A couple of weeks ago I went up for a ride on my dirt bike at my best friend’s parents’ place. It was really only the second time that I had been on a dirt bike since probably around 1990. I’ve spent a lot of time on dirt in four-wheelers and go-karts but not motorcycles. It was so much fun. I have a clip in the blog of Phil shooting me riding around his course with his vholdr. Unfortunately, this is the only video that I am able to show because the others were corrupted!!
http://www.vholdr.com/node/5515
You can check around my profile and see a little bit of other footage, but it really isn’t that great because the clips freeze up.
Kind of a bummer, but I promise that I will show a few other vids before the winter sneaks up on us. A quick, funny story, though.
The day before we loaded the bikes up, we were screwing around, without gear on, popping wheelies and getting excited for the next morning. Well, I have a 2004 RMZ 250, and Phil has a CRF 230. My bike has a bit more torque than his, so it’s much easier to pop wheelies. Well, I got off my bike and let him take a crack at the Suzuki. By the time I turned around, he was doing a wheel stand and fell of the back of the bike. I cried it was so funny. Thankfully he didn’t get hurt, because I really wanted to ride the next day.
So the next morning, we arrived at his parents bright and early. The ground was still covered in dew, and the trail or track that he had created was covered in grass, which makes it awfully slippery.
After about an hour of riding, we finally burned enough of the grass away so that we had some decent grip.
Another joy of having a race bike is that I get to kick-start it rather than pushing the starter like Phil. Let’s just say I learned my lesson when we went trail riding in a river bed. It’s no fun kick-starting every time you stall going through big rocks, loose boulders and sharp inclines. I am just not experienced enough on my dirt bike to have that much control. I am not at the point where I can anticipate what all of my controls are going to do before I do them.
Regardless, I had a lot of fun! This Saturday we are heading south for a long ride. We’ll be sure to have the camera on …
Jarrod
So I missed by blog last week. I really just didn’t have anything nice to say, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
Last weekend was a full weekend of riding. The weather was outstanding, and everyone had the weekend off after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and a bare weekend with the IndyCar Series taking their first weekend off in six weeks!
At the home front, it was busy – busy riding, that is. On Saturday morning, a group of us met downtown across from the new Dunkin Donuts. Our original plan was to meet on the Circle, but there was a Lotus Car show that had the area blocked off.
The group consisted of six total riders on two Triumphs, three Suzukis and a Ducati. Paul Riley and Phil Sparks were the other to IMS employees that made the trip, along with Paul’s son, friend and Matt, a buddy of Phil and I.
Everyone was roughly on time, and we left downtown at 9 a.m.
We typically take the same routes when we ride down to Brown County. For the first leg of our trip, take a look at this route:
This route took us down Highway 37 until old 37, which is an nice warm-up road. You really don’t get into anything crazy. The one thing that kind of sucked was the fact that the road was slightly damp in a lot of the areas. Old 37 then runs into Bloomington. You then hop on 45, shoot around the north side of the town and head northeast on 45, which is probably my favorite road in central Indiana.
Be sure to turn the volume down on your computer. The audio isn’t the best, but you can see me leading the pack:
That stretch took us about 1.5 hours, and we stopped in Nashville, Ind., for some BBQ. Once we filled up with food and gas, we hit the road for our second stretch. Here is the route. We ride south on 135 around Brown County Park through Story, Ind. From there, we continue on 135 to IN-58:
We took a break at the 446 intersection and lined up the bikes. I’m on the far left, and Paul is on the far right in his orange Hayabusa.
Once we took a quick break and chatted with an ‘ol timer on his Harley Sportster, we rode up 446 across Lake Monroe. Once we got to Bloomington, the group split up. Matt and I headed for 45 again on our way home and the others went straight to 37 and went home.
Here is the ride home Matt and I took:
The ride was excellent. We started around 9 a.m., and I was at home by 3:30 p.m. I had plenty of time to relax before my family got home. That night, Megan went out for a wedding shower, so it was just me and the boys. Van and dog Rex hung out and watched a movie and called it a early night.
The next morning, I had baby duty since Mommy was out all night with her friends. It was fun; Van is in a great stage right now. I bet he will be walking on his own on my next blog.
In the afternoon, Megan had another baby shower that required her to take Van; this one was with the mothers and grandparents. I took the opportunity to hop back on my bike and take it over to storage and get my Scrambler out. I met up with Ron Pitman, another IMS employee, and we took a Sunday cruise around west Indianapolis. Here is our route, which I think is a great on if you want to stay close to the city:
From here we pretty much back tracked our route back to a parking lot at Raceway and 56th Street, parked for a few minutes and talked MotoGP. Buy tickets, ride to the track – it’s going to be a blast!
See you next week.
Jarrod
Test rode the BMW 650 Moto.
So lately I have been on this supermoto kick. I don’t know what it is, but for me riding in the push-up position just is fun! I like to sit up on a bike, and I really never understood why others like to be hunched over while cruising around.
Right now, I have a Triumph Tiger 1050. It’s bad, real bad and a great all-around bike, but as all riders will tell you … one bike isn’t enough. Ever since the Ducati Hypermotard came out, I have been drooling over it. The only downfall is that I’m not sure if I want to pay the “Ducati Premium.” Sure, it has Ferrari-like styling, but it’s just not my style to go after a “lux” brand. The Hypermotard is different, though. The sexy lines, lean and limber stance, it’s just striking. I haven’t ridden one yet, but I have sat on it a few times.
So in my efforts to find a supermoto bike that will suit the city streets, I gave my first ride to the BMW. I like the guys down at Victory Triumph and now BMW. I have always had a great experience with them. On the first day of business, I walked in and hopped on the 650 Moto. I thought, “This could be a lot of fun!”
In short, it is not for me. The BMW just didn’t seem like a smooth bike. A short, short first gear and a rumbling vibration that blurred my vision wasn’t that much fun. I remember when I first got a bike, I said, “There is no reason to get anything above 600cc’s.” Now I don’t know if I would get any thing under 900cc’s. I like the ease and comfort of an easily driven bike, the available power that can give you an effortless ride and the ability to scare yourself. With the BMW, I felt like I was constantly over-revving and rattling my eyes.
Since that ride wasn’t enjoyable, I almost crossed out the Suzuki 450 sm. I just can’t see that bike being better than a BMW 650. In my efforts to escape the lure of the Hypermotard and to settle for something that would work, I am worried that I am going to give a test ride to the Hypermotard and instantly ask what type of financing is available. It’s just one of those things that I try not to think of because emotion may make the decision for me.
Jarrod