schnebly, morman rain ride, 8/4/07

Here are some excerpts from the thumpertalk forum for this ride. Here's the link:
http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=537587&page=5


I was the broken bike.. I went up a bit of a hill in a downpour.. glasses & goggles were fogged so bad i took them off, so i couldn't see ahead very well, or focus. I came up over a big rock at the top & my front tire hit a small log.. ~4" diameter, 18" long. It rolled & so did i. The bike landed on rocks, broke the shift lever & clutch lever. I bounced a couple of times, but was clear of the bike, so came up ok. The compression jacket, boots, knee brace & helmet did their jobs.

Someone had a spare (Tom?) clutch lever, but it didn't fit perfectly, but with a zip tie we made it work. I shifted it to 1st with vise grips, & slowly made it out of the rocks, mud, burnt timber, & puddles. When we got to a better road, i decided to head to munds park, & abandon the others. When i got up to fr240, a pretty good maintained road, I turned off back toward morman lake & joined the guys for lunch. I put it in second, so i could cruise at 25 easily. It still was raining.. & did for most of the day.

Anyway, we had lunch, i rode with the others until the fr700 turn off. They went on toward mountainaire, 89a, & oak creek canyon. I went to munds park, called my wife to pick me up & drop me at my truck at schnebly hill road. She was out, so i called my old riding buddy, Kim. He hopped in his avalanche & drove the hour to my rescue. His foot had a stress fracture or something, so he didn't join us. He was very sorry he missed all the excitement.

I made it back fine, but did not hear about any further misadventures. Truck was broke, Tom? I guess we'll hear about it soon...

It was great to meet you guys.. the ride was an adventure! I was over my head a bit... but fortunately only bike parts to get going again. Tom was an animal on his new dr350. The 650's did great, too. I think it was the riders, more than the machines.. like Lee Travino said, 'it ain't the arrow, it's the indian.' My camera never left the bag.. but i know Tom's was snapping away.. especially when i was down in a mud bog wresting with the drz.. there should be some nice pics in that set.

Bummer about the truck, Tom.. & you had to tow it all the way back? That really sucks. Go out for a pleasure ride & have car troubles.

Tom was like a kid in a playground in the mud.. while i tried to avoid the puddles, he went straight for them, leaving big wakes & drenching anything in his path.

I think there was another bike mishap (Ben's?) between the time i left at fr91 & morman lake. One of the others will have to relate that story.

I was sorry to miss the rest of the ride.. I almost made it out of the worst terrain.. the rest of the way had more pavement & better roads. but the first 20 miles were definitely an adventure. Rocks, logs, mud & water, all in a downpour.
..looking forward to hearing about the rest of the trip..
scotty