Memorial
Day Weekend 2005
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Memorial
Day Weekend 2005
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Memorial Day Weekend: a weekend to forget |
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 Here
I am, posing proudly with El Poderoso, minutes before my would-be
baptism by mud. In the next few minutes I will
get hopelessly stuck in the mud twice and drop the bike three times (but with no
harm done to the bike, by me). What did I learn from the experience? The popular dual sport tires I prefer to use for the street are no match for heavy mud. You'd need very aggressive off-road tires for the conditions I encountered and even then, it wouldn't be easy. With the dual-sport tires we all use on the highway for the sake of a smoother ride and 8,000 to 10,000 miles of tread life are good for dry single track trails, gravel roads and a muddy dirt road that is still passable by car. In spite of its weight and size, a GS is suprisingly agile off-road as long as it is not too muddy and you don't slide off the trail. In the event that you get stuck, having a friend with a strong back is indespensible. The GS requires quite a bit of muscling around on tight single track conditions, but it is surprisingly manageable until it digs itself into the mud or goes off the trail into thick weeds and thickets. That's when you feel every bit of its 465lb dry weight and you wish you were on a 200lb Honda XR125. Next time I will heed the words of wisdom offered to me by Ranger Rick; if you wouldn't attempt it with a 4x4 Jeep, you shouldn't attempt it with a GS. |
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Reality Check |
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 I've
learned the hard way that in extremely muddy conditions, the typical GS
rear tire is useless for anything but digging the rear wheel even
deeper into the mud.Here, you see my friend Bob helping my out of the muddy gook. He asked me if the saddlebags that I removed and left back at the cottage were replaceable. Yes, Bob, they are replaceable, but
they aren't cheap, why do you ask?
Because my father-in-law just backed a 4-wheeler over one of your saddlebags. |
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 I am fuming about my damned saddlebag, because in part, I am being told it was my fault for leaving it out in the yard where someone could run over it. God forbid someone look where they are going. I shoulda put it up on the porch where it would be safe I shoulda stayed home, then none of this would have happened, or I shoulda left the bags on the bike, then they would have only suffered a fews minor scuffs. Don't you hate it when people try to tell you in effect it was your fault for not forseeing soomeone elses carelessness; in effect, it was your fault just being there? You shoulda done this, you shoulda done that. STOP SHOULDING ALL OVER ME! |
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 I
wish this had been the fault of a total stranger. I could have been an
real jerk about the whole thing and insisted he pay the damages 100%.
But this incident happened on HIS land and I was only there by the
gracious invitation of his son-in-law. My quest for a life of adventure
is off to a very bad start.My long-suffering wife Hilary seems quite pleased that my ego (and my right saddle bag) has been badly bruised. You shouldn't have gone out
in that mud, you shouldn't have left your saddlebabgs in the yard where
a careless ATV rider could run them over.
This day sucks. |
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| Contact Mitch Kehn | ||||||
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