Oh the excitment, it's unbearable!

So I have a lot going on at the moment. New job (same company, huge step up in responsibilities,) upcoming vacation (first real vacation I've taken that didn't involve the family,) and found myself unhappy with the handling of my bike. The latter may sound like no big deal, but I'm traveling a tad over 1100 miles to ride the gap. The last thing I want to worry about while so far from home is issues with the bike behaving poorly.

I spent several evenings this week and most of my weekend monkeying with the bike trying to get things right. I ended up dropping the pressure 4lbs, setting the dampening back to default, and dropping the fork tubes back to stock height. I'm getting closer to a decent setup, but I have a feeling the rear shock is already my limiting factor as I've been through the range of settings and am still not completely happy. Once I get to the gap, things may really change. It's a decent journey to get to roads that are as twisty as the gap. Maybe I'll take the time next weekend to hit it up.

So far I've been playing in parking lots where theres room to maneuver and no traffic. I spent a few hours today pretending like I'm some kind of parking lot Rossi. I'm uploading a clip now if anyone is interested. Critiques on my riding are invited! I'm know that I am far from smooth with the gas and brakes, something I have been trying to break myself of.

I didn't intend to play in the parking lot today, my original intent was to hit up some dirt. Well last night I had waaaaay too much fun, and didn't drag my ass out of bed until 11ish. It takes me a couple of hours to load up, drive out, gear up, and hit the trails. Then there's the drive home, and maintenance on the bike (at least a wash and chain lube.) If I had clean laundry, I probably still would have gone but I was digging deep for stuff to wear last week.

My new friend Shiela came over to hang out last night while I worked in the garage and cleaned house. She provided beer and a ton of entertainment. She was super stoked when she found out that I ride dirt and insisted that she introduce me to some of her friends so that I would have people to ride with that are like minded. I've only been on a track once and was slowly building up my courage but I found the terrain to be unfriendly. Hard packed caliche dirt with pockets and sand in all the wrong places. Maybe I'm just being picky, but I tend to think that a nice soft dirt would be better to learn on. I have read about people complaining about some tracks not manicuring the grounds frequently enough, which makes some sense. I've seen what ruts can do and I'm in no hurry to find myself taking a dirt nap because I caught a rut and reacted inappropriately. All fantasy at this point, and next weekend is my last 'free' one before I head out on vacation. Welp, the video is finally done uploading, so here goes!



Part of this is a street, so thats why I tend to slow down for stop signs