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Bastrop Trails Regular Saturday Ride

R, he says, "and add momentum". Geez. LOL.

I completely agree that Bastrop is not Big Bike friendly (unless you have skills). A 650 is as big a bike as I would ride out here, and smaller and lighter is definitively better for a new rider. I did my best to judge the skill level of those I showed around the place and unless I knew you could do it, I didn't do Slippery Hill first. I usually run the gas line trail or the main road/power line loop first to gauge how everyone is doing. The terrain out here is not so much hard as it is varied. It does does good job of exposing weaknesses.


"At that speed, an experienced 'dirt' rider would've been on his feet before the bike ever hit the ground!"

Because--- if the bike was going to fall he would have shifted his weight to the top-side peg and gotten his other leg free and ready to stand. It's very easy to do when you ride standing up; it almost happens naturally. Even if you don't stand you need to keep weight on those pegs.
 
"gyro effect"?
The guy wasn't going 5mph! You new guys with big bikes, Bastrop is the wrong environment to learn how to ride on dirt, period! I'm sorry for the guy's get off and subsequent injury but after watching the vid, that situation was completely avoidable. At that speed, an experienced 'dirt' rider would've been on his feet before the bike ever hit the ground!
Look, I'm not trying to be Mr Know It All here but trust me, learn to ride dirt on a small 'dirt' bike! You'll learn to negotiate ruts, stumps, water, gravel..etc. with relative ease. Give yourself a fighting chance before you attempt it on a 500lb+ bike.

did somebody piss in your cheerios this morning? :lol2:
 
Sorry to get hurt and send some of these folks into a tailspin of judgment and self righteousness. I also apologize for choosing the wrong bike and riding at the wrong place for them. I'll try not to offend again. I've also learned to never try terrain that is challenging. What was I thinking?

I want to thank them for starting the biography of my life, though. I've been meaning to write it, but my memory can be fuzzy and it's good to have someone around who has all the details.
 
Sorry about your mishap Rick. I had a friend get a spiral fracture without ever crashing and he was very capable off road. It happens. Be thankful it wasn't a knee. Sorry for your pain, I know it can throb, keep it up when you can. I hope this doesn't keep you from working, have you got a desk job?
 
Sorry to get hurt and send some of these folks into a tailspin of judgment and self righteousness. I also apologize for choosing the wrong bike and riding at the wrong place for them. I'll try not to offend again. I've also learned to never try terrain that is challenging. What was I thinking?

I want to thank them for starting the biography of my life, though. I've been meaning to write it, but my memory can be fuzzy and it's good to have someone around who has all the details.

We were all new at some point . Your get off is a great lesson for some of us around here that put our feet down too much :doh:. If Rman sounded a little harsh it is because this cold weather has him trapped inside his house and unable to ride. He hates cold weather and only has about a three month riding window during the summer. :giveup:

Get well and keep riding. :rider:
 
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The bars of the bike were tweaked and the brake levers twisted. The left peg was gone. The headlight and cowl were trash and the brake light was busted. The forks were twisted. Of course the ignition was on so the battery was drained.

Dude! You told me you bought it that way from a little old lady in Elgin. What gives?


psittacid,

Yep, welcome to the bunch. Getting your Bastrop crash shots on the thread makes you a full fledged member with all the rights and privileges, ride-invites and cross-ups that any group has. I've been riding with this bunch since RollingJ was BastropJoel, and other than they are all faster than me, they are a good group to ride with. I've gotta say that if I were to go down hard out there (again) I'd want the guys you were riding with there with me.

Anyway, rest well, heal up and come on out to the neighborhood again as soon as you can.

:rider::rider:
 
I want to thank them for starting the biography of my life, though. I've been meaning to write it, but my memory can be fuzzy and it's good to have someone around who has all the details.

Why would you give us an opening like that?? :nana:

I may not have all the details, but we can start with your birth in the Australian outback. At the age of 5, psittacid was banished for having too many wives. 2 years later, having swum to Colombia, he became the leader of a massive cocaine industry. It was not until his early teens that he began to empathize for the poor souls he had peddled his product to. Unable to live with himself, he began a killing spree, tracking down all his own dealers. It was an arduous process, but at the age of 25, he had finally washed away his misdeeds with the blood of his former colleagues. Unfortunately he had also washed away his fortune and found himself break dancing in Harlem for spare change. Luckily he was spotted by a casino developer, and he relocated to Las Vegas where he was a nightly performer at a hip-hop themed club frequented by wealthy white aristocrats. After scraping and saving for 12 years, he had finally had enough. He left work in the middle of a show and began to rollerblade to Austin, Texas. When he got there he finally felt as though he belonged, and he knew life would be good. Over the next few years he obtained stable living arrangements, and an assortment of toys, including a motorcycle. Through a work acquaintance he learned of the Two Wheeled Texans website, and decided that he would begin taking his motorcycle onto some trails in addition to the simple pavement riding he had grown accustomed to.


And THAT, my friends, is the rest of the story.

psittacid - let me know if I missed anything - I left out the parts about your stint as a professional stunt skydiving chef - I don't feel that I know the sport well enough to be coherent, and that story deserves to be well told.



Seriously - recuperate, recover, and get back on there. TWT runs the gamut from former racers (street and dirt) to students who want advice on learning to ride before they buy their first bike. Stick around, and it eventually feels like home.
 
...Give yourself a fighting chance before you attempt it on a 500lb+ bike.

The only 500 lb. big bike I saw was the mount for the video camera. It was also the only bike of the three in camera view that didn't fall over. DR650 is not a "big bike", it is heavier than a dirt bike but not considerably heavier than any other true dual sport.

Everybody learns plenty of lessons riding, his was just made public and thus could be easily scrutinized.

I was impressed by how calm he was after the accident, while surely in great pain. He knew his leg was broke and didn't attempt to stand up or panic. Definitely someone I would want to ride with in the future.

_
 
Jqueen, that was a true masterpiece! I could not have said it better myself. All that you left out is still within the statute of limitations, so we'll keep it quiet for now.

Thanks for all the outpouring of support – I assure you that I wasn't fishing for that when I put out my snarky comment. I usually don't take the bait, but maybe the Vicodin weakened my will.

Rman, there's a good chance that we will not ride together, since I like the cold and can't stand the heat. It's too bad. From what people here say, it sounds like you're a helluva rider and I could learn a lot from you. I usually get out of here in the summers. Last summer I rode my tiger 800 XC to Seattle. A buddy of mine and I might do Alaska this summer.

I saw the doctor today and he's going to put in a long plate with a lot of screws, but thinks it should heal well.
 
Sorry about your mishap Rick. I had a friend get a spiral fracture without ever crashing and he was very capable off road. It happens. Be thankful it wasn't a knee. Sorry for your pain, I know it can throb, keep it up when you can. I hope this doesn't keep you from working, have you got a desk job?

Yeah,i'm really thankful that it wasn't the knee, too. My job is teaching science to eighth-graders, so work will be interesting but approachable. I'm going to try going in tomorrow, but have to find a balance between working and taking it easy to let the swelling down before surgery.
 
Re: Bastrop Trails Random and Irregular Ride

Hey. Nobody but Rman says rmans a good rider :rider: I for one do agree with him though that Bastrop is not the place to learn . It is not the easiest place for me on my XR650R. I fell off twice last time I was there :doh: :lol2:


Signatures ???? We don't need no stinking signatures !!!!!
 
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Re: Bastrop Trails Random and Irregular Ride

Hey. Nobody but Rman says rmans a good rider :rider: I for one do agree with him though that Bastrop is not the place to learn . It is not the easiest place for me on my XR650R. I fell off twice last time I was there :doh: :lol2:


Signatures ???? We don't need no stinking signatures !!!!!

I disagree.

The Bastrop area is a great play/training area because it offers such a wide variety of surfaces. For a rookie to try to follow more experienced riders down smooth gravel roads at the speeds they will be riding, they will be more at risk of very serious injury.

This was an odd freak accident that could have happened to anyone of us. We all take these chances every time we ride. But the chances are very small. Unfortunately for Rick, his number came up.

I do agree with Rman that a very light bike is easier to learn on, but a Suzuki DR650 is a better choice than many make.
 
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i took a buddy down there a couple of months back, his first time off road, him on a 650gs and me on my klr. we had a ton of fun, heavier bikes are fine, we just didnt go a million miles an hour. putted around, fell over in the mud a few times and generally had a blast.

end result:

10633389_10201823723153042_4207337264324947022_o.jpg


10641034_10203843913873284_2582840483565587245_n.jpg
 
Re: Bastrop Trails Random and Irregular Ride

I disagree.

The Bastrop area is a great play/training area because it offers such a wide variety of surfaces.

For a rookie to try to follow more experienced riders down smooth gravel roads at the speeds they will be riding, they will be more at risk of very serious injury.

Maybe , if they do what they can , where they can. But the two times I went , once with Joel and once with you , I don`t think those routes and speeds would be good for first time training. And I consider myself just a few steps above a rookie,,, no where near expert :rider:
 
Re: Bastrop Trails Random and Irregular Ride

I do like to ride fast. One of the joys of leading is that I can go as fast as I want and wait at the corners. I always hoped those behind would ride at their own pace.
 
Re: Bastrop Trails Random and Irregular Ride

Maybe , if they do what they can , where they can. But the two times I went , once with Joel and once with you , I don`t think those routes and speeds would be good for first time training. And I consider myself just a few steps above a rookie,,, no where near expert :rider:

Where would you suggest for a ride? Fly down smooth class one gravel roads at 40-50 mph?
 
Re: Bastrop Trails Random and Irregular Ride

Where would you suggest for a ride? Fly down smooth class one gravel roads at 40-50 mph?
Only if the gravel road is graded, flat, no hills, no corners and no turns whatsoever. Hahaha. Inside joke between JMZ and Rman.

_
 
I just don't think we should try to second guess this. Rick wasn't riding too fast. I can't count the times I have dropped my XR650L under similar conditions. I just got away with it. He didn't. Freak accident. Don't say that he shouldn't have been riding Bastrop. It doesn't matter where it happened, his number came up, period.
 
Re: Bastrop Trails Random and Irregular Ride

I'm just referring to new riders in general. And my personal experiences. Not trying to second guess him at all. What happened to him could have happened to me Saturday on a class one gravel road when I put my foot down when I shouldn't. I don't mean to deter new riders from going there. Just that some of that stuff is not easy. At least for me. But it is a fun place. :)


Signatures ???? We don't need no stinking signatures !!!!!
 
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