- Joined
- Mar 24, 2008
- Messages
- 108
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Orange, TX
- First Name
- Mike
- Last Name
- Jeanes
A lot of people don’t believe that the little ninja 250 can be used as a dual sport, but I promise you this:
If you can handle it, so can the bike…
If you look on Google, for directions from Sabine Pass, TX to High Island, TX, it will show you that you can go use Hwy. 87 to go strait through. Not true. Years ago, a hurricane completely decimated the road and rendered it inoperable. Now, it is just scattered chunks of asphalt laying about 50yds. away from the waterline.
The cool thing for most people is to try to make it down the entire road (30 miles) in a vehicle without getting stuck, use some part of the beach for dirt biking, or just go out and enjoy the seclusion…naked.
My friend Sam and I had never heard of anyone riding a motorcycle the whole way, so we thought it would be cool to give it a try. We rode down to Sabine Pass and found the road we needed and got started.
The pavement (such as it was) was bumpy, but stable. 45mph wasn’t that big of a deal. Humberto had come through earlier in the week, so there was a little bit of standing water. Sam’s BMW (R1200) may have been scared, but I knew that the Ninjette wanted some. About 5 miles into the trip, we ran out of drivable asphalt and had to ride on dirt and in the weeds.
On the whole, the terrain was about like riding on a bombing range littered with garbage, so going down would have been a bad deal. Sam kept wanting to go faster than I was prepared to, but then he would have to slow down to avoid over-ending his bike. My steady pace matched his stop and go and I kept catching up without breaking a sweat. The sand was pretty powdery, so the tires were sinking pretty much all the time. At times it was more like being in a rowboat than on a bike as I had to paddle my feet to keep the rear wheel from getting away from me.
Sam’s bike got away from him at one point and he went down, popping his mirror off. Bruised pride beats broken bones 5/5 times, so now he was a bit more willing to slow down. We stopped twice to let the bikes cool down and to enjoy the smell of flotsam and aftermath, but we were soon done with the trip. Toward the end we stumbled upon a nude beach that I had forgotten about. My first clue was an old naked man sitting on the tailgate of his truck showing off his birthday suit. Oh well, no big deal, right? A few more au natural citizens later we had reached civilization again. I rewarded my bike with a rare washing to remove the salt and sand and we both headed home…
If you can handle it, so can the bike…
If you look on Google, for directions from Sabine Pass, TX to High Island, TX, it will show you that you can go use Hwy. 87 to go strait through. Not true. Years ago, a hurricane completely decimated the road and rendered it inoperable. Now, it is just scattered chunks of asphalt laying about 50yds. away from the waterline.
The cool thing for most people is to try to make it down the entire road (30 miles) in a vehicle without getting stuck, use some part of the beach for dirt biking, or just go out and enjoy the seclusion…naked.
My friend Sam and I had never heard of anyone riding a motorcycle the whole way, so we thought it would be cool to give it a try. We rode down to Sabine Pass and found the road we needed and got started.
The pavement (such as it was) was bumpy, but stable. 45mph wasn’t that big of a deal. Humberto had come through earlier in the week, so there was a little bit of standing water. Sam’s BMW (R1200) may have been scared, but I knew that the Ninjette wanted some. About 5 miles into the trip, we ran out of drivable asphalt and had to ride on dirt and in the weeds.
On the whole, the terrain was about like riding on a bombing range littered with garbage, so going down would have been a bad deal. Sam kept wanting to go faster than I was prepared to, but then he would have to slow down to avoid over-ending his bike. My steady pace matched his stop and go and I kept catching up without breaking a sweat. The sand was pretty powdery, so the tires were sinking pretty much all the time. At times it was more like being in a rowboat than on a bike as I had to paddle my feet to keep the rear wheel from getting away from me.
Sam’s bike got away from him at one point and he went down, popping his mirror off. Bruised pride beats broken bones 5/5 times, so now he was a bit more willing to slow down. We stopped twice to let the bikes cool down and to enjoy the smell of flotsam and aftermath, but we were soon done with the trip. Toward the end we stumbled upon a nude beach that I had forgotten about. My first clue was an old naked man sitting on the tailgate of his truck showing off his birthday suit. Oh well, no big deal, right? A few more au natural citizens later we had reached civilization again. I rewarded my bike with a rare washing to remove the salt and sand and we both headed home…