Had a top day up in the Monts De Blond yesterday. Mixed weather, from blue skies to drizzle, leaving the rocks covered in a mossy slick which sometimes had grip and sometimes felt like ice. For those who don't know, this is an area of rocky hills north-west of Limoges going up to about 450 metres. It's full of large glacial rock features and bronze-age menhirs/dolmens etc.
The group was: Me, Ross, Steve, Mark and Phil - which meant that we all had to be released from our straightjackets before we could ride. The doctors allow this occasionally as long as we promise to be good. Steve turned up with his lovely new FE350 along with Ross and his TE300i, so Steve's van looked like a Huskie dealership. I rode over on the Beta, while Phil and Mark had their KTM300 exc smokers.
I'll leave it to the others to post pics/vids. Lots of comedy moments.
But what was interesting for me was the riding. Some of it's quite technical. Some steep trails eroded by rain, strewn with baby-head rocks and exposed roots. You just can't ride slowly over this stuff, it doesn't work. You have to attack it and hope for the best. Which is where quality suspension comes in and I am noticing the age of my 2012 Beta's forks. Ross's brand new TE300 floats over this stuff, giving better feedback and less deflection. One big front deflection and you're off in this terrain. When I stepped up from a DRZ400E to the Beta 450, 5 years ago, it was like night and day - the improvement was great. Now I'm noticing the suspension progress that's been made in the 8 years since my Beta was built. Time for an upgrade next year maybe. Steve was finding the same - he was riding the new FE350 with more confidence than he would have on his BMW G450X. Much though we get to know and love our long-termers, there's no denying that technical improvements as the years go by can transform your riding with the newer equipment that's out there. Beta has upgraded its bikes about 4 times since my bike was manufactured; same with KTM etc. We tend to dismiss some of these upgrades as simply cynical attempts to sell more bikes (which may be true when its just a colour change), but the incremental improvements add up over time, until after 8 years the old bike feels primitive compared to the new product. We also compensate for our bikes' shortcomings, sometimes riding around problems rather than solving them with a fork service or whatever.
And then there's the ever crustier riders themselves. We are ageing along with our bikes. Aches and pains, longer injury recovery times etc. Even more reason to update the bike so that it does more of the work that the decrepid rider can no longer do...
Anyway, thanks guys for another great day out. 6 hours of silliness!
Blond Bombshells
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Re: Blond Bombshells
I'M HERE FOR A GOOD TIME NOT A LONG TIME
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Re: Blond Bombshells
20201011_121231 by Philip Parkinson, on Flickr
20201011_111808 by Philip Parkinson, on Flickr
20201011_111751 by Philip Parkinson, on Flickr
20201011_111808 by Philip Parkinson, on Flickr
20201011_111751 by Philip Parkinson, on Flickr
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Re: Blond Bombshells
Yes a great day, with perfect weather, and company. As usual, I laughed all day long, great giggle. Photo's look good Phil
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Re: Blond Bombshells
Head cam vids aren't good soz
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Re: Blond Bombshells
You dropped your pastrami sandwich ? ...you must have been gutted !daveuprite wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 6:53 pmEh? You mean my Travis Pastrana double backflip didn't come out?
God damn...
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Re: Blond Bombshells
We'll always have the memories
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