The three levels were Dual Sport, Discovery, and Adventure. The Dual Sport Challenge befitted smaller, more nimble and lighter dual sport motorcycles in the 250cc to 500cc range. The Discovery Challenge substantially tracked the Dual Sport route, but by-passed eight extreme technical areas, allowing middle size dual-sports such as a well equipped KLR650 or Husky 650 Terra with a skilled rider to manage. Lastly, the Adventure Challenge substantially avoided the forests, but provided a good deal of gravel, sand and dirt for large bikes like BMW GS and Yamaha Super Tenere.
The event was planned and managed by Dixie Dual Sports, one of the premier dual sport clubs in the southeast. Having experienced the event, I can't even think of a thing that would have made the event better. Major props to those guys.
I opted for the Discovery Route on Saturday. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 10 (10 being most difficult) and considering my motorcycle (heavy, low torque) I was riding and my skill level (highly experienced but old + losing stamina), I would put the Discovery track at a 9. There was a lot of sand, mud, and flood. One long stretch of sand was four-six inches deep. My KLR650 was equipped with a set of Conti TKC80s that were barely sufficient to manage this track. By the time I was done on Saturday, I'd fallen to both sides and I got stuck twice...which is to say, I had a great time! However, it beat me up enough that I opted the Adventure Track on Sunday.
There were three other riders in my team riding another Gen2 KLR650 and two Husky Terra 650s. Everybody got stuck and fell; everybody had a great time; like me, everybody opted for the Adventure on Sunday.
So, lets get on to some pictures...
HQ for the event was Sertoma Youth Ranch in Brooksville, Florida. As mentioned a few posts back, I camped there from Thursday to Sunday. They have a great facility. However, the camp is a little too close to the Interstate and it was quite noisy, particularly in the evening. I wore my ear plugs at night.
Every bike had to go through tech inspection. The main points were licenses, registered bikes and decibel levels on pipes.
It was difficult to find the time to stop and take photos out on the dual sport track, but I grabbed my camera whenever we stopped to check out a hazard or rest. Did I mention there was a lot of sand?
Wonder what the hold up is?
Well, it was the first water crossing...and an opportunity for me (grey jacket/yellow cap) to get some pictures. There were many, many more water crossings to come.
Jim on his Terra650 making it look easy.
My teammates Jim (Husky), Timo (Husky) and Dale (KLR):
Did I mention we encountered mud?
Glad we didn't get routed through there. One of my falls was a slip on a log.
Timo did an epic swan dive into a slippery mud pit when his front end washed. He was okay and will laugh about that one for a long time to come. :)
So, there's an old rule about off-road riding: "Momentum is your friend." Well, I seem to have forgotten that rule when I got here. Oh, and this is why you ride in groups. They bail you out; you bail them out.
More water...there was so much water and it was all muddy at the bottom.
And finally there was lunch in Groveland...
...and that provided a good opportunity to drain the quart of water out of each of my boots and wring out my socks. Another rule I forgot: Carry dry socks.
Dale had the same problemo. It wasn't that our boots weren't waterproof. It's that the water was so damn high!
Didn't see this until lunch but someone rode an early 70s RT360. Very, very kewl!
I used to have a 1972 Yamaha DT250MX. Then I had a 1974 Honda CR250M which ran circles around the DT. Onward...
Oh look, a vintage Honda Transalp rigged for dirt.
In fact, part of the evening festivities was a vintage motorcycle show. Not a lot of bikes but some nice ones.
OMG!
Back on the trails. Some really were quite hardpan, but not many.
On Sunday, we were joined by Howard on his WR250.
Here's a photo of Howard from Saturday he shared with me.
This was not part of the track. However, being that the rally was in my backyard I shared some side tracks with my riding partners.
Super Sherpa! I used to have one of these; 2009 model. these are kick ass motorcycles. Wish I still had it.
Here's a pic of that Yamaha XT500 with the chrome tank, the RT360 is behind it. Very kewl!
I counted five KLR650s at the rally. All but one opted the Discovery Track.
I'm going to try and work in a couple more rounds of the AMA Dual Sport Series but I'll certainly be back for Devil's Creek in 2017.
No comments:
Post a Comment