The weather conditions today here in WNC/EastTN were 26 degrees...and 40mph winds, at it's worst. Ever had ice balls form on your gear from the splash of an ice puddle? Your camelback stop working because the sucker froze the Mountain Dew inside the mouthpiece? Mud, rocks, seriously deep wet leaves, and slick roots was todays gig. Somehow, I conned my official sweep crew...Jap450EXC and BentAero...into going riding with me. BentAero's wife knows the routine... Go riding with me, and you come home late, hungry, tired, froze, and at night....even though you told the Boss you would be home at 3:00. Never happens. Today was a little scouting exercise. We were in search of new singletrack/2track for this season's upcoming tours. We came, we froze, and conquered 75 miles of the frozen National Forests in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. Enjoy. Lets meet the crew for today, my official sweep riders/suckers. Here, BentAero...Husqvarna TE250. JAP450EXC...KTM rider rollin' with the Husky crowd. He can put it down and knows his way around WNC. Definitely an asset to our cause. He doesn't complain, and neither does his wife. And here I am, with ice balls formed on my stuff after 15 miles of dual-sporting the tundra today. I really am happy, but that is not a smile. My male anatomy is frozen to my pants at this point. I thought a thorn had caught it because of the pain. I was DEAD wrong. Pictures just never tell the full story. Here, I can't get my buckle loose because the ice has it frozen shut. Why am I taking it off? To perform surgery on myself in the woods. Use your imagination. No water, or Mountain Dew in my case, to be drank today. Camelbacks freeze in cold temperatures. I did not know this before today. Is it a knight in shining armor, or JAP450EXC in full combat armor. It's cold as a weld digger's behind. Really, we shouldn't be riding today. You get the point. Let's hit the trails. After 15 minutes of riding time it's way past time to un-thaw our hands. I or my squad couldn't take it anymore. LOL. Look at BentAero's face. He's saying ''I hate these freakin' rides''. JAP450EXC has no idea what he's in for. Quick pit-stop to check out the scenery. It's very hard to use the buttons on a camera with snowmobile gloves. I better make these last and not trash 'em. JAP450EXC has my other lined gloves. Speaking of scenery, it's everywhere in these parts. Waterfalls are classics so we take a moment. The more I looked, it just kept going and going. Here's a tall shot. Scouting, Scouting, Scouting. Some days you spend all day just to find nothing new. We found several new things today. All the deadends are frustrating while you're riding, but when you start connecting dots and making new routes, it makes it all worth while. Singletrack here. Husky's do well in this stuff. 4stroke and 2stroke here. They make great bikes. BentAero's a great scouter. Any fork in the road, turn-off, or rabbit trail...and he's on it. If I could just convince him to put on his bigger tank; but that means we'd have to ride longer. His wife would never go for that one. Time for a break to review our plan of attack. Great minds in deep though here...not really though. We're just froze. Lookie lookie. I think we're on to something here. This was a fun one and we added it to the list. BentAero said the jungle here looks like Vietnam. JAP450EXC doesn't say much except ''Hey man, can I have another one of your Starbursts?''
She keeps on going. I love finding new stuff. Pit-stop, once again. Onward. Let's go do some hillclimbing. At this point, my crew is frozen and tired. They don't know where I'm takin' them. JAP450EXC has a bald tire. He'll figure out a way up, somehow...I hope. Pictures just don't do us justice here. We'll be coming up this in just a moment. The leaves are DEEP. There's roots and rocks everywhere. It's pretty steep as well with nowhere to get a good run at it. All or nothin' now. BentAero crosses the creek first. Followed by JAP450EXC. Here is the result of BentAero's attempt. Now THAT was a tough one. Luckily, my Reklused smoky took me all the way to the top edge of the hill, before I had to push it 5 more yards to freedom. That was a hoot, and it's time for a break. We did it. Time to hit the dusty trail back home. Happy New Year's to all the hardcore dual-sporters out there!
Nice Yanni Hope everybody and everything thawed all right I guess your old man was smart enough to pass on this one… Happy New Year
Great Ride Report Yanni: What's all that green stuff around you guys? I don't see much of that on my New Mexico rides! Howard
Crazy isn't it? That green stuff is everywhere, even in the winter. You ought to see it in the summer...VIETNAM man.
Hate to rub it in, but it's nice riding down here in So. Cal. When I lived in Washington state in Olympia, it only snowed about three times that winter and not enough to stop me from riding in the dirt....or mud. It sure rained enough!
One day it's in the 60's, the next it's freezing. I rarely have time to scout though so ya just gotta suck it up. I keep seeing all this new stuff each week but can never just go ride it by myself. It worked out well. I will use all this stuff this season so it worked out in the end. I'm ready for spring already.
2 Ft of snow here mostly except where it is drifted deeper. Tough times sometimes even with the Trellys but the 144 screams and anyone sounds like Bourgois or Oblucki on a WEC special test due to the amount of wheelspin and revs but not as much foward momentum as on normal dirt. Wish I cold find a set of those old "high-Point" mud gurds that velcroed around the brush guards. Right now I have 2 cut in half lengthwise plastic gallon milk jugs zip tyed to perform as such but they look so much like a "welfare racing produts" item (not my name for them............a riding buddy named them for me but WTF.........they work and kep my hands warmer to a degree..........maybe 2 degreees LOL) Got to keep riding as watching videos and cabin fever will gat ya and make you slow in the spring. Joe
Thanks Kelly. The ones I speak of look like flat "elephant ears" when not mounted and wrap around with velcro and reinforced at my prerference with a zippy. Is that what MSR makes also? PS did you get my PM about TE rekluse? Joe
Great report. Love your semi Green Forest (Not White) .. Holding steady at 12 degrees... 4 more month to go.
