Over the Hills and Through the Woods...
 

Well, not exactly to grandmother's house, but a fun day none the less. I'm on my recently acquired (and since much modified) Honda XR650L, exploring some trails in the local Cascade foothills, about half an hour from my place.


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Man that looks like fun. Color me jealous.

I have always wanted an XL650. My son currently has an XR100 and I get to ride it a bit.

I had forgotten how much fun a "dirt" bike can be. That, and I never had a big thumper like this even when I was actively riding in the dirt 30 years ago (I don't think any were even made back then anyway), but boy is it a lot of fun in its own right. Granted, at 52 years old I'm more of an "explorer" than "racer", happy to just plod along taking in the country and the fresh air. The big Honda does that with aplomb.

When I was last riding this very same stretch of back country (30 years ago), I was always ripping along on some hyper two stroke MX bike, racing my buddies wherever we went. Great fun for a 20-something young man, but my old bones just don't have it in them anymore. This bike (with its friendly nature) suits my new riding style, not to mention its dual sport convenience. It's great to be up in the woods on a bike again after all these years.

I may upgrade. I have an old XR 250 I ride trails with a few times a month.

My trails aren't nearly as nice as yours, but it is a lot of fun.

Thanks for the post.

Nice, thanks for sharing. Haven't ridden off road in decades but have been thinking about lately.
Raced motocross on CZs back in the day.

Awesome. I'd like to run those roads.

It would have been cool if Sasquatch showed up in one of your side-ways glances.

Funny, but my return to off road riding now has me looking for something about that size to complement the big Honda. I'll explain why below...

By way of explanation as to why I'm considering a smaller bike now as well, let me say that most of our trails are nowhere near this nice, either.

Off road riding has apparently changed a great deal, at least in Western Washington, since I gave it up so long ago. When I first started, everything was wide open for riding - National Forest Service roads, Department of Natural Resources roads, logging company roads, and every trail that led off from any one of those. Well, a couple of years before I sold my last dirt bike, the NFS closed all of their roads to unlicensed vehicles, and none of us had (or even took remotely seriusly) any kind of street legal "dual sport". That shut down a good deal of our riding.

Well, in the interim, "DNR" has apparently come to mean "Do Not Ride", with the DNR shutting down its lands as well. The various logging companies have as well, I'm sure due to fears over litigation should someone get hurt.

As a result of all of these closures, Puget Sound area dirt bikers are left with nothing more than various designated "ORV" - Off Road Vehicle areas in which to ride. The trails I'm riding in the video are, admittedly, not entirely kosher. But they are close enough to home, and unused enough that they can be ridden discreetly after work with little worry. To do this more legitimately requires a several hour ride to get to a trailhead.

So, in other words, to stay closer to home and take advantage of "legal" riding oportunities locally, it's the ORV areas or nothing. Which would be fine, but... Cramming everyone with a dirt bike, quad, or Jeep from such a large population center into just a couple of off road "parks" has had predictable results: those places get hammered.

Walker Valley is one such area close to me, that I could ride. Just not on this bike. For the most part, actually, at my skill, commitment, and willingness to suffer injury level, I should realistically rule it out on any bike. The place is so torn up, rutted, root and log and rock covered that it is all but unrideable for anyone but very skilled (and fearless) riders on very small bikes. Trials bikes are very popular there, if that gives any indication just how impassable many of its trails have become. Even on the smallest, lightest bikes it becomes a first gear, clutch burning exercise in frustration. The big 650 is simply out of the question.

So, I'm kind of frustrated in a way. Sometimes I think a much smaller bike would open up areas like that for me. At least better than my 650 does. Then I come to my senses, and wonder why on earth I would want to ride like that anyway. The only reason - it's close to home.

Oh well. I'm happy to be in the woods again. I'm happy I don't have to trailer. I just wish there was more open country to ride in around here, so everyone didn't have to flock to those badly overused parks. If that were the case, I wouldn't even be thinking about another, smaller bike.

Exactly the opposite here: I can jump on the 250 at the barn and ride miles and miles of trails without ever hitting a paved road. All the local folks allow access to other locals as long as we don't abuse the right.

But for the most part the trails are flat and I have been riding them for nearly twenty years.

Your bike intrigues me because within twenty miles or so are some really great trails with much more challenging terrain: No need for a trailer.

I also appreciate your "mature bones" attitude. At 56 I stopped chasing my son on his KTM more than a few years ago.

Lookin' good Jeff. I'm pleased we didn't get to see any upside down trees. Watch those bones.

I'm 53 and probably too silly to get a motorbike, but I sure like the idea of a big Honda trail such as yours. And can ride it into town for free parking :)

I'm 47 and while my son is riding his XR100 at break neck speeds, I tool around on my Polarus 330 Magnum....especially after recovering from a shattered pelvis and broken ribs in August (some jerk ran a stop sign and t-boned my 83 Porsche 944), I think I prefer to stay on 4 wheels.

Boy, that must be nice. I can see where the same old trails would get old after 20 years, though. Still, to hop on it right in your own barn and go - priceless.

Therein lies a bit of a quandry with the big 650: I can ride it for a couple of hours on the road very comfortably, keeping up with traffic and all of that, to get to those distant trailheads. It even does great on the freeway. The problem is that when I get there, the level of "challenge" in the terrain I feel comfortable undertaking on this big bike is substantially less than I would try on a smaller, lighter bike. Some trails are just off limits due to its size and weight (and maybe, just maybe, after all of these years, my good common sense...).

Oh, make no mistake, the trials and tribulations of regaining my "sea legs" has much to do with my attitude. In six months or so of ownership, I've already been to the ER once. Went home with 16 stitches in the bridge of my nose, of all places, from that one. I wasn't even "riding" it at the time - I was picking it up after falling over in the mud, slipped, and got a footpeg to the face. Then there was the one where I bruised my ribs and hip bone on the left side in a rather low-speed departure from the bike. It took me three or four days to break down and go see the doc after that one, so it technically wasn't an ER visit... :D

So, yeah, even at my mature bones, putting around the backwoods pace, this ain't no smooth, gliding along street riding like I've grown used to. Still plenty of ways to get nicker nackered up. I'm just not riding in such a way so as to invite it anymore.