Mud,sand, snow & ice ride (ride report)

[theothersean]

Its not really a street ride when the streets are covered in layers of sand, snow, ice, and mud , its more like dirt riding .
It was above freezing when I left this morning, driveway was clear but still a lot of snow on the ground



the roads how ever were not so clear .



I had to do a U turn at one point, the bridge was out, I didn;t go up to see if there wa sa way around , I didn;t feel like picking the 500 LB bike up if I dropped it in the stream


I might go back when the snow has melted to check it out .

most of the riding in the morning was like this , frozen road, covered in ice with sand on top, traction wasn;t too bad.




once I got through what I have named K9 alley the road was a bit more snow covered , but hard enough to get forward drive on it





time for a snack and some water



random waterfall pic


afternoon thins started to soften up a bit which made traction harder to come by

I got a mile or so down this road and ended up turning around as there was a hill I knew I wasn't going to make it up with my 1 wheel drive vehicle



this one was interesting as the top layer was soft and muddy with tire ruts that grab your wheel , then the under layer is ice.



I went a couple miles on it to find that the middle section wasn;t plowed, but was packed down by sleds, 4x4's and quads.



I had a bitch of a time on this section , it was about 2 miles of loose sloppy snow with all sorts of tire ruts, I did get swapped up a few times but managed to keep it up on its wheels.

I didn't want to stop for pics because I wasn't sure I could get going , and remember momentum is your friend.

here is a shot looking back at it, I needed to get a drink and let my arms relax a bit



It sure was a nice day to go out for a ride



speed was certainly not a factor today . I was out for 4 hours , of that 3.5 hrs was actually riding , I managed 93 miles for the day .
Studded tires would have helped some , but the challenge with out them was worth the effort.

[mikeb]

looks like a great ride/workout. great pics, make me feel lazy.

[gregp]

It certainly beats my ride today. I went about 7 miles then broke through one of those hollow pockets of air (dried up puddles) with about 2 inches of ice covering it over. I was probably only going 15 or 20 mph, but the hole was maybe 2 feet deep and it completely swallowed the front wheel of my KDX. I almost went over the bars, but managed to fall to the right, where I tried to put my foot down in the hole. The jagged broken ice removed skin from both of my legs. It took me a few minutes to get out from under the bike, and get it pulled out of the hole.
Then I went home and had a cup of coffee.... It was 7:30 AM.
My DR650 is not registered yet, but it will be soon.
Greg

[theothersean]

It certainly beats my ride today. I went about 7 miles then broke through one of those hollow pockets of air (dried up puddles) with about 2 inches of ice covering it over. I was probably only going 15 or 20 mph, but the hole was maybe 2 feet deep and it completely swallowed the front wheel of my KDX. I almost went over the bars, but managed to fall to the right, where I tried to put my foot down in the hole. The jagged broken ice removed skin from both of my legs. It took me a few minutes to get out from under the bike, and get it pulled out of the hole.
Then I went home and had a cup of coffee.... It was 7:30 AM.
My DR650 is not registered yet, but it will be soon.
Greg

let me know when you get it registered, I will certainly be doing more of this type riding while I wait for the trails to be ridable (with out studs)

though the mud season certainly make the dirt roads "interesting"

[gregp]

Thanks, Sean. I am looking forward to exploring some of those nice looking dirt roads and trails that you have out your way.
Spring will be here soon....