We took a ride to the Five Hills of Death this morning. The roads and trails have been badly eroded by heavy rain. More large rocks and boulders showing than I have ever seen before. We took of of the forest roads for several miles until the road was so festooned with boulders it was no longer ride able for fun.
We reversed direction and picked up a 2ND trail which took us down the mountain. Still lots of large rocks and boulders but the trail was ten feet wide for fire fighting equipment. We rode to the bottom of the mountain and then reversed making sure his chain drive clutch did not over heat. My TAV was fine never missing a beat.
We climbed the 1,000 feet back up the mountain and picked up another dirt bike trail. This too was covered in loose large rocks and boulders.
My chain guard came loose and had to be removed due to the loss of a mounting bolt from the severe vibrations.
I secured the guard in my bike's rack and we continued on back up to the summit.
The sky was clouding up a little with the large white cumulus clouds you see out here on most late summer days. The weather man was calling for heavy rain in Albuquerque at 11 AM. Were were riding 30 miles East of ABQ.
We picked up another trail and headed down the mountain again this time heading in an Easterly direction. After a mile of hard riding Patric yelled at me to look ast the sky. The white clouds were now a deep green in color.
The smart thing to do was to head back the two miles to the car.
After riding about one mile I noticed Patrick was no longer behind me. I doubled back and found him bringing up the rear. He had struck a boulder,ran off into a tree and sheared of his left foot peg on his CT200U-EX bike.
It had just started to rain. My camera and gyro are not waterproof. I had to get back to the car.
I pulled over and put on my foul weather jacket only to find the zipper was broken. Now I really needed to get back as soon as I could to the car.
I'm not sure just how fast we were flying through the trees and boulders as we climbed back to the forest road, but it was the fastest two old men could do it and not kill ourselves.
We hit the forest road at full speed and it was now a down pour. The road was now wet and slipperier than dog snot. We had to descend a very steep grade of the dirt road to the parking lot. My TAV went into overdrive and it was the fastest the bike had ever gone.
Having only one shoe brake it took quite a distance to stop the bike. We both locked up our rear tires and slid to a stop just inches from the trailer.
I jumped off the bike leaving it running on it's kick stand and open the car as fast as I could. Diving inside I was just able to get out of the rain when the heavens opened up. I peeled off the camera and the gyro and wiped them dry with towels I always carry. I just made it in the nick of time.
Lightning all around us as we loaded steel bikes into the trailer while parked under a tree. Not too smart in a thunder storm.
We now had a two mile drive to a paved road. The dirt road was flooded with the ruts filled with rushing water. We made the paved road just as the hail started to fall.
I had the AC and heat on to try to clear the windows as both of us were soaked to the bone. The heavy rain stayed with us for the next five miles then tapered off to a normal rain.
We decided to get a sandwich and a beer for no other reason than they had outside seating and we could dry off a little. Within ten minutes of parking at the restaurant the sun came out and we were both dried out. The beer tasted good after our fun ride and dealing with the storm.
We reversed direction and picked up a 2ND trail which took us down the mountain. Still lots of large rocks and boulders but the trail was ten feet wide for fire fighting equipment. We rode to the bottom of the mountain and then reversed making sure his chain drive clutch did not over heat. My TAV was fine never missing a beat.
We climbed the 1,000 feet back up the mountain and picked up another dirt bike trail. This too was covered in loose large rocks and boulders.
My chain guard came loose and had to be removed due to the loss of a mounting bolt from the severe vibrations.
I secured the guard in my bike's rack and we continued on back up to the summit.
The sky was clouding up a little with the large white cumulus clouds you see out here on most late summer days. The weather man was calling for heavy rain in Albuquerque at 11 AM. Were were riding 30 miles East of ABQ.
We picked up another trail and headed down the mountain again this time heading in an Easterly direction. After a mile of hard riding Patric yelled at me to look ast the sky. The white clouds were now a deep green in color.
The smart thing to do was to head back the two miles to the car.
After riding about one mile I noticed Patrick was no longer behind me. I doubled back and found him bringing up the rear. He had struck a boulder,ran off into a tree and sheared of his left foot peg on his CT200U-EX bike.
It had just started to rain. My camera and gyro are not waterproof. I had to get back to the car.
I pulled over and put on my foul weather jacket only to find the zipper was broken. Now I really needed to get back as soon as I could to the car.
I'm not sure just how fast we were flying through the trees and boulders as we climbed back to the forest road, but it was the fastest two old men could do it and not kill ourselves.
We hit the forest road at full speed and it was now a down pour. The road was now wet and slipperier than dog snot. We had to descend a very steep grade of the dirt road to the parking lot. My TAV went into overdrive and it was the fastest the bike had ever gone.
Having only one shoe brake it took quite a distance to stop the bike. We both locked up our rear tires and slid to a stop just inches from the trailer.
I jumped off the bike leaving it running on it's kick stand and open the car as fast as I could. Diving inside I was just able to get out of the rain when the heavens opened up. I peeled off the camera and the gyro and wiped them dry with towels I always carry. I just made it in the nick of time.
Lightning all around us as we loaded steel bikes into the trailer while parked under a tree. Not too smart in a thunder storm.
We now had a two mile drive to a paved road. The dirt road was flooded with the ruts filled with rushing water. We made the paved road just as the hail started to fall.
I had the AC and heat on to try to clear the windows as both of us were soaked to the bone. The heavy rain stayed with us for the next five miles then tapered off to a normal rain.
We decided to get a sandwich and a beer for no other reason than they had outside seating and we could dry off a little. Within ten minutes of parking at the restaurant the sun came out and we were both dried out. The beer tasted good after our fun ride and dealing with the storm.
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