August 16 Black Hills Ride

[The Yeti]

A good time was had by all! Well...mostly all...pics to come!

[Jared]

A great day out!

Had a bit of a delay hitting the trails ... some people got a late start, then my bike wouldn't start so Jason (DA MAN!) pulled the tank and carb for me and checked the needle ... it all looked clean so he put it back together and everything ran like a champ after that.  I('d put Seafoam in and so maybe that dislodged a piece of crud that then got stuck as the fuel flowed?)

A good ride, nothing too gnarly.
I dumped it 3 times ... once just cause I didn't have my balance when I stopped short, 2nd I took a gravel turn too fast, 3rd I got stuck in a rut and tried to fight it instead of riding it thru.  But no damage was done, so onward and upward!

I really enjoyed meeting everyone, and I definitely look forward to many future rides.

[fringefan]

It was a good time. Hope the bike if back to normal sooner than later.

[Jared]

... 3rd I got stuck in a rut and tried to fight it instead of riding it thru.

Looks familiar! -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOlheeB6_PA 



(p.s. could we get these last 4 posts moved to a thread under "ride reports"?)

[Hank]

Done!

[The Yeti]

DDSR inmates on this ride –

Jared (aka Aquatop):



Doug (aka Robnoxious, on left) & Chad (aka Fringefan, on right):



DOD (Sorry, don't remember your name), here in the red helmet and BMW jacket:



Brian (aka Flexlarson):



And myself, Alan (aka Promo Yeti), here standing:



After a late start (I got up about 10 minutes late, Brian was still sleeping when I showed up at his place), and then as soon as we got to the designated meeting place (Fish n Fry), Jared informed us that his bike wouldn't start. Good thing Jason H. was there camping with his family...the man is a mechanical genius!

Here's all of us standing around looking like idiots while the wizard performs his magic:



Jason (correctly) diagnosed the problem in the carburetor, and quickly had the KLR naked:



And started tearing the guts outa her without even buying the old girl a drink!




In almost no time, the floats and needle had been cleaned and she was getting put back together:



I could tell that Doug and DOD were getting a bit antsy to get going, my apologies for holding you guys up...we were finally on the road after 10am (planned start at 9am):






We headed towards Rochford via NF-248....dead-end. Let's try NF-247...better, goes through to Woodville (I think I blinked and missed it), then it was on to Rochford where me and at least Doug had a great beer boiled Johnsonville brat...mmmmm. Sorry, was so good, I forgot to take pics. Here's a few of us standing around in bustling downtown Rochford:





This is where Doug and DOD decided to split off from us and get on with their long ride back to Sheridan, WY...they wanted to get there before dark, so were pressed for time. Hope you guys had fun in the Bighorns on Sunday!

That left me, Brian, Chad and Jared to continue on.  We did a bit more exploring up by the Rochford area, these pics were immediately after Jared had dropped his KLR getting into a corner too hot:




Although I was right behind him, he almost had the beast back on the rubber before I rounded the turn...I guess practice makes perfect! 

Stopped for a few beauty shots at this lookout with a great view:






Shortly thereafter, Jared got caught in one mean-ass rut, dropped the KLR again and pushed the fan shroud in just enough to cause a racket:




After banging on it for a few minutes, the noise from the fan ceased, all was well and we were ready to get on our way again:





Soon after, Chad had to leave us for a date with a fence...flat as a board and ready to be nailed (ba-rump-bump!!!!). Brian getting his farwell nutty-bar (salted nut roll to the rest of you) from Chad as he left:



Good thing Chad stocks up those things before each ride or I think Brian would probably starve to death!

Brian wanted to take myself and Jared up to Deadwood and measure the steering throw on his rock crawler (way cool rig), so of course we turned south to Pactola:








After figuring out we'd went the wrong way, we corrected our route north to Deadwood and the crawler:



Of course, Brian had to get some air in the tires before he could move it:






As far as I can tell, Brian kinda has a thing for square, spongy cartoon characters:



I was a little worried when he was jacking this thing up...didn't look real safe to me, but Brian said it was alright...that jack looks pretty crooked to me:



Then Jared had to leave us, he had a date with an actual real girl!! Good excuse, so we let him on his way...

Brian and myself decided to do a bit more exploring around Deadwood. We were trying to get on top of this ridge that Brain was sure we could access, but all we found were dead ends. Still a blast!



This ledge is as narrow as it looks and there's about a 1000 foot drop-off on the other side! (Okay, I could be slightly exaggerating):



Started to hit the highway back, then Brain motioned for us to turn:





He leads me down to this! Gold panning!



No, we did not ride the rocks, although Brian was willing and able I'm sure. Sure was a beautiful spot!






Was a great day, can't wait to do it again!

P.S. I'm gonna start calling Brian "Granny"...the man rides with his blinkers on more than anyone I've ever seen!  The guy even takes to the underbrush with his signal on:

[fringefan]

Good report Allan.

[Dustin]

Looks like a lot of fun... Can't wait to ride out there in September.