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A shot of the dash on my new DRZ 400. With only 443 miles on the motorcycle, it's not even broke in yet. The Suzuki with a top speed of 90 mph is running at 65 without straining.
It was a good Fall day to ride the country roads that follow the Minnesota River. I did a similar ride the week before on the BMW. I was able to explore a bit more off-road with the smaller, lighter 400 Suzuki. The BMW weighs about 530 pounds with the Suzuki weighing about 300 pounds.
I hooked on behind 2 other motorcyclists after I gassed up on the way out to the river roads. One bike was a BMW 1200 RT and the other bike was a large Honda sport tourer. The county roads that we were traveling on had nice sweeping corners with speeds from 45 mph to about 70 mph. that was a good speed range for my Suzuki 400. As we dropped into the river valley the BMW was up front and handling the corners well. The big Honda on the other hand was a bit shaky through the corners. The last 2 corners were 90 degree S turns marked for 30 mph. I was familiar with this county road from riding it over the past 30 years at very rapid speeds. Well the Honda rider overcooked the second corner and dang near tossed his bike into the woods, swinging wide and barely keeping it upright. Amazing! I parted company at the next stop sign.
Now I was on my own and I pulled off the pavement. It was good to get off-road and do a bit of hiking along the Minnesota River banks. Had a snack and energy drink. Something about hanging and exploring along rivers, goes back to Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer...Today the woods along the river were thick with the leaves of Fall. I found a singletrack trail that I rode along till I ran out of trail and turned around.
One last hike down to the river bank and see the sun shining off the trees in the late afternoon sun. Headed back to the pavement and into the river town. It was getting late
in the day so it was best to keep riding and get further out into the
country. This ride was kinda turning out like the ride on the BMW the week before. All is good.
So I headed for the gravel farm roads to the east of the river and put the hammer down. It is a thrill to pop the dirt bike up to high speeds and power slide through the corners, powering through the gears. After traveling cross-country and darkness setting in, it was time to pull off and regroup for the long ride home. Just pulled into a gravel road ditch along a plowed bean field.
I pulled out a snack and a bottle of water, I had about 50 miles to travel back home. The temperature was about 40 degrees so I would need some calories and need to be hydrated for a high speed run home. I put on my headlamp and pulled on a few more layers of clothes. As I am doing my thing, I see a flash of light up the road, now I am in the middle of corn and plowed fields, nothing around. I realized that someone was on the gravel road and heading my way. I had turned off my headlamp, and it was dark by then. The person got closer and I could just make out his shape in the dark, it was a fellow who had been bow hunting for deer in the woods a few hundred yards to the north of me. As he got to me he flashed his light at me... I'm sure he hasn't seen too many dudes standing in the dark in a road ditch with an enduro motorcycle with the temps around 40 degrees. We greeted each other somewhat guarded, it turned out that he was a local guy whose mom used to own the farm that he now owned. I believe that years ago, maybe 20 years ago that I had asked permission to hunt on their land. Wow! His truck was parked down the road along the corn field. It was a good chat there out in the dark along a gravel road.
This was a good adventure day and I still had a 50 mile ride home. I quickly got ready and rode up into the field and down into the ditch, popped up on the gravel road and sped east about 8 miles to the highway. Got on the highway and cranked it up, headed north 65-70 mph all the way home.
Another 2 wheel adventure in October, about 125 miles this day...Ride On!!
