spklbuk
Well-known member
Amazing how much room taking out that blow-up doll made huh? Or is she now riding pillion!?
Everybody have a safe journey.
FODS 2016 returns to WV
- Thread starter spklbuk
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Everybody have a safe journey.
Sad to report that I did not / will not make it to West Virginia.
Sunday, ManStrom all packed and ready for the 2 week trip
I rode over to Greenfield MA, then rode some of the Trans Mass Trail (TMT) dirt roads down to the scheduled rendezvous with Mr. Bill, Jim and Iris, at the DAR campground in Western Mass. We spent the night there in some tropical monsoon rain that started around midnight, and eventually cleared out just after 9 AM. Packed everything up wet, and hit the Trans Eastern Trail (TET) at around 10.
With the late start and slow pace over mostly dirt roads we only got as far as the campground at Clarence Fahnestock State Park in downstate NY on Monday night. More rain was forecast, and visible on the cell phone radar Monday night, but that never materialized int more than a few drips, thank goodness. Packed up our dried up gear and on the TET Tuesday AM before 8.
Much of the TET through NY, NJ, and northern PA was paved back roads. Fun, but not much dirt. Then we turned down an unmaintained class VI road in PA along the east side of the Delaware Water Gap, and that was looking really good (at first) with about a mile of good sized puddles and whoop de doos requiring some standing on the pegs. Just after we went past the last house on the road, the terrain became considerably rougher. That was the place we should have turned around.
Instead, we walked the section, and it seemed like if we could get past the big runoff ditch across the road, the rest looked pretty doable. The ditch was about 2-3 feet deep and about 4-5 foot wide. The problem, as it turned out, was that on the right side they had placed some of that corrugated plastic drainage pipe only semi submerged in the ground. The left side was just the open ditch, which you can't see in the photo.
It's hard to get a sense of the scale of the ditch, or the steepness of the hill from the pics, just keep in mind that plastic pipe is about 18-24" in diameter. Mr Bill led the way with his KTM 690 SE and cleared it all pretty well. I was next up on the 'Strom with the plan that Jim and Iris would walk their DRZ400's over the pipe.
It all happened fast, but I think what happened was my skid plate grounded on the top of the pipe first and then when the rear tire hit it, it kicked out. The bike and I shot to the left and promptly fell down hill and into the ditch, me first and then the bike on top of me.
My left leg was pinned under the bike and I was laying on my left side in about 8 inches of muddy runoff water. I managed to wiggle my leg out from under the bike about the same time everyone else ran up to help
As much as my body cushion the blow for the > 500 lbs (plus a lot of gear), when we got the bike back upright and began to survey the damage, this what bad news we found:
The plastic hand guard had also been busted, and the clutch lever broke the last 2" off, but still worked. Miraculously the shift lever survived. With no small amount of assistance the four of us along with some judicious engine power got the heavy bastard up out of the ditch on the high side, and then walked and powered it back over the pipe to the downhill side.
Mr Bill went back up to retrieve his bike, and when recrossing the plastic pipe downward his skid plate grounded on top of it too, and he has ~ 12" of suspension travel and lots of ground clearance, so he slid over and down with the rubber still down.
Taking more time after the adrenaline buzz was fading, I tried to survey my own body damage, and could feel that the part of the bike that had pinned my left leg, had been where the high top Garne boots covered it. It hurt some and was starting to swell, but the skin was unbroken, and I could stand on it with no broken bone type pain. The outside of my thigh had landed on a rock up above the knee. But that was also just a good bruise and no fractures.
Elbows, shoulders and back were all protected with D3O armor in my Klim Latitude jacket and the hip and knee armor in my old Olympia Ranger pants had all worked OK. I did not whack my head on anything, so the helmet remains untested. What I didn't feel immediately was that my left side rib cage had landed on something, and that is probably the most sore thing right now.
After thinking it over for long enough, even with the encouragement of the other three to continue along, that we could try calling ahead to a Suzuki shop and try to find a Vstrom foot peg bracket, I realized the likelihood of finding a bracket in stock somewhere was pretty slim. And I didn't cherish the idea of trying to ride much off road with no left side foot peg, so I expressed my disappointment to the others for bailing out on them, and then hit the pavement headed for home with my tail between my legs.
Although we had taken most of three days of dirt road riding to get to PA, it was only about 7 hours of roads getting back home to New Hampshire, using the passenger peg on the left side and reaching forward to shift with the banged up leg.
In retrospect, the way my ribs feel now would have made sleeping on the ground kind of uncomfortable, and the last thing I wanted to do was drag the others down to riding pavement all the rest of the way to WV. Then what would happen is I had to order the bracket and wait for it? Or worse, ride all the way back from WV with no left side peg.
Hope you all have better luck, and have some decent WX this weekend too. It was starting to shape up nicely before I had to go and do something stupid. Have a great outing. I'm really going to miss eating some of Joe's famous Pulled Pork this weekend.
Sunday, ManStrom all packed and ready for the 2 week trip
I rode over to Greenfield MA, then rode some of the Trans Mass Trail (TMT) dirt roads down to the scheduled rendezvous with Mr. Bill, Jim and Iris, at the DAR campground in Western Mass. We spent the night there in some tropical monsoon rain that started around midnight, and eventually cleared out just after 9 AM. Packed everything up wet, and hit the Trans Eastern Trail (TET) at around 10.
With the late start and slow pace over mostly dirt roads we only got as far as the campground at Clarence Fahnestock State Park in downstate NY on Monday night. More rain was forecast, and visible on the cell phone radar Monday night, but that never materialized int more than a few drips, thank goodness. Packed up our dried up gear and on the TET Tuesday AM before 8.
Much of the TET through NY, NJ, and northern PA was paved back roads. Fun, but not much dirt. Then we turned down an unmaintained class VI road in PA along the east side of the Delaware Water Gap, and that was looking really good (at first) with about a mile of good sized puddles and whoop de doos requiring some standing on the pegs. Just after we went past the last house on the road, the terrain became considerably rougher. That was the place we should have turned around.
Instead, we walked the section, and it seemed like if we could get past the big runoff ditch across the road, the rest looked pretty doable. The ditch was about 2-3 feet deep and about 4-5 foot wide. The problem, as it turned out, was that on the right side they had placed some of that corrugated plastic drainage pipe only semi submerged in the ground. The left side was just the open ditch, which you can't see in the photo.
It's hard to get a sense of the scale of the ditch, or the steepness of the hill from the pics, just keep in mind that plastic pipe is about 18-24" in diameter. Mr Bill led the way with his KTM 690 SE and cleared it all pretty well. I was next up on the 'Strom with the plan that Jim and Iris would walk their DRZ400's over the pipe.
It all happened fast, but I think what happened was my skid plate grounded on the top of the pipe first and then when the rear tire hit it, it kicked out. The bike and I shot to the left and promptly fell down hill and into the ditch, me first and then the bike on top of me.
My left leg was pinned under the bike and I was laying on my left side in about 8 inches of muddy runoff water. I managed to wiggle my leg out from under the bike about the same time everyone else ran up to help
As much as my body cushion the blow for the > 500 lbs (plus a lot of gear), when we got the bike back upright and began to survey the damage, this what bad news we found:
The plastic hand guard had also been busted, and the clutch lever broke the last 2" off, but still worked. Miraculously the shift lever survived. With no small amount of assistance the four of us along with some judicious engine power got the heavy bastard up out of the ditch on the high side, and then walked and powered it back over the pipe to the downhill side.
Mr Bill went back up to retrieve his bike, and when recrossing the plastic pipe downward his skid plate grounded on top of it too, and he has ~ 12" of suspension travel and lots of ground clearance, so he slid over and down with the rubber still down.
Taking more time after the adrenaline buzz was fading, I tried to survey my own body damage, and could feel that the part of the bike that had pinned my left leg, had been where the high top Garne boots covered it. It hurt some and was starting to swell, but the skin was unbroken, and I could stand on it with no broken bone type pain. The outside of my thigh had landed on a rock up above the knee. But that was also just a good bruise and no fractures.
Elbows, shoulders and back were all protected with D3O armor in my Klim Latitude jacket and the hip and knee armor in my old Olympia Ranger pants had all worked OK. I did not whack my head on anything, so the helmet remains untested. What I didn't feel immediately was that my left side rib cage had landed on something, and that is probably the most sore thing right now.
After thinking it over for long enough, even with the encouragement of the other three to continue along, that we could try calling ahead to a Suzuki shop and try to find a Vstrom foot peg bracket, I realized the likelihood of finding a bracket in stock somewhere was pretty slim. And I didn't cherish the idea of trying to ride much off road with no left side foot peg, so I expressed my disappointment to the others for bailing out on them, and then hit the pavement headed for home with my tail between my legs.
Although we had taken most of three days of dirt road riding to get to PA, it was only about 7 hours of roads getting back home to New Hampshire, using the passenger peg on the left side and reaching forward to shift with the banged up leg.
In retrospect, the way my ribs feel now would have made sleeping on the ground kind of uncomfortable, and the last thing I wanted to do was drag the others down to riding pavement all the rest of the way to WV. Then what would happen is I had to order the bracket and wait for it? Or worse, ride all the way back from WV with no left side peg.
Hope you all have better luck, and have some decent WX this weekend too. It was starting to shape up nicely before I had to go and do something stupid. Have a great outing. I'm really going to miss eating some of Joe's famous Pulled Pork this weekend.
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El Toro Joe
FYYFF
Damn...that sucks, Fred. Hope the ribs feel better soon. Sorry you won't be there for dinner Friday.
08FJR4ME
-WYNPRO-
OUCH!
Well that sucks, If this is on again you and I can try and do it again next year Fred. I have a feeling you may be drinking some orange Koolaid though. In hindsight I don't think I would have tackled that on a fully loaded Manstrom seeing the picks. Heal up and if your any shape to do a ride on the FJR let me know. By the way I have some pulled pork in the fridge I cooked up on Monday. Your welcome to visit.
Dave
Well that sucks, If this is on again you and I can try and do it again next year Fred. I have a feeling you may be drinking some orange Koolaid though. In hindsight I don't think I would have tackled that on a fully loaded Manstrom seeing the picks. Heal up and if your any shape to do a ride on the FJR let me know. By the way I have some pulled pork in the fridge I cooked up on Monday. Your welcome to visit.
Dave
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Mr Bill
Old Dog
Gee Fred I was going to tell everyone your bike was vadalized and they broke the peg off!
You're the best rider I know so its scary to see how fast things can go bad with a skilled rider
You're the best rider I know so its scary to see how fast things can go bad with a skilled rider
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HotRodZilla
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Shit Fred, that's not cool at all. I'm glad you're OK though. I hate it when stuff that looks like it shouldn't be a big deal turns into one. From the description of the fall, it sounds like the bike came out pretty well.
Either way, glad you were good to ride home. I would have done the same thing!
Either way, glad you were good to ride home. I would have done the same thing!
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Checkswrecks
Well-known member
Sorry to hear about the drop - was looking forward to seeing you there.
Thanks for the well wishes. It is a bummer missing out on the WV fun and shenanigans. Was definitely looking forward to all of that. But as banged up as I've felt so far, heading home before the bruises set in was a good idea. Last night was tough sleeping, and that was on our cushy Bob 'o pedic, not the 1/2" thermorest pad.
With retirement looming I don't think I will be able to justify any of the high zoot Orange-aide anytime soon, Dave, much as I want to. But maybe something a little more dirt worthy from Japan (used) in the future? I do love that 'Strom for sliding around on the dirt roads, but when the going gets rough, you have to have the good sense to know when to say no. Seems I lack that good sense.
Yes, AJ, the bike actually fared pretty well. My big Muffintop Industries side case landed on rocks at the bottom of the ditch with me, but only scuffed up the powder coating. The SW Motech rack and cases are still straight. A few wounds in the plastic for sure, but not a very big deal on that bike. If I ever decided to sell that bike it wouldn't be worth diddly anyway.
Now enough about me and my woes. Let's get on with some West Virginia DS riding reports, eh?
With retirement looming I don't think I will be able to justify any of the high zoot Orange-aide anytime soon, Dave, much as I want to. But maybe something a little more dirt worthy from Japan (used) in the future? I do love that 'Strom for sliding around on the dirt roads, but when the going gets rough, you have to have the good sense to know when to say no. Seems I lack that good sense.
Yes, AJ, the bike actually fared pretty well. My big Muffintop Industries side case landed on rocks at the bottom of the ditch with me, but only scuffed up the powder coating. The SW Motech rack and cases are still straight. A few wounds in the plastic for sure, but not a very big deal on that bike. If I ever decided to sell that bike it wouldn't be worth diddly anyway.
Now enough about me and my woes. Let's get on with some West Virginia DS riding reports, eh?
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FJRPittsburgh
Rally Addict
Sorry to hear of the tumble Fred. Heal up quickly. I hear the older you get, the quicker you heal. I read it on the internet. All the best sir.
Well, if this is any kind of an indication of what age I feel, I'm already scheming on how to get a more dirt worthy bike (back) into the garage for next time around. Most likely something small enough to require trailering. I've seen my limits on the Strom. Not a fan of limits.
CAJW
Well-known member
Fred, glad you're on the mend and that things weren't worse damage wise to you or the bike. For a replacement, my vote is to go for an Italian steed. I've ridden some of the back roads of WV and will bet that a bike like mine would be the ticket. At 278 lbs. wet with gear, my Beta is the best dirt bike I've ever owned, but even it can hurt you. Pic is from last Fall (pun intended) when shortly after this was taken a slick as snot, rutted road sent me and my Italian mistress in different directions. Result was a torn MCL and a 4 month hiatus from riding, but much easier to get off my leg than your Manstrom, plus damage was all me, the bike was fine.
Heal quickly, retirement is coming and you'll need your strength up to par!
(Bar risers have since been added to correct the poor angle of my melon that should be looking farther down the road. Maybe the reason the rut took me out?)
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08FJR4ME
-WYNPRO-
Plenty of XR650L out there barely used for decent prices.
Craigs: https://westernmass.craigslist.org/mcy/5562288903.html https://providence.craigslist.org/mcy/5549160615.html
Dave
Craigs: https://westernmass.craigslist.org/mcy/5562288903.html https://providence.craigslist.org/mcy/5549160615.html
Dave
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bbdig
Well-known member
including mine
We'll talk.
El Toro Joe
FYYFF
Got home from a great weekend of riding the roads of WV, at 3:30 with 888.5 miles for past 3 days. If you know Bob, you also know, that we didn't stop for pictures.
Madmudder
Tim
If Tyler was with you Bob stops wherever a picture can be taken, why not for you Joe? did you ask nicely?
El Toro Joe
FYYFF
I did get one picture, from our stop at Cass.
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