Escape From the Prison Planet

[DRIVEN]

Planning to do a day ride later this week and the white bike has a petcock leak. I decided I'd just ride the blue one, it runs better anyway. Then I remembered that it still has the trailside fix 18" tube in the rear so I swapped it out with the correct 14" tube.


Motorcycle jack and a tire machine made this a really quick and easy one man job. All fueled up and ready to ride again. Supposed to be about 100* in the area we plan to ride so I'll be making room for extra water.


Also, Turna's not dead yet.

 

[fleming442]

Is it bad that almost look forward to these updates more than Donovan's?
Beautiful country out there. Mad props to you for doing it right, all the way around.
Is the garage stalled?

 

[DRIVEN]

All much appreciated. The only reason I've been able to do any of this stuff is because I've had very little work since February. These lame little trail bikes have really helped me stay busy on the cheap. Can ride allllll day long on less than $10 and stay busy enough to not spend money on other things.
Shop build is kind of on hold. Still need to get an Electrician to run power from the meter and set a panel. Then I can move forward with more insulation and sheetrock, paint, and move in. Planning to be working in there next winter.

 

[DRIVEN]

Did a 95 mile day ride last week on the other side of the lake. Lots of different terrain and not another living soul out there. There were sections of our route where nobody had been in months, as evidenced by the fully grown and dead standing thistles blocking the trails.









The next day I welded up a cracked Cyclerack and straightened out a bent foot peg, then parked the blue bike in the corner.






I got back to the white bike to prep it for 3 days of riding coming up. I started by swapping out a Cyclerack for a narrower and more rigid Tusk rack.


A quick stop at my local thriftshop netted the base for my Jerod Loop 2.0 luggage system. An old life jacket donated the roll top buckle and locating straps.








I mainly just want to try out this configuration. It's not as much capacity as the yellow saddlebags but it is more compact. I'll probably end up with a Giant Loop Coyote eventually but that literally costs 100x more than this.

 

[Turbolq4]

Previous ride in the Placerville area you mentioned Pirate peak. You mean Pilot peak? It's in that general area, aka Mores Creek Summit. Lots of great trail riding in that area. Way more of it yet if you go north or east of that summit. That GMC is a nice looking pickup!

 

[DRIVEN]

The GMC photographs well.

Yeah, Pilot Peak. Autofill, I guess. That's a cool area. Seemingly endless trails.

 

[fleming442]

Previous ride in the Placerville area you mentioned Pirate peak. You mean Pilot peak?

There's an Asian joke in there.

 

[81cutlass]

Dad bought a sub 1000 mile DT250 in really nice shape a few years ago and the carb was dirty and the cylinder was scored. Project is kinda stalled but now every time I see a trail riding update from you it makes me want to drag it to my place and get it running and find a trail.

That pants luggage rack made be laugh.

 

[DRIVEN]

My dad had a DT250 when I was a kid. That's what we graduated to after an SL70. There probably should have been an intermediate step because the 250 was probably more bike than a 12 year old should have. You should absolutely get it running again. Ditch the oil injection and it'll probably run forever.

Reference in case you missed it before...

Actual Giant Loop on my brother's bike

Original Jerod Loop after his saddlebags ripped apart

It does look kind of goofy -- because it is.

 

[DRIVEN]

I had a buddy in town last week that wanted to do some riding. We decided to do some desert riding then camp on the edge of Silver City.
My overnight pack (actually 3 days worth)...


His overnight pack...

^^^Notice the bald tire?^^^

We rode the desert loop south of Murphy and hit the memorable spots.










Marc overheats pretty easy so we needed frequent water and rest breaks. Aside from that it was relatively drama-free until we got to camp. We were planning to eat before setting up camp when Marc realized he had lost the keys to the padlocks on his rear case. Luckily, one of the overland guys showed up a couple hours later with a cordless cutoff saw. He found the keys inside the locked case.

Next morning we broke camp and waited for the sun to dry out our gear and warm our bones. Stopped at one of the mines on the way out. Not exactly sure what the car is (1940 Buick?) but it used to run a winch to the mine.





Then over the hills and back home for steak, beverages, and tall tales.