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- Joined
- Dec 16, 2005
- Messages
- 2,000
- Reaction score
- 5
- Location
- Sherman, TX
- First Name
- Chris
- Last Name
- Jennings
During one of my recent trips to Clayton, Ok I mentioned that I was close enough to home that I could make a day trip to Clayton. So I posted if anybody was interested in going on a Monday, I got three takers. Billyji, Firstman, and Mcleod. The ironic thing is I had been talking to both first man and Mcleod in separate conversations but had never really finalized a ride with them.
The plan was to meet at the Tractor Supply at the corner of Hwy 75 and 82 in Sherman at 8:30. I got everything ready the night before so I was good to go. I decided I would stop at station across the highway to get some caffeinated breakfast. Got my drink and pulled up to the stop light and my bike died.
Did I mention that this was the first ride for me on my DR350/435? Oh yeah it’s kick strt only and I’m sitting at the intersection with a dead bike. I try to kick and nothing, kick and nothing, I get off and push to a remotely safe spot. Kick and nothing, kick and sputter, kick and it roars to life but will not idle.
I manage to get to the TSC across the highway and start to check things out. I remember when I got the bike Jason told me about a vacuum port that had to have a cap on it or the bike would not run. I checked and the cap was gone. Mcleod called about that time and told me he was just a few minutes away. I told him of my predicament we decided to check TSC, but the sales guy said they didn’t have anything to help me. Then a quick trip to NAPA and I was golden.
The deal was, Mcleod pulled his trailer to TSC and Billyji and Firstman hitched it up with their bikes in the back of the truck. This way we had one vehicle and could split the gas four ways. Nice.
Billyji and Firstman also drive the big 4x4 rock crawlers so they are both pretty familiar with Clayton so I was looking forward to exploring some new areas. It was brought up in previous conversations that it would be nice to start in Daisy about 30 miles from Clayton and see if we could make all the way.
A quick stop at the post office and we decided to not try that because of tales of locked gates and heavy fines. So on to Clayton we went.
We pulled into an area that the wheelers use for repairs that resembled something of a post apocalyptic repair ground/junk yard that has a resident that can fix it or make you a new one from scratch. With thunder clapping we suit up for our adventure.
A little history on our cast of characters:
Mcleod bought his XR650L a few months ago and classified himself as a beginner.
Firstman has a new to him MZ that he bought through the classifieds on twtex.com. This was his second ride on dirt.
Billyji is an ex cross country racer with an ATK 605 that is just getting back into riding after a bad wreck on the street.
I’m still fairly new to dirt having ridden motorcycles in general for about a year, but have ridden a couple of times at Clayton and a little at some local four wheeler trails.
You’ll notice not a single KLR in the group. Kind of an oddity considering that every time I have been there the rides have been dominated by the KLR.
We start out and I decide that just to get it out of the way I would go ahead and dump my bike in the first water crossing. Did I mention that had a bike that was kick start only? 3 kicks and it started. Oh well, I got that out of the way.
Next up was a small creek crossing with a tree lying in the middle of it. We all eventually got around it and were on our merry way. That is until the next turn.
You see, billyji and firstman drive the kind of 4X4 vehicles that can climb vertical walls so they don’t think twice about these roads. It took us about an hour to get to the top and billyji kept saying this is as hard as it gets. To his defense it did get easier than the last super gnarly section but it was by no means a cake walk, but it sure was fun and I was glad I was on my lightweight DR than my heavy KLR.
To those that have been to Clayton with me this section was harder than anything I have ridden out there, period. I just have this to say, Green Acres is the place to be. No one made it up with falling at least a couple of times big baby head rocks that were wet from a heavy rain the night before and rain that was falling as we rode.
Don’t worry this is as hard as it gets…..until we turn the corner. Granted it was easier, but it was still pretty technical especially for a county road.
Finally we get to the top and have a real dirt road to ride on. We all pretty much open it up and get to the fire tower, but with thunder clapping we decide it would be in the best interest to not go up it.
Next stop Mushroom Rock, it’s hard to describe other than the fact that it looks like a mushroom and is about 15 feet tall. We go a little further down the road and come upon what we were told would be a locked gate, well it was open with no signs so we went riding.
It was all pretty good roads, with DEEP water holes along the way to make it interesting. Especially at one point where I get a little ahead of the group and set up to get a shot of everybody going through the crossing. Billyji is the first to go through with front wheel aloft. The water hole is deeper than we both thought. I get a wave of water all over me and my Canon G6, it was still on and I could see the preview. It was an AWSOME shot.
Unfortunately the flash card and the camera got fried and I can’t open any of the pictures on it. Sorry folks, you’ll just have to close your eyes and picture it all in your head.
Typical of any Clayton run we make a few turnarounds because of locked gates. On the last one billyji hits a log and drops his bike. A few gremlins have been causing starting problems with his bike and after this dump they have attacked full force, A dead battery forces the futile attempts of kicking this 605cc beast on the left hand side.
Kick after kick and we get nothing, but it is noticed that gas is coming out of the overflow on the carb. So the tools are brought and and the bowl is pulled. It’s discovered that there is gas inside both floats and that everything on the intake side is finger tight.
It’s decided that since I have the only knobbies out of the three running bikes that I could try and pull start the ATK. Well it worked and we were on our merry way. The options were to keep going the same way, which we thought might dump us out on Hwy 2 or go back the way we came sticking to the road all the way down. We decided to stick to the road and go back the way we came because of the ailing ATK. It was the right decision because we got back to the truck, changed and I made it home in time to eat dinner.
It was pretty much all down hill and a FAST descent. Billyji pretty much disappeared ahead of me. The DR is just not geard to go much over 60, that will soon change though.
We get back to the truck and the ATK is idling fine. Despite many bruises and lots of wetness everybody agrees that it was a blast. I think Mcleod and Firstman are probably looking at some knobbies as I type to replace the 80% street tires they had on their bikes.
I can’t wait until the next Monday trip and now that I have this dirt bike I noticed that there is an enduro happening an hour from my house in two weeks hmm I wonder……
The plan was to meet at the Tractor Supply at the corner of Hwy 75 and 82 in Sherman at 8:30. I got everything ready the night before so I was good to go. I decided I would stop at station across the highway to get some caffeinated breakfast. Got my drink and pulled up to the stop light and my bike died.
Did I mention that this was the first ride for me on my DR350/435? Oh yeah it’s kick strt only and I’m sitting at the intersection with a dead bike. I try to kick and nothing, kick and nothing, I get off and push to a remotely safe spot. Kick and nothing, kick and sputter, kick and it roars to life but will not idle.
I manage to get to the TSC across the highway and start to check things out. I remember when I got the bike Jason told me about a vacuum port that had to have a cap on it or the bike would not run. I checked and the cap was gone. Mcleod called about that time and told me he was just a few minutes away. I told him of my predicament we decided to check TSC, but the sales guy said they didn’t have anything to help me. Then a quick trip to NAPA and I was golden.
The deal was, Mcleod pulled his trailer to TSC and Billyji and Firstman hitched it up with their bikes in the back of the truck. This way we had one vehicle and could split the gas four ways. Nice.
Billyji and Firstman also drive the big 4x4 rock crawlers so they are both pretty familiar with Clayton so I was looking forward to exploring some new areas. It was brought up in previous conversations that it would be nice to start in Daisy about 30 miles from Clayton and see if we could make all the way.
A quick stop at the post office and we decided to not try that because of tales of locked gates and heavy fines. So on to Clayton we went.
We pulled into an area that the wheelers use for repairs that resembled something of a post apocalyptic repair ground/junk yard that has a resident that can fix it or make you a new one from scratch. With thunder clapping we suit up for our adventure.
A little history on our cast of characters:
Mcleod bought his XR650L a few months ago and classified himself as a beginner.
Firstman has a new to him MZ that he bought through the classifieds on twtex.com. This was his second ride on dirt.
Billyji is an ex cross country racer with an ATK 605 that is just getting back into riding after a bad wreck on the street.
I’m still fairly new to dirt having ridden motorcycles in general for about a year, but have ridden a couple of times at Clayton and a little at some local four wheeler trails.
You’ll notice not a single KLR in the group. Kind of an oddity considering that every time I have been there the rides have been dominated by the KLR.
We start out and I decide that just to get it out of the way I would go ahead and dump my bike in the first water crossing. Did I mention that had a bike that was kick start only? 3 kicks and it started. Oh well, I got that out of the way.
Next up was a small creek crossing with a tree lying in the middle of it. We all eventually got around it and were on our merry way. That is until the next turn.
You see, billyji and firstman drive the kind of 4X4 vehicles that can climb vertical walls so they don’t think twice about these roads. It took us about an hour to get to the top and billyji kept saying this is as hard as it gets. To his defense it did get easier than the last super gnarly section but it was by no means a cake walk, but it sure was fun and I was glad I was on my lightweight DR than my heavy KLR.
To those that have been to Clayton with me this section was harder than anything I have ridden out there, period. I just have this to say, Green Acres is the place to be. No one made it up with falling at least a couple of times big baby head rocks that were wet from a heavy rain the night before and rain that was falling as we rode.
Don’t worry this is as hard as it gets…..until we turn the corner. Granted it was easier, but it was still pretty technical especially for a county road.
Finally we get to the top and have a real dirt road to ride on. We all pretty much open it up and get to the fire tower, but with thunder clapping we decide it would be in the best interest to not go up it.
Next stop Mushroom Rock, it’s hard to describe other than the fact that it looks like a mushroom and is about 15 feet tall. We go a little further down the road and come upon what we were told would be a locked gate, well it was open with no signs so we went riding.
It was all pretty good roads, with DEEP water holes along the way to make it interesting. Especially at one point where I get a little ahead of the group and set up to get a shot of everybody going through the crossing. Billyji is the first to go through with front wheel aloft. The water hole is deeper than we both thought. I get a wave of water all over me and my Canon G6, it was still on and I could see the preview. It was an AWSOME shot.
Unfortunately the flash card and the camera got fried and I can’t open any of the pictures on it. Sorry folks, you’ll just have to close your eyes and picture it all in your head.
Typical of any Clayton run we make a few turnarounds because of locked gates. On the last one billyji hits a log and drops his bike. A few gremlins have been causing starting problems with his bike and after this dump they have attacked full force, A dead battery forces the futile attempts of kicking this 605cc beast on the left hand side.
Kick after kick and we get nothing, but it is noticed that gas is coming out of the overflow on the carb. So the tools are brought and and the bowl is pulled. It’s discovered that there is gas inside both floats and that everything on the intake side is finger tight.
It’s decided that since I have the only knobbies out of the three running bikes that I could try and pull start the ATK. Well it worked and we were on our merry way. The options were to keep going the same way, which we thought might dump us out on Hwy 2 or go back the way we came sticking to the road all the way down. We decided to stick to the road and go back the way we came because of the ailing ATK. It was the right decision because we got back to the truck, changed and I made it home in time to eat dinner.
It was pretty much all down hill and a FAST descent. Billyji pretty much disappeared ahead of me. The DR is just not geard to go much over 60, that will soon change though.
We get back to the truck and the ATK is idling fine. Despite many bruises and lots of wetness everybody agrees that it was a blast. I think Mcleod and Firstman are probably looking at some knobbies as I type to replace the 80% street tires they had on their bikes.
I can’t wait until the next Monday trip and now that I have this dirt bike I noticed that there is an enduro happening an hour from my house in two weeks hmm I wonder……
. Adam it is always a good time. I am lookling forward to some more of these Monday adventures. I am wtih you we need to hit it earlier next time. sorry again about the camera. I think Mcleod has a couple pics. 
