425 Well-Lit Rides

Went out for yet another Sunday Pachaug enduro loop ride on the WR-250FP this morning.
How was it?
Fair.
Not bad.
Not fantastic (like I would have liked it to be).
Just fair.
How come?
Two reasons:
I woke up feeling a bit down on energy and coordination, and the sun was out brightly, which screws with my vision.
Still, there were no crashes or other bad incidents, so, it could have been a worse one.
At least the rear tire, now two rides old, is still feeling pretty fresh, although that will gradually deteriorate with each coming time out there.
Typically, after the 4th ride, it's back to where the rear tire will get me by, but no longer feels as good as it does when fresh.

Next Sunday's forecast (if you feel like holding your breath on a weather forecast for a week in advance) is for a cloudy day.
Here's hoping it comes true.

I did make a decent pass through my favorite pine-needled-whoops-through-the-woods section, so that was one of the several good points of the ride.

When I washed the bike after today's ride, I removed the fuel tank and cleaned the area above the cylinder head cover because I am thinking about checking the valve clearances before next Sunday's ride since I've now had the bike for a year, and the only time I've checked them was before I even rode the bike last August.
Even though they're probably just fine, I like to do this once a year.

I'm also thinking about, since the head cover will be off to do that job, retarding the exhaust camshaft one tooth to put the cam timing as that of a YZ-250FP, Yamaha's motocross bike that my WR-250FP is based on.
Guys that have done it say it's a win/win situation because you get more power everywhere, from the bottom to the top, and they don't understand why the WR comes with cam timing that it does.
Myself, I don't feel the need of requiring more power, but, I am curious about the results, too.
We will see what I decide to do.

I wonder how the latest bullshit news story in the Middle East is going, the one where those sneaky 911-esque terrorists that just seem to thrive all on their own and pop up where and when you least expect them to all by themselves and without any help from any nation's Federal Government are supposedly wreaking more havoc.
I'd imagine this havoc is going to have to be dealt with by hurting some people over there as well as hurting some people over here.

The Great Work steamrolls on, Holmes.

-John