Hey Gang!
What a weekend... For those of use that attended the WDSRC Dual-Sport
Ride (The Seminole Wind) Saturday in Florida's beautiful Ocala National
Forest, we owe Swampy a big round of applause for putting on one heck of
a event.
When I returned home Saturday night a friend of mine asked
me to tell him about the ride. Well I was very tired and sore so I
summed it up like this "Sand, sand, sand, sand, Tree (more on this
latter), and more sand!".
After mounting up my new Pirelli MT21s Friday afternoon I
headed out to meet up with Bill Whalen (SandShark). We arrived at the
camp site simultaneously, around 7PM Friday night. We didn't waste to
much time setting up camp and filling our bellies with some grub 'cause
we wanted to hit the trails for some night riding. I really enjoy
riding at night, especially on a night like this one with the cool clear
skies filled with millions of stars. After about 1-1/2 hours of trying
to get lost in the dark forest we realized that we need to head back, to
get a good night sleep in preparation for tomorrow's ride.
Saturday morning... Awake at the crack of dawn. While having
breakfast we watched as trailer load after trailer load of bikes roll
into the camp ground. Everything from a '74 Yamaha 250 to brand new KTM
640. We were surprised to be the only KLR 650s there. ???
After a brief riders meeting we were off. I think Swampy looked for
every sand trap he could find in the forest then laid out the route so
that we would hit everyone of them twice.
Just joking, yet there was
a lot of sand. Ocala is a lot of SAND! I don't remember how long the
first loop was, I only remember them saying that it was about 80 miles
to the lunch stop so this was my first goal.
After lunch I'll set
my next goal. I don't think anyone went away hungry after having a
heapin' of Skeeter's Bar-B-Que Yard Bird (Chicken fer ya city folk). At
this point I felt more like napping than riding, but loaded up on the
KLR and hit the trail again. This time Bill and I paired up with a
couple of DRZ400s. Less than an hour into the second loop I started
getting muscle spasms in my fingers so I stopped for just a moment to
stretch my fingers. Even though I'd stopped for a very short time I
knew I would have to push a little harder to catch back up with the
guys. Riding hard for a few minutes I could see the dust not quite
settled ahead so I knew I wasn't far from catching up. Running on the
high end of 3rd gear now, down the sandy narrow forest trail, I seen a
fast approaching right hand curve. I quickly tap the rear brake, down
shifted to 2nd and get hard on the throttle again to keep the front tire
floating atop the sand. Just as I enter the turn I see my riding
partner (Bill) off to the right of the turn. I instinctively let off
the throttle causing the front tire immediately to dig into the sand
from the weight transfer which quickly caused the bike and me to switch
from a committed right hand lean into the turn to a instant hard left
hand lean (I believe in road racing they call that high-siding?). Of
course this sent me and my bike in the wrong direction, directly towards
a BIG, FAT, HARD, %@#&! PINE TREE!!! I think I remember getting the
words "OH SHHHH" out before SMASH!!! The bike stopped, I didn't. I hit
everything in front of me on that bike before being launched like a
human torpedo into the leaves and sand, face down, arms at my sides,
staring at the ground. Even though it still hurts to laugh, I can laugh
about it now. Bill was a great sport. He helped get my bike working
and nursed me back to camp.
Everyone was great, I really enjoyed the ride and would do it again.
Although I did learn some valuable lessons on this trip... I'm not a
Moto-Cross Racer and my KLR is not a DRZ400. I've convinced myself of
this, but my bike is still arguing the fact.
Dual Star is going to supply me with the plastic I need for the
repairs. Do any of you know where I can get the Head Light assembly and
brackets cheap?
P.S. The Tree was not injured.
Henry Simpson
Jacksonville, Florida