The CRF-450X9 after washing following yesterday's Pachaug rock pile ride.
I don't know how many more weekends we'll get where at least one day has a daytime high in the 40s with still unfrozen ground, but I'll take them as long as they keep coming. ;)
I rode out on the ol' Pachaug enduro loop yesterday, and it was a good ride.
Since my last ride before that (which was last Saturday), I installed a little kit that allows removal of that useless collection of environmentalist propaganda parts that everyone calls the smog pump.
This smog pump is not an actual pump, but is a valve that allows a stream of clean, filtered air from the airbox to be piped into the exhaust pipe, supposedly reducing the severity of the harmful-to-the-environment noxious gasses coming out of the muffler.
All of the tweeting little birds I scared away forever along my trail route seemed to be smiling at me in an approving manner as they fled for their little feathered lives, suitcases under wing, never to return to their natural habitat because the mean old dirt bike rider (me) was so selfish, self-centered and self-serving and gets off on causing so much damage to the Earth's fragile environment, that scarcely a single living creature should remain alive once I pass through.
The sad part is that there are people in high places (as well as low places) that act as if the part I just wrote above is some kind of truth.
These people are either brainwashed, liars with only their own pocketbooks on their minds, or both.
I'll bet you anything that some businessman (or group of them) won't bat an eye at bulldozing my entire 55-mile trail loop completely flat (if he were allowed to) if it would result in that land to be changed into some mall or living quarters or whatever, just as long as he got a big fat wad in his bank account.
This especially goes for guys like Al Gore or Mr. Microsoft Bill Gates, guys who, on one hand, make themselves out to be so concerned with how everyone (except them) needs to do what they say in order to save the planet, but also have a strong liking for money and living a luxurious lifestyle.
Of course, this would be looked upon by all of those brainwashed environmental idiots who actually hug the trees as a sad thing because they would lose yet another place to go out into the woods and make love to trees and fantasize about how great life must have been back in 1799 before we got all industrialized, but yet, they'd also approve of seeing all of that nice-looking fresh asphalt laid down and how well-designed the perfectly manicured lawns of all of those new carbon-copy houses look and how well they made the move from the designer's laptop into $$reality$$.
Or, reality, as in real estate $$$sales$$$.
Sales, sales, sales.
Now, that's a word that lots of people will snuggle up to.
Well, now that I've stated my feelings on environmental impact (or the severe lack of it) from me riding my dirt bike down a trail, I'll tell you that the ride yesterday was a darn good one.
I rode in a decent manner, and while I was a bit cautious on certain parts due to seeing several groups of hunters out by the paved roads congregating near their parked trucks and also because the ground was damp in spots, I had a good feeling over much of it.
The CRF-450X9 worked well, and with another 55 miles on the bike under my belt, I know the bike that much better.
The strong suit of the bike is using the throttle and immense torque of the engine to loft the front wheel over all manner of rough terrain and riding right through these rough sections with the bike feeling very stable and sure-footed all the time.
The overall feel of the bike is powerful, stable in a straight line, and very solid and secure.
It is, I'm glad to say, a good combination out on rough terrain.
Speaking of lofting the front wheel, doing wheelies on this bike is second nature.
I always felt the WR-250FY wheelied easily, but with more power and torque at your control, the CRF-450X9 takes the ease of wheelies to a new level.
While negotiating any trail, dirt road, or whatever you may be on, it literally requires just a mere sudden opening of the throttle to get the front wheel off the ground.
Sure, you can open the throttle without doing a wheelie if you need to, and in that case you just open the throttle slowly and/or a small amount.
That's called throttle control.
It is fun and very useful, though, to be able to dial-a-wheelie as you ride the bike over rough terrain, actually making your passage through the rough stuff safer and more fun at the same time.
A very good feeling, this is.
Today is colder than yesterday, so I'm glad I went yesterday.
Today seems like an easy day around the house doing a little bit of bike maintenance and maybe some laundry.
-John
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