[the americade dual sport ride]

[skypilot@cycles4sale.com]

The Americade Dual Sport Ride, 6/4-5/09 - http://www.tourexpo.com/data/content/view/1506/1/ Everybody else on the ride evidently trailer'ed their 250-400cc light weight enduros to Americade for the ride, Svelte little dirt bikes with no extras and big knobby tires meant only to play in the mud and trails. Your's truly took a different approach, being unaware of everybody else's plan, by riding up fully loaded. I camped the night before in a state park. I then packed up, checked out of the camp site and rode the whole ride with everything on board, full tool kit (which is substantial), Full first aid kit(which is even more substantial), Food, water, camping gear including pots,pans,stove,tent,cloths... Probably 140lbs of gear plus my large 650cc 400 lb bike, plus me. Oh ya, my 08 holds more than 6 Gallons of gas to their 2-3. Came in handy when one of them ran out but add 6.25lbs per gallon at 72 degrees f. I kept up with everybody but had to earn it when ever the 30 year old girl with the KLX250 took the lead. Turns out she has been riding for 26 years starting on a z-50 monkey at age 4. She could have handed me my back side even on equally loaded bikes. Her dad was there too and he had been riding as long as me. At one point the mud got so deep on a state park two track that some of them turned and went through the woods to avoid getting stuck. I followed but after mowing down some saplings with the panniers, my bike is a tough guy but doesn't fit where they do, I turned for the road and just blasted my way through the knee deep mud. The KLR some how clawed it's way through without getting stuck. That got their attention at which point they figured out I wasn't going to be left behind no matter what they did. That seemed to ease the pace a bit at which point we started looking for scenic spots for a group photo, not hard in the Adirondacks. The lake was several miles from the nearest pavement and was only accessible via the fire road. The least experienced riders, the husband and wife team, had 10 years of experience each and learned to ride together on their honeymoon. She was on the TW200. Sort of a monster truck version of a minibike. I matched Christina's Dad with 34 years in the saddle and the rest were closer to the top end of the scale with us. While I felt Americade should have had an option for newer riders to do dual sport tours this wasn't it. There were dozens road tours though and with Harleys and touring bikes on them that any skill level should be comfortable keeping up with those. After 10 hours of off road, minus a lunch break paid for by KTM, we figured we earned a stop at A&W before heading home. After that I got back on the bike and managed to find a less than direct route home that included some of my favorite roads in the Berkshires and North West CT. 140 miles up on Thursday. 200 miles of dirt and 160 miles of road on Friday, riding by 7:30am and home at 10 pm. For a few days after that I lived on a 2500 calorie/day diet consisting entirely of Ibuprophene and water. Final word: The KTM dual sport ride at Americade was worth while as a group ride for any bike, KLR650 fully loaded, or other duals sport unloaded. While the KLR650 was the most represented bike at the 09 rie I would recomend anybody in the area ponying up the $30 for the rideand lunch. Most people left with KTm graft worth more than $30 pictures at http://www.ginsucity.com/klr650-general and http://www.getbettermpg.org/thisendup-thebikes Chris, a.k.a. Skypilot