I've been in Tucson since Saturday after coming down Rt 191 through Apache National Forest (Holy shit, that road!!!) into the low desert. Sunday, Beck was great enough to rustle up a TW200 for me, and and we along with some other friends all went off for a day of trails!
We all met up at a gas station fairly close to the trailhead early in the morning. It was Becktastic on her DRZebra, myself on a TW200, two others on DRZs, and the the red bike was a . . . uh . . . we're not sure. But any of them were better options then V-Stroms! :D
The TW200 was a tiny bike to begin with, and my giant yellow ass crammed onto it was a hilarious proposition indeed. RACE TUCK!!!
And off to the trails with us!
It was my and another guy's first time ever riding dirt, so Beck and the others promised to take it easy on us and not take us down anything too difficult. Even given the easy trails, it wasn't long before the first wipeout of the day, which gave us a five minute break while the crashee re-attached his luggage rack and seat.
The TW200, while tiny and fat-tired compared to everything else, was a far cry better then my V-strom would have been at this, even with knobbies. It took me a while to loosen up and get used to the idea of sliding around, but after a while I got used to the idea of "if anything goes wrong, GAS IT"
I guess compared to what Beck and the others usually ride, these are easy trails, but some of them did give me pause for thought of "Um, really? Cuz last time I tried to do this, I almost died"
Amazingly though, I only fully crashed once! The rear end of the bike stepped out, and I panicked and ran off the trial. I could have stopped and gotten back on in a calm and controlled fashion, but that's just not my style! No, I tried to ride through a couple of small trees, and that didn't quite work out.
Ah well. Bike was fine, as was I!
Damn do I look funny sitting on that thing.
Given that we had a pretty high n00b percentage, we ended up stopping for a lot of breaks.
(Do I look awesome in that yellow suit or what?!)
(Not that I'm vain and like pictures of myself, or anything)
The one and only Becktastic! Who did a very good job of not complaining too much about all the stops us newbies were taking. :)
We stopped for lunch at this gas station that had a steakhouse next to it.
Beck was nice enough to continue taking many pictures of me in my awesome high-viz!
We, being poor adventure riders, were happy to make do with gas station food, but the steakhouse next door was filled with the chrome army. Most of it was the usual Heritage Classic Softglide Freedom Custom American Electratail stuff, but this . . . none of us knew what to make of this.
CHOPPER CHOPPER CHOPPER CHOPPER JESSE CUSTOM JAMES CHOPPER RAKE CHOPPER CHROME CUSTOM DRAG BARS CHROME CUSTOM CHOPPER CHOPPER FORKS THAT GO ALL THE WAY TO STURGIS
How the fuck do you actually ride that thing? And just . . . why?
After lunch we went back to the trails, and at one point the other n00b and I traded bikes. I think 5'7" him appreciated the little TW200 more then he let on, he had dropped his DRZ a bunch of times just due to being inseam challenged. And the DRZ did fit me pretty damn well!
Unfortunately, the TW200 didn't have the grip or cornering ability that he was used to, and on a twisty gravel road something happened and he ended up with the bike on top of him. He was mostly okay, but his ankle was pretty banged up and sore. We didn't want him to get hurt any worse by trying to ride with a bum foot, so we took smooth gravel home.
All in all, I'd like to think I wasn't as bad as Beck was expecting me to be :D It would have been a disaster if I'd tried to take my Wee, even if I had put knobbies on it.
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