go to the GS ride in Charleston next year. If you would like any assistance in putting together this "dirt school," I'd be happy to help out in whatever way I'm able. I forget if my e-mail is in the sig line, but it's r_crabb@yahoo.com if you don't find it elsewhere.

Cheers,

Robin