Finally!! On August 31st, the kid and I made our maiden voyages on the dirt bikes! We went to a state forest near us, where for $15/bike per year you can ride an 18 mile trail. I bought the permits loaded up the trailer, got all our gear ready, met our friends, and began the one hour trek to the trail.
The people we were going riding with had been to this trail before, which was a good thing. We were seemingly in the middle of no where, and if we had to do this trip on our own the first time I don't think it would have been successful. Our friends consisted of a husband and wife couple, their son and his friend (both 16 year old boys with tons of experience), and their 4 bikes.
My little honda pulled the two bikes great on the newly modified trailer, even up some darn big hills (muddy ones, too!). When we finally got to the parking/unloading area, I was psyched, and so was the kid. We got the bikes unloaded, helped our friends get our "camp" set up, and then put on our gear. Sydney's bike kicked over easy, mine was a little harder, and I had to adjust the idle to keep it from just dying. I knew about this in advance, so I had brought tools and it was not a big deal at all.
Everyone was ready, so we start up the trail. All of a sudden, the gal we were riding with (the wife) stopped and said the bike was not working. Her husband swapped bikes with her (they both had Honda CRF 230's) and we started again. Within 20 seconds, he stopped and said that the clutch was "gone" and the gears were not engaging - meaning that bike wasn't going anywhere fast. Crap, we now had 6 riders, 5 bikes. And to top it off, the gal had a MAJOR fall last year on this trail, fracturing and dislocating her ankle. This was her first time back riding (she's got mad skills) but she got a pretty bad anxiety attack and then refused to ride. So our friends went back to our camp, and my daughter and I set out on our own.
I'll break the ride apart by miles, as the portion of the trail we rode was about 13 miles long:
1-2: a nice smooth uphill road, all packed gravel and dirt. A good confidence builder for the kid as she was going to need it!
3-6: we're on top of the ridge/mountain now, pretty flat with a few minor hills, some rocks, but some MAJOR mud holes. Syd went through one and she had water and mud dripping off everywhere!
We also had wild turkeys and 3 deer run in front of us.
6-9: OH CRAP! We're now going downhill, with tons of loose rocks, ditches made by runoff from rains, exposed concrete drain (nice drop on the other side), and the trail is shaped like a V, with that ditch running down the middle. And let's say, if you go off the trail, you are not stopping for a while!
9-13: DOUBLE CRAP!! Now we're on the side of the mountain, which consisted of incredible uphill runs of about 100 yards long, loose rock, ditches, incredble drop offs on the right side, and trees just waiting to greet us if we get a little squirley! After the uphill run, then it's about a 200yd flat run, then YIKES! A 100+yd downhill run with more ditches, loose rocks, big HUGE rocks that have dropoffs on the other side, and to greet you at the bottom of each hill?? A HUGE puddle of mud and water, with a banked turn to head back up the hill.
I can't tell you how much fun that mud was...
Last 100 yds: the most incredible mud puddle as deep as 1/2 your wheel, both feet in the puddle, then the coolest uphill climb that put you back into the camp.
I will say this, if I had known how techincal this trail was I would have never brought my kid here. She had had ONLY 1.5 hours of riding EVER before she started out on this trail. I even went up some hills thinking "she'll never make it". But to my amazement (and the others that were with us), she kept right on going, only having a broken brake lever and a flat front tire with a tear in the side wall. But i'm confident the tire was going flat before we got there.
Once we got back to the camp, my kid got off, looked at me with mud dripping off her bike and helmet, and just smiled. [moto] She was into it!
For the second trip, I gave up my bike to the husband and wife couple (hubby riding) after some major convincing to the wife she just HAD to go riding. I waited at the camp and ate lots of chips and stuff! So off went the husband, wife, my daughter, and the two boys. About 90 minutes later, here they all come back. Kid managed to drop the bike 2x, but it was due to the front flat she had. The wife was now riding my bike, and raved at how great it was and that she wanted it. NO WAY!!
I took a third trip, riding with one of the 16 year old boys - was that crazy!!!
We did about a 4-5 mile loop in about 15-20 minutes. It had one hill that was real rocky going up, and I though I was out of the woods so to speak, but we started going downhill, and I honestly was praying to GOD to get me down. I was going real fast, there were tons of loose rock all the size of my helmet or bigger, and it was probably a 15%+ grade going down. We got back to camp, and I was laughing as it was one of those "do or die" moments in motorcycle riding. If I had touched brakes of any sort, I was going down and it was going to be UGLY! It really proved to me to just trust your equipment and to make sure it's properly working at all times.
Overall, it was an incredible experience. I will never forget the day, ever. I was so proud, and at one point on the trail when I was riding behind her, I actually shed a tear. All those diaper changes, baby seats, and temper tantrums finally paid dividends -
I WAS RIDING WITH MY KID! [moto]
