Wilsons Sandbox

Listers, First, I'll point out I know this is worthless without pictures but I didn't have a camera with me. I thought I'd take a relaxing ride this morning on a backroad to the Sturgis BMW dealer so I could pick up a couple of parts they've been holding for me. We've been having a bit of rain here lately and in May set a new record for the wettest month since weather record keeping started in the late 1800s. May broke the July 1905 record with 9.77" of moisture recorded in Rapid City. Some local areas got even more than that. June has been a good month for moisture too and we're currently a couple of inches above the norm. Two weeks ago my nephew came out from WI on his recently purchased KLR to do some riding and wrenching. On his first full day here we got in an afternoon ride of about 60 smiles on mostly dirt. We had a little mud and some water crossings that were from a few inches to maybe 18" or a bit more. On one road I told him I'd only been on it once before when I discovered it last fall. We were in the seventh year of drought then and it had some pretty wet areas. I didn't know what we'd find on that section. Of course I was leading and rode the KLR into a muddy stretch that took us about 10 minutes to extract. I was able to get off the bike and walk away while it stayed firmly upright with the side stand retracted. Fast forward to this mornings ride. I was on Bethlehem Cave road which is normally a pretty good road. It's a road that tends to be uphill in the direction I was going. The few water crossings were dry with the rushing Box Elder Creek being diverted by the conduits under the crossings. I was really enjoying the morning ride at a nice relaxing pace. I turned sharply right when Bethlehem Cave Road turns into a private property and headed on Runkle Road towards Vanocker Canyon about 5 or 6 miles further along. After a slight descent of about a mile I saw a mud hole ahead. I had plenty of time to stop and take a look. The left side looked passable so I decided to go for it. There was a large pickup truck swallowing mud wallow on the right side. I stood on the pegs and approached the left track. About half way through it my front tire hit an obstruction which knocked me to the right. I continued about 5 feet until the front wheel disappeared in the mud. It was a soft stop. : ) First thing through my mind was "this isn't good". Dismounting to the left was pretty easy as my KLR was now in a seriously lowered position. The front tire could just be seen sticking out of the mud and the skid plate was pressed into the mud about 3-4". My rear tire was only axle deep. I quickly validated my lack of ability to grab the left grip and left rear rack handle and lift the bike from the mud. A bit of moving it left and right validated that I wasn't going to easily roll it to the front or rear. Leaning the bike as far as I could to the left I tried to pull the front towards the side of the road. No go. Pulling on the rear allowed me a bit of movement. Repeated attempts later I had the rear wheel about 2 feet to the left of where it had been and now on relatively stable ground. Still muddy mind you with about 3-4 inches of mud but stable compared to the rear of the road. I moved uphill to some dry ground and removed my gloves, helmet, ear plugs, jacket and riding pants. I was sure this was going to take a bit of work. I picked up some kind of rotten stash trimmings from an old logging operation and tried to lever the front wheel out of the mud. The rotten wood snapped pretty easily. I wasn't having any luck moving the front wheel and started to dig it out with my hands. The top portion was very wet mud. A bit lower it got a little more consistency and I started getting handfuls of gravel with each scoop. By the time I got near the bottom of the wheel it was a little more stiff and still full of gravel and rocks and lots of very wet goopy mud. I never did get to the bottom of the tire. The hole would fill in within a few minutes of me scooping it out. When I tried to stand on the right side of the bike I would immediately sink to my knees in the mud. I'd spend a bit of time trying to dig the front tire out and then pulling on both ends of the bike. It wasn't moving. I'd lift the bike vertical but think that made things worse as there seemed to be more weight on the front wheel than and it seemed that it would sink deeper. I couldn't turn the wheel from side to side and I had to get the bike vertical to try to dig out the left side of the wheel. I was pleased when I could dig to the top of the front brake rotor. I made a few trips to the old slash piles to get sticks to try to put under the skid plate and front wheel for some stability. And on one trip I saw some old 1/4" plywood sections. They were maybe 2 feet wide and 3-4 feet long. They also had screws sticking out one side. I grabbed them and decided I'd try to spin the bike so the front wheel was up hill. I put a bunch of sticks behind the front wheel and also beneath the front part of the skid plate while the bike was vertical. Then I put the bike back on it's left side and tried to use the engine as a fulcrum and teeter-totter the front wheel out of the mud. I worked kind of. I was able to slid a piece of plywood under the front wheel while it was on it's side and then pull the front wheel around about 6 inches. That doesn't sound like much but it was the most that wheel had moved in 30-40 minutes. I was getting pretty tired by now and knew I didn't have many bike lifts left in me. I learn in the military the best thing I could do was give something my 100% best shot the first time as that would be when I was freshest. I removed my tankbag and GPS unit so the bike would be a bit lighter and I'd also have better access to the bars. I gave it my best and got the bike vertical. Knowing I probably wouldn't be able to lift it again I balanced it with the front end on the plywood and put another piece of plywood under where the side stand would touch. I leaned the bike onto the sidestand and even with a large flat washer on the bottom it punched a hole in the plywood. I got the side stand free and had a small piece of plywood I could put over the first piece. That held when I put the side stand on it. So I gently tilted the bike so the side stand was a pivot and the wheels were off the ground I could kind of swing the bike clockwise moving the front wheel about 5-6" at a pivot. After doing this about 6 times the bike was pointing up hill on a fairly firm ground with only 3-4 inches of mud under the tires. I had smelled fuel a few times while trying to get the bike free so I was pretty sure the engine would be flooded. I held the throttle wide open and pushed the starter button. After about 5 seconds the engine coughed to life. I let it run for maybe 10 seconds to clear itself and then put it in gear and walked it out of the mud. Thirty feet later I was on dry, level ground. I put the plywood I'd used propped up at each end of the mud sections so maybe someone else would have a bit of warning. There was about 2 inches of mud on top of my front fender and although I tried to clean the front brake rotor with a stick and some water it didn't work. That mud is really sticky. So I rode home to try to clean the bike before the mud hardened which would be kind of like putting concrete on the bike. Along the way I stopped at one of the water crossings and waded into the water to clean my boots, pants and gloves. My Oxtar Infinity riding boots work great and standing in 10 inches of water my feet never got wet. After about 5 minutes of scrubbing I got back on my bike and headed home. While I was cleaning my gear and bike with my pressure washer a friend stopped by on his F650 to see if I wanted to go for a ride to lunch. I declined as the bike was a mess and my gear had all just been pressure washed. I told him where I got stuck and he said he'd tried twice in the last 10 days but that section was impassable. He's a super rider so that meant a lot coming from him. He said there were a lot of springs in that area and the road was built on one where I got stuck. I removed the skid plate after about 10 minutes with the pressure washer as I could see it just wasn't getting the job done in that area. There was about a quart of concrete chips on the plate and that only the ones I picked up from the grass. I'm sure there was at least that much mud on the brake rotor and wheel even after I got done riding 15 miles home. Now some of you may be wondering what tires I had on. I was using Kenda K270s with about 3,500 smiles on them. I believe I could have had (insert your favorite most aggressive mud tire here) on the bike and it wouldn't have made any difference at all. When that front tire sank in the mud it was all over. Well, the difference between an adventure and adversity is attitude. This morning I had a little adventure. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT ____________________________________________________________ Fabulous Spa Getaway! Enter for your chance to WIN great beauty prizes everyday! http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/JKFkuJi7Urphzo5xjyA7yIJey1DdNaG8EWVK5YMcszjDCmXbmo6nBa/

Laugh if you must, but I still carry 300' of climbing rope and a dozen pullies and carbiners (when I off road alone). Not just for stuck in mud, but for a steep sided ditch you fall into and cant ride out of. Works very well btw and ties right onto nerf bars Sean Brown Looking for the perfect gift for the wife/Mom/or "the person who has everything?" www.brownsbirdestates.com To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 2:56:00 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Stuck in the mud Listers, First, I'll point out I know this is worthless without pictures but I didn't have a camera with me. I thought I'd take a relaxing ride this morning on a backroad to the Sturgis BMW dealer so I could pick up a couple of parts they've been holding for me. We've been having a bit of rain here lately and in May set a new record for the wettest month since weather record keeping started in the late 1800s. May broke the July 1905 record with 9.77" of moisture recorded in Rapid City. Some local areas got even more than that. June has been a good month for moisture too and we're currently a couple of inches above the norm. Two weeks ago my nephew came out from WI on his recently purchased KLR to do some riding and wrenching. On his first full day here we got in an afternoon ride of about 60 smiles on mostly dirt. We had a little mud and some water crossings that were from a few inches to maybe 18" or a bit more. On one road I told him I'd only been on it once before when I discovered it last fall. We were in the seventh year of drought then and it had some pretty wet areas. I didn't know what we'd find on that section. Of course I was leading and rode the KLR into a muddy stretch that took us about 10 minutes to extract. I was able to get off the bike and walk away while it stayed firmly upright with the side stand retracted. Fast forward to this mornings ride. I was on Bethlehem Cave road which is normally a pretty good road. It's a road that tends to be uphill in the direction I was going. The few water crossings were dry with the rushing Box Elder Creek being diverted by the conduits under the crossings. I was really enjoying the morning ride at a nice relaxing pace. I turned sharply right when Bethlehem Cave Road turns into a private property and headed on Runkle Road towards Vanocker Canyon about 5 or 6 miles further along. After a slight descent of about a mile I saw a mud hole ahead. I had plenty of time to stop and take a look. The left side looked passable so I decided to go for it. There was a large pickup truck swallowing mud wallow on the right side. I stood on the pegs and approached the left track. About half way through it my front tire hit an obstruction which knocked me to the right. I continued about 5 feet until the front wheel disappeared in the mud. It was a soft stop. : ) First thing through my mind was "this isn't good". Dismounting to the left was pretty easy as my KLR was now in a seriously lowered position. The front tire could just be seen sticking out of the mud and the skid plate was pressed into the mud about 3-4". My rear tire was only axle deep. I quickly validated my lack of ability to grab the left grip and left rear rack handle and lift the bike from the mud. A bit of moving it left and right validated that I wasn't going to easily roll it to the front or rear. Leaning the bike as far as I could to the left I tried to pull the front towards the side of the road. No go. Pulling on the rear allowed me a bit of movement. Repeated attempts later I had the rear wheel about 2 feet to the left of where it had been and now on relatively stable ground. Still muddy mind you with about 3-4 inches of mud but stable compared to the rear of the road. I moved uphill to some dry ground and removed my gloves, helmet, ear plugs, jacket and riding pants. I was sure this was going to take a bit of work. I picked up some kind of rotten stash trimmings from an old logging operation and tried to lever the front wheel out of the mud. The rotten wood snapped pretty easily. I wasn't having any luck moving the front wheel and started to dig it out with my hands. The top portion was very wet mud. A bit lower it got a little more consistency and I started getting handfuls of gravel with each scoop. By the time I got near the bottom of the wheel it was a little more stiff and still full of gravel and rocks and lots of very wet goopy mud. I never did get to the bottom of the tire. The hole would fill in within a few minutes of me scooping it out. When I tried to stand on the right side of the bike I would immediately sink to my knees in the mud. I'd spend a bit of time trying to dig the front tire out and then pulling on both ends of the bike. It wasn't moving. I'd lift the bike vertical but think that made things worse as there seemed to be more weight on the front wheel than and it seemed that it would sink deeper. I couldn't turn the wheel from side to side and I had to get the bike vertical to try to dig out the left side of the wheel. I was pleased when I could dig to the top of the front brake rotor. I made a few trips to the old slash piles to get sticks to try to put under the skid plate and front wheel for some stability. And on one trip I saw some old 1/4" plywood sections. They were maybe 2 feet wide and 3-4 feet long. They also had screws sticking out one side. I grabbed them and decided I'd try to spin the bike so the front wheel was up hill. I put a bunch of sticks behind the front wheel and also beneath the front part of the skid plate while the bike was vertical. Then I put the bike back on it's left side and tried to use the engine as a fulcrum and teeter-totter the front wheel out of the mud. I worked kind of. I was able to slid a piece of plywood under the front wheel while it was on it's side and then pull the front wheel around about 6 inches. That doesn't sound like much but it was the most that wheel had moved in 30-40 minutes. I was getting pretty tired by now and knew I didn't have many bike lifts left in me. I learn in the military the best thing I could do was give something my 100% best shot the first time as that would be when I was freshest. I removed my tankbag and GPS unit so the bike would be a bit lighter and I'd also have better access to the bars. I gave it my best and got the bike vertical. Knowing I probably wouldn't be able to lift it again I balanced it with the front end on the plywood and put another piece of plywood under where the side stand would touch. I leaned the bike onto the sidestand and even with a large flat washer on the bottom it punched a hole in the plywood. I got the side stand free and had a small piece of plywood I could put over the first piece. That held when I put the side stand on it. So I gently tilted the bike so the side stand was a pivot and the wheels were off the ground I could kind of swing the bike clockwise moving the front wheel about 5-6" at a pivot. After doing this about 6 times the bike was pointing up hill on a fairly firm ground with only 3-4 inches of mud under the tires. I had smelled fuel a few times while trying to get the bike free so I was pretty sure the engine would be flooded. I held the throttle wide open and pushed the starter button. After about 5 seconds the engine coughed to life. I let it run for maybe 10 seconds to clear itself and then put it in gear and walked it out of the mud. Thirty feet later I was on dry, level ground. I put the plywood I'd used propped up at each end of the mud sections so maybe someone else would have a bit of warning. There was about 2 inches of mud on top of my front fender and although I tried to clean the front brake rotor with a stick and some water it didn't work. That mud is really sticky. So I rode home to try to clean the bike before the mud hardened which would be kind of like putting concrete on the bike. Along the way I stopped at one of the water crossings and waded into the water to clean my boots, pants and gloves. My Oxtar Infinity riding boots work great and standing in 10 inches of water my feet never got wet. After about 5 minutes of scrubbing I got back on my bike and headed home. While I was cleaning my gear and bike with my pressure washer a friend stopped by on his F650 to see if I wanted to go for a ride to lunch. I declined as the bike was a mess and my gear had all just been pressure washed. I told him where I got stuck and he said he'd tried twice in the last 10 days but that section was impassable. He's a super rider so that meant a lot coming from him. He said there were a lot of springs in that area and the road was built on one where I got stuck. I removed the skid plate after about 10 minutes with the pressure washer as I could see it just wasn't getting the job done in that area. There was about a quart of concrete chips on the plate and that only the ones I picked up from the grass. I'm sure there was at least that much mud on the brake rotor and wheel even after I got done riding 15 miles home. Now some of you may be wondering what tires I had on. I was using Kenda K270s with about 3,500 smiles on them. I believe I could have had (insert your favorite most aggressive mud tire here) on the bike and it wouldn't have made any difference at all. When that front tire sank in the mud it was all over. Well, the difference between an adventure and adversity is attitude. This morning I had a little adventure. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads. org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _ Fabulous Spa Getaway! Enter for your chance to WIN great beauty prizes everyday! http://thirdpartyof fers.juno. com/TGL2141/ fc/JKFkuJi7Urphz o5xjyA7yIJey1DdN aG8EWVK5YMcszjDC mXbmo6nBa/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

LOL... Great story. On June 10 2004, I got my KLR stuck in the mud of McDonald's milkshake consistency at 9:30 PM on Orma Lake Rd. in Labrador, 60 miles from anywhere, in a blizzard with sustained winds of at least 45mph. The more we disturbed it, the more the bike sank, until the rear wheel was was completely submerged and the front wheel only showed about 3-4". Towing it out with the other KLR was useless and just wore the clutch. It took the two of us 3 hours to extract the bike because of the suction the mud had on the bike. We sure slept well that night. Mark At 3:56 PM -0600 6/20/08, Jeff Saline wrote:

>... The front tire could just be seen sticking out of the >mud and the skid plate was pressed into the mud about 3-4". My rear tire >was only axle deep. I quickly validated my lack of ability to grab the >left grip and left rear rack handle and lift the bike from the mud. A >bit of moving it left and right validated that I wasn't going to easily >roll it to the front or rear. Leaning the bike as far as I could to the >left I tried to pull the front towards the side of the road. No go. >Pulling on the rear allowed me a bit of movement. Repeated attempts >later I had the rear wheel about 2 feet to the left of where it had been >and now on relatively stable ground. Still muddy mind you with about 3-4 >inches of mud but stable compared to the rear of the road. I moved >uphill to some dry ground and removed my gloves, helmet, ear plugs, >jacket and riding pants. I was sure this was going to take a bit of >work....

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Saline wrote:

> > Listers, > > First, I'll point out I know this is worthless without pictures but I > didn't have a camera with me. > > I thought I'd take a relaxing ride this morning on a backroad

This made my ribs hurt just reading it. revmaaatin.

Great adventure Jeff, I think it worked better without pics; imagination takes care of the images for someone who (ahem) has been fortunate enough to laugh through their own similar experiences. albatross not really a stick-in-the-mud

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Jeff Saline wrote: > > Listers, > > First, I'll point out I know this is worthless without pictures but I > didn't have a camera with me. > > I thought I'd take a relaxing ride this morning on a backroad to the > Sturgis BMW dealer so I could pick up a couple of parts they've been > holding for me. We've been having a bit of rain here lately and in May > set a new record for the wettest month since weather record keeping > started in the late 1800s. May broke the July 1905 record with 9.77" of > moisture recorded in Rapid City. Some local areas got even more than > that. June has been a good month for moisture too and we're currently a > couple of inches above the norm. Two weeks ago my nephew came out from > WI on his recently purchased KLR to do some riding and wrenching. On his > first full day here we got in an afternoon ride of about 60 smiles on > mostly dirt. We had a little mud and some water crossings that were from > a few inches to maybe 18" or a bit more. On one road I told him I'd only > been on it once before when I discovered it last fall. We were in the > seventh year of drought then and it had some pretty wet areas. I didn't > know what we'd find on that section. Of course I was leading and rode > the KLR into a muddy stretch that took us about 10 minutes to extract. I > was able to get off the bike and walk away while it stayed firmly upright > with the side stand retracted. > > Fast forward to this mornings ride. I was on Bethlehem Cave road which > is normally a pretty good road. It's a road that tends to be uphill in > the direction I was going. The few water crossings were dry with the > rushing Box Elder Creek being diverted by the conduits under the > crossings. I was really enjoying the morning ride at a nice relaxing > pace. I turned sharply right when Bethlehem Cave Road turns into a > private property and headed on Runkle Road towards Vanocker Canyon about > 5 or 6 miles further along. After a slight descent of about a mile I saw > a mud hole ahead. I had plenty of time to stop and take a look. The > left side looked passable so I decided to go for it. There was a large > pickup truck swallowing mud wallow on the right side. I stood on the > pegs and approached the left track. About half way through it my front > tire hit an obstruction which knocked me to the right. I continued about > 5 feet until the front wheel disappeared in the mud. It was a soft stop. > : ) First thing through my mind was "this isn't good". > > Dismounting to the left was pretty easy as my KLR was now in a seriously > lowered position. The front tire could just be seen sticking out of the > mud and the skid plate was pressed into the mud about 3-4". My rear tire > was only axle deep. I quickly validated my lack of ability to grab the > left grip and left rear rack handle and lift the bike from the mud. A > bit of moving it left and right validated that I wasn't going to easily > roll it to the front or rear. Leaning the bike as far as I could to the > left I tried to pull the front towards the side of the road. No go. > Pulling on the rear allowed me a bit of movement. Repeated attempts > later I had the rear wheel about 2 feet to the left of where it had been > and now on relatively stable ground. Still muddy mind you with about 3-4 > inches of mud but stable compared to the rear of the road. I moved > uphill to some dry ground and removed my gloves, helmet, ear plugs, > jacket and riding pants. I was sure this was going to take a bit of > work. > > I picked up some kind of rotten stash trimmings from an old logging > operation and tried to lever the front wheel out of the mud. The rotten > wood snapped pretty easily. I wasn't having any luck moving the front > wheel and started to dig it out with my hands. The top portion was very > wet mud. A bit lower it got a little more consistency and I started > getting handfuls of gravel with each scoop. By the time I got near the > bottom of the wheel it was a little more stiff and still full of gravel > and rocks and lots of very wet goopy mud. I never did get to the bottom > of the tire. The hole would fill in within a few minutes of me scooping > it out. When I tried to stand on the right side of the bike I would > immediately sink to my knees in the mud. > > I'd spend a bit of time trying to dig the front tire out and then pulling > on both ends of the bike. It wasn't moving. I'd lift the bike vertical > but think that made things worse as there seemed to be more weight on the > front wheel than and it seemed that it would sink deeper. I couldn't > turn the wheel from side to side and I had to get the bike vertical to > try to dig out the left side of the wheel. I was pleased when I could > dig to the top of the front brake rotor. > > I made a few trips to the old slash piles to get sticks to try to put > under the skid plate and front wheel for some stability. And on one trip > I saw some old 1/4" plywood sections. They were maybe 2 feet wide and > 3-4 feet long. They also had screws sticking out one side. I grabbed > them and decided I'd try to spin the bike so the front wheel was up hill. > I put a bunch of sticks behind the front wheel and also beneath the > front part of the skid plate while the bike was vertical. Then I put the > bike back on it's left side and tried to use the engine as a fulcrum and > teeter-totter the front wheel out of the mud. I worked kind of. I was > able to slid a piece of plywood under the front wheel while it was on > it's side and then pull the front wheel around about 6 inches. That > doesn't sound like much but it was the most that wheel had moved in 30-40 > minutes. > > I was getting pretty tired by now and knew I didn't have many bike lifts > left in me. I learn in the military the best thing I could do was give > something my 100% best shot the first time as that would be when I was > freshest. I removed my tankbag and GPS unit so the bike would be a bit > lighter and I'd also have better access to the bars. I gave it my best > and got the bike vertical. Knowing I probably wouldn't be able to lift > it again I balanced it with the front end on the plywood and put another > piece of plywood under where the side stand would touch. I leaned the > bike onto the sidestand and even with a large flat washer on the bottom > it punched a hole in the plywood. I got the side stand free and had a > small piece of plywood I could put over the first piece. That held when > I put the side stand on it. So I gently tilted the bike so the side > stand was a pivot and the wheels were off the ground I could kind of > swing the bike clockwise moving the front wheel about 5-6" at a pivot. > After doing this about 6 times the bike was pointing up hill on a fairly > firm ground with only 3-4 inches of mud under the tires. > > I had smelled fuel a few times while trying to get the bike free so I was > pretty sure the engine would be flooded. I held the throttle wide open > and pushed the starter button. After about 5 seconds the engine coughed > to life. I let it run for maybe 10 seconds to clear itself and then put > it in gear and walked it out of the mud. Thirty feet later I was on dry, > level ground. > > I put the plywood I'd used propped up at each end of the mud sections so > maybe someone else would have a bit of warning. > > There was about 2 inches of mud on top of my front fender and although I > tried to clean the front brake rotor with a stick and some water it > didn't work. That mud is really sticky. So I rode home to try to clean > the bike before the mud hardened which would be kind of like putting > concrete on the bike. > > Along the way I stopped at one of the water crossings and waded into the > water to clean my boots, pants and gloves. My Oxtar Infinity riding > boots work great and standing in 10 inches of water my feet never got > wet. After about 5 minutes of scrubbing I got back on my bike and headed > home. > > While I was cleaning my gear and bike with my pressure washer a friend > stopped by on his F650 to see if I wanted to go for a ride to lunch. I > declined as the bike was a mess and my gear had all just been pressure > washed. I told him where I got stuck and he said he'd tried twice in the > last 10 days but that section was impassable. He's a super rider so that > meant a lot coming from him. He said there were a lot of springs in that > area and the road was built on one where I got stuck. > > I removed the skid plate after about 10 minutes with the pressure washer > as I could see it just wasn't getting the job done in that area. There > was about a quart of concrete chips on the plate and that only the ones I > picked up from the grass. I'm sure there was at least that much mud on > the brake rotor and wheel even after I got done riding 15 miles home. > > Now some of you may be wondering what tires I had on. I was using Kenda > K270s with about 3,500 smiles on them. I believe I could have had > (insert your favorite most aggressive mud tire here) on the bike and it > wouldn't have made any difference at all. When that front tire sank in > the mud it was all over. > > Well, the difference between an adventure and adversity is attitude. > This morning I had a little adventure. > > Best, > > Jeff Saline > ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal > Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org > The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota > 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT > ____________________________________________________________ > Fabulous Spa Getaway! > Enter for your chance to WIN great beauty prizes everyday! > http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/JKFkuJi7Urphzo5xjyA7yIJey1DdNaG8EWVK5YMcszjDCmXbmo6nBa/ >

Hey Jeff Maybe the picture I posted (in Album named "Stuck in Lodi) of my cousin stuck in silt/mud on our GDR ride in 06, will give everyone an idea and appreciation of what you went thru. It took both of us about an hour and a half, to get it dug out far enough, on hands and knees, using a couple of 2 x 4's (that miracously, happened to be laying nearby in the middle of no where), so that several tugs, using a buddy tow strap hooked to my bike, got it all the way out. As we dug and dug, silt and mud just flowed in and filled the void; so we finally made a small dam diverting the very small water flow away from the bike, and started making headway. About 60 miles later at the Motel, we spent another hour and a half hosing off the bikes and our gear, then off to the laundramat. The good news! It turned out to be our only real ordeal on the whole trip. Your ending comment of "Well, the difference between an adventure and adversity is attitude" is right on the money. We definitely had a little adventure that day and a lot of fun talking about it with friends and family since. Oh, and how did he get stuck in there. I took a look at the water crossing and decided it was about a foot deep and headed across to find myself in water up to the bottom of the seat. I fell, quickly lifted the bike, and restarted it (thanks to the T-mod---I think that is what it is called), and road out to the other side. My cousin, seeing what I did, spotted a crossing, a few feet to the right of the water, and decided it was relatively dry and a great place to cross. Well, it was dry (about 1" crust that is). After we got him out, we still need to get past the water crossing. Not a problem! We simply had to go back over the same gravel bed and 2 inches of trickling water (about 50 feet to the left) that I used to come back across to help him out. Ever heard of "dumb and dumber"? (better known as, Ron and Mike) Ron Moorhouse Modesto, CA ----- Original Message ---- From: Jeff Saline To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 2:56:00 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Stuck in the mud Listers, First, I'll point out I know this is worthless without pictures but I didn't have a camera with me. I thought I'd take a relaxing ride this morning on a backroad to the Sturgis BMW dealer so I could pick up a couple of parts they've been holding for me. We've been having a bit of rain here lately and in May set a new record for the wettest month since weather record keeping started in the late 1800s. May broke the July 1905 record with 9.77" of moisture recorded in Rapid City. Some local areas got even more than that. June has been a good month for moisture too and we're currently a couple of inches above the norm. Two weeks ago my nephew came out from WI on his recently purchased KLR to do some riding and wrenching. On his first full day here we got in an afternoon ride of about 60 smiles on mostly dirt. We had a little mud and some water crossings that were from a few inches to maybe 18" or a bit more. On one road I told him I'd only been on it once before when I discovered it last fall. We were in the seventh year of drought then and it had some pretty wet areas. I didn't know what we'd find on that section. Of course I was leading and rode the KLR into a muddy stretch that took us about 10 minutes to extract. I was able to get off the bike and walk away while it stayed firmly upright with the side stand retracted. Fast forward to this mornings ride. I was on Bethlehem Cave road which is normally a pretty good road. It's a road that tends to be uphill in the direction I was going. The few water crossings were dry with the rushing Box Elder Creek being diverted by the conduits under the crossings. I was really enjoying the morning ride at a nice relaxing pace. I turned sharply right when Bethlehem Cave Road turns into a private property and headed on Runkle Road towards Vanocker Canyon about 5 or 6 miles further along. After a slight descent of about a mile I saw a mud hole ahead. I had plenty of time to stop and take a look. The left side looked passable so I decided to go for it. There was a large pickup truck swallowing mud wallow on the right side. I stood on the pegs and approached the left track. About half way through it my front tire hit an obstruction which knocked me to the right. I continued about 5 feet until the front wheel disappeared in the mud. It was a soft stop. : ) First thing through my mind was "this isn't good". Dismounting to the left was pretty easy as my KLR was now in a seriously lowered position. The front tire could just be seen sticking out of the mud and the skid plate was pressed into the mud about 3-4". My rear tire was only axle deep. I quickly validated my lack of ability to grab the left grip and left rear rack handle and lift the bike from the mud. A bit of moving it left and right validated that I wasn't going to easily roll it to the front or rear. Leaning the bike as far as I could to the left I tried to pull the front towards the side of the road. No go. Pulling on the rear allowed me a bit of movement. Repeated attempts later I had the rear wheel about 2 feet to the left of where it had been and now on relatively stable ground. Still muddy mind you with about 3-4 inches of mud but stable compared to the rear of the road. I moved uphill to some dry ground and removed my gloves, helmet, ear plugs, jacket and riding pants. I was sure this was going to take a bit of work. I picked up some kind of rotten stash trimmings from an old logging operation and tried to lever the front wheel out of the mud. The rotten wood snapped pretty easily. I wasn't having any luck moving the front wheel and started to dig it out with my hands. The top portion was very wet mud. A bit lower it got a little more consistency and I started getting handfuls of gravel with each scoop. By the time I got near the bottom of the wheel it was a little more stiff and still full of gravel and rocks and lots of very wet goopy mud. I never did get to the bottom of the tire. The hole would fill in within a few minutes of me scooping it out. When I tried to stand on the right side of the bike I would immediately sink to my knees in the mud. I'd spend a bit of time trying to dig the front tire out and then pulling on both ends of the bike. It wasn't moving. I'd lift the bike vertical but think that made things worse as there seemed to be more weight on the front wheel than and it seemed that it would sink deeper. I couldn't turn the wheel from side to side and I had to get the bike vertical to try to dig out the left side of the wheel. I was pleased when I could dig to the top of the front brake rotor. I made a few trips to the old slash piles to get sticks to try to put under the skid plate and front wheel for some stability. And on one trip I saw some old 1/4" plywood sections. They were maybe 2 feet wide and 3-4 feet long. They also had screws sticking out one side. I grabbed them and decided I'd try to spin the bike so the front wheel was up hill. I put a bunch of sticks behind the front wheel and also beneath the front part of the skid plate while the bike was vertical. Then I put the bike back on it's left side and tried to use the engine as a fulcrum and teeter-totter the front wheel out of the mud. I worked kind of. I was able to slid a piece of plywood under the front wheel while it was on it's side and then pull the front wheel around about 6 inches. That doesn't sound like much but it was the most that wheel had moved in 30-40 minutes. I was getting pretty tired by now and knew I didn't have many bike lifts left in me. I learn in the military the best thing I could do was give something my 100% best shot the first time as that would be when I was freshest. I removed my tankbag and GPS unit so the bike would be a bit lighter and I'd also have better access to the bars. I gave it my best and got the bike vertical. Knowing I probably wouldn't be able to lift it again I balanced it with the front end on the plywood and put another piece of plywood under where the side stand would touch. I leaned the bike onto the sidestand and even with a large flat washer on the bottom it punched a hole in the plywood. I got the side stand free and had a small piece of plywood I could put over the first piece. That held when I put the side stand on it. So I gently tilted the bike so the side stand was a pivot and the wheels were off the ground I could kind of swing the bike clockwise moving the front wheel about 5-6" at a pivot. After doing this about 6 times the bike was pointing up hill on a fairly firm ground with only 3-4 inches of mud under the tires. I had smelled fuel a few times while trying to get the bike free so I was pretty sure the engine would be flooded. I held the throttle wide open and pushed the starter button. After about 5 seconds the engine coughed to life. I let it run for maybe 10 seconds to clear itself and then put it in gear and walked it out of the mud. Thirty feet later I was on dry, level ground. I put the plywood I'd used propped up at each end of the mud sections so maybe someone else would have a bit of warning. There was about 2 inches of mud on top of my front fender and although I tried to clean the front brake rotor with a stick and some water it didn't work. That mud is really sticky. So I rode home to try to clean the bike before the mud hardened which would be kind of like putting concrete on the bike. Along the way I stopped at one of the water crossings and waded into the water to clean my boots, pants and gloves. My Oxtar Infinity riding boots work great and standing in 10 inches of water my feet never got wet. After about 5 minutes of scrubbing I got back on my bike and headed home. While I was cleaning my gear and bike with my pressure washer a friend stopped by on his F650 to see if I wanted to go for a ride to lunch. I declined as the bike was a mess and my gear had all just been pressure washed. I told him where I got stuck and he said he'd tried twice in the last 10 days but that section was impassable. He's a super rider so that meant a lot coming from him. He said there were a lot of springs in that area and the road was built on one where I got stuck. I removed the skid plate after about 10 minutes with the pressure washer as I could see it just wasn't getting the job done in that area. There was about a quart of concrete chips on the plate and that only the ones I picked up from the grass. I'm sure there was at least that much mud on the brake rotor and wheel even after I got done riding 15 miles home. Now some of you may be wondering what tires I had on. I was using Kenda K270s with about 3,500 smiles on them. I believe I could have had (insert your favorite most aggressive mud tire here) on the bike and it wouldn't have made any difference at all. When that front tire sank in the mud it was all over. Well, the difference between an adventure and adversity is attitude. This morning I had a little adventure. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads. org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT ____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _ Fabulous Spa Getaway! Enter for your chance to WIN great beauty prizes everyday! http://thirdpartyof fers.juno. com/TGL2141/ fc/JKFkuJi7Urphz o5xjyA7yIJey1DdN aG8EWVK5YMcszjDC mXbmo6nBa/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Ron and Brenda Moorhouse wrote:

> > Hey Jeff > Maybe the picture I posted (in Album named "Stuck in Lodi) of my

cousin stuck in silt/mud on our GDR ride in 06, will give everyone an idea and appreciation of what you went thru. SNIP

> Ron Moorhouse > Modesto, CA

Oh, that picture looks adversely adventurous. revmaaatin.

On Jun 25, 2008, at 9:06 AM, revmaaatin wrote:

> Oh, that picture looks adversely adventurous.

Here's a direct link to the photo: http://autos.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/DSN_KLR650/photos/view/b2fa?b=1

>.

-- Blake Sobiloff http://www.sobiloff.com/> San Jose, CA (USA) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

One of best investments: handguards @ about $80 No more ruined grips, broken levers, bent bars, just battle scars on the ends of the handguards. I have carried spare lever for years on my dirt bikes and now 2 years + on my KLR. Waste of money on the spares, so maybe I should sell them cheap?! Ron Moorhouse Modesto, CA ----- Original Message ---- From: Don Montgomery To: "KLR650@yahoogroupsm" DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com>; sulteck Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 6:10:16 PM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] clutch lever If while uncurling it, it snaps off near the end with enough left to still use it, round off the end. Saw this done on a Neveda back country ride I was on with Max Ernst using a rock he found. The ball on the end is there to make it a "blunt object" so as not to easily pierce the human body. Maybe the KLR is a bit tall for a 5'3" ride to learn on? Better to have positive experiences in the early stages. Glad you are teaching a new young rider. Don M

> my 16 year old son is learning to drive my KLR650. he is have some > difficulties keeping it up right(he's 5'3") and has since dented the > tank and bent the clutch lever. the tank is a war wound and i'll > probably just hit it with touch up paint. Can you bend the lever back > to almost normal,,, or will it snap? it usable but looks like a > fiddle head. the dealer replacement is $23. any stronger after > market ones? > > > ------------ --------- --------- ------ > > List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews. com > List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/ klr650faq. html > Member Map at: http://www.frappr com/dsnklr650Yah oo! Groups Links > > >

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