If you gonna *** ride, you gonna *** fall!

The mental hurdle has been overcome.  I made it back out off road for the first time since my accident.  Thanks to Chad who accompanied me on my maiden voyage.  He was only a few feet behind me during the last epic highside which claimed my collarbone.  We took it easy on some nice flat fields.

Notice the shadow of that extremely tall Japanese tourist on the left side.

Maybe I’m not so tall in real life.

Here’s the beginning of the ride — very nice and flat.

Here we are with our matching bikes.

The bikes are taking a rest.

Here’s the scene of the first fall.  I *thought* I had a picked a good line but clearly I hadn’t.  My line took me right over a log which I wasn’t carrying enough speed to go over.  Oopsie!

Look at those big trees.

No dual sport ride is complete without having to fix something on someone’s bike.

The sun is starting to set.

Here’s the second fall of the day which also resulted in me getting pinned under the bike.  Both falls, I got stuck under the bike which is a big reason why I don’t ride off road alone.  Everything is okay and those tall MX boots are tall for a reason.

This is the view from the C Cam.  You can see my foot stuck under the bike.

After an easy off road ride, we moseyed over to the end of Bike Night at Quaker Steak.  On the way there, I had yet a new experience on two wheels.  I ran out of gas!  The XT was still on the original tank of gas since my accident.  As I was cruising along the road, the bike started to sputter, then jerk, then eventually just cut off.  Thank goodness for the reserve.

The components of a good Bike Night include a band…

… some dual sporters…

… some custom girly rides…

… a parking lot full of bikes…

… one old school Gixxer…

… some sport bikes, dual sports, and cruisers…

… and last but not least, a custom bike with brightly colored paint, some scary joker faces, and of course, the streeeeetch swing arm.