Floribama Riders

Wednesday morning, we make yet another run into Gunnison. Greg needs to pick up his head gasket, I need a new riding jacket, and Jimmy needs to pick up his bike after the shop has made wheel and brake repairs, and installed a new rear tire. We arrive at opening time, and help Fritz roll out his used bikes for sale. His mechanic does not show up for work, and the new rear tire has not been mounted on the bike. Fritz tackles the job himself, while we watch out for customers in the shop. In 5 minutes start to finish, Fritz has the new knobby mounted. It is true what they say about those ISDE riders.

The Fed-Ex guy arrives, we grab the head gasket, and head back to Taylor Park. When we arrive, most everyone assembles for a ride, and Greg and I settle in to re-assemble the 525. With two of us working on it, it goes back together quickly, and starts right up. It sounds normal, so we clean up, eat lunch, and gear up for a test ride.

On a nearby single track, the bike runs fine. We head up the road toward Cottonwood Pass, to get on a 10 mile section of the Timberline Trail to give it a good test. This section of the Timberline Trail is tough and technical, and I struggled with it some. The trail got a bit easier, and more fun, until I came up to a giant tree down across the trail, with logs piled on either side, and Greg on the other side vigorously waving me on. I trust him and gas it, up over this huge log crossing. I lost the front for a second on the landing, but managed to keep on two wheels.

Greg had stopped at this crossing, and spent a few minutes looking at it and looking for ways around it. His bike overheated just in those few minutes of being stopped. Crap.

Beyond the log crossing, the trail got much rockier, and more technical, and my grip strength in my right hand started to fade. When this happens, I slow down enough that I have to paddle to keep my balance over the large rocks. This really saps my energy. I have to stop and rest frequently. Just before the end of the worst section, I stop for a break, and hear a strange sound, line a far off train whistle. It is my bike, overheating. Before this trip, I pulled the left side cover and overflow tank, and replaced them with an auxilliary gas tank, so my radiator is just venting overboard. I sit in a cloud of steam and try to catch my breath. In a few minutes, both me and the bike are ready to go again. We come out on some easier jeep trails, and head back to camp.

Frank and Greg's 525s are identical, with identical jetting, except for the oversize tank on Greg's bike which looks like it might restrict airflow over the radiators.. They have swapped everything else, so now they tried swapping gas tanks. They went out for a test ride, and still Greg's bike boiled over. Double crap.

Wednesday night's movie on the laptop is "Wild Hogs"