Sensational fall weather riding

The weather was just too nice to be at work-- sunny and 20 degrees Celcius is unseasonably warm for the end of October so I arranged for a day off.

John had confirmed he'd be riding with me and whoever else we could con into coming with us. I conned Steve, and Dave, but Dave had a legitimate excuse to bail at the last minute. Then, John announced he was going to ride his Honda street bike with some others from the Manypause gang instead of some offroad riding with us . You see, John really doesn't like to get his KTM dirty. He pretends that it doesn't bother him, but we all know it really does. 

All in all, it was a very nice ride. Some gravel roads, some double track, some fairly easy single track, some mud, some water. A little bit of everything. We even ran into John and his large entourage of street riders at Munford's Restaurant in Calabogie.

We ran into a group of more than a dozen Manypause
road riders, who were also enjoying the nice weather.

Steve and I stopped to check out 

this old shell of a log building

At this spot, we got off the bikes to investigate 

the water. Quite a swampy area with a 

beaver dam, and lots of soft, deep mud.

Here's some video from the day. If you watch 

through 'till the end, you'll see me ride off into 

the rhubarb... careless riding because I was 

focussed on my GPS instead of watching the 

road ahead. I ultimately decided to just skid 

straight into the run-off because it was open 

and flat, having been recently bush-whacked. 

Sunday worship

While many people attend church services on Sundays, true dualsport enthusiasts prefer to worship double-track pathways, dirt roads, water crossings, and forest trails. And some pussies just stay home.

Yes, as always, there were a few no-shows --- you know, the usual cowardly, wimpy-wuss girlies who like to sleep in, spending a lazy Sunday morning doing the crossword puzzle in bed with their decaf soy latté and a lemon scone. One whiner even claimed he couldn't ride because he was on antibiotics....oh, puh--leeze. The others --too cowardly to respond to their emails-- knew they'd be subject to relentless public ridicule -- choosing instead to just not show up.

And then, there are the regulars... the reliable, dedicated, hardcore dualsport pundits who truly enjoy riding, and who won't let weather, poor health, old age, arthritis, or even antibiotics keep them from going for a nice Sunday ride in gorgeous fall weather. Amen.

We gathered for shitty coffee at Tim Horton's

...then we stopped to get rid of the coffee

lunch consisted of sausages and fries in Merrickville

Stopped to chat with some dirt bikers who were riding in circles in a gravel pit. 

Since their bikes aren't road legal, they are confined to riding in small, closed off areas 

like this. Fun, but only for a few minutes. With a street legal dualsport bike, the big 

advantage is that you can connect unlimited trails using paved roads.

Check out the dog that was chasing the bikes around the 25 second mark. 

He appeared from the swamp and ran after Dave and Steve for at least 

a quarter mile, with John following him for some time. Finally, John 

blasted by, scaring him with the roar from the big KTM's muffler.

And while we had a terrific ride, here's a photo for the pussies who didn't come. 

This is what  a real dualsport rider looks like, taking real antibiotics. 

Silly intravenous pumps only keep pussies from riding. 

Oral antibiotics? I push those tiny pills into my bike's valve stems to use as Dynabeads

pumps, tubes, antibiotics... makes a stronger rider.

OMG !!!  Look at that crazy dude! He's like the Incredible Hulk!

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

Thanksgiving weekend ride

So....all the pussy-wussy, rain-fearing, noodle-armed, yellow-bellied marmots who call themselves Manypausers decided to remain in the comfort of their warm beds this morning, wearing silk pyjamas and wrapped in a pink cotton candy fleece snuggy as they spooned a lavender potpourri-scented body pillow, dreaming of kittens and unicorns.

Turns out that Dave and I are the only true hardcore dualsport riders of the bunch. We're not afraid of rain clouds, and we have no problem getting up early in the morning if the day is to be spent exploring logging roads, forest trails, and sand pits. As it happened, since we were the only two who actually paid attention to the weather forecast -- we didn't get rained on. Other than a little road spray from other vehicles while enroute to the meeting point, the roads were dry, and the sky was pretty clear for most of the day. We even saw the sun on several occasions.

While we didn't see any rain, we did find plenty of mud puddles and water holes, so yes, we did get very wet in the end.

Single tracks, double tracks, Shit, dawg! We even rode some triple tracks. Well, suck it bitches! You missed a great ride.

We stopped for lunch in Merrickville.

We ain't afraid of no cross bull.

Flat tire

Planned on a dirt ride with Hosebag last week, but within 1/2 mile of leaving the house, I managed to get a flat tire on the WR.  Luckily, I have two bikes so it was just a matter of going home and swapping bikes for the day. When I got home that afternoon, though, I pulled the tire and installed a new tube.

I hate changing tires, but I've done it enough times that I can get the job done in about 30 minutes.

Here's the culprit... a 1 1/2" nail. 

Funny how I rode a thousand miles of mountain passes in Colorado on

this tire, with about 15psi, over a million sharp, jagged rocks without any

flats, but I ride over one stupid, small nail on the street 2 blocks from my house...

I don't like riding on patched tubes, so I just put the punctured 4.5-5.10x18

MSR Ultra Heavy Duty tube in the basement to be kept as a spare. I went 

ahead and installed a new 100/100x18 Kenda Tuff Tube. It was much easier to fit

inside the tire.  For reference, the tire is a 120/90x18 Dunlop D606 street legal knobby. 

It currently has about 1,500 miles on it (over 1/2 of those was offroad riding in Colorado). 

A couple of photos of the ride we did while the WR 

stayed at home with the flat tire.

T'was a great day for a ride.

my faithful DR is always ready to ride, and never lets me down.

Powerful, comfortable, reliable, and versatile. But porky on single track trails.

Supermotocross de Montréal

Saturday, Sept. 29th  was the Supermotocross de Montréal and it was the 3rd year in a row that I have attended. Not a bad night out. For the last 2 years, I've brought the wife and 3 kids along to Montreal and get a room at the fancy-schmancy Fairmont Queen Elizabeth Hotel. Because I travel so much for work, I get a pretty good discount. My wife and two of the kids hung out at the hotel for the evening while I took my 10 year old daughter to see the races. My wife and the other 2 kids have no interest in going to see the races, preferring instead to enjoy the hotel's pool and room service.

Pretty good seats for $45 each. The event is always held at the Olympic Stadium. After the first couple of quad ATV and side-by-side races, we moved down a bit closer after we spotted a bunch of empty seats. 

12 year old kid got hurt about 3 seconds into the 1st junior race, 

fighting for the holeshot he went over the bars and got run over. 

Nice eye candy, as expected.

More eye candy

my daughter sporting a new face tatoo

Track marshals took turns posing with the hotties during intermission

Freestyle competition is always fun to watch