Well, I'm not as good as I used to be.
Last Thursday I decided to ride my DR650 to town using the "back way". The back way is around 20 miles round trip of dirt, gravel and lava rocks. Last time I went through there on my KTM the road was in decent shape. So, since ignorance is bliss, I pootled out of my driveway with a smile on my face. Got to the turnoff and joined the dirt section. Hmmm, this road looks nothing like the last time I was on it. Embedded boulders and entire sections of loose lava rocks. Well, wouldn't you know it. One of those lava rocks decided to roll out from under my front tire and " TIMMMBERRRRR!" down I went on my left side. I didn't feel my surgically repaired knee have any pain so that was good. SAT report Captain... Its rocky, its dusty, its hot and, oh yeah, my left foot is stuck under the swing arm. I laid there in the sunlight considering chewing my leg off but with some twisting and yanking I finally got my foot free. Stripped off my gear and sat in some shade while I contemplated my life choices. My left ankle was now sending me messages that ibuprofen was in my near future. I studied the bike. Flat on its left side. Too low for me to squat it up even if I had 2 good knees. Tried the ole laying across the seat and walking it up...Nope. Bike just wanted to slide. So, I did the right thing and tried to just manhandle it up. Welp, I got it up to almost 45 degrees before the cereal celebrities, Snap ,Crackle and Pop decided to make an appearance in my lower back.
Bike immediately dropped back to its former position. Back now throbbing. Are we having fun yet ??? No cell signal and, since its a weekday, nobody coming by. I searched for matches for a signal fire,( using the bike), but, alas, didn't have any. So after sitting some more, now with a dry cotton mouth, I decided to tuck my pride away and walked back a half mile to a house and help. Great guy drove me back and helped me right the bike. At least it fired right up after laying on its side for an hour.
Learned a few things.
DR650 is HEAVY
My gear did a good job saving my bacon
Slow down on unfamiliar roads
Most importantly, buy a trail jack that can get the bike back on it's wheels. I'm buying the Moto Winch from Denmark.
And get a GPS tracking device.
So the last couple days I've been nursing my back and ankle. Things are slowly improving.
Mad
* Last updated by: Maddevill on 7/25/2022 @ 4:13 PM *