The Hootch - Lessons Learned II
Saturday morning came about, and I was feeling refreshed, and ready to go dual sporting. Please note that all of my dual sporting experience thusfar had been on my KTM Adventure R, a truly capable motorcycle. At 340lbs dry weight for the KTM vs. ~250 for the Cannondale, I was looking forward to experiencing a "weight liberation".
I went over to the registration tables. Since I had stayed in a trailer at TWO, and approached them from behind, I did not see the "you must do tech before registration" signs at the proper entrance. I whipped out my AMA card (just got it, and required), got my lunch and dinner tickets, and went back to get myself and the bike ready.
Now the route book at events like these comes in tiny little rolls of paper called roll charts. I have a route book holder, six inches wide, on the KTM. Instead of buying one of these little holders, I thought I would try something different. Something geeky. I have a Ipaq PDA and a rugged waterproof enclosure, complete with ram mount, that I have been sitting on for some time, as a concept for a rally computer platform. So I asked the organizer for an electronic copy of the route book two days before, and he obliged with a Microsoft Word Doc. I did some quick reformatting when I got it, loaded it onto the PDA, and presto, electronic route book.
Well, I was riding the day with four other guys, all whom I just met. There was Jim, from Houston, and Jim, Rich, and Mike from Florida. They had all ridden together allot, I was the new guy. We started out on a great double track sized road that was a good, steep, muddy start to the day, allot of fun, with some water crossings, mud holes, and lots of rocks. About 10 minutes into the ride, I lost most of the pressure of my clutch, it would shift, but I could not stop without stalling in a lurch. So I am thinking, "Damn, I guess I did not burb the clutch properly, and there is still some air in there. We all stopped at one point to regroup, and I pointed out my problem. Someone else pointed out I also had a different problem, the Otterbox PDA holder was coming lose, and one of the two bolts holding the ball mount to the box was gone. Rich came to the rescue with a couple of cable ties.
Did I mention that I did not have a side stand on the bike? The stock one is so cheesy that it was bending right over, and not holding the bike up. Ever. So I took it off. I was starting to miss not having a side stand!
Here is a Pic that Dirt Bike Mike sent to me today, taken at this stop. That's me on the far right:
Well, after we go the Otterbox back on, off we went again.
if you think this is the end, think again! Stay tuned!