The fat is in the fire on the Dual Sport Ride Series. The very riders who used to fall down repeatedly on graded fire roads, like a bevy of drunken prom girls trying to make it to the bathroom in their first sets of high heels, have come to scoff at terrain that makes sane dirt bikers weep in fear, run away and trade in for quad runners. As Joe Arnold made clear lo these many years ago, It’s Only Funny ‘Til Somebody Loses An Eye – Then It’s Hilarious. There are only two rides left in a series that seems to be spiraling up into some sort of frenetic maelstrom of flying mud, blowing sand, and bent connecting rods. I fear the Moment of Truth is not far off.
DSR 11 should have left a trail of bent and broken BMWs lying roadside on top of scrubbed out and used up riders, but Lady Luck is a Woman of Whimsy. Chris Craig took the biggest hit for the team – but how quickly I get ahead of myself…
The Roll Call of the Doomed:
Paul Beck . . . . .Frederic Charpentier . . . . . Chris Craig
The Band of Brothers departed
BMWVC just before eight, under a half-hearted layer of clouds. It looked like the recent rains had abated, but a chill still bit through the ATGATT as Chris and the others slowed to 35 to slip around a 15 mph backroad washout detour. By Santa Clarita, the clouds were thinning and the air was slightly warmer. With good prospects and a manageably small group, MacTague opted for the unpaved parallel run up the I-5 corridor, completely disregarding the fact that it had rained most of the day, for the last three days.
Let the epic begin.
The first patch of mud could have done without a victim. There was room to ride around, but that Chris Craig, he’s a daredevil. Gassing it straight in gained him eight bravado points, and about 6 pounds of mud coating his right leg. Steve DeCosta and So Cool banded together to push the bumblebee to higher ground, and the group continued past the mud.
Not. It turned out that even the high ground was soaked, and this 5-minute stretch of turf became an hour-long saga. After paddling slowly through a slippery patch where the driest option sent riders inches from a long steep drop, it looked like they had climbed past the worst of it. Then around another bend came the worst of it: A rutted incline that – unlike the long flat stretches of dry dirt road they had found below – was wet.
It was crazy. The best line started on sloping ground – which means it was decidedly
not the best line. Starting on the slope destined you for sliding into the rut to the right. Laine skittered up in the shallow rut, on a knobby and a prayer, dismounted and got ready to help. Frederic Charpentier, a man in dire need of a nickname if ever such there was, came up dogpaddling, with Laine steadying the rear of the bike. Captain America used a whole tube of super glue on his rear tire, with the result that he managed to more or less stay up on the sloped terrain for several yards, before slipping down into the rut and dogpaddling the rest of the climb. In all, an amazing accomplishment; he was riding on Tourances.
leg !” Paul stopped beside him, and as he walked over, his kickstand disappeared into the earth. So he got to pick up two bikes, that time. They decided to head back to the paved through-road, and re-unite with the group on more solid ground.You’re in for a bit of a surprise,” he observed, hitting the throttle and diving into the valley. The rider was immediately passed by two R1200GSes, an R100, and a KTM 950 in rapid succession.weren’t closed. So Cool had been on dreaded DSR 04, and has the nickname (and deep, haunting, psychological scars) to prove it, and wanted nothing to do with more snow riding. Which is why after disappearing far ahead of everyone else around a snow-infested rock-strewn corner on a steep single-track across an intimidating mountainside, he eventually came back and said, “I’ll only go on if some one else will, too…”ever stops to take a photograph; you’ll just have to go along on the ride, next time…children ?”surely , you can’t just turn into the teeth of it all and whack the throttle and expect – you'll lose your compass! Riders will wander into quicksand and be sucked down to oblivion...is a superhero, you know; just look at the boots.ROAD CLOSED
DSR 11 should have left a trail of bent and broken BMWs lying roadside on top of scrubbed out and used up riders, but Lady Luck is a Woman of Whimsy. Chris Craig took the biggest hit for the team – but how quickly I get ahead of myself…
The Band of Brothers departed BMWVC just before eight, under a half-hearted layer of clouds. It looked like the recent rains had abated, but a chill still bit through the ATGATT as Chris and the others slowed to 35 to slip around a 15 mph backroad washout detour. By Santa Clarita, the clouds were thinning and the air was slightly warmer. With good prospects and a manageably small group, MacTague opted for the unpaved parallel run up the I-5 corridor, completely disregarding the fact that it had rained most of the day, for the last three days.
The first patch of mud could have done without a victim. There was room to ride around, but that Chris Craig, he’s a daredevil. Gassing it straight in gained him eight bravado points, and about 6 pounds of mud coating his right leg. Steve DeCosta and So Cool banded together to push the bumblebee to higher ground, and the group continued past the mud.
Not. It turned out that even the high ground was soaked, and this 5-minute stretch of turf became an hour-long saga. After paddling slowly through a slippery patch where the driest option sent riders inches from a long steep drop, it looked like they had climbed past the worst of it. Then around another bend came the worst of it: A rutted incline that – unlike the long flat stretches of dry dirt road they had found below – was wet.
1 comments. Click here to add yours!:
Wow! Sorry I missed this one. I love mud up to my knees, sand blowing in my face and snow. Ya'll are brave.--Phil
COMMENT ON THIS POST
Click Here