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Can’t really compare these pros to what most trail hacks do on weekends though. The fastest trail rider may still not be a decent racer, it is a mindset as much as anything else. It depends what you want from your riding. Me, I’m a surveyor, and a pretty good one if I do say so myself. I’d like to see how any of the top 15 riders in the A4DE go when handed a reflectorless total station and a hand-held disto laser measurer – but then again, my riding is about equivalent to their surveying skills.
I think most trail riders ride for fun. When it is a way to make a living, or even just as all-encompassing as being in the top 15 A4DE riders, the fun factor takes a back seat to the professional rider inside.
In my opinion, trail riders should ride the bike that gives them the biggest stiffy. Pros, well they can ride whatever they bloody well like!
For me, a 250F is the go, but many others prefer a 300 2T, or a 450F, or a 390F or… well the list goes on. Size of the bike isn’t the main factor for trail riders, it is all about the size of the stiffy! :silly: 👿
Trailboss wrote:ECKS-Man wrote:Teach me oh learned ones! :laugh:Sorry ECKS but there are a few here that have learned the hard way lately. I know you said no braces but here is my spin its a subject close to my heart :whistle:
….TB
Thanks TR and TB, good info there. Only a fool doesn’t listen to good advice. So: What do people pay for knee braces? I know every man and his dog reckons their brand is the best, makes it hard to work out what to look at. Don’t want to fork out the big dollars for a glorified knee brace, but don’t have the dollars to spend on the likes of CTI braces etc.
I’ve had a blown PCL (posterior cruciate ligament) for years and years, result of a bike crash as a teenager, but the doc has said my muscles have held everything together. Most unusual he said! I’m not keen to make it worse though!
After a night in Wallerawang including several beers
we planned to hit the Ben Bullen area on Sunday. My mate had a loop which he had ridden before and it was supposed to be a tough ride.Here’s a photo that I like from the ride:
We headed into the hills and 4km in I was thinking: “How long is this bloody loop?”
Wow, it was tight single, linked in places by some fire trails. Hills that went up up up and just when you thought you’d need an oxygen tank, they went up some more! Downhills that had drops which were just not suited to the (relatively) low clearance of the DRZ, a couple of them caught me and one case-out had me over the side and into the bracken ferns! Climbs up rock faces (some would say “cliffs”) and over logs (I hate logs, although I am better at them after yesterday’s practice!).
This cliff face was a scary prospect, didn’t help that just before it my mate had stopped on a hill in front of me and I had a hell of a time getting moving again, so by the time this thing appeared in front of me I was shattered!
Still, made it up no prob after I took 2 minutes to catch my breath. Here’s one from the top looking back…
Look over the left handlebar and you can see the track in the background!
And then there was this:
Bugger me, the first part was OK, but at the tree the track had a lot of exposed and slippery roots.. thanks to some assistance, both bikes made it to the top:
Oh, we got one of us with the bikes here too!
And looking back down the track:
This set the scene for the rest of the loop, and both of us were feeling the pinch!
At one stage the track disappeared and we ended up bush-bashing through the scrub on the side of a cliff until we were able to find the track again. Scary stuff, my back wheel dropped into a gully and I had to skull-drag the bike out. That sucked!
When we got back on the track, we went up, up, up, up… then up and onto a hill:
And then followed the track over, around, through and even under some rock formations. Tested out the bash plate on the DRZ multiple times, actually I think it was multiple times per metre! Tough stuff! Finally we had one last climb up a rutted gap between two rock formations before the track led back down and we found our way back to the cars.
It was only 54km, but holy cow, one of the hardest rides I have ever done!
And the little DRZ held it’s own all weekend, the only limitation was the slightly lower clearance and the rider’s lack of ability! This thing went places no DRZ 250 was EVER meant to go! And the day after, I can still walk, which either says something about my fitness or the bike’s rideability!
ECKS rides again! Yeeehaa!!
So it took a 40th birthday and a surprise from my wife to get my shit sorted and get the bike registered, finally! Mrs ECKS arranged for me to have a weekend riding with a mate, but realised the bike was not registered and that this was beyond her ability to sort out, especially as a surprise. The jig was up, and she came clean, with a week to spare before I had to have the bike registered and trail ready! No pressure eh!
So it was back on with the ADR crap, blinkers, rear guard extender, etc etc. Tracked down a broken wire which was stopping the headlight from working and suddenly had a bike ready for rego. Booked it in with DIY Auto in Dubbo for Monday morning at 9:30. Rex at DIY Auto was great, although admittedly I probably made his job easy by presenting him with a stock bike to inspect. Sailed through inspection and bought some small blinkers as I headed home, paid for rego and got a plate.
It was a busy week, with work, band, kids etc, so didn’t get back to the bike until Friday night. I had a prioritised list which started at the back and worked forward. I made it as far as the seat, but at least the rear guard extender was sitting in a box, the number plate was on and the new small rear blinkers installed and working.
Loaded up Saturday morning and headed off to meet a mate for a riding weekend. We started with Sunny Corner. We had a GPX file of last year’s Rally loop as a guide.
The little DRZ ready to go:
What I had to keep up with!
We headed off and blasted through the northern loop. Bit disappointing how much fire trail was in it all actually. Anyway, a bad day riding beats a good day at work as they say! If nothing else, it was a good shakedown for the DRZ. The suspension is FANTASTIC plush and amazingly tractable with no chance of bottoming out at any point. And as you can see I’m not a little bloke! Can’t recommend Jay Foreman highly enough for Suzuki suspension!
Sunday’s ride to come…
