Last weekend was the Pine Barrens (N.J.) 500 and myself and several dirt riders set off for an adventure in the sand! I went along with my good old and nothing fancy old XR650L. The motorcycle has always treated me good! The event is GPS only and limited to 200-ish riders. Thursday nite at the bike inspection and GPS download meeting I found another solo rider on an XR650l named Ryan. We made plans to ride together the following day.
We started off Friday morning and it was cold at 40 degrees. Ryan had his GPS working and had done this event the past three years so it was good to follow him. There was a 9 am start and all was well until I got a rear flat just before lunch. I rode with the flat for 5 miles to the lunch spot where a service truck would be. Help from the event/service guys was great! Tools, tube, air all right there and they were willing to give me a hand as needed. Had the tube replaced and lunch in under 30 minutes. I was VERY impressed! Thank you to everyone for helping! Back on the trail and I finished the 180 mile day + 40 to and from my Hotel. It was a great start to the weekend!
Saturday morning I got up to make my 20 mile trip to the starting point in the rain. On the way I got a flat in my FRONT tire! The tire and tubes were NEW and I put them in the weekend before this ride. I rode on them a few days from home to work with no problems. I had the tools and a tube on my back and ready to go. I parked the bike under cover of the hotel entrance and an hour of trail tube changing later I was good to go. Lucky for me they changed the Saturday route out for Sunday. Only 140 miles and a delayed start.
Ryan and I would be joined by Alex, a friend of Ryan and he has done this ride before on his KLR 650. Once we started we were making good time through the woods despite the heavy rain at times (2″ for the day). Ryan took the lead with me hot on his tail and Alex bringing up the rear. I think the XR is a fat heavy pig but all you have to do is watch a KLR on the same trails and the XR turns in to lightweight rocket.
The heavy KLR got stuck several times and we needed to break out the tow strap. Two guys pulling and a clutch dump and it does not move! The three of us were trying to pick the KLR up and it would not move. The good thing about event riding is others are on the same GPS route and other riders stopped and give us a hand. It took five people to get the motorcycle out of the predicament it was in!
Once we got the KLR into a place we could look at it we could see that the chain had come off the rear sprocket. We broke out the tools again, removed the rear axle so we can get the chain back on. The chain was stuck between the front sprocket and swing arm and we did not have a socket big enough to turn that counter shaft nut with us or lump hammer to drive the chain out. We used a tow strap to tow alex and it was his first time being towed. Off road towing of motorcycles is not easy, hills, sand, slow speeds make it all that much more fun than flat smooth roads. I started to pull him and suddenly I heard a snap and the strap went right into my chain. We needed to cut that strap out of my bike. We hooked up Ryan and his strap to Alex with some tips from me and off we went.
At the trail head, a rescue/ service truck spotted us and we stopped to make repairs to the chain. It is amazing what you can do with the right tools! With the chain fixed and a bolt for the rear subframe the sweep riders caught up to us and gave us a shortcut to lunch! Even with the shortcut we were late for lunch.
After lunch in the late afternoon we made our way to the hotel on the main roads. We were cold, wet and tired! The awards dinner was Saturday nite and cutting the ride short was really OK for me.
At the dinner we managed to win some prizes! I scored a Rev’it liner for my wife and Alex won a nice Touratech helmet.
Sunday we did the 180 mile Saturday route and to my surprise I did not get a flat the whole day! We did not get stuck or suffered any other “adventures” during the day. We stick to the main trails (no Hero sections for us) and rode right to lunch on time. Alex had to go home early and took the main roads back to the hotel. Ryan and I turn up the pace for the rest of the ride that brings us through parts of Warren state park that I know. When we got back to the Hotel I said goodbye to my fellow XR560L rider and we went on our separate ways.
I pointed the truck North and made it home in one piece. Monday I treated the truck to a power wash and made plans to order more tubes.
There will certainly be more rides to come with Ryan and Alex as they are young nice men. I just hope they can keep up if I lead! I am looking forward to the Green Mountain Vermont motorcycle ride and the smokey mountain 500 again. Its time to get some of the big GS crew out in the dirt!
My new motto: Out there in the dirt staying young just feeling old at the end of the day.
As Jack would say Adventure is only around the corner