Gelande Strasse!
With my return to the 'real world', and the Pacific Northwest GS Rally now behind me, I'm left with a plethora of swirling daydreams of global circumnavigation, a new set of dirt riding skills with which I need practice, an affirmation that this particular motorcycle is without a doubt the most capable adventure motorcycle ever made.. by anyone.. ever, and more pressingly, a feverish desire to get some sleep!
The following are some of the visual records I've returned with, and some description and commentary will follow in the coming days..
Little did Alisa and I know that we bought almost exactly the same bike!.. The farkles vary a bit between the two, but it's pretty funny that we ended up with these..
While Alisa went through the Jimmy Lewis off road clinic, I went out to Long Beach for my own private little sand-riding clinic.
Here's the man himself, Jimmy Lewis, demonstrating how it's done.
Man, he's good.
..and Alisa testing her skills on the figure 8
She scored a new (used) tire and we got a private session in field tire swapping. I'll be changing my own tires from now on ;)
(and if you're worried about balancing,, check out Dynabeads.. cool stuff.
Alisa and I in the 'novice' session on friday.. dirt riding is, in many ways, completely opposite from what we have been taught and practice on the street..
The man, Wayne, of South Sound BMW, explaining the next obstacle..
Plenty of people "got off" their bikes this weekend.. this one happened after locking up the front coming off of the logs..
..at the novice clinic..
They dont look like much from this angle, but that's the log obstacle.. three logs to ride over at the same time.. the fasster you go, the smoother it is.. and if you goose it just a bit to unload the fron end right beforehand, you can even avoid any front tire contact all together ;) We're not sure, but Alisa and I both think that we had at least one run in which wee essentially wheelied over the logs..
The baddest HP2 on the planet. 'nough said.
..crossing the sound...
..and another..
.. The GSs once again...
The other part of the novice clinic that I have no photographic record of was the skid control section.. picture the gravel forest road with an upwards cliff to one side, a downwards cliff on the other, and intentionally locking up the rear at about 20mph going downhill... fun stuff. 20 doesn't sounds very fast, but gravel is like riding on marbles.. they just keep rolling with you so it takes a good bit to get a 600 pound bike stopped. Gets a bit squirrelly and the rear end starts to go sideways, but the same principle applies.. just look where ou want to go, not where you want to crash.. I think my longest skid was at least 25 feet or so..
Great weekend and can't wait for the next!.. also can't wait to get some knobbies on the GS to further enhance my new set of off road riding skills ;)
By the way, I also watched a presesntation by Mike Paull of Globe Riders, and had breakfast with him the next morning.. if you don't know who he is, check out Globe Riders on the net.. these guys (he and the infamous Helge Pedersen) have ridden just about everywhere there is to ride. Sadly, though, Mike is now limited to his custom GS/sidecar rig as he lost a leg in a drunk driver crash in Russia a few years ago.
'Till next time..
The following are some of the visual records I've returned with, and some description and commentary will follow in the coming days..
Little did Alisa and I know that we bought almost exactly the same bike!.. The farkles vary a bit between the two, but it's pretty funny that we ended up with these..
While Alisa went through the Jimmy Lewis off road clinic, I went out to Long Beach for my own private little sand-riding clinic.
Here's the man himself, Jimmy Lewis, demonstrating how it's done.
Man, he's good.
..and Alisa testing her skills on the figure 8
She scored a new (used) tire and we got a private session in field tire swapping. I'll be changing my own tires from now on ;)
(and if you're worried about balancing,, check out Dynabeads.. cool stuff.
Alisa and I in the 'novice' session on friday.. dirt riding is, in many ways, completely opposite from what we have been taught and practice on the street..
The man, Wayne, of South Sound BMW, explaining the next obstacle..
Plenty of people "got off" their bikes this weekend.. this one happened after locking up the front coming off of the logs..
..at the novice clinic..
They dont look like much from this angle, but that's the log obstacle.. three logs to ride over at the same time.. the fasster you go, the smoother it is.. and if you goose it just a bit to unload the fron end right beforehand, you can even avoid any front tire contact all together ;) We're not sure, but Alisa and I both think that we had at least one run in which wee essentially wheelied over the logs..
The baddest HP2 on the planet. 'nough said.
..crossing the sound...
..and another..
.. The GSs once again...
The other part of the novice clinic that I have no photographic record of was the skid control section.. picture the gravel forest road with an upwards cliff to one side, a downwards cliff on the other, and intentionally locking up the rear at about 20mph going downhill... fun stuff. 20 doesn't sounds very fast, but gravel is like riding on marbles.. they just keep rolling with you so it takes a good bit to get a 600 pound bike stopped. Gets a bit squirrelly and the rear end starts to go sideways, but the same principle applies.. just look where ou want to go, not where you want to crash.. I think my longest skid was at least 25 feet or so..
Great weekend and can't wait for the next!.. also can't wait to get some knobbies on the GS to further enhance my new set of off road riding skills ;)
By the way, I also watched a presesntation by Mike Paull of Globe Riders, and had breakfast with him the next morning.. if you don't know who he is, check out Globe Riders on the net.. these guys (he and the infamous Helge Pedersen) have ridden just about everywhere there is to ride. Sadly, though, Mike is now limited to his custom GS/sidecar rig as he lost a leg in a drunk driver crash in Russia a few years ago.
'Till next time..
posted by Dude at 10:10 PM
3 Comments:
The GS's look good man! Wish I was there!
Sweet - Looks like you had so much fun.
Man that looks like fun! Not sure if you know, but Mid-O has some fairly nice trails back in the woods behind the "camping" grounds. Ravine crossings, over fallen trees, uphill/downhill, all under a thick Ohio forest canopy. The sl100 led me right to them. I'm sure that the GS would be a blast back there, perhaps you'd like to try your hand at observed trails? You could do it two-up on your bike! I can't wait to go back, this time wearing more than shorts/sneakers and with maybe less beer in me. And it's probably time to invest in an off road helmet. And gloves. And boots. And goggles. etc.
-mark
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