Road Report Day 1: A Trial By Fire on Peters Mill Run Trail
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It's always interesting to see yourself and the things you do through someone else's eyes.
I love riding off-road and it's so much more enjoyable with others. I'm sure there are those among my friends who are at this very moment thinking about that statement and nodding their heads, as well as thinking about all the logical aspects such as being safer with a riding buddy, help if needed on the trail, etc etc. That isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about sharing the simple joy of "playing" in the woods and the sense of personal accomplishment that comes from overcoming obstacles. As adults we tend not to allow ourselves to have real "play" time, and for some of us it's even harder as they were denied much of the opportunity for play when young. Do a little research on the importance of play, including rough play, and the benefits are clear. Plus, it's just fun.
As
Yermo mentions in his blog, I don't mind laying the bike down, IN THE DIRT. I generally seek to avoid doing the same on the street. IT's because there are a number of situations riding off-road where it's much safer and saner to just let the bike go. On our little adventure last weekend I let it go three times. Well, more accurately I let it go twice and it let me go once. In both cases it was because I was uncomfortable with where I was at, what was happening, and my options so I simply "let it go" and walked off of it. That's the beauty of dirt or trails. The speed is low and there is no pavement, plus the bikes are built for it. The third time was also my fault but the bike made the decision for me before I had arrived at a similar conclusion. When large rocks halt forward progress in an abrupt fashion, physics still happens 
Again, not a big deal. We wear equipment for a reason, this is that reason. After letting my head clear a bit, and after letting the "yips" subside, was back in the saddle and tearing up the trail. A little sore but uninjured and having a blast. I never felt uncomfortable or at risk, in one section of riding on the second day I felt that the bikes were very outside their real capabilities and made the bad mistake of not stopping us and turning us around. I knew better, my bad. Also as Yermo mentioned, I would do it all again tomorrow...and the next day.
We need more people to join us!
I love riding off-road and it's so much more enjoyable with others. I'm sure there are those among my friends who are at this very moment thinking about that statement and nodding their heads, as well as thinking about all the logical aspects such as being safer with a riding buddy, help if needed on the trail, etc etc. That isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about sharing the simple joy of "playing" in the woods and the sense of personal accomplishment that comes from overcoming obstacles. As adults we tend not to allow ourselves to have real "play" time, and for some of us it's even harder as they were denied much of the opportunity for play when young. Do a little research on the importance of play, including rough play, and the benefits are clear. Plus, it's just fun.
As
Yermo mentions in his blog, I don't mind laying the bike down, IN THE DIRT. I generally seek to avoid doing the same on the street. IT's because there are a number of situations riding off-road where it's much safer and saner to just let the bike go. On our little adventure last weekend I let it go three times. Well, more accurately I let it go twice and it let me go once. In both cases it was because I was uncomfortable with where I was at, what was happening, and my options so I simply "let it go" and walked off of it. That's the beauty of dirt or trails. The speed is low and there is no pavement, plus the bikes are built for it. The third time was also my fault but the bike made the decision for me before I had arrived at a similar conclusion. When large rocks halt forward progress in an abrupt fashion, physics still happens Again, not a big deal. We wear equipment for a reason, this is that reason. After letting my head clear a bit, and after letting the "yips" subside, was back in the saddle and tearing up the trail. A little sore but uninjured and having a blast. I never felt uncomfortable or at risk, in one section of riding on the second day I felt that the bikes were very outside their real capabilities and made the bad mistake of not stopping us and turning us around. I knew better, my bad. Also as Yermo mentioned, I would do it all again tomorrow...and the next day. We need more people to join us!
I, "unintentionally", tried to help with that last call for others to join us:
He seemed to like it. I'll let 
jpcfjr give his impressions. (Unfortunately, he had to leave otherwise I would have taken him to the gravel pit to let him play in the dirt a bit.)
BTW, the speed triple is a blast.
jpcfjr give his impressions. (Unfortunately, he had to leave otherwise I would have taken him to the gravel pit to let him play in the dirt a bit.)BTW, the speed triple is a blast.
I cannot lie (ok, there's a good one), the DR is a BLAST! I would have incredible fun with that thing off pavement but on pavement it comports itself quite well. I was pleasantly surprised at the cornering capability. I would not hesitate to have one in my stable...if I wasn't buying a boat, if I hadn't just bought the Speed Triple, if I wanted to get divorced, Etc.
BTW, 
rshaug, do you enjoy mellow trail riding? What surprised me was the amount of granite debris on those trails. Those rocks were just nuts. It was fun but scary. I hear ya with regard to falling down, but on those trails I'd venture to say falling down might be worse than pavement given all the sharp edges.
The kind of riding I did as a kid was much more mellow. I'd put along trails and go exploring. They were dirt paths, power line trails and occasional gravel but nothing at all like what we experienced over the weekend. Yesterday, after parting company with Josh I decided to blow off a day of coding and see if I could find some of the places I used to ride. It was such a beautiful day so I spent almost all of it doing what I did as a kid.
For years, I talked about this simply huge beaver damn I had come across on a ride one day. It spanned an entire gulley and was at least 6 feet high. I had always wondered if any remnants of it could possibly remain. So I put some effort in and after quite a bit of trial and error, I actually found the spot where it had been and to my great surprise there was still a dam there! Instead of one if was now a system of much shallower dams that extended out past the gulley into the field. One could still see remnants of the old huge damn.
Not wanting to go back to work, I headed North to see if I could find the gravel pits Duncan and I used to go 4x4ing in. The area has changed dramatically and they are in the process of developing it so all this will soon be gone, probably falling victim to another godawful subdivision. There are still good trails here and some are challenging. One of the things I've noticed is that the nature of the trails has changed. There are some that I would never consider trying. My guess is off-road technology has just improved so much enabling these kids to do things that we, on our 70's and 80's vintage dirt bikes would never dream of.
I described a hill to Rob that I once successfully managed to climb against my better judgement. It was very similar to this hill, note the vertical face at the top covered in roots. Yea, no. I did not attempt this.
rshaug, do you enjoy mellow trail riding? What surprised me was the amount of granite debris on those trails. Those rocks were just nuts. It was fun but scary. I hear ya with regard to falling down, but on those trails I'd venture to say falling down might be worse than pavement given all the sharp edges. The kind of riding I did as a kid was much more mellow. I'd put along trails and go exploring. They were dirt paths, power line trails and occasional gravel but nothing at all like what we experienced over the weekend. Yesterday, after parting company with Josh I decided to blow off a day of coding and see if I could find some of the places I used to ride. It was such a beautiful day so I spent almost all of it doing what I did as a kid.
For years, I talked about this simply huge beaver damn I had come across on a ride one day. It spanned an entire gulley and was at least 6 feet high. I had always wondered if any remnants of it could possibly remain. So I put some effort in and after quite a bit of trial and error, I actually found the spot where it had been and to my great surprise there was still a dam there! Instead of one if was now a system of much shallower dams that extended out past the gulley into the field. One could still see remnants of the old huge damn.
I described a hill to Rob that I once successfully managed to climb against my better judgement. It was very similar to this hill, note the vertical face at the top covered in roots. Yea, no. I did not attempt this.
rshaug oh, and before I forget to mention it, the IMS tank is strongly recommended. We chew up a huge amount of fuel off-road. I ran into reserve after only 150 miles. On that first tank I averaged only 36.5 mpg and that included quite a bit of highway miles.I'm going to be curious to see what your mileage is given stock jetting, exhaust and gearing.
Yermo I love trail riding, those look awesome. But I think we'll have to do that hill; it looks fine and it's just dirt, branches, and stuff so doesn't hurt too badly when you land on it Fuel economy rock climbing=terrible. No way around it when spending a lot of WOT time in first and second gear. I figure if I ever get to the point where I'm making riding decisions based on that I'll get that new Honda NC, I think it gets something like 1,000MPG. That or a Royal Enfield. All joking aside I've never even thought to check mileage when doing any off-road, just used the fill it when empty method
.The photo doesn't do it justice. The last 2 feet or so are vertical or beyond. It would be a challenge, but I can take you there if you like. (It's a little challenging to get to since they really seem to not want people back there ...)
My concern with fuel economy is really just focused on the trip. It's good to have a rough idea of range if we end up going over rough terrain so we can estimate fuel stops and the like. I would recommend getting the larger tank for the trip. It's working out pretty well.
I am starting to look into suspension options. I have a feeling I'm likely going to replace the rear shock with something better and upgrade the front end. After considering the weight of the gear I'm going to be carrying, or possibly carrying a passenger once I get those passenger pegs from you ;), I just can't see this suspension being adequate.
My concern with fuel economy is really just focused on the trip. It's good to have a rough idea of range if we end up going over rough terrain so we can estimate fuel stops and the like. I would recommend getting the larger tank for the trip. It's working out pretty well.
I am starting to look into suspension options. I have a feeling I'm likely going to replace the rear shock with something better and upgrade the front end. After considering the weight of the gear I'm going to be carrying, or possibly carrying a passenger once I get those passenger pegs from you ;), I just can't see this suspension being adequate.
Not yet. I'll play with that first before making any larger changes. It's just that I've been doing more reading online and I'm seeing more and more references to the stock DR suspension just being inadequate. We'll see.