throwin' down!

Saturday morning came early and on today's agenda was to take the bikes out. It is still below 30 out there and I'm not too keen on being frozen so I suggest we wait until it warms up a bit. As I looked up the forecast, I noticed that it wasn't going to get but 4* warmer for the predicted high.

Well, so much for waiting for it to warm up! Time to don the big-girl panties and go!

Here is the route we took (although had no idea where we were headed when we left) ...

http://g.co/maps/m64dk

So we start gathering up stuff and bundling up to face the weather. We should be fine once we get off-road but the first 30 or so miles are going to be chilly. Heh, mounting a KLR when you are dressed like the Michelin Man is ... interesting.

Once we got rolling, it didn't seem too bad. I never really felt "cold". Once we got off the asphalt, I motioned Skip on by as I had been being tentative. We kept climbing and climbing and the road went from grey gravels and brown mud to white rather quickly. Most of it was just snow, but there were some spots of ice just to keep you attentive.

There was this one shoulderless Ess-curve climbing area and I was thinking "I don't want a pickle" There was a wall on the left side and a cliff ... in the air ... on the right side. I remember thinking this would be a bad place to screw up.  A couple turns later there is Skip dusting himself off picking up the bike and stating wryly "that's the limit".

A little broken plastic and bruised thumb and ego, but luckily that was it. After that, he wanted me to lead for a while.

We pulled over at the entrance to Round Mountain Recreation Area, but it was closed off. It allowed  for a pic and a removal of one of my layers so that maybe I could move around a little easier.   ; )

We had missed the trail we were looking for, but with these weather conditions it may be best just to stick to the "main drag" anyway. We were soon motoring on again and Skip at the helm when we approach this long, steep, icy grade and I stop fully expecting Skip to, but instead he just takes the bike up it. I am nearly cursing him in my helmet.  

I mean this looks slickery as hell. What if we get up there and have to turn back as it goes nowhere? I damn sure do not wish to go down it. I sat there wrestling with what to do for a few minutes before I stupidly followed. Just like yesterday, "What bridge we jumping off next?"

The hill wasn't that bad, though, and I didn't slip the wheel but once during the climb, but I still don't want to have to go down that. After a bit I was leading again and I pulled over at this one section to play with the camera some more ...

After shooting some and a bull session we are back at it. I was still at the helm. We came to this lake and it had a sign, so I figure we can stop here and maybe get an idea where we are and when we may find asphalt as the sun is starting to set low on the horizon.

The problem was, there was a car up ahead getting ready to pull out. I am watching what he is going to do, and trying to figure out where I am going to park and apparently momentarily lost focus on the road and WHAM! the bike told me it was parking right in the middle of the road. I had hit a patch of ice and went right over.

Skip helped me right that thing as I was skating around on ice trying to pick it up. It probably looked like a Marx brothers routine or something. Anyway, we got it picked up and I parked it properly alongside the road.

After all that, the sign was useless for our purposes. Luckily, we caught the people in the car before they headed out and told us we weren't too far from pavement now. We played with the camera some more while stopped ...

Considering the lateness of the day, we mounted back up with the mindset to find some pavement. Skip took off in the lead again and we came to a fork and wound up taking the left part of it because of the sign stating Hot Springs was in that direction.

The fork went straight downwards though. I managed to throw my bike to the ground again as I slid on some ice. I wrestled with it and got it righted, but by this time Skip had turned around and come back. I slowly tried navigating down this icy slick and threw it down again! I was getting frustrated by now just trying to get off this icy patch. I asked for a hand in getting the bike back up again as I was sliding around just trying to get footing to lift it. Once off that patch, the rest of the ride downhill was uneventful.

We came to our first sign of pavement off to the left and Skip stopped and asked me which way I wanted to go. I didn't care and was hoping he would make the decision. He didn't so after listening to the little devil on my right shoulder prodding me to go on the icy road and the little angel on the left shoulder imploring me to take the "high" road, I finally caved in to the smarter decision to go with the asphalt.

This road dumped us onto Meadow Fork Rd. That was a hoot! Twisting and turning just scampering across the countryside. Then it was onto 209 and were home within the hour. Got home before dark, had minor throwdowns (and on ice so I don't count those), and was all-in-all a good day.

Finished up the evening with some more homebrews and bottled up a batch so that Skip could take some home with him. It was a great visit, thanks Skip for a couple of fun days.