On the most recent Pachaug enduro loop ride, there was somebody who looked very much like this, but with probably a few more little black lines shooting away from his head.
I do believe the more black lines you have, the more excited you are.
He wasn't smiling at first, either.
As for the title of this post, I forgot what units of measure are used to measure some one's blood pressure, but, I'm just gonna' go with it, OK?
Well, today is July 5th, which means it is the day after the 4th of July, and I have two Pachaug rock pile rides to write about.
The ride on last weekend (Saturday) wasn't a very good one because, for some reason, I felt weak - both physically and mentally - from about the half-way point, onward.
It might be due to a couple of guys at jerk having some kind of 24-hour bug they told about, so, for all I know, I got it, too, but it didn't come to fruition until I was riding my CRF-450X9 on the Pachaug loop.
Hey, it could be for all I know, Dr. Spock.
I felt that I didn't have my typical concentration and riding ability from the start, and at about the 26 mile mark, I felt pretty lousy, and although I thought about cutting the ride short, I carried on and rode just about the whole thing, minus about 5 miles.
I didn't crash or get hurt, but not feeling well means it was a crummy ride, all-in-all, and I didn't ride on Sunday because I didn't feel any better.
On top of that, I didn't start feeling normal until about Wednesday morning, the morning of the the 4th.
Yesterday was the 4th, so that means no jerk and a ride on the Pachaug rock pile enduro loop during mid-week.
I felt mucho better than last weekend, thank God, and felt more like my normal self.
I had a good energy level and I quickly saw I had a good level of concentration and felt I was riding the bike in a decent manner.
The bike felt good, too, and ran and performed just fine, although the rear tire is now mid-life as far as performance goes.
The humorous part of this ride happened during the middle of my favorite whoops-through-the-pine-needled-woods section, and this is what the pic at the top of this post is all about.
Half-way through this section, the trail goes down a hill and crosses a wooden bridge spanning a little pond dam at the bottom of the hill.
It looks so nice and natural and all woodsy and inviting to anybody looking to go to a peaceful and woodsy-looking place to relax with some minor league fishing, or to walk the dog, or to smoke a joint and drink some booze if you're a loser and believe that stuff is good for you in any way.
Well, the wooden bridge, while very much suitable for walking over and fishing off of by anybody, was actually built by Pachaug enduro loop trail riders for trail riders.
In other words, guys involved with the start-up of the actual Pachaug motorcycle trail loop (which came into being in 1974, I believe) also built this bridge so that trail riders could span the little pond without putting a tire track into the ground when entering and exiting the water, getting wacko environmental nuts all worked-up, and also so that (probably the real reason and without doubt the most important) the Pachaug loop riders would have a more enjoyable ride without having to slog through some deep water and steep pond banks to contend with.
So, to reiterate, the bridge was built by trail riders for trail riders, and those very words were actually spoken to me just a couple of weeks ago by the very man who was, as far as I know, one of the guys (if not THE guy) who got the ball rolling with getting the Pachaug enduro loop officially started and endorsed by the state of Connecticut back in 1974.
That's an interesting story in itself, told to me by this man, himself, and I should tell it here sometime soon.
As I crested the top of the hill and got on the brakes to slow for the bridge (I never go flying up to the bridge since I know people could very well be on it with their vehicles parked directly in line with the far side of the bridge), there was this guy with a fishing pole in his hand waving his arms, trying to get my attention.
I could tell he was trying to signal me to slow down, and as I slowed to a crawl and stopped directly in front of him, I could see the little black lines of excitement gradually diminishing from around his head as he realized I wasn't some brain-dead retard who was going to go flying across the bridge, and as i asked him how he was, he pointed to his woman and child standing on the bridge, the girl also holding a fishing pole and the telltale plastic floating bobber that floats the hook with the worm on it when in the water, making all of the local pumpkin seeds (a small, flat fish) come fishing around it.
I nodded to him and her and just putted across the wooden trail rider-built-for-trail-riders-to-use-as-the-priority bridge and carried on, getting a small chuckle at his earlier excited expression on his face.
I was feeling pretty good and riding decently well, which made that funny incident all the better.
The ride on the 4th of July (which was yesterday, by the way) was good all-in-all, although I did screw-up on two spots, both on rocky hill climbs that I usually make without screwing-up, but I at least didn't crash or fall.
I just got off my usual line, stopped, regrouped my thoughts, and got going again.
It is in this kind of situation (rough, rocky, and difficult to maneuver the bike and/or hold the line I intended to take) where the bigger CRF-450X9 starts to be more of a liability than an asset when compared to the smaller WR-250FY (remember that bike?).
Although the 450 has a truckload of power and torque that, in comparison to the 250, starts to just ooze out of the engine from the lowest RPM and just gets stronger from there (while still being very easy to modulate with your throttle grip), the heavier feel that goes along with the 450 is always there and actually comes back to haunt you in the tighter and trickier sections, and the more rocky and bouncy the terrain, the more of a truck the bike can feel like.
Period.
The CRF-450X9 is happy when it has a bit of room to keep some speed up, as around the pine-needed whooped section and places that allow a good pace, not the more trials bike terrain where you have to slow down yet you still can get bounced around and shot off your intended line if you happen to put a wheel wrong and hit something you didn't see coming.
By comparison, the WR-250FY was much less powerful, yet still powerful enough to get the ride done very effectively, and (this is a BIG plus out in Pachaug) the handling and feel of that bike were a pleasure in the slower, tighter, and rockier spots.
The fact is, on sections that I didn't love due to being tight and rocky and challenging to me, I still could and would routinely ride through these sections without incident time after time on the WR-250FY, yet with the CRF-450X9 in these sections, I need to be 100% on my game and riding and concentrating very well in order to make it through without screwing-up.
Like I did twice yesterday.
What does that mean?
Well, the writing on the wall tells me that someday soon, I'll have to buy another 250cc bike to ride out on the Pachaug enduro loop, as I am constantly reminding myself that, in all honesty, the WR-250FY really was the better bike for me out there most of the time, and the only place the CRF-450X9 is really better is in any place you have room to fly along (not many places to do that), and with the performance of the front fork, and with having all of that strong power and torque at your disposal.
Too bad the heavy feel of the bike in certain situations basically negated the positives.
Hmmmmmmm. ;)
Off to jerk.
-John
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