Today is Like a Light-Weight Hot Dog

That's because it's Hollow Weenie. :)
Har-har-har.

I didn't sleep too soundly last night, so I feel a bit tired.
While that's too bad, I still plan on going for another Pachaug ride later today.
The weather outside feel pretty nice for the last day of October, so it would be a shame to miss it.

One project I should do before that is to change the coolant in my ol' clammy Ranger.
I've put that off long enough, and I should git 'er done once and for all (until next time).
I already have plenty off new coolant waiting on the counter, as well as a new air filter, so, it looks like I'll be playing Ford mechanic for a half-hour or so.
Not my favorite thing to do, but, since it's my only automobile, I gots to do it.
In fact, the only other set of wheels I have right now is my WR-250FY, and I'd hate to have to use that to get around, wearing the knobby tires out in short order.

I'll probably add to this post later today, after all of the excitement has played-out.

Edit:
I'm cheating a bit by adding to this post at 12:04am, so it's actually Monday morning right now.
Oooooooh, don't report me to the blog police, OK?

Today's (or, actually yesterday's) rock pile ride was shorter than yesterdays.
About half as long, basically, with 31.8 miles on the odometer.
Since I felt tired from lack of sleep, I took the shorter loop I'd been riding most of the year, and I left a couple short sections out that I usually take on top of that.
Still, even though I lacked good concentration, I had no bad incidents and still pulled-off some decent maneuvers while on the bike, so, it was a worthwhile ride.

I did see a few people, as yesterday, including a couple of girls on horseback.
As I stopped to let them go past, I asked them what the heck proper action is for the motorcycle rider (me) when he meets a couple of horse dykes (them).
OK.
I didn't say dykes, but you get the idea.
They said to basically do what I did:
Come to a stop and shut the engine off.
We chatted for a minute on the subject, and then, they were off.
Nice dykes.

I just got up from a nap on the couch, and I should hit the sack for real.

-John

178: Today's Rock Pile Ride Was Great

Before I left for today's ride, I slid the fork tubes up in the clamps about one-half millimeter.
If you are an astute reader of my little blog (and I hope you are), you know that I messed around with the fork tube height a bit in an effort to compensate for my Phase 4 forks that were a millimeter or two shorter in length.

Well, for the last couple of rides, the fork tube height started to feel a bit to low, which makes the front of the bike feel high.
So, I slid the tubes up a teeny-tiny bit, and combined with my fork bleeders allowing me to bleed-off and air pressure build-up before I hit the trail, the front of the bike felt very good, indeed.
Not only did the front ride height feel better and without the too-high feeling it had last ride, but the front fork felt better at absorbing the bumps.

As for my inch narrower handlebar, that felt good right from the start.
I guess the stock width would feel better on a guy an inch wider than me.

All-in-all, the setup I used on my WR-250FY firebreather felt mighty fine.
Win-win all around.

Now, THAT'S my kind of good karma or how I get my chakras off.
Take that, Shirley MacLaine!
I guess I'm just an overly-sensitive ol' motorcycle rider, but, I'm telling you that the difference was definitely noticeable, and for the better, as well. :)

As for the enjoyment of the ride, it was another good one.
No crashes or close calls - just good control of the bike by the rider:
Me.
I did 58 miles, and part of that was that neat-o pine forest whoop section that I like.
I saw several hikers (a couple with big backpacks as if they were crossing the continent), several horse riders (don't know whether or not they were dykes), a few couples walking ol' Rover the dog, one guy hunting who was wearing an orange vest and standing on the edge of the trail with his shootin' iron, and one guy on a Suzuki DR-650ES dual-purpose bike.
The guy on the DR looked familiar and I waved as he passed by me at the very start of the trail.

I plan on going for another one tomorrow, so here's hoping for yet another good one on Halloween. :)
Now, it's time for din-dins.

-John

177 Leaves on the Porch

Well, I think I'm just about used to the fact that we're well past warm weather being the norm and just about at the half-way point of the fall season.
Sure, we can have a spat of Indian summer like we did for the past few days, but, don't count on it everyday until May gets back here.
It'll be nice when it does.

I also remember having some very warm days this past March, which now seem like they were years ago.
My, how quickly time can pass when your back is turned.
That ol' Father Time.
He's a sneaky guy. :)

At least the weather we're having now is good for riding a dirt bike.
It's warm enough so you don't start shivering as soon as you step out of the house, and when you're on the bike and getting a physical workout, it feels downright comfy.
Bring a jacket, and you'll be fine.

I imagine that when the weather gets into mid-winter and it regularly goes below freezing at night and ice forms on the ponds around here, I'll mount-up my tires with the ice screws in them and do some riding on the ice as I did last winter.
That can be fun, but, in all honesty, it's a poor replacement for riding a dirt bike on dirt (or 95% rock and 5% dirt if you're out in the rock pile).
Things feel a bit fake and artificial since the ice is relatively smooth and flat, and you just don't get the same feeling while out there doing it.
This is, after all, why we partake in physical activities that we enjoy, ain't it?
Isn't it to yet again experience feelings that you find enjoyable?
It is to me, anyway.

I want to either laugh or puke (depending on my mood) when somebody starts rambling about how they ride a motorcycle for boring reasons like (supposed) fuel economy (and if they are getting some crazy fuel mileage on their bike, they're riding like a wimp and not even opening that throttle - disgraceful, really) or having "the wind in my face", or being able to get a better view of all the pretty fall foliage.
I don't know about you, but those are definitely NOT the reasons I took-up motorcycling.
Not by a long shot.
Nope.
Thinking about doing those things makes me have a very bored and actually mildly disgusting feeling come over me.
To me, it's always been about putting the bike through it's paces in a manner like you see in a dirt bike magazine with a nice roost coming off the rear tire, front wheel in the air, and little rocks and stones flinging about as the engine makes a nice sound.
This is what it's all about, and at the end of a ride where I feel like I did a good job of it, I feel like I'm on the top of the world.
I've found nothing better.

Last night after jerk, I installed a little device onto the caps of my Phase 4 forks called fork bleeders.
Basically, since there is air held inside of each fork leg, and the fork leg will heat up and cool down depending on weather conditions and even how much the fork warms-up from normal use, the air inside the fork can become pressurized.

The current theory of dirt bike front fork action says that zero air pressure (when the front wheel is off the ground and the front fork is not being compressed) gives the best results.
Since it is normal for the fork's air to pressurize on a daily basis (and this will make the fork less able to absorb sudden bumps as well), installing these little bleeders lets you bleed-off pressure build-up by merely pushing a little button instead of using a screwdriver and turning a little bleed screw all the way out to release the air.
Now, I can do this in an instant mere seconds before I leave the truck and head for the trail.
I've used them 20 years ago when I first saw them, and I believe it's time I used them again since I do release the air pressure so often.

Off to jerk,
-John

I Just Picked Up 176 Sticks

I decided to go over to the garage for some firebreather tweakin' before I posted this morning.
I wonder if I'll be able to handle the radical change in my lifestyle. :)

What I did was shorten the handlebar width one inch in total by cutting 12 millimeters off each end.
This is one of the time-honoured methods of tailoring the bike's controls to suit you, and the handlebar certainly is one of the controls.
It always seemed a little bit wider than ideal for me, so, now we'll see how this feels once out on the rock pile.

At the same time, I put on a new pair of grips (grips!) from some Italian company which I can't remember the name of at the moment.
It starts with the letter A, and has a pic of Stefan Everts on the package.
I hope you know who Stefan Everts is, Bucky.
These grips are some of the smaller-in-diameter ones out there, which I like in a pair of grips, so we'll see how I get along with them.
They're smooth with very fine ribbing over the surface, and have a bit of a bump running lengthwise at the top side.
I'll report back after the shakedown ride with them this weekend.

Off to jerk,
-John

What Ever Happened to the Ozone Hole?

If you were around 25 years ago, you know about the supposed hole in the ozone layer of the Earth's atmosphere and how people were supposedly making it bigger and bigger by surviving.
Just as today we're blamed for global warming (which has recently and quietly been superseded by climate change), back then, we were all blamed for making some supposed hole in the ozone layer bigger and bigger.
This was supposedly done by emissions of products like aerosol cans and freon inside of your air conditioner and refrigerator.

Then, one day, we all noticed that the media wasn't chirping about this supposed ozone hole anymore, but had been told to move on to a new pet project threat to mankind's well being - global warming.
Just as the supposed ozone hole was gonna' get ya', global warming was gonna' get ya'.
Now, the latest boogey man in the closet is climate change.

I, for one, would like to know exactly what wealthy mouthpieces like Al Gore are doing to supposedly correct this supposed problem of climate change, other than traveling around the world in his private jet and private cars and holding conferences where he spreads this lie as if it were gospel truth put down my God, himself.
You know what I believe he's doing about it?
Nothing.
Nothing because there is no problem to correct.
What he's actually been given to do is to spread the lie around and brainwash lots of people about it.
I do not believe for one second that his plush and high-dollar lifestyle has gone down one tiny bit because of any supposed environmental disaster waiting on the hazy horizon.

Now, just where do you think he gets his money from?
Do you think he prints it himself?
Could he get it from some big foundation or corporation?
Tax money?
I'll bet a million that it has to do with big business at it's core, the same big businesses that demolish mountains to get the minerals out of the ground and sink drill bits down underground to suck the crude oil out.

These supposedly charitable foundations like the Ford Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation and Carnegie.
Where did they get their dough from?
Do they have their own mint in their back yards to print their own 1,000-dollar bills?
Or, was it from making things in big factories around the world, drilling for oil any place they could get to, and forging steel in big mills?
I bet they all had a huuuuuuuuge interest in protecting the supposed fragile environment while they belched smoke, drilled through the ground, choked on fumes, and had guys with machine guns mow down people protesting against them.
Were you taught that one as the credits for Sesame Street scroll down the screen while Elmo waved goodbye until next time?
It is all just a necessary evil, I suppose, huh?

But, yet, I'm a bad guy for riding my dirt bike out in the middle of the woods and I'm certainly killing the planet with what comes out of my exhause pipe.
I would like to have Al Gore put his lips on my exhaust pipe.

I'm heading on over to the garage to change the rear tire on my WR-250FY.

-John

Don't Forget to Post

I actually forget to post an entry into my bloggy spot this morning.
So, I'm doing it while here at jerk while taking a little lunchy-poo break.
Hope I'm not getting old or coming down with Alzheimer's.
Or both at the same time.
Now, that would be a drag, wouldn't it? :)

I changed the earl (old-timer's way of saying oil) and oil filter and serviced the air filter on my WR-250FY firebreather last night after jerk.
I still plan on changing the rear tire before the weekend, too.

That's all for now because I have a nice, tasty sandwich staring at me. :)

-John

173: Off to Jerk for Me

Well, I will do this bloggy post first, though. :)

I'm still feeling pretty stoked about the good ride I had yesterday.
It was quite a refreshing and much-welcomed change when I decided to do a couple runs through that neat-o pine forest section with the whoops.
That reminded me a lot of how my riding spots were back in the good ol' days, days when I could roll up to any one of half a dozen places, get my new YZ-250 out of my truck, and ride to my heart's content.
Those Phase 4 forks took the big whoops very well, and with the "aggressive woods" valving spec. that is in them, the bigger the bumps, the better they work.
I do wonder if I'd be better off with the "woods" specification, which would probably trade some big bump capability for better small bump absorption.
The way the fork performs over small bumps is still better than the stock fork, but I'm always looking for better, still, and if the parts are available to me to make it better, I just might do it.

One thing that I am very satisfied with is the performance of the rear suspension.
All I've had to do is adjust the spring preload in order for me to achieve the usual 4 inches of "sag" (the distance my body weight compresses the rear suspension) and fine tune the damping clickers to suit me.
I'm still amazed on practically every ride how well the rear performs - it is downright excellent.
I have no desire to modify or change a thing as far as how it works goes.
In fact, the only work I ever do or plan on doing is the required routine maintenance in order to keep it performing as it does.

This is, by the way, exactly what maintenance is:
Maintaining the performance.

You know, it seems to me that a lot of riders don't really understand (or, at least act like they don't understand) what maintenance on a motorcycle is all about.
If you ride, ride, ride without ever lifting a wrench and then realize you need to take your bike apart to replace all of the rear suspension bearings and related collars, spacers, and oil seals, well, guess what?
By that time, you're not going in there to maintain it.
You're going in there to make repairs, Bucky.

You see, you take the bike apart at specified intervals so that you can apply more fresh grease to those critical and high-precision parts, not wait until they're worn out because you didn't maintain the high level of precision the parts once had.
See?
That's what is meant by maintenance.
You are supposed to do what is required to maintain a high level of performance, not do nothing and let things degrade.

I know guys who fancy themselves as skilled dirt bike mechanics, and they will take the ride-it-until-it-wears-out route every time.
Yet, they will be ridiculously fanatical about another area of dirt bike performance that isn't as critical.
For example, I know a guy who is fanatical about having the proper-sized main jet in his bike for the current weather conditions.
On the other hand, this same guy treats the task of air filter maintenance as if it were something that you can do once a year.
To me, this is so ironic and backwards, it's like claiming you're an avid fitness fanatic and go running every morning, yet come lunch time, you fill-up on Big Macs and Twinkies and wash it down with soda pop until you're ready to barf.
Every day.

This basically removes much of his clout as being a whizz-bang motorcycle technical guru in my book.
Names shall be withheld to protect the guilty. :)

On another funny note (C sharp, maybe? :) ), I wrote a response on a message board where a guy was complaining that his brandy-new Yamaha WR-250X is a dog, and that he's basically sorry he bought it.
The WR-250X, by the way, is the street version of the WR-250R dual-purpose bike I had up until last month.

I wrote back a detailed post about how he needs to spend some dough on uncorking the bike from the ridiculous EPA regulations that bikes suffer from these green agenda days.
I told him exactly what guys are doing to cure this, so now we'll see what he thinks about this information.
If he's got a head on his shoulders, he'll do it and enjoy the strongest-performing 250cc street bike Yamaha ever sold in the USA.
If he's an unrealistic whiner, he'll bitch, piss, and moan and sell the bike.
We'll see. :)

Off to jerk,
-John

Planet of the Distant Past

Sounds like the title for a cheap Sci-Fi movie, doesn't it?
That is in reference to a guy asking about where he can ride his YZ-250 at riding spots in Connecticut.
He asked on a message board because he claims he may be moving out here from the mid-west, and he'd like to find out where he can take his bike riding around here before he pulls up stakes and makes the move, YZ loaded in the back of his covered wagon being towed by ol' Betsy, his lovely wife Martha by his side and their son Jeremiah playing in the back, turning the fuel petcock on the YZ on and off in amazement.
I hope there aren't any matches back there. :)

I replied that the Pachaug rock pile is open to trail riding, providing the bike is street registered and he sticks to the trails that make up the official Pachaug loop (AKA NETRA E8).
This seemed not to sit too well with him, and he basically sounds like he's expecting to find a place where all you need to do is just pull up to the riding spot, unload your motocross (and unregistered) bike, start it up, and roost all day without a care in the world.

I wrote back saying that I know of no such place like that anywhere in CT. anymore, although there were lots of places where you could get away with that back up until the mid-1980s (and I should know because I was an avid part of that scene around here back in those days).
Those days are, I'm afraid to say, a part of the distant past, and that's where the title of this post comes from.

It's a fact of 21st century environmental brainwashed thinking, which is a funny way of saying land is being grabbed away from the use of me and you and now under the strict control of big shots that are vastly superior in every way.
Certainly in the way of deciding how our lives should be lived and what we can and can't do, not to mention where all of your ever-increasing taxation money goes, and I bet it ain't where they claim it goes. :)

Another big reason for land closures has to do with silly lawsuits that suddenly seemed to become the latest fad with lawyers back from 1987-onwards.
I'll probably touch on this in a future post.
Three-wheeled ATVs and parents steered along by greedy lawyers and equally greedy and corrupt judges (and the whole stinky legal system, I do believe) played a part in it.

Anyway, the guy from the Planet of the Distant Past wrote back saying, basically, that back where he comes from, there are places to ride where you have no problems with riding what you want where you want.
I tried to inform him that it's not the case out here (not by a long shot), but, I get the firm impression he doesn't want to take my answer to heart, but, instead, would rather read the responses from other like-minded forum members that would rather make it sound like there are still scads of free-to-roam places to ride out here.

The reality is, unless you have a registered bike and hit the state-approved trails, or join a riding club with their own land (and who knows how much longer that will be allowed before some bogus environmental reason for making such places illegal comes down), or join a trail-riding organization like NETRA and ride their events (and guess what? At lots of those events, you need a registered bike...), or be fortunate enough to either own your own land or have permission from a friend that does, you are simply rolling the dice and riding illegally.

When I say riding illegally, I don't say it and feel it in such a way that any illegal dirt bike riders should be sent to the chair.
In my view, there are a lot more serious things that you can do to be called a law-breaker.
Honestly, in my opinion, as long as you're not making a nuisance of yourself and being an obvious asshole by disturbing other people in a rude and selfish manner, go have a ball on your dirt bike.
Lord knows I've done the very same thing a million times, and continue to do so to this very day.
What I mean by illegal is when you choose to not abide by these (often seemingly silly and petty) laws that dirt bike riders have to follow to avoid being labeled as a law-breaker.
Myself, I'd rather not have gone through the time, trouble, and expense to get my off-road-only WR-250FY firebreather inspected and registered, only to do something I know is against these silly laws and get a nice, fat DEP ticket.
Or worse.
Impound?

So, basically, the guy from the Planet of the Distant Past is gonna' do it his way, and I hope he lets us know where he decides to ride his YZ in CT.

For myself, I'm a'headin' on over to the garage to give the firebreather an inspection and pre-ride tweakin' before I head on out to the rock pile for today's ride.
I wonder if I'll see any YZ-250s out there.

Edit time. :)

Well, today's rock pile ride was better than yesterday's because I simply felt better on the bike and rode it better.
This always gives a feeling of great satisfaction - the bike working well and the rider (me) doing a good job of riding it.
I added yet more trail action from parts of the Pachaug loop that I rode last weekend with my ol' buddy, as well as a section of trail that I haven't been on for a solid year, which was back when I was riding my dual-purpose WR-250R in Pachaug.

Riding my WR-250FY over this same section was so much more enjoyable and confidence-inspiring (because it's simply a much better dirt bike), I'm probably gonna' do it again next weekend.
The part that I rode last weekend is a nice pine forest-esque area with plenty of pine needles on the ground and motocross-type whoops from all of the bikes accelerating over the trail over the last 40-or-so years.
I really got into it, and once I finished the section, I looped around and rode it a second time.
This is another section I want to ride again, too.

Today's mileage was even more than yesterday:
60.0 miles, exactly.
Not too shabby for an afternoon in the rock pile.

When I got home, I washed the bike up all spic and span, so that's out of the way.
I should change the rear tire before the weekend comes, and perhaps I'll do it before work one day this week.
It is worn to the point that it is effecting performance.

Now, din-dins with a couple of hand-pounded cheeseburgers. :)

-John

How Much Does a Ton of Feathers Weigh?

I'm home from free-bee Saturday at jerk, I just ate, and now I'm a'gonna' load up my relic of a 2009 WR-250FY and go do some Pachaug rock pile riding, dammit.
Weather is fine, and tomorrow looks to be fine, too (the forecast is for cloudy-but-dry, which is just fine with me).

Well, time for an edit to add to this post.
I went on out to the rock pile and had a good ride.
As I planned, I added some action from the trails I rode last Sunday, and today's milage was 49.8.
Felt a bit slow at first, but the I got with the program after about 10 miles or so.
By the time I got to the last 5 miles, I felt good and let 'er rip a fair bit.
Somebody who was out walking on the trail heard me coming and got the heck out of the way (as I think you should if you're walking on a motorcycle trail) and stood off to the right-hand side of the trail as I ripped by through a section of whoops, so they got an up-close and personal lesson in dirt bike riding to go along with their mouthful of dusty air.
Hey, if they don't like it, they can go walk one of the gazillion hiking trails in the Pachaug forest that I'm not allowed to ride my bike on.
OK? :)

In fact, I'm off to go back out there right now and walk along a part of the trail as part of another let's-get-to-know-your-dirt-bike-trail-a-bit-better session.
See ya'.

-John

New Bike Coming Out

If you go to motorcycledaily.com , you can read all about the new Triumph 800 adventure bike/dual-purpose bike, set to go on sale as a 2011 model.
You can even write some comments for all of the other people to read and comment on.
How nice, huh?

I was going to write a comment, but I decided against it.
I'd be looked upon as having a pine cone up my ass and simply trying to rain on everyone's parade.
Why?
The same ol' reason with me and these supposed "adventure" or "dual-purpose" bikes:
They're just street bikes with different styling and an inch more ground clearance.
Few things seem as silly to me as riding a 500-pound street bike off road, and why riders seemingly trip over themselves to buy these bikes is beyond me.
I can only guess that they've drunk from the Jonestown Koolade vat, and are now hopelessly punch-drunk with adventure bike fever.

There is an excellent reason why this is a pet subject of mine.
See, I started riding motorcycles off the road, and dirt bikes have always been in my blood.
I've owned many street bikes, too, and have had some very fun street bike rides over the years.
I've also owned many dual-purpose bikes, bikes that can truly do both street riding and off-road riding.

These new breed of adventure bikes, however, are simply a case of marketing brainwashing.
I'll never feel that these are bikes meant for riding off-road.
As dirty as I'd want to get on one of these is the gravel driveway leading up to the garage where I park for the night, and that would be hairy enough on one of these heavyweights with street tires and hi-mount exhaust mufflers.

Basically, one of these would make my ol' buddy's XR-650R feel like a trials bike.
Maybe he needs one for training purposes. :)

I posted a few comments to a thread on the ThumperTalk forums about a guy asking where he can do some legal dirt bike riding just in case he ends up moving to Connecticut.
I replied that he can go out to the Pachaug rock pile as long as his bike is registered.

I could tell from his response that he's not from the area at all, but probably from some far off universe known as the distant past, where you could simply roll-up to one of a half-dozen places that were once around here, unload your motocross bike, and ride all day without a hassle of any kind from anybody, including the cops or DEP.
Those days are loooooooooong gone in Connecticut because the fake environmental movement is in motion.
A bowel motion, perhaps. :)
A motion that's really all about removing you from the use of public lands and locking all land away for the use of only a select few.
Those few, I'm afraid, ain't you.
You haven't proven that you're rich, powerful, and ruthless enough to mingle with this elite crowd, never mind being an inferior human being to boot.
You don't have good genes, don't forget.

Off to jerk,
-John

Hurry, Hurry. Don't Be Late

I got up this morning 40 minutes late because I found out the hard way my alarm clock's battery needed to be replaced.
Yeah, it's a little quartz clock that I've been using non-stop for at least 20 years.
Probably more.
It just keeps on ticking...literally. :)

I've actually been kicking around the idea of leaving the house early during the week and perhaps doing an hour-or-so of Pachaug rock pile riding before jerk.
Wouldn't happen every day, but I have done riding there before work a lot in the past.
Just might start doing that, again, so stay tuned.

One of the bummers about the rock pile trail loop is the road mileage wearing your knobby tires down faster than it would happen otherwise.
Today or tomorrow after jerk, I should take a drive out to a section of road to see if my suspicions as to where it goes are correct.
I want to add some of the (legal) trail action I rode this past weekend into my loop, and I want to see if my guess that one of the roads I currently ride down during my loop will put me out in that area as I think it will.
Wheel C. :)

Off to jerk,
-John

In Neutral

Feeling in a pretty neutral mood this morning.
That means not feeling particularly good or bad, just somewhere in the middle.
I guess that ain't too bad now, is it?

I got that Honda parts return done before I left jerk yesterday, so that's one big thing less to do on free-bee Saturday morning.

I think I'll mosey on over to the garage and put the parts back on the WR-250FY that get removed when I wash the bike.
I'll install a nice, new Maxima ProFilter, too (and as you should know, a clean and properly-oiled air filter is extremely important on a dirt bike).
That way, if I do go for a ride on Saturday, I'll have less stuff to do before I can head out.

Even then, just before I load the bike into my ol' clammy Ranger, I'll always do these things in the final minutes before leaving:

*Bleed any air pressure out of the fork via the small screw at the fork cap up top.

*Lube my clutch cable.
In my opinion, anybody who can't feel the benefit of a freshly-lubed clutch cable is on medication.

*Check tire pressure and adjust if needed.
Another biggie that is extremely important.
12 psi is what I've always liked on my dirt bikes.

Of course, other things are tended to during the week between rides, but these biggies are done at the last minute because they are effected by time and temperature, even with the bike just sitting there on the stand.


-John

167: We're in Ridin' Heaven

This pic ain't one of me, but it could have been on any Sunday. :)
That's a Yamaha WR-250FY, although there are a few less rocks in this pic. :)

Plan on riding the Pachaug rock pile alone this weekend (thank God), and there's a chance I just might do another 2-day gig of both Saturday and Sunday.
I'm feeling pretty good right now, and if I still feel this way, then I'll do both days.

I just might go into work an hour early in order to get a Honda parts return done.
This way, knocking it out on a Tuesday morning means not having to do it on free-bee Saturday morning.
See the beauty in that one? :)

As of right now, I'm fairly satisfied how the Phase 4 forks are working on my firebreather WR-250FY.
I've got the ride height settled on and the front suspension works considerably better than it did before the change.
I still haven't taken the forks apart to inspect them, but since they're working well with the ride height change, I'll let that job go until this winter when trail riding trips out to the rock pile will be far and few between.

Winter.
Blaaaahh.

Got a pair of brandy-new front tires installed onto my clammy Ford Ranger yesterday after jerk.
The tires seem to feel well enough, but the job that was (supposedly) done on the balancing doesn't feel good at all.
Get up to 60mph, and you can easily feel an imbalance that is downright annoying.
Shame, because the wheel balance felt perfect with the old tires.
When I get a new pair of rear tires mounted before the snow flies (at a different tire store this time, and one I've used a couple times in the past), I'll probably ask that the front tire balance be checked and corrected.

Off to jerk early,
-John

Monday Already?

Yesterday's rock pile ride was a bag of mixed feelings.
I met-up with my ol' buddy at his house as planned, and we hit the trails after just a couple of minutes.
He had told me during the week that he wanted me to show him the trail loop I'd been riding, and even though I felt that he wouldn't like it since he was riding a big, heavy bike that wasn't the best tool for that kind of rocky going, I did as he asked.

So, for the first half of our Sunday ride together, he followed me around the 40 mile loop.
Did I enjoy it?
Not really.
As I expected, I had to stop frequently to allow him to catch-up, otherwise he's probably take a wrong turn and lose me.
Not that my ol' buddy can't ride (even though I believe he was a bit rusty at first due to not riding off-road much this past year), but because his bike is about as heavy as a real dirt bike gets, and a big bike like that is way more of a liability out there in the rock pile than an advantage, he had to work his ass off and basically bite his fingernails every time we came upon a rocky uphill or downhill, of which there are many.
That's simply how the trail loop is.

Another reason he had to work at it is because of his tires.
Even though he has a decent-condition used one on the front and a brandy-new one on the rear, he felt compelled to blow them up like balloons with twice the recommended off-road air pressure of 25 psi.
This severely reduces traction while on the trail, and will, to a large degree, negate the added traction of new tires.
They simply won't be able to work as intended at such high air pressure.

Why did he do this?
Because he's stubborn, basically.
His reasoning was that it would reduce tire wear while on the pavement.
My view is this makes no sense whatsoever, being that off-road traction will be so severely compromised, and I think he should just accept the wear you will get from use on pavement.
To me, this is like buying a brand-new hang glider and then slicing big holes in the wings in order to save weight - you just messed-up how your hang glider is supposed to work.

So, after we completed the loop (which was taken at a reduced pace because I knew my ol' buddy was back there struggling with his behemoth), he took the lead and led me down some trails that he knows and likes.
As I expected, they were much smoother and easier to ride.
The catch was that the reason they were smoother was because they see much less traffic down them, and the reason for that is because they aren't even motorcycle-approved trails to begin with.
That's right:
We shouldn't have even been on them in the first place, according to the big shots making the rules for guys riding dirt bikes in the Pachaug rock pile.

But, since my ol' buddy is as stubborn as a mule, telling him how you feel about that is just asking for some lip and/or an argument.
While the trails were in nice condition, knowing that I wasn't allowed on them was always on my mind.
To be quite honest, when we finally called it quits for the day, I was glad our ride was over with, and in hindsight, I have to say that I have more fun out there when on my own, doing my own thing, and riding where and how fast or slow as I like.
My ol' buddy is an honest guy who would never screw you over and is very respectful of other people in day-to-day situations, but, I don't feel like riding with him next weekend, either.
I'm not gonna' lie.
Basically, I'm so glad we got that tire change and ride out of the way.

The total mileage for the day was 96.7 miles, over twice my usual for a Sunday ride.
I washed the bike up squeaky-clean as soon as I got home, too.
I'm looking forward to next Sunday's rock pile ride, already, and I think I'll incorporate a trail or two that we rode down yesterday (these are legal trails, too).
I remember these trails from back in the day when we'd ride the whole 65-mile loop, they're not too rocky (a rarity out there), and it'll be nice to do something different.

Off to jerk,
-John

Sunday Ride

Going out to the Pachaug rock pile, again, but this time I'm leaving considerably earlier.
The reason is that since me and my ol' buddy got together and changed his tires on his bike, he's planning on going riding with me.
I've got to call him at 10:00am this morning to confirm he hasn't gotten abducted or fell down the rabbit hole during the night, and if he's still alive, I'm supposed to meet him over at his place at 12 noon.

I'm gonna' park my truck and start my ride from the usual spot at Motorsports Nation, ride out to the half-way mark of my loop, and then take a right down a short trail that basically leads to a road about a half-mile from his door step.

-John

Back to Normal

I got my PC back from Bruce yesterday afternoon, and all is well with it, now.
It was the usual problem:
Lots of Internet surfing gathered me lots of viruses and other nasty things on my computer, until they eventually knocked out my anti-virus program, eventually leading to me not being able to connect to the Internet.

Also, while he was in there, Bruce replaced the power supply.
Not because the power supply wasn't properly supplying power, but because one of the integral cooling fans was running below the correct speed (turning too slowly) and making noise.
Since these fans are only sold along with the whole power supply, I got a new one.

Seems that every year-and-a-half or so, my PC needs to be brought in for a de-virusing at Bruce's shop.
Good thing he's local, just down the street from jerk. :)

Today, after I exit the usual half-day-free-bee-Saturday (and it should actually only be about an hour at most since I did all of my usual Saturday morning stuff during the week), I will be calling my ol' buddy to get together for a tire changing session.
It still boggles my mind that a guy can continue to ride on tires that should have been replaced with new ones YEARS ago.

I also get a pretty clear impression that he's looking for that magic tire, the one that will work great off-road, yet still hold-up to many miles of road use, too.
Keep looking, ol' buddy. :)

Well, after today, he'll be in good shape as far as condition of tires goes.
I just wonder if he can be persuaded to service his air filter. :)

Off to jerk,
-John

Forecast: 163 Degrees in the Shade

Without my trusty ol' PC at home, no sense in dilly-dallying around at home in the early morning.
So, I went into jerk early, and as I write this, I'm sitting at my desk at jerk.

Without my ol' compy, it's a bummer not being able to surf the Internet, reading all of the silly shit out there, as well as adding my own to the mix.
Of course, my silly shit is very important, indeed. :)

I got a call last night from my ol' riding buddy (the guy with the big 2007 Honda XR-650R) that, yes, indeed, he'd like to get together Saturday afternoon to finally change those well-worn tires and do some honest-to-gosh dirt bike riding on Sunday out in the Pachaug rock pile.
Hope it happens.
We'll see.

At jerk,
-John

I've Got 162 Viruses

Is viruses a real word?

I wasn't able to post a new blog entry this morning like I usually do before jerk because last night, my PC at home (which I've had since 2004) caught a cold and now has a tummy ache.
I couldn't log onto the Internet, so, no more chatting with friends and no more blog posting from home until I get that taken care of.

I'm writing this entry from jerk, actually, while I eat my trusty peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Not the very same sandwich every day, mind you, but I make a fresh one every time I have lunch here at jerk. :)
Also, as I write this, my ol' PC is at a local guy's computer fix-it shop, just down the street from where I sit.
He's a nice guy named Bruce, and I've used his shop several times in the past whenever my home PC needed a check-up.
Hopefully, I'll get the call within 24 hours telling my my PC is all better, and that I should drive over to Bruce's shop with a pocketful of money to retrieve my computer.

I really enjoy using my PC at home.
It's a hobby of mine.
I love reading interesting things, like motorcycle message boards, and all of the silly stuff I write to friends whilst chatting with them.
I hope they enjoy my sense of humor. :)

At jerk,
-John

Hanover Bike Wash: $1.61

I went into jerk early yesterday, as planned, and got that Suzuki parts return done.
Now, that's one less thing for me to do on this coming free-bee Saturday.

Have you ever heard Suzuki's catchy slogan, by the way?
It goes:
Don't be kooky.
Ride a Suzuki. :)

No wonder why Grungy won this year's AMA Supercross championship.

This morning's project is to head on over to the garage and wash my WR-250FY.
99% of the time, I'll wash the bike as soon as I get home from my Sunday rock pile ride.
But, this past Sunday, as I wrote about already, I felt crummy and was actually afraid I'd hurt myself while washing the bike.
So, I'll do it this morning.
Time to go make some soapy water.

-Off to wash, then jerk,
-John

I Just Bored my 50 Out to a 160 With My Fingernails

I'm contemplating going into jerk about an hour early in order to get a Suzuki parts return done this morning.
The reason that's a good thing (if I do it) is because that means I won't have to do it free-bee Saturday morning. :)

I'm feeling a bit better than I did on Sunday, thank God, so we'll see if I recover to more like my normal self by the time rock pile time comes Sunday afternoon.

I checked out the color lenses that Oakley makes available for my L-frame goggles (the L means they're made for fitting over eyeglasses), and beside the clear and dark grey I already have, they also make a light grey and one called persimmon.
Yes, persimmon.
What the hell is persimmon?
Sounds like some kind of spice you sprinkle on your pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread to me.
The color of the lens is a reddish-orange color, and being how Oakley loves presenting themselves as a very uppity-up company that loves to dazzle you with flashy things you don't see or read or hear every day (because you're simply not a very worldly person and you need to buy some of their products and get with it), I'm not surprised one tiny bit that they've decided on such a homo-sounding name for a goggle lens color.
I mean, shit, you can see how a lot of the male "models" (more like dimwits) on their websites look skinny and underweight and are apparently smiling about nothing, where the girls are looking at these guys like they're the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Sliced bread.
Mmmmmmmmm.
Now, that's something to smile about. :)

Off to jerk a bit early,
-John

I Ran Over 159 Dead Leaves

Yesterday's Pachaug rock pile ride was a so-so affair.
I left the house a bit too early, in hindsight (I'll explain why that's notable in a minute), and, most importantly, I felt kinda' wonky.
Too bad, too, because last weekend (especially on Saturday), I felt very good, indeed, and felt I could do no wrong on the bike, resulting in a mega-ride for the record books as far as enjoyment and having a good feeling with the bike goes.
Yesterday, by comparison, was more of a ride where I knew I felt "off" (left sorta' clumsy and seemed like I had a reduced sense of balance), so I intentionally knocked the speed down a good notch.

I didn't crash, but did have a moment that I think qualifies as a close call:
Riding back through one of my favorite sections that goes through a pine forest, there's a natural jump formed by a rock sticking up out of the ground.
This rock just so happens to be shaped like a ramp, so getting a decent amount of airtime (jumping off of it) is practically a requirement for somebody who enjoys riding a dirt bike.
I hit the jump just as I always do and landed just fine and dandy.
After landing, I pull in the clutch lever a bit, lock the rear wheel via the rear brake, skid the rear wheel to the right in order to turn the bike quickly to the left, and roost down the bumpy trail amongst the pine needles, rock, roots, and pine cones littering the ground.

Where I went wrong was after pointing the front of the bike to the left and lettin' 'er rip down the straight.
Immediately after I let the clutch lever out and open the throttle for some nice rippage, I have the option of either riding over or riding just to the side of a nice tree root running in the same direction that the trail runs.
This root is about 2.5 inches thick and 3 feet long.
It's a daddy-sized root.
Well, even though I've successfully negotiated this section of real estate a million times this year, I had trouble with it yesterday because my balance and concentration was off.
I decided to get my body weight back by hanging my ass over the rear fender (like the Yamaha YZs, the WR-250FY feels great when doing that under acceleration) and rip straight over this tree root.
Probably because my brain was a bit numb and I didn't feel what my tires were doing down there, I spun the rear wheel over the root, lost my solid traction hookup, slid the rear of the bike to the right over the root, pointed the front of the bike to the left, and found myself heading straight into the woods towards some immovable objects:
Big trees.

Thank God, I didn't take both hands off the bars and cover my Oakley goggles and scream like a little girl, but instead, I reacted by pulling in the clutch lever and squeezing the front brake lever hard.
The bike hunkered down on it's Phase 4 forks, I sat down and slid up on the seat toward the gas cap, the M23 Bridgestone front tire gnawed at the pine needle-covered Terra firma, and I came to a sudden halt with the rear tire hovering a few inches off the ground from the resulting nose wheelie (or "stoppie", as they're sometime called).
I stopped rather calmly with the engine just idling peacefully, feet still on the pegs, and the whole affair probably looking like some preplanned trick.
In fact, I bet that if somebody that knew me were standing along side the trail and witnessed the event, they'd probably smile, give a big thumbs-up, and say,
"Do that again, John!"

I'll have another chance to this coming Sunday. :)

So, I just shook it off and let the clutch lever out and carried on as if nothing had happened.
In a way, I benefited from the incident as it served to wake my ass up a bit for the rest of the ride, which was completed at a reduced pace as mentioned earlier, but without further drama, either.

The reason I feel I left the house too early has to do with sunshine and how my eyes suffer from bright conditions.
Basically, when it's bright and sunny, I need a tinted goggle lens to be able to see the details that will get washed-out due to my eyes making things look like it's too bright.
It is much harder to see that rock hole in the ground if it's too bright for my eyes, for example.
The problem with the rock pile is that since a lot of the mileage is through trick, tree-covered trails, a tinted goggle lens tends to make things too dark in a lot of spots.
The best compromise I've struck is to, on bright days, leave at the time of day that puts the sun in a position where it's not way up in the sky, but still up high enough to provide enough light for good vision.

I pulled away from the ol' clammy-but-trusty (with a good transmission :) ) Ford Ranger at 2:58pm, and I believe that was about 45 minutes too early.
The sun was still high enough to wash-out the terrain details in a lot of spots - even in some of the trail sections that were partially tree-covered - so I had to do a whole lot of squinting to reduce the abundant light getting to my eyeballs.
This coming Sunday, provided it's bright and sunny, I'm gonna' pull away from the truck at 3:45pm and see how that goes.

This whole episode with the bright light is something I've known about my whole dirtbike-riding life, but, as I mentioned, my brain wasn't working at full mental capacity during yesterday's rock pile ride. :)
When it's cloudy, then I can get away with going out mid-day without too much trouble, and back in the good ol' days where we had numerous local riding spots to ride in (gravel banks and trails), I'd wear a dark tinted lens to combat the sun.
In those days, though, we were out in the open most of the time.
Maybe I'll experiment with a blue-colored lens, which I've heard old, grizzled trail riders say good things about.

Off to jerk,
-John

Sunday Morning

I'm not sure why I get a kick out of the company that revalved my Phase 4-modified forks.
I do know that the name for this special fork oil the guy running the show is using is just too long and hard to remember because it's not catchy.
It's rediculous, really.

The flip side of this is actually used in the same company.
He also has a revale modification for other forks that he calls the "Del Taco" treatment, which sounds like it came out of a Taco Bell board meeting.
The oil used on these forks is called "Taco Sauce".
Really.
So, we have both ends of the spectrum being used by this guy.
We've got oil with a complicated name, and oil with a cave man name.

I think he needs to strike a balance with what he calls his oils, and I'll comment on balance later in this very post. :)

Didn't get a call from my XR-650R buddy yesterday about doing any tire changing, let alone doing any riding.
Now, I just hope that he doesn't try calling me this morning because Sunday is my riding day, dang it, and I don't have the time to do that shit and still hit the trails at my usual time.

I didn't do any riding yesterday, either, because I decided to spend the afternoon taking my time doing some routine maintenance on my firebreather WR-250FY.
Besides servicing the air filter (and you wouldn't believe how many riders completely neglect their air filters on their dirt bikes), lubing my clutch cable (a freshly-lubed clutch cable is one of my quirks :) ), lubing my rear brake pedal pivot, and putting the plastic body parts back on that get removed from the bike when I wash it, I also installed a new clutch kit.

What's a clutch kit?
It's a box of parts that replace the worn-out ones if your clutch got abused one time too many, or if the clutch simply wore out from lots of normal use.
It contains all of the clutch plates, springs, and a new clutch cover gasket.
The kit was a genuine Yamaha item, which means I used genuine Yamaha parts to do this, not some potentially cheap aftermarket copies.

Although my clutch still worked perfectly and didn't slip, I'd been planning to do this for a while since I did buy the bike used to start with, and I've already ridden the bike nearly every weekend for 11 months, now.
So, I figured better to do it and start riding with a known fresh set of clutch parts and enjoy life to the fullest. :)

Gee, 11 months have already passed since I decided to buy the WR-250FY.
I almost didn't, you know, because I was actually looking for a good used WR-450F at the time.
I found this one by accident, mulled it over, decided against it, and then eventually broke down and decided to go for it.
I'm now VERY glad that I did. :)

In all honesty, and not just because I'm a small guy, the WR-250FY is a better choice out in the Pachaug rock pile than a WR-450F would be.
The trail conditions are tight enough to where the additional power of the 450 would very often be offset by the heavier feel of the bike.
Having more roost-throwing torque and power on tap would be great fun, but I really am not sure if I'd actually be able to finish the loop any quicker on a 450 versus my 250.

The WR-250FY is what you call a "balanced" bike.
Balanced means it has enough power to do the job just fine (very effectively, actually) while having light and easy handling.
In other words, it has less power than the WR-450F, but has easier handling.
It's a compromise, and a good one for the conditions - the power vs. handling equation is balanced very well.

I'm still looking for a good used WR-450F, actually, and I'm just waiting for one that's not beat-up and going for some rediculous price to appear.
I'd really like to find one already registered in CT. and use that as my back-and-forth-to-jerk transportation and dual-purpose-type trail riding when the mood strikes me.

That's always been my kind of dual-purpose bike:
A bike that's actually a real dirt bike with a license plate on the back, and one that wouldn't wince at some real off-road usage, not just sight-seeing down a dirt road or rediculously smooth trail, which the majority of dual-purpose bikes really are, I hate to say.
At least, that's how they come off the showroom floor.

With a WR-450F, I believe the additional power of the 450cc engine would allow me to gear the bike taller, allowing it a chance to actually run with 60mph traffic that you get on even secondary roads these days, while still having enough torque and horsepower to not feel like it's way too overgeared while trail riding.
We'll have to wait and see if this ever happens.

-John

Fall is Definitely Here

Although this ain't the kind of fall I'm talking about, it's still funny shit, especially if it happens to a pinhead.
I wonder why he got his hands and feet chopped off.
And, why ain't his head connected to his body?

It's freebee Saturday once again, and at this point in the early AM, I'm still unsure as to what my day will be like.
This has to do with my ol' riding buddy, the guy who rides a big n' powerful 2007 Honda XR-650R out in the Pachaug rock pile.
Now, riding this bike out on those trails is kinda' like using a hammer to push thumbtacks into a bulletin board:
Sure, you can do it, but most people will say that it's more than you need for doing that.

What that means is that it's a big, heavy, and powerful bike, and while we all like having lots of power on tap, the weight of the bike and the associated ponderous feel it can give you in the tight going is the trade-off.
To the point that as of late, my buddy has been tossing around the thought of maybe someday getting a second bike for the trail riding in the rock pile.
Something along the lines of the Suzuki RMX-250 is what he says he'd like, a 250cc, 2-stroke off-road bike that was based on the Suzuki RM-250 motocross bike.
Fine choice, I say.
The trick with that is finding one for a fair price that ain't beat-up.
See, they made the RMX-250 from 1989-1998, and as how most dirt bikes get the shit beat out of them by guys who think running straight into big, immovable objects like trees, stone walls, and other people is a normal part of dirt bike riding (let alone that lot of these guys don't know what an air filter is supposed to do, or ever feel like greasing their chassis bearings), finding a Suzuki RMX-250 is good condition ain't an easy task.

Not impossible, though, so we'll see what happens.

Anyway, the reason I'm not sure about what I'm doing today is because I'm trying to entice my ol' buddy to get out and do some trail riding this weekend, and I've got two tires for him that his bike badly needs.
I've got the used Bridgestone M23 that just came off my WR-250FY firebreather (which looks new compared to the badly-worn Dunlop on his XR-650R), as well as a brand-new Pirelli MT-16 for the rear of his bike.
He is the kind of guy that, in my opinion, picks his rear tires based on how big-n'-burly they look to the eye (lots of guys will do this), and the MT-16 is a big-n'burly tire that goes back to the mid-1970s with the way it looks:
Wide, tall profile, big knobs that look like they weigh 10 pounds each, and an overall old-fashioned appearance to it.

If I don't get a call from him sometime today, then I'll just be going riding by myself, as usual, and perhaps on both today and Sunday, just as I did last weekend.

Off to jerk,
-John

Special Stuff Required, Part ll

Oh-oh.

It's the orange-colored 212.VM2.K5 in the SPI-3 version!

Although it looks a lot like hand soap, shampoo, or dish washing liquid, it's actually meant for another important job:

Riding dirt bikes! :)

............................................ (Time for more dots because this blogger.com website feels like cramming my carefully laid-out paragraphs into one big mess, again.)

......................................................................

I got my order of the special fork oil my Phase 4 forks require, and I've also got my order of genuine Yamaha parts I'll want to have on hand when I decide to take the forks apart for my exploratory operation.

Going by what this oil is called and the info supplied with it, I get the feeling that the guy running this company where the oil came from (Smart Performance) is a smart guy and a quirky guy.

..........................................................

Being quirky isn't necessarily a bad thing.

It actually depends on what the quirk is.

What's a quirk?

To me, it's anything about you that makes you supposedly unusual.

If you have a strong dislike for television - to the point to where you unplugged your TV and threw it out the window - you could say that's one of your quirks.

..............................................................

The guy running Smart Performance seems like a smart guy that's also a geek.

I don't mean that as a way of cutting the guy down.

I don't even know the guy, and I've only talked with him over the telephone when I ordered the stuff last week.

That's simply the best way of describing my experience so far with this stuff.

When I say that he's a geek, I mean that he seems fanatical about emphasizing how special his fork oil is (he doesn't even want to call it fork oil, but Vibration Cancellation Liquid, instead. Honest. Read the labels in the above pic.), and how special his whole operation is compared to other suspension shops that could also revalve your dirt bike forks.

.................................................................

I get the feeling that this guy is the type that really wants to dig deep into scientific study on how the valving on dirt bike suspension works and put every piece under a microscope, brewing his own theories on how it all works and what areas need improving and how to improve them.

Reading a small strip of paper that came with the fork oil (Oops! I mean Vibration Cancellation Liquid!) even shows me that he's got a sense of humor by informing me that the Styrofoam peanuts packing the box aren't even made of Styrofoam, but made out of some vegetable product, and since they will melt when exposed to water, I can spread them around the outdoors at will.

.......................................................

Hmmm.

At least he didn't use that dreaded word "biodegradable".

Whenever I read or hear that, I start looking around for environmental fanatics who are just itching to tell me that I'm doing something wrong, and I suddenly feel like my good mood has been degraded, so, in a way, that makes my bio degraded, which is my version of what the word biodegradable really means.

Funny, huh?

.................................................

Anyway, I suppose that what I mean with this post is that Smart Performance can make your WR-250FY firebreather forks work better, just as long as you don't mind his slightly odd take on things.

...........................................

Off to jerk,

-John

155: Gimme a Brake

New brake pads are a nice thing to have.
I think my wrist needs a shave.

Well, I got the front tire on my firebreather WR-250FY changed as planned, and the old tire is leaning against the wall, waiting for my ol' buddy to claim it.
I hope it doesn't gather dust from sitting. :)

This morning, I'm a'gonna' change the front brake pads, and the new ones are shown in the above pic.
EBC FA-185R pads from EBC will work just fine and dandy, too, as they're relatively low-cost and perform just fine.

The stock brake pads work just fine, too, but since they're worn down to the half-way point, I think it's time for them to go.
I've found over the years that, after brake pads wear down to this point, they become baked from repeated frictional heat, and having less pad friction material on them allows them to get hot and stay hot more easily, all which causes braking power to go down noticeably.
In other words:
Once they get this worn, I think they're cooked.
So, out you go. :)

Off to work, then jerk,
-John

All's Quiet on the Front Wheel

I did change my WR-250FY rear tire yesterday morning before work, and today, it's gonna' be another short post so I'll have time to do the same with the front tire.

Where I threw the used rear tire away, I'm giving the used front tire to a buddy of mine.
The front tire coming off my bike is a bit worn, but, as is usual, not nearly as worn as the rear was.
Since the front tire on my buddy's bike IS well-worn (since it's the original tire his 2007 model Honda XR-650R came with!), I'm giving it to him so that he may once again feel what front tire traction feels like. :)

Ain't I a very nice guy?

-John

153: New Tires for Me

Don't have time to spare this morning to do a longer post because I'm gonna' mosey on over to the garage and change the rear tire on my WR-250FY.
Yup, it's time, again.
Knobby tires don't last long when used on the road, and combining the short stretches of road connecting one trail to the next out at the rock pile - along with all of those hard-as-rock rocks - results in a rear tire that will last me about 5 rides before it's worn enough to notice a drop in performance.
Considering how rocky the place is, I'm not surprised.

I'll do the front tire change tomorrow morning, I hope.

-John

I Think I Disturbed 152 Micro Organisms Yesterday

How dare I do such a thing, huh?
I should know by now, after watching Jacques Cousteau on National Geographic TV "specials" when I was a kid, that those teeny-tiny things have the right of way, and all I'm doing here is intruding on their rightful space.

Cousteau was, as far as I know, a French dude that came across as a gentle old man who was concerned about nature and all of the fuzzy little animals' habitats while on TV, but in actuality, was yet another environmentalist nut job who had a deep-rooted belief that you and me and all other human beings (other than himself, naturally :) ) were pests and should be culled off in order to make things better.
Better according to him, mind you.
The word "culling" is a warm-and-fuzzy way of saying "kill", by the way.
Yes, people, Cousteau believed that you and I should be killed because we don't have as much right to live as does the cute-and-cuddly sea otters.

This is, folks, how an environmental wacko thinks.

I went on another Pachaug rock-n'-roll pile ride yesterday, and it was a good one, although not as good as the one the day before.
The reasons for this were mainly two:

1) Feeling how much better-balanced my firebreather WR-250FY felt with the forks slid down in the clamps a millimeter-and-a-half, I tried it with yet another millimeter.
Bad move, because that ended up feeling like I'd gone too far, and the front end was now a skosh too high.
This has a negative effect on steering and the overall balance of the chassis.
Straight line stability while having the bike straight up-and-down was a bit better, but the trade-off in steering precision was certainly not worth it.
So, before this coming weekend's ride, you can be sure I'm a'gonna' slide those Phase 4 forks back down to where I had them on Saturday.
Also plan on changing both tires again, too.
You got it - more Bridgestone M23/M22s coming my way.

2) I called a buddy of mine, who I know was looking for a used car or truck to buy, about a used 2001 GMC Jimmy for sale by a guy I work with.
He called back telling me that he'd just bought a 1995 Ford Escort, and he needed somebody to cart him up there so that he could drive it home.
Being the nice friend that I am, I told him he'd found his ride.
This put me behind my desired rock pile schedule about an hour and a quarter, an by the time I finished the ride, it was nearly dusk, and the trails were starting to get dark and spooky.
This was, mind you, with shortening my usual route by 5 miles, too.

Still, even with these reasons, I had a good time.
This was no doubt due to the fact that I felt very good this weekend.
I hope I feel this good this coming weekend, too.
The cool, crisp fall weather we had no doubt helped to make me feel energetic.

Off to jerk,
-John

I Ate a 151 Pound Quarter-Pounder

I felt especially energetic yesterday, so after I got done with my freebee Saturday at jerk and did my grocery shopping at Big Y, I went on out to the Pachaug rock pile with my WR-250FY.
This is a minor big deal because I usually ride just Sundays at the rock pile, not both Saturday and Sunday.

Before I loaded my firebreather WR-250FY up, though, I did a bit of tweaking with my front fork setup.
Since my modified Phase 4 forks are a millimeter or two shorter in overall length compared to my stock and unmodified forks (and, as stated previously, I'm going to disassemble the Phase 4 forks before long in order to find out why that is the case), I took the simple-yet-effective way out in balancing the hide height of the bike back to where it was as stock:
I just loosened the triple clamp bolts that pinch the forks in position, slid the fork tubes down a millimeter-and-a-half (yeah, that's enough to feel a difference), and tightened 'er back up.
This worked very well, and out on the Pachaug trails yesterday, I and the bike felt very good.
Where last Sunday the front end felt a bit too low after I'd spent an hour-and-a-half straight on the bike, yesterday's ride finished with me liking the feeling very much.
I felt great, had a great ride, and was very content.
A priceless feeling, really.

If today's ride feels half as good, I'll be reporting that it was another good ride. :)

I did have to stop at about the 34 mile mark (nearly at the end of the loop) in order for some guys and a girl that were out there on the trail 4-wheeling in their big, lifted 4X4 pickup truck to get out of the way.
They were plonking along the very rough and rocky trail leading back to where the trail loop starts, and I came up on them just as they decided to stop and have one of their crew hop out to snap a picture of their truck angled up proudly on a big rock sticking up out of the ground.

I didn't mind too much, and when I saw my opportunity, I just fired the bike back up and casually rode past their photo session while waving.
It's notable that, as far as I know, 4X4 trucks ain't allowed out there on those trails, and they either don't know that, or simply decided their chances of getting ticketed by a tree cop (CT. DEP) were slim.

The main thing that concerns me about these guys being out there?
If they break down out there and need to call for help in order to get their truck out of there, that's just one more reason for the people that have the power to do so to shut the place down for anybody - period.
It's my belief that these people that would and could do that are power-hungry bureaucrats that wear suits all day and would never dream about getting outdoors for a physical workout of any kind.
That's kid stuff.

On top of that, it's my belief that the ultimate goal is - worldwide - for the great outdoors to be eventually locked up and be posted as off limits to any and all people under the guise of protecting the environment.
This is why kids in school are literally being brainwashed that doing something like that is the way to go, or else, the world would certainly come to a disastrous end, all because of you and me being out there.
Pure bullshit, for sure, and the ONLY reason such B.S. is being taught, and the ONLY reason the big shots want to grab all public land, is simply because they think they have the divine right to call the shots for everyone, and they firmly believe they have the divine right to grab that land and all of the resources contained within the land for themselves.

Period.

Don't forget that, folks, because if you believe for one second that any big shot who is involved with making national and worldwide policy (like the fudge-packing bureaucratic crooks and liars involved with the United Nations) actually cares for the supposed fragile environmental state of the planet, well, you've been misled at least, and brainwashed at worst.
They DON'T care about it because there is no problem with it.
They're lying to everybody when they preach the Earth's environment is in trouble and they need to shoo everyone off the public lands.
It's a big lie.
It's not true.
No wetlands are in danger of anything, for example, and they know that.
They lie to you when they tell you that it is.
They simply want the land for themselves and their offspring to inherit control of.
They see the planet as theirs to rule, and that includes the people that they see as being far below them:
You and me.

Got an opinion on that?

-John

I've Got a 150

The 1987 Yamaha YZ-490T.
Open class air-cooled 2-stroke motocross bikes can be fun.
Just ask me.

I can't remember whether or not I've mentioned my YZ-490T in one of these blog posts or not, so, here it goes:

Yamaha's YZ-490 motocross bikes have somewhat of a dodgy reputation within the dirt bike community.
The people who say bad things about them seem to recite what an ex-editor of Dirt Bike magazine wrote about them when this model first came out in 1982.
He basically included the YZ-490 on his now-infamous list of the top 10 worst dirt bikes ever made, and since this guy was a humorous character (complete with a wide, twirly, handlebar-shaped mustache), stuff he writes can stick in dirt bike riders' minds (the ones that read, anyway).

What was supposedly wrong with the YZ-490?
When it first came out as the YZ-490J in 1982, it was replacing the 1981 YZ-465H.
Compared to the 465, the 490 had an engine with more cc, but also had more weight, the rear suspension was not all that great, and the engine would either run too rich and blubber on excess fuel, or run lean and ping, depending on the weather conditions and air temperature.
Now, this is what I read - I've never owned or even ridden a 1982 YZ-490J.
The people who test rode these bikes back in 1982, though, say those were the basic problems with the bike.
The bike was basically overweight with crummy rear suspension and had an engine with carburation problems is what I gather.

Because of the 1982 YZ-490J and it's problems, most people who will post an opinion of a YZ-490 - any model year - will basically read back from their memory these same issues that were told about in the dirt bike and motocross magazines back then.
I wouldn't be surprised if over half of these people never swung a leg over one, let alone actually having owned one.
This, people, is rampant in real life.
It's called chit-chat.
Ever participate in chit-chat?

The 1983 YZ-490K was supposedly mucho better than the 1982 model, and the 1984 YZ-490L was even better, still, and actually good enough for Motocross Action magazine - a magazine which, at the time, seemed to me to be very pro-Honda CR - to print that the 1984 YZ-490L was, "...probably the best Open bike of the year..."
Probably?
What, were they not sure about whether or not it was?
Maybe they needed to wait for the 1985 models to come out before they made their final decision.
Motocross Action magazine was, and still is to this day, the sister publication (owned by the same guy) of Dirt Bike magazine, too.
Small world.

The 1986 YZ-490S was the last redesign of the YZ-490 before it was discontinued altogether.
From 1986 to 1990, which was the last model year it was offered, there were useful changes to the bike, but none big enough to change the way it looked to the eye, and those bikes looked just like the 1987 YZ-490T I owned.

I bought mine from the mom and dad of a guy that I never actually met.
I saw the bike advertised for sale, drove out to see it, and basically dealt with the guy's parents because the guy was supposedly off at college somewhere.
Maybe he went to F U. :)
This was around 1992, so the bike about 5 years old at the time.
It looked like it had been ridden about 6 month's worth of casual use, and had the rear fender bent upwards like a backrest, a tell-tale sign that somebody looped the bike over backwards when doing a wheelie.
I basically got the impression that the bike was a bit too much for somebody's casual dirt bike riding, and that mom and dad were happy to see the bike go.
I could tell just from looking at it that the bike was in great condition, so I paid zee money and took it home to make it in excellent condition and ride the heck out of it.

It didn't take much to put the bike into excellent condition, just typical things like new tires, new air filter (with Maxima FFT filter oil, you bet), new grips (of course!), new drive chain for peace of mind, new handlebars, and, a new rear fender to get rid of the backrest look.
The chassis bearings were all greased, the control cables lubed, and every detail was tended to.
After some basic TLC to ensure a ship-shape YZ-490T, I took 'er out for the maiden voyage.

It turned out to be a great dirt bike to have fun on.
It behaved nothing like the wicked old 1982 YZ-490J I'd read about in all of the magazine articles, but was, instead, a typical Yamaha motocross bike - fast, fun, good-handling, and reliable.
Being the largest-displacing motocross bike made by Yamaha, there was more than enough power on tap, and sending dirt flying off the rear Bridgestone M22 (of course!) was child's play.
Riding a bike like this is not about showing everybody how much of a macho man you are with throttle cable-stretching antics, but more about knowing how to use the throttle and control all of the power available.
The bike was fast and powerful, but I felt it was easy to control if you had a brain in your head.
I liked it, had fun on it, and rode it quite a bit that summer.
It always started very easily for me (even though you can read on message boards to this very second that YZ-490s are supposedly hard-starting piles of shit), worked like a dirt bike is supposed to, and, basically, was very un-YZ-490J-ish.
It was a great dirt bike - period.
If I lived somewhere today that offered a close-by riding spot that was big enough to make owning a big dirt bike a good choice, I'd love to have one, today.

So much for the Top Ten Worst Dirt Bikes. :)

Off to freebee half-day Saturday at jerk,
-John