Darkside on a Dirt Road....

[timk519]

I'm currently Montana, where apparently, in some places they'll rip a road completely out, and then repave it from the ground up. No tearing up the asphalt top and leaving something hard, albeit highly ridged, behind, but ripped up down to the dirt roadbed.

In my case I was headed for Lewiston MT, which my GPS said had the only motel in a 50 mile range, when I came upon one of these road construction projects, "Finding an alternate route" at that time of a cold, wet, night wasn't entirely an option. Since I needed that room, I decided to run the gauntlet.

The ride was 9 miles of what I thought was hard-packed dirt, but it turns out it was covered with the kind of slimey snot that one reads about in the Alaskan roads. Amazingly, my I/S - which was towing a trailer - performed admirably, as long as I kept the speed between 22 and 30 MPH.

Pictures of the bike & trailer after the mud run can be seen here:
http://valkyrie.smugmug.com/Travel/2009-Road-Trip/2009-09-203-Lewiston-MT/9705719_5ePtP#656084318_bLTdr

Since I'm running a car tire in the back, I'm thinking that may've helped with getting me through this mess. Has anyone else had a similar experience one way or another they can relate?

[MP]

Glad you made it!

I have not been in lots of mud like that, but in small amounts the ct is sure more stable, so I would assume it is in lots of mud too?

MP

[Russian Concussion]

It is truly a very reliable tire type for all road conditions as it is more sticky and offers a larger, wider footprint. I rode around in the grassy lightly muddy fields while camping a few weeks ago and had no issues there.

Will miss having that option on a new bike I am in the process of buying, but will have plenty of time to do my research to see if there is a car tire for a BMW or a Kawasaki for when the warranty expires...

[JetDriver]

The trailer looks baaad.  Was it just mud, or did you have to use a jackhammer to get it clean?  (I've never really experienced that much "snot" on my bike.)

[timk519]

It was all mud, and fortunately still wet enough to be easily removed with with water from a hose the super 8 kindly let me use.

[timk519]

Glad you made it!

Thanks!

I have not been in lots of mud like that, but in small amounts the ct is sure more stable, so I would assume it is in lots of mud too?

Looking back, the mud didn't seem that deep, which was helpful.

Another interesting point was that the bike seemed pretty stable above 25 mph, below that - blech!

[ossiningvalkyrie]

Tim   while riding with my friend Bonzo on the winery ride thru the Sawagunks we hit this one winery where there was a gravel road and then the road became what looked like a dry creek bed with huge gravel and rocks

I was 2 up and cant believe I made it up but then the thought occurred to me what the hell am I gonna do to get down

I know I shouldnt have done it with both feet down I should have just gone down the hill in 2nd with my feet on the pegs but I never did ride a dirt bike before

With a few minute head start on the group I did make it so I can now say Valks can do dry stream beds

Does anyone have the pics from that japanese fellow that went round the world on his bike  I remember some pics in the himalayas where he was in roads that were stream beds too  maybe the name was yakuza?

[Valker]

Tim   while riding with my friend Bonzo on the winery ride thru the Sawagunks we hit this one winery where there was a gravel road and then the road became what looked like a dry creek bed with huge gravel and rocks

I was 2 up and cant believe I made it up but then the thought occurred to me what the hell am I gonna do to get down

I know I shouldnt have done it with both feet down I should have just gone down the hill in 2nd with my feet on the pegs but I never did ride a dirt bike before

With a few minute head start on the group I did make it so I can now say Valks can do dry stream beds

Does anyone have the pics from that japanese fellow that went round the world on his bike  I remember some pics in the himalayas where he was in roads that were stream beds too  maybe the name was yakuza?

http://www.baikunomatsuo.sakura.ne.jp/indexe.html

[timk519]

http://www.baikunomatsuo.sakura.ne.jp/indexe.html

that was intense.