This gathering of dual-sport riders in it's tenth year seemed like something I wouldn't like, what with the socializing and the being polite to strangers and the beer at night and the coffee in the morning I don't think I would... like... well wait a minute. So with my Harley-loving work buddy Chris who I convinced to buy a DR last year and add a few basics, we rode to near Boulder Junction in Northern Wisconsin a week-ago Wednesday. It rained Wednesday, it rained Thursday, by Saturday it had dried pretty well. I mostly rode road on Friday. This picture is from Thursday, my first day of real off road riding. I thought I had ridden off road before, and I had a little, but not super-gnarly shit like this continuously for tens and tens of miles, transitioning to sandy wet two-track, slippery roots, fist-to-babyhead-sized steep hillclimbs... Bananas... Dropped it twice that day, didn't drop it the rest of the week. My E07 chevron tread pattern is not ideal for this, next time full-on (highway-able) knobs. The dry day was great, all the same obstacles but less often water, much higher speed, riding that moto like a mountain bike pressing it into corner berms, scrambling across everything, sketching-out occasionally and not being afraid to use my feet. It was a fucking great time, I'm going back next year.
We learned about this event from an ex-coworker still within the company, we had known George for years and saw him annually at the Habitat and Free Bikes events, he like Steve-o has ridden a DR for many years. Two weeks before CADVR he rode the continental divide between MT and CO, planning to ride CO to Mexico next year. So he's a hard-core guy. He runs an aftermarket tank and seat and rear rack but otherwise bone stock. Just like Steve. George was our guide and mentor gently pushing us past our abilities by riding it calmly and waiting for us to catch up. Our first-day lunch conversation helped a lot too.
The first night after we got settled in the private campground (electric and water in each site), we walked back to the main tents and the beer cooler trailer to decide which tap handle we would pull as we liked first. There was a gathering of guys around a wheel on a picnic table that were trying to pound the bearing out of a hub with a fat flathead screwdriver and a heavy hammer. They discussed and suggested but only a couple attempted pounding. Then a guy walks up with his portable welding unit and they heat the crap out of the hub. Bearing pops right out next try. These were the first minutes of the first night of the dreaded socializing. I knew I was going to be ok.
