400 Drops of Oil in the Bucket

 

 

Time for another post-ride oil change.

The sad thing (for them) is that more than a few riders on Internet forums make this job sound like it's such a pain in the ass, that they'd rather be doing something else, like cutting off a couple fingers.

"High maintenance", is what they call it.

Little do that know that no matter what dirt bike they choose to ride off-road, this has to be done regularly, as in fairly often, not once in a blue moon, son.

Same for the air filter maintenance, another often-overlooked (intentionally neglected out of ignorance and/or laziness, more like) thing that gets put under that heading of, "high maintenance".

Chumps.  ;)

 

 

 

 

It's Sunday afternoon, and I just got back from another Pachaug rock n' roll pile ride on the ol' WR-250FP.

How was it?

Pretty dang good, I'm very happy to say.

Although the ground was covered with wet leaves in spots due to overnight rain, the sky was mostly cloudy, allowing me to see without squinting like a mad man.

That means a whole lot.

I simply took it cautiously over the slippery rocks and tree roots sticking out of the ground, and actually had a decent ride.

Temperature was around 60 degrees, the air felt reasonably dry and crisp, I felt good, I could see well (for me, anyway), the bike felt good and the suspension had a good balance to it, and I felt like I rode in an acceptable manner.

God, I can only imagine how great I'd feel right now if the ground were dry.

I'd probably be on cloud 9.

All-in-all, things seemed much better than the last ride two weeks ago when the bright sun seemed to bother me more than usual.

I once again feel good about riding the WR-250FP on the Pachaug enduro loop. 

All it takes is the proper conditions.  ;)

 

About the only thing I need to change on the bike is the rear tire, as the Michelin AC10 - which I just HAD to try out of curiosity - really needs to come off of there.

Why?

It is wearing pretty well, but it just doesn't have the same feel or grip on harder terrain as the Bridgestone M22.

It feels very much like an intermediate terrain tire, where it feels at it's best when you can actually sink a knob into the ground.

There is not a whole lot of dirt out there like that, where the M22 excells on the vast majority of what is out on the Pachaug loop.

And I mean: It feels great.

So, since nothing else does perform like the venerable M22 (although I would settle for a Bridgestone M604 if I had to if an M22 were not available, as I have done in the past with the WR-250FY and the CRF-450X9), I'm gonna remove the AC10 before it's worn out and go back to the proven winner for me.

 

I did 47.6 miles, about 10 less than what I've been doing lately because I skipped the southern portion of the loop that goes near Wyassup Lake in the town of North Stonington.

Why skip it?

I really didn't feel like dealing with the dozen-or-so brown water holes that are out there after it rains.

And you know what?

I'm OK with that, as 47.6 miles was just right for today, Lenny.

I can wait until things are drier down that a'way.

 

At about the 30 mile mark, I met a pair of riders stopped for a break.

One guy was on a KTM 4-stroke, and I'm guessing it was around a 2006 model and between 400 and 500cc.

I know little about KTMs, so that's all I can reckon.

Oh, it was orange, too.

The other was on a 2005 (so I was told) Honda CRF-250X, the 250cc version of the CRF-450X9 I used to ride, and the Honda version of the WR-250FP I now ride.

We chatted a few minutes about where we're from, where we're going, and how the trails were on the day.

 

As mentioned above, the suspension seemed to work well, and front-to-rear balance feels good.

I'm expecting the bike to feel even better next time out once I change the rear tire.

I'm also crossing my fingers for similar weather conditions as today, but without the rain the night before and dry ground.  ;)

 

I wore a piece of clothing today that goes well with the fact that Connecticut is now in hunting season:

A blaze orange vest, like you see the hunters wear.

It is just a cheap one that sold for $4.95 at Walmart, and I wear it over my riding jacket.

Even though it is illegal to hunt in Connecticut on state land on Sunday, my conscience told me it's a good idea in case I run across somebody that claims they're out there on the Pachaug loop "just target shooting".

 

-John