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Big Butt Dual-Sport Ride – July
29-30 2007 Pre-Ride Sometime shortly after the
beginning of 2007 the FJR email list hosted by micapeak.com got entangled in a
dual-sport and off-road riding thread.
It turns out that we multi-faceted FJR owners were interested in a
variety of bikes and riding styles including dual-sport riding. Many owners piped up, including me, about
owning and riding dual-sports in their local regions The idea of an FJR owner
attended dual-sport ride was bandied about and Doug Plumley, taking up the
call, posted his invitation to the first FJR owner dual-sport ride, the Big
Butt 2007. Some expressed interest and
soon a date was finalized. The list grew
quiet. I posted a few general questions
as Doug polled for interest, attendees, and RSVPs. The list stayed quiet. I only assumed that folks were emailing Doug
privately and was hoping to meet a whole crew of FJR owning dirt bike riders. After exchanging a couple
emails with Doug it turns out I was the only interested FJR owner that could
make the date. Learning this I second
guessed myself but went about the chore of changing my ancient Baja Designs
dual-sport kit with one of more recent design, a This was Wednesday, the day
before I was to load up and leave. It
was make or break, put up or shut up, time for me. I had the lights working but no combination
of remaining wires looked like a logical connection to start and charge the
motorcycle. Calling the number I was
amazed to actually reach a human and a few short minutes later someone who
could actually help me. Later that evening, after cutting
ends and soldering on bullets of the correct sex, I connected the remaining
wires as instructed. The bike fired up
on the third kick. I was in business. Thursday after work I loaded
the big XR into my truck with my ramp, a cooler, sandwiches, gps, radar
detector and all my dirt riding gear and headed south toward Grass Valley and a
rendezvous with Doug and a couple of his riding buddies. In order to get some sleep I stopped in
Oroville at 2:00am and finished up in the morning, Friday. Our plan was to ride out at 10:00am. Day Two - Friday, June 29, 2007 At 6:30 Friday morning I
popped out of bed at the Motel 6 and jumped in the truck for the remaining
distance. I wanted to get there a little
early because in my rush I forgot a few things, like sunscreen for my bald
head, my digital camera, and a camelback.
This is hot CA after all. I got to GV with an hour to
kill so found the local Safeway and bought a couple disposable cameras but
sunscreen was mostly sold out. The
checkout clerk let me know there was a Rite-Aid an exit or two down CA49 so
there I went and Bull Frog, ice, and New Castle Brown Ale were bought. Could not find a camelback and the locals
were not able to suggest a place to find one so I would do without. I did spy a Staples and looked closely at
their less expensive cameras. After a
quick call home I bought a small After hellos and
re-introductions we unloaded my XR and began the chore of gearing up for a day
in the local hills. Soon the roar of a couple
more bikes filled the placid morning air on a perfect sunlit, but not too hot,
breezy day. Eric and his friend John
arrived, dismounted, and we were introduced all around. I’ve been riding dirt bikes
off and on since the early 70’s and have been road riding even longer. Until today my total miles on a street-legal
dirt bike were the five mile test ride Wednesday before I left. Even though this bike was and has been legal
my other XR is not, neither is my son’s CR500, so we always hauled to the
riding areas. I was feeling a little
sketchy about riding the pavement on knobbies as my test ride, all 5 miles of
it, did not leave me awe inspired with its grip at ordinary lean angles. Off we went, Doug, John, and me
with Eric sweeping the rear. After a few
miles, a few twisties, a couple turns and woohoo, the road turned to dirt and
it was official, Big Butt 2007 was underway. It took just a few minutes to
realize why my riding partners had bandannas around their necks as the dry
weather meant roads without pavement were very dusty. We motored on stopping at various points for
narrative about the local history and status of the places we saw and
passed. I don’t remember too much about
the first morning except that connecting pavement sections were short and
watching the road for rocks, ruts, and other hazards was difficult in the dust
clouds. Before long we were headed
downhill and entering the small town of This particular spot resides
on the south bank of the south fork of the Shortly out of town we
crossed the river and headed up into the hills on a nice winding gravel
road. Eventually we came out near
Graniteville where major construction was underway burying what looked like
water pipe. Bearing in mind the local
citizenry we slowed to a crawl so as not to raise more dust than
necessary. Leaving Graniteville we
headed toward After stopping at the
diggings for a break we headed down and back toward Day Three - Saturday, June 30, 2007 Saturday dawned clear and
bright, a carbon copy of the perfect weather the day before. The plan today was for Eric and John to haul
over so they could enjoy the pool and BBQ after riding. Doug decided to ride his electric start KLR instead
of his kick start XT350 leaving me as the only rider with no magic starter
button. Oh well, the XR, after rejetting,
was not too tough to start until I grew tired. In a repeat of Friday we
headed out around 10:00am retracing our return from yesterday. Somewhere along the way we made a turn onto a
really nice dirt/gravel road that allowed us to open it up a bit, and we did. Several more turns, hundreds
of unpaved twisties, a little pavement, and I got a chance to go first down a
rough road to a bridge and river crossing, middle fork of the Now Allegheny is the poster
child for depressed, one-horse towns but in this particular town you will find
Casey’s housed in a building with an overload of history. There is a bar, food, and from what I’m told
this place can really howl on a weekend.
Casey’s was open although the grill was still warming up, but it was
decided it was worth the wait. Check the
photos in the gallery for more but suffice it to say this was a rather
interesting place between the candle holders on the bar, the history plaque on
the front of the building, and the proprietor herself, Casey. Once again the beer was cold
and wet and completely washed out any dusty thoughts I had left about the
route. Already hearing that the burgers
were large I thought to eat light today because we had a few rough miles left
after lunch. So, with that in mind, I
ordered the chicken sandwich with cheese and roasted Ortega peppers. After a bit of a wait lunch was served up and
man my eyes got wide. I got a chicken
sandwich all right including not one, but two full chicken breasts, served with
lettuce, tomato, onion and with a side of fruit including papaya, cantaloupe,
and grapes. A beer, iced tea, and a
glass of water later it was all over but the napping. After close to 90 minutes of
layover we headed out of town. 10
seconds later as the pavement turned to dirt we started climbing amid the dust
clouds stirred by Eric the lead rider. Another short but decidedly twisty bit of
pavement and we were rolling into the dead town of Off again! I have to tell you that I was having so much
fun that I completely lost track of time and after another stop at a great
lookout point we headed down to CA49 for a short ride into Downieville and a
date with a gas pump, just for insurance.
Check the gallery for photos of a historical outdoor gallows and the
road that takes off uphill nearby and the accompanying road sign. After gas and photos we
headed uphill out of town and the sign did not lie. Any motor homes climbing this grade had
better be on tracks and they better make it to the top, no turning around
here. The road was steep but more that
that it was a blast on a dirt bike as we hauled ass to the top. Again, starting to sound like a skipping
record, (remember those?) the views from the top were spectacular (see
gallery). Soon after stopping we heard a
bike in the distance that sounded very familiar with a John Deere tractor like
exhaust note. Downhill coming towards us
was another rider on an XR650R riding alone.
We talked with the guy for a few minutes and the boys gave him some
suggestions for good riding and we were underway again. I got somewhat turned around but did
recognize our turn, this time a left turn down the road to Allegheny, that we
had come out of and turned left for Forest on.
We’d come full circle back to our lunch spot. Leaving Allegheny and
continuing downhill we took a new road out of town that ultimately led us
through some mining areas both historical and operational until once again we
were crossing a fork of the Crossing the river we
continued up the other side headed somewhat southwest. I did not know where we would come out but
soon enough, after the usual rocks, ruts, twists, and dusty turns, we were
topping the grade and seemed to be in the vicinity of Graniteville. I’d lost all track of time but it had to be
late afternoon and the constant sun was drying even the well shaded areas as
the dust quotient was becoming extreme.
We encountered several sets of riders climbing the hill in the dust
including several bikers and a couple four wheelers. We were motoring faster than approaching
traffic so we were being cautious and I heard a comment or two about close
calls after we stopped to plan the route back. The trip out was a rehash of
the ride in and my on-road confidence had soared. Knobbies really do grip, pavement as well as
dirt and gravel. Sitting in Doug’s
driveway total miles for the day were…wait a minute, my speedo and odo aren’t
working. According to my new riding buddies
we’d covered around 115 miles for the day.
Before showering up we loaded up the rigs and I made the XR and Dakota
ready to roll. Showered up and cooled down
myself while Eric, John and Doug swam in the pool, Gayle’s son Anthony grilled
up some steaks and we had a really fine BBQ of steak, home made ‘tato salad,
sweet corn on the cob, bread, and cold beer. Between 11:00pm and midnight,
after the beer had worn off, I hit the road for Big thanks to Doug Plumley
and his wife Gayle for putting up with me, a place to sleep, and for dinner
Friday night. Thanks to Eric and John
for allowing me to ride with you guys and showing me the local ropes. Next year perhaps we can get more FJR owners
involved and maybe hit the By the way I’m still wearing
the grin that got plastered on my face last weekend. dougc 7-5-2007 |