Spring Break in the Ochoco Forest

[Apple Jam]

Originally Posted by Apple Jam

782 mile round trip, lots of smiles, and a, a, well........
a big orange scratched up mess with bent forks for the last 185 mile ride home.

Originally Posted by oremike

Damn Jeff sorry to read that, but much better there than further along your planed route over Trout Cr. I'm glad you and the KTM are mostly in good shape. Thanks for riding along, I still am getting a silly grin now and then as I replay the weekend in my brain. What fun!

I'm still smiling too, despite it all.
Everything was waaay snowed in, in the Forest, not passable 1 mile above Wildcat CG,
so I figured I'd head to the Painted Hill NM that I've been skirting around all last month.
Not on that day.....

The start of a good weekend:



The end of a good weekend-gone-bad:







and then, of course, the MONEY shot:



Sheriff's fault . Made me look at the speedo.
Not really. No-one to blame but me.
Lesson learned: NEVER RELAX.

[Easy-Z]

Originally Posted by Apple Jam

Do. Not. Like.

Glad you're ok.

[peterman]

AJ,,I just straightened a bent fork tube last night for Tblume. How badly are yours bent?
His was bent (in a curve, no sharp kinks) just below the lower triple mount, and we managed to get it back to straight with a press and some wood blocks for cushioning. Don't despair!

[Mr. Fisherman]

Jeff, glad you are ok. The bike will buff out... Ge the spenders to PeterMAN... he might put a smile on your face. Not much to loose at this point.

Glad you all had a great time.

[Apple Jam]

Originally Posted by peterman

AJ,,I just straightened a bent fork tube last night for Tblume. How badly are yours bent?

Bent enough to say "glad I still kept full coverage"

The fuel tank covers have some, ahem, DEEP WEAR on them,
the fairing above it is cracked up, the panniers and mounts are really bent up, the handlebars are bent,
the hand brush cover and the clutch lever are messed up, and the clutch master cylinder looks fooked,
the mirror mount shafts have BOTH bent, left one has a good scrape on it,
the front wheel has a big divot in it,
the.....
You get the idea.

Then there is my helmet and riding gear.

I'll be lucky if it's not totalled, the way stuff works these days.

[Apple Jam]

Originally Posted by Easy-Z

Do. Not. Like.

Glad you're ok.

Originally Posted by Mr. Fisherman

Jeff, glad you are ok. The bike will buff out... Ge the spenders to PeterMAN... he might put a smile on your face. Not much to loose at this point.

Glad you all had a great time.

Thanks, Easy & Fish.

I felt really lucky immediately, and couldn't believe I was really OK after that.
Milliseconds of innattention. And just a "learning experience" this time.
Still feels a bit surreal.

Yeah, the weekend was a good time,
and I got to ride it home to my Garage, so the rest of the week isn't messed up also.

Just the next month or so, I'll be jonesing for orange.
Looks like the old Shadow's gonna get some love......

[wachs]

YIKES man!

Glad you made it home (the ONLY thing we have to prove is that we can make it back to where we started eh ? )

Full coverage is smart on the big twin

[Ladukebob]

Wow Jeff glad to hear your ok. Bikes can be fixed or replaced, they're just metal. The rider is the only thing that counts.

[TourPros]

Guess its a good thing The Lazy Lodge has two in case that shadow doesn't want to get dirty.

[Easy-Z]

Originally Posted by TourPros

Guess its a good thing The Lazy Lodge has two in case that shadow doesn't want to get dirty.

Psst, Apple Jam. Take the R not the L.

[oldmonkeybut]

Originally Posted by Apple Jam

Well I think you've heard this story before.
Slide, bounce, boom, toss, scuff, scraaaaaape and griiiiiiiiiiind.
Followed by sheer silence and lots of steam. F-n A.

Damn! Welcome to our club Apple Jam. Glad you came out alright. I know all too well the sounds and the feeling. I won't soon forget the sight of my GSA sliding down the road then launching itself into a midair barrel roll off into the brush. Full coverage insurance is certainly worth the money. At least it looks like your stuff stayed strapped to the bike. My debris field looked like a plane crash.

[oremike]

Here's the GPS route for Sundays ride:

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/198090

Enjoy!
Mike M.

[Petrolburner]

Damn Jeff that sucks! Tough bike though, and at least it's not peak riding season.

[Petrolburner]

So anyway, hell of a great weekend, not even all that cold. Here's a slew of pictures.



I don't have any cold weather camping gear, and I've never camped off of a motorcycle yet, so I brought my truck and a metric shit ton of gear so that my girlfriend and I would stay warm enough that I could talk her into doing more of this crazyness.



Snow pellets as soon as we had the tent setup, which by the way I absolutely love. It was the first time trying it out.








So after getting camp set up, Jay and I go for a quick 50 mile loop.



Got to try out my new machete on the driest wood possible.











The community came together to provide some excellent Fajitas and the heater doubles as a tortilla toaster




There's a fine line between bravery and foolishness...



We did get turned around at the snow line trying to cross over Maury Mountain on Sunday. Nice looking panniers Jeff, you should try sliding them on pavement sometime just to see how they hold up

[dvwalker]

Glad you're okay jeff, as someone said the bike can always be fixed.

Looks like you guys (and one gal) had a fun weekend.