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Mud ride 7-17-09
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Posted by: BSWIFT---------------------

Anyone up for a early mud ride at the 500 Saturday before it gets hot? High temps are supposed to be in the low 80's, morning temps in low 60's. With the recent rain, there should be plenty of mud holes and lots of great traction on the rest of the trails.
Post up or call me!
Brian

Posted by: BSWIFT---------------------

Normally in July, most folks in Oklahoma either stay inside where it is air conditioned or go to a lake or pool. However, today was an exception. We've had many 100+ temps for the last 10 days with high humidy and excessive heat warnings so a day with a high of 90 degrees is welcomed! Add to that, we even had a rare thunderstorm with a pretty heavy rain a couple of days ago.
What I thought would be a mud ride was not even close. There were just a few small mud puddles but much fewer than I had anticipated. What we got was perfect soil conditions. The ride started with the temperature about 75 and rising into the upper 80's fairly quickly but it felt cool compared to the previous week or so. Don (OKKX'r) and Craig (craig_enid) and I met up at 9:00 and hit the trails by 9:30. The 500 only had a handful of other riders and we only saw 1 set of tracks on the Red loop our first time around. Don had a small bobble early on but no damage so we kept running at what turned out to be a 16 mph average.
Craig (aka the Energizer Bunny) just cruises and sets a really good pace. I blew thru a corner when I was leading and resumed the ride at the back. There was no dust early on just excellent sandy loam. At another spot, a small sapling grabbed my right hand, locked up the front brake and brought me to a halt. Again, nothing but real good riding.
As the ride progressed, we took a break on the trail and 3 other riders pulled up and thus far nothing but 2 strokes. These guys stayed with us for a while but we were doing a pretty good pace and they fell behind. We took another Red trail and they continued on the Blue loop. When we got onto the 80, we came across them again, one upside down! After ascertaining he was OK, we let him go in front of us to catch up with his buddies. They had stoped to clear some downed trees from the storm so soon there after we were rippin' it to the end of the 80. They stopped for a break and we decided to head back to the pit area for a break.
Chuck Cooper had worked several washed out hills just prior to the Golden Eagle Enduro a couple of weekends ago and even after the big rain, they were in great shape. Chuck really keeps the 500 in great shape. The Blue loop is fast and wide open so we made it back to the pit area pretty quickly and had a good rest, ate some food and drank plenty of water.
The next trip out, we had a couple of younger guys with us. One of them had never riden trails and was riding a KXF450! We thought we could get him over to the 2 center sections and he would enjoy it but the trip to get there prooved to be tougher than he was ready for. Once back to the Blue loop, we left them and hit the center sections. Craig's trusty KDX 220 developed a coolant leak, so he pooped back onto the Blue loop and headed to the trucks. Don and I continued and found these sections in remarkably good shape after the race a couple of weeks ago. After finishing the center sections, we met back up with Craig and he finished the repair to the radiator hose on the KDX. The younger guys made it back in and had made three loops of the Blue trail and were pretty tired. So we decided to go out and hit a couple more Red sections.
Up till now, only some small bobbles and stalled engines for the day. I swear that Blackjack trees move when you least expect them to! This six inch diameter blackjack moved and hit my right bark buster and I took a hard fall. Thanks to my riding gear, I only ended up with a scraped elbow and some minor bruises. The worst part of this crash is becoming very leary of these blackjack trees! I had this feeling that another one was going to spank me before we finished, fortunately, they stayed in place and the rest of the ride was great.
It was a real treat to be able to ride in July without the worry of heat stroke and to have a couple of good friend there made it even better. Definitely, a perfect 10!

Posted by: craig_enid---------------------

Wow, what a day!
Had a family get-together scheduled for Sunday PM, so the decision was between riding, or the usual Saturday morning tennis play. Mary said she'd go the tennis alone, if I wanted to ride. Turned out to be a good decision, as I got in some great riding and she got in some great tennis.
Met Don and Brian under the new 'covered' parking area near the gate. Chuck wove his skid-steer through an old black jack stand, clearing the ground and the lower branches. Left a large area that vehicles can be driven through, and plenty of dappled shade for the lunch and bs breaks. As we were yaking and catching up, I noticed that Don was standing there in full gear.... helmet, goggles, gloves.... Don HATES hot weather, so this day of unseasonal temps and soil conditions was not to be wasted! Firing up the mounts, we decided to run the west red trail, to get a feel for the dirt. Did I say dirt? Dirt does not adequately describe what we encountered. Maximum traction, minimum dust loamy sand/sandy loam was the order of the day. Even the damp silty clay seemed to have velcro-like qualities. Within the first mile, Don grabbed a handful of throttle, sending a few globs of velvet-feeling soil into my face. The globs smacked into my smiling face, because I had said to myself, 'this is WAY better than dust!', as I prepared for the impact.
All of us were on the top of our game, as the prime conditions turned us into 'A' riders. Every stop was a 'WOW!' event as we agreed that, This Day, all is right in the world. (at least as far as we're concerned) The answer to all the world's problems is dirt bikes.

We stopped in for lunch, so I checked with Mary to see how tennis went, (and to mention that I had not packed any lunch.) 30 minutes later, I get a great turkey sandwich delivered to our camp. Home-grown sliced tomatoes with home-grown sliced onions added the perfect flavor, complemented by salty chips and a fruit combination of cherries, grapes and seedless watermelon.

She also left off a couple of extra water jugs that turned out to be a necessity. Thanks, sweetie! 30th Anniversary trip
The extra water was used up getting the coolant leak fixed and the bike back to running form. I had to mooch a liter of drinking water off Brian to feel good about the last loop of the day. All in all, the worst get-offs were Brian's pinball, the 450F guy slamming a blackjack, and the guy we came upon... as Brian said... 'showing us his skid-plate'.
We had a not very often perfect dirt day of riding, and it looks like we all made it home tired, sore and happy!

Posted by: mx547---------------------

the heartland spodes live!

Posted by: BSWIFT---------------------

Quote:

Originally Posted by mx547

the heartland spodes live!

Some with a few extra pain killers!

Posted by: tx246---------------------

nice ride fellas. we rode muenster this past sunday and it was 95/95. 95 degrees with 95%humidity. sweating just standing there kind of heat. we ended up doing 30 before i said enough is enough and headed back when the heat made the fun factor zero. i still prefer the lake in July/August.

Posted by: Lorin---------------------

I have to agree with Gene. I cant hardly talk my son into riding the bike this time of year, and am having a tough time finding anyone else to ride with in the heat. That said, we have been doing a bunch of riding on the "stand-up" jet ski (Gavin is now 14.5 and riding solo) and having a blast. Let me know when the Heartland spodes make another ride. I need an excuse to put some dirt on the yz.

Posted by: BSWIFT---------------------

Lorin, you need to PM me your phone number. I lost yours when my SIM card bit the dust.

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Mud ride 7-17-09

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