Kim & I at the gate. We went through a half a dozen water crossings.. some of them fairly deep. But now we were going to climb up copper canyon.
We made it up copper canyon without incident.. the power company had put in some new lines & they graded the road last year. But once on top, we got into a little mud.. some of the road was very rutted from 4 wheelers driving on it, so you had to watch the road. but as we neared the meeting intersection, i looked ahead to see if Tom was there, & my front tire slipped into a dried rain rut. My back tire was in another, & the bike quicky went down. I slid on my head for a few feet, then rolled & got up. My right thigh had taken a hard hit on a rut, but i was otherwise ok. My helmet cam was intact, too, so i turned it on briefly to record the crash.. those are always more interesting to viewers than successful rides. A lens had popped off my front turn signal, but the major problem was it looked like my bars were bent. The right side was pointing further back & down than it did. I could still ride it, but it was going to be a problem.
Here's my helmet, with the marks from landing on it & sliding on the road. I'm surprised the visor stayed intact.
As Kim rode up, i picked up the bike, started it up & rode on to the meeting place. I stalled it again going up another rutted, muddy spot going up to the main road, but finally we all arrived.
Kim was on a Kawi 250klx, Tom on a yammi wr250r, me on a yammi wr250x. After i pulled up & stopped, my bike would not start. The starter wouldn't turn, but the dash lights came on. Tom had already taken off, so Kim suggested i bump start it while he ran ahead to get Tom. We were on a curve in the road, which wasn't the best place to work on a broken bike.
I pushed it up the hill for a bit, then turned around, ran it down the hill a bit, turned on the key & shifted to second. I popped the clutch, but still no start. I pulled off the road & started to look for problems. The bent bar was the first suspect. I thought perhaps a wire was disconnected with the jolt.
So Kim & Tom come back, & we start tearing things apart. Check the switch.. check the fuses. Look around behind the headlight cowl. I suspect a wire that runs behind the radiator (naturally). It comes from the starter button assembly, so i want to follow it & check the connection.
I took the radiator off & loosened the tank. Kim steadied it while i fiddled with the connection. I pushed on the wire, & then heard a 'click'. Turn on the key, push the button. The engine started right up. We had found the culprit.
The offending plug is the white plastic plug in the hole.. i reached under the frame & held the lower wire, while pushing the upper wire down. That's when i heard it 'click'.
We put everything back together. About an hour had elapsed, & we were doubting our proposed route. Tom was certain there would still be snow, & lots of mud. He suggested we go the other way on the Great Western Trail, lunch at dewey, then go home with a nice ride under our belts, & no one dying of exposure. Kim thought that was a great idea, plus he wanted to eat at leff-t's in Dewey. It was near noon already, so going on toward bloody basin road would make a very long day of it. I jumped on the bandwagon & we all took off to leff-t's.
Back together & ready to roll!
We had tried to straighten the bars, but could not get any leverage. As we rode along the great western trail, i looked at the bar clamps. They did not look even. I have rox risers, & high bars. I think i discovered the 'bend'. The bar clamps had given a bit, & twisted the bars. I stopped & loosened the bar clamps, & straightened the bars. While i did that, Tom loosened the fork clamps & made sure they were straight. After this bit of work, the bar was back to being straight. No damage. A perfect bike.
We had a nice run north & west along the trail, then took the old cherry road back to hwy 169.
Finally to our main destination... Leff-T's!.
We went into Leff-t's & had a nice lunch. It was a little pricey, but the food was good. Kim had not steered us wrong.
So we geared up. Tom headed back to prescott, Kim & i went back to cherry road to take it to the verde valley.
The cherry road is a nice, scenic road.. it has a lot of windy switchbacks & stunning views every so often. We could see the sedona red rocks in the distance, & even the san francisco peaks in Flagstaff.
I got a new camera.. a sony tx-5. It has a cool panarama feature. Just hold down the button & sweep across the scene. It automatically stitches it together. I had to try it out.
No other video, stills or dramatic crashes. We rode home with the sun shining, the views stunning, & the bikes running. The ride was good. The bike is still reliable & sturdy.
