[dsn_klr650] digest number 314
Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2000 6:48 am
Claude,
This story remind you of someone? The older you get the smoother you
are.
Happy Birthday!!
Twistin, BMWzzzing
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Message: 13
Date: Tue, 4 Jul 2000 00:02:33 -0600
From: "Dennis Angus"
Subject: nklr-old people [long]
Just did a two day full dress trip to the local mountains. I stopped on
a
10000 ft ridge trying to cure a mild case of monkey butt. About the time
I
took my e-map out to figure my location, a sport bike came up the hill
like
he was late for a promise. I started down the hill and five miles or so
later that same bike passed me. The road was mostly curves, I figured I
could catch him. Not a chance. The next town I hooked up with a friend.
We
rode to the only store and gas station and just as we were leaving that
same
rider pulled up to the pump. He got off his bike and took off his
helmet.
The gentleman had to be 70 or older. White hair, a face like a topo map,
and
as he walked towards the store he had the gait old people get from years
of
physical labor, a bent over shuffle. I told my friend he had passed me
and
he is an excellent rider. He told me that the old boy raise's cattle,
the
motorcycle is his summer diversion. He wasn't sure but he figured that
he is
73. I was amazed this old timer, dressed in full leather road gear and
on a
bike an 18 year old would kill for, could be such a skillful rider.
Good lesson here. Never let the kid in you grow old and always leave
room to
learn. Opinions are nice but leave some room for change when it dawns on
you, "you're wrong."
DAngus
A-11
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When I first got my KLR, My father, my then-15-year old nephew and I went up
near Abbeville, SC to ride in the NFS rec area there on some enduro trails. As it
happened, they had been throughly chewed up by a 50-bike enduro through there
earlier that morning, this after a heavy rain the night before. Also, that part of
SC is close enough to the Georgia line for certain geophysical characteristics to
bleed over, first among these being the infamous Georgia Red Clay. On top of all
this, the trails were so poorly marked we ended up running them backwards. All
the makings of a catastropy were in place.
And so it was. At least for me, anyway. I dumped my brand-new KLR about six
times and demolished both mirrors as its heavy weight (compounded by a full tank
of gas...doh!), Godawful Dunlop OEM tires and lithium grease-like mud made the
going absolutly miserable. Neither my nephew or I had any dirt experience to speak
of so even though he was running a Honda TL250 Reflex trials bike, he faired only
a little better. At least it was easier to pick up.
And my dad? He was on a Yamaha SR250 street bike, a freakin' *cruiser* no
less, with no suspention travel in the rear, spindly little forks up front and
hard old Cheng Shin street tires on both ends. How many times did he go down, you
ask? Not once. He was 60 at the time and had so much time in the saddle riding
Sporsters and crap like that in mud and dirt that he just 'ed
right through it all with hardly a problem. It was amazing.
Experience rules.