Coming soon to a hemisphere near you-Winter

[KL5A]

Well, the termination dust is creeping right steadily down the mountains, so I thought I would go right up to our old adversary, Old man Winter, and laugh in his face. OMW keeps some of his stuff just about 20 miles up the road from me, so off I went to face the fiend.

[KL5A]

First sign that there might be trouble ahead....

[KL5A]

But, suffering from delusions of adequacy and determined to storm the halls of the mountain king, I throw caution to the chill wind and forge ahead.

[KL5A]

Until I find myself firmly in the realm of OMW hisself, and he was not amused. He threatened to throw my pretty toy to the ground and break it if I ventured any farther, so I decided to make my defiant stand here.

[KL5A]

Actually, a thumper is just the ticket for riding this kind of traction challenged surface. Slow and steady is the word here, dab at the throttle until the wheel breaks loose, roll off and let the wheel hook up again, repeat the process until traction and nerve run out. Made it to the sign that says "Summit Lake Recreational Area" and then pussed out. Kind of started to consider the trip back downhill through the slush

[KL5A]

The trip back down is always worse for me than the trip up. I do this a lot on my sled-go up a hill, and the Panther is a willing climber, only to get to the top, look down and say "No fucking way am I going down that hill!!" But, go down I must, so I start off as slow as I can, but at some point that harsh mistress Gravity takes over. Speed picks up and you can't really use the brakes or they lock up instantly. At that point, you just kind of hold on and try to keep everything together until you level out or can pick up some traction. It just didn't seem that steep going up!
So, now that that's out of my system, I'll spend the remainder of our short fall in the flatlands. That, and get the Panther out of summer storage. Oh, the magic of cold smoke.

[BUBB]

Well you guys have the mountains and the scenery and twisting roads and more scenery, but in this part of the south, WE DON’T HAVE SNOW. 4 wheels in that stuff is bad enough. I wouldn’t even think of getting out there on 2 – even with a gazillion dollars worth of Touratech stuff hanging on my bike.

Just thinking of riding in the mountains with no traction makes me feel krusty and tingly all over in a bad sort of way. Thanks for telling me about it ‘cuz I’m sure not doing it!

[Thumpercrazee]

Yes, but snow "can" be so much fun...!!!!!

Thumpercrazee

[KL5A]

Said Thumpercrazee:


Yes, but snow "can" be so much fun...!!!!!

Thumpercrazee

But it's a lot more fun if you're the FIRST guy through it, not after the cages have packed it down nicely!
When I was a kid, I used to drag my old CT90 out in every snowfall. 'Course, it wieghed a lot less, and had knobbies, and had already fallen down a lot...you get the picture.

[VespaFitz]

Geez, what a great report. Nicely written, too. Take that Krusty! KL5A didn't go more than twenty minutes from home. But it's just that home is Alaska.

Nicely done! Now let's get some Trellies on that Pegaso!

[ram600]

What kind of bike is that? The blue one in the picture with the snow?

[KL5A]

Said ram600:
What kind of bike is that? The blue one in the picture with the snow?

2000 Aprilia Pegaso, 650cc Rotax powered thumper. It's very similar to the older F650 BMW's, which were built by Aprilia, but the Pegasos are lighter and better looking. Wonderful bike, lots of fun, will grind stuff in the twisties and then mosey down whatever trail you might want to reasonably take a 380lb dirt bike on. Trailwings suck in the snow, though.