I acquired the Strom at the end of February after the sale(s) of my beloved 200 xc-w and mighty XR650R. My job re-imburses me for mileage and while it's not too cold or too hot the Strom fits the bill nicely for commuting. The real unknown quantity for me is how it works as a dirt bike. Today was my first real planned foray into the big bike dirt realm having finally gotten a new dirt-worthy rear tire for it, a Shinko E805. First stop was Walmart for a Slime compressor and tubeless tire fixin' kit, then off to Sunrise Pass just east of Gardnerville. I've ridden this road before on the XRR and many moons ago on my DR-Z and knew that it is mostly 2WD do-able. Initially my destination for some grub was Yerington, but those plans changed down the hill. It was all good and easy cruising for the Strom until I ran into this: A freshly graded road, still being graded. Uh-oh... At this point I probably should've gotten off and aired down from the street pressure, but I was getting hungry and was motivated for whatever lied ahead. This road was sneaky, looked all uniformly graded and then all of the sudden *WHOA! SHITE, SOFT SPOT!!* as the front end would try to dive. Weight back over the seat and a handful of throttle and things were mostly all good again. This went on for quite a few miles and when I recognized a junction I took a little break. A couple of jeeps passed me going up right about here: Note tire tracks: Looking south... more...
Gotta love the wide-open spaces in Nevada. Saw a bald eagle chasing something thru the air here, didn't get a picture. The road got a little better here, I'm thinking the grader guy was working his way up the mountain and had probably done this section several days ago. Still had a few WHOA moments though. This is the dry lakebed you could see from further up the hill where I saw the jeeps... Will have to head out there next trip... I came to another junction that pointed me towards Yerington, but I decided to head straight south down Artesia Rd. and into Smith Valley to get some mexican at Rosie's Cafe. If you're ever up in this neck-of-the-woods stop in to Rosie's, good stuff. Shoulda taken a pic of the place and an obligatory shot of my chicken enchiladas but I failed. Chatted with a guy and his female pillion that pulled in on a Goldwing. Said they were out for the day from Reno. It was starting to get windy with a cold front moving in, he said out on Hwy. 95 south of Fernley they were getting blown around a bit. Finished my enchiladas, which were delicious, and decided since I had hardly done my part to leave any carbon footprint yet I'd head past Topaz Lake and go over Monitor Pass (Hwy.89) into Markleeville. There's a number of dirt roads off of Monitor so I thought I'd explore a little. This bike needs a slightly longer kickstand... Gardnerville off in the distance... Monitor Pass is a great motorcycle road, light traffic, great pavement and super fun twisties. A shot from another recent rip up and over... Cruised through Markleeville, north on River Rd. and back to Foothill/Fredricksburg Rd. Played with the camera a little: 119 miles in about 4 1/2 total hours, good little loop. Thanks for reading!
Top of Leviathan peak. http://www.summitpost.org/leviathan-peak-summit-north/908285/c-908277 8,980 feet. An abandoned fire look out with some transmission apparatus attached. Great surrounding view.
Nice ride Brad...we need to explore as much as we can....I have one for you up this way...back way to a reservoir over near Auburn... Work may be crazy for me through June/July...but let's see when our schedules can collide.
Yeah, that's it... didn't look much like a fire lookout, but I guess I wasn't paying much attention. Had my eyes on the trail!:eek1
Not sure how far up the grader is coming, but maybe just run a little lower pressure than street and consider a half-tank of gas. I was full with hard tires. Stand up and keep the front end light with some throttle!
