Our next ride was planned for Monday 11 Oct 2015 since all
of us would be off for Columbus Day. This would be another section of the TAT
in Arkansas from Damascus, AR (Highway 65) to a little past Highway 7 north of
Dover, AR. Participants would be the core team of Mike, Terry, Steve and
Woodrow. At the last minute, Terry had a family emergency that prevented him
from participating so only three would go on this ride.
Sunday 11 Oct 2015
In preparation for the Columbus Day ride we met at Steve’s
on Sunday to make some pre-ride modifications to our bikes.
Mike’s Honda CRF250L – Replaced the stock 14 tooth (14T)
front sprocket with a 13T I had recently received by Fed-Ex. I had read on
several CRF forums and seen on YouTube videos that this was a popular upgrade
to this bike. The reason for this change in final drive gearing is to
compensate for the relatively low power of the CRF 250cc engine. The stock
gearing is pretty bad I have to admit, primarily during any hill climbing
effort. I kept having to change between 1st and 2nd gear
in the middle of a climb and this is not an easy thing to do while standing on
the foot pegs. The power band for the CRF was not matched to the stock gearing
thus the need to keep changing gears to get the needed torque.
The 14T to 13T change made this bike into a dream as far as
I’m concerned. I could immediately tell the different during my test drive and
it was confirmed during our Columbus Day ride (more on this in the next post).
For those who care I’ve included the torque chart for the CRF250L plus it also
has the Yamaha WR250. The CRF’s power band is between 5,000 and 7,500 RPM with
the maximum torque at 5,500 RPM. This is a pretty flat power band and gives the
bike lots of flexibility to match gearing with power. Interesting that the
WR250’s power band is at a much higher RPM (8,000 to 9,000 RPM). Even though
the WR250 does have more torque, I like the CRF’s lower RPM range. The mod to
the 13T moved the gear ranges so they were more in line with the maximum
torque. I’m no expert but I did chart all this before deciding to make the
change and it looks good on my spreadsheet.
Woodrow’s CRF250L – Woodrow’s “learning experiences” have
been tough on his CRF so required a bit more work. He made the 14T to 13T change
on his bike since I had ordered two of the 13T sprockets.
He replaced his broken clutch lever (see previous post for
picture) with an aftermarket one from CycleGear. I buy a lot of CycleGear stuff
just because it’s cheap and available at a local store but it is not the best
quality gear usually. They do stand behind their warranties so that’s a plus.
The new lever would not fit into the required slot until some grinding to the
the lever had been accomplished. Not a big deal but if it says on the part it
is a direct replacement for the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) part then
it should fit without having to be “made to fit”.
He replaced his bent foot shifter (see previous post for
picture) with one having a spring loaded end. I was actually going to put this
on my bike but he needed it more so I will get one sometime this week.
Steve’s Kawasaki KLR650 – No work required on Steve’s KLR so he just kept making fun of our little Hondas.
After completing the above tasks we rode all three bikes to
fuel up then to my house in preparation for loading onto the trailer later that
day. Our original plan was to trailer all four bikes, including Terry’s, to
Damascus using one of two of Terry’s trailers, one enclosed or one open. We
didn’t know which would work best until the day we were to load (that would be
today). I drove my truck over to Terry’s to pick up whichever one of the
trailers I thought would work best. When I saw his two trailers I quickly
determined that neither would work by using my truck. They are both large
trailers and have electric trailer breaks which I do not have available on my
truck. Terry kindly offered to lend not only his trailer but his diesel truck
for the effort. I normally don’t like to borrow someone else’s vehicle but we
didn’t have much choice if we wanted to complete the ride as planned. I picked
the large enclosed trailer and Terry gave me the required instruction on how to
operate everything then I drove the 12 miles to my house. The truck and trailer
handled great so no problems on this short drive.
Steve and Woodrow came back to my house later that day and
we loaded our three bikes into the enclosed trailer. It took a while to figure
out the best loading configuration and attaching multiple straps to all three
bikes to ensure no shifting during the drive the next morning to Damascus. With
the trailer loaded and locked in front of my house, we decided that Steve and
Woodrow would be back at 6 a.m. the next morning with their riding gear and we
would leave immediately for the start of this section of the TAT.
Monday 12 Oct 2015, Columbus Day
Steve and Woodrow arrived at my house as planned at 6 a.m.
(still dark outside!!). We loaded our riding gear and were on our way to
Damascus by 6:15. It is an hour drive from my house to Damascus but the first
and most important thing we all decided needed to take place was breakfast.
During both my AK1 and AK2 trips to Alaska I had an app on my GPS with all the
Waffle Houses in the world. As expected there were at least 5 on our route to
Damascus so we stopped at the first one we came to at the I-40 Morgan exit. You
never really know what kind of service you will get at a Waffle House (I’ve had
good and bad experiences) but this was the first time there was only one person
working. He said some of his staff didn’t come in and one left early so he was
cook and waiter. Luckily we were his only customers since it was so early so we
got all his attention. After breakfast we drove across the street to fill up
the truck with diesel. I’ve never owned a diesel vehicle so Terry made sure to
tell me “use only the green hose!”. I was still nervous about it so had the
other guys confirm I was using the right fuel for this rig. After fueling our
bodies and the truck we drove the remaining distance to Damascus. Even with our
early departure it was starting to get late in the morning and we still had a
150+ mile ride on questionable roads to accomplish.
As we drove into town we started looking for a safe place to
park the truck and unload the bikes. After rejecting several spots we pulled
into a large parking lot belonging to a cattle auction facility. Woodrow went
in to ask if we could park the truck for the day in their lot and they agreed
but said pull over onto the grass out of the way. We did that and parked next
to the only other tuck/cattle trailer on the lot and began unloading.
Columbus Day TAT ride
Our route for this section would be a large loop going west
on the main TAT through the Ozark National Forest on mostly 2-lane paved and
gravel roads (lots of dusty gravel on this stretch). Not many towns on this
section except for Hector, AR. After crossing Highway 7 we would loop back to
Dover and then take 2-lane highway east back to Hector where we would pick up
an Alternate TAT route back to Damascus. We are using the GPS routes from
GPSKevin web page and he provides several alternate routes to bypass tough
terrain or provide access to local Points of Interest. Why he had an alternate
route in this section, I don’t know, but it did provide us a full loop mostly
on the TAT. I am providing both my GPS track and SPOT map below.
Interesting, the best riding was in a section of the
Alternate Route when it took us off a 2-lane paved road and onto a single lane
dirt road that descended into a valley and then across a creek. We rode back and
forth across the creek for a while before making the climb back up the mountain
to the 2-lane paved road. One thing, as we were about to enter the dirt road we
found a sign laying in the grass next to the road that said “Private Road No SIMCo
vehicles”. We actually drove down the pave road looking for another entrance to
this section without any luck and then returned to this spot and discussed if
we should go down this road. We agreed that since the TAT route clearly went
down this road, we wouldn’t be the first to trespass so off we went. No one
stopped us but it clearly went though some oil field sites until it returned to
the paved road.
Not much happened the rest of the ride and we pulled back
into Damascus after a 152 mile ride. As we rode into the parking lot where we
left the truck and trailer we found it full of pickups and cattle trailers.
There was a full scale cattle auction underway in the open pavilion next to the
parking lot and we couldn’t hardly talk to each due to all the cattle mooing
and whatever else a cow does when it is about to go to its maker. Even with all
this commotion we were glad to be back at the truck so we could take off our
dusty riding gear and get loaded for the drive home. This is when the real
excitement began.
We opened the trailer and loaded mine and Steve’s bikes. I
was up front in the trailer putting extra straps on my bike and Steve and
Woodrow had just rolled Woodrow’s bike onto the trailer when the whole front of
the trailer jumped up and then slammed back down. I hollowed “What the &#$%
just happened?” I thought someone must have hit the truck or trailer with their
vehicle. We all ran out of the trailer towards the front and that’s when we found
that the trailer had actually lifted off the trailer ball and rolled back about
a foot to the extent of the safety chains.
I said “The only way that could happen is that the ball is
too small for that trailer hitch”. We got a rag out of the truck and wiped off
the ball and the hitch so we could read the sizes:
Ball – 2”
Hitch – 2 5/16”
At that point my heart was pounding thinking of how far I
had driven the truck and trailer with that condition. There was no damage to
the truck or the trailer when it came off but if this had happen while I was
driving it would have been a different story. There was two very heavy safety
chains installed plus the trailer has electric brakes with a safety line that
sets the brakes in case of something like this happening but you never know if
that will all work at highway speeds.
We called Terry and he was as surprised as we were. This was
the first time this trailer had been used on Terry’s truck since it was
delivered to his house by his dad. Terry and I had discussed the trailer ball
size before I had gone to pick it up the day before and we both though it would
be a 2” hitch. After the incident at the parking lot it was not easy to find
the size on the trailer hitch until we wiped off some of the road grime. Moral
of this story is never assume anything. Terry and I both felt bad that this
even happen and were very grateful it happen as it did. It did take us a couple
of hours to track down a 2 5/16” ball for the truck and get it installed so we
could safely hook up the trailer for the hour ride back to home.
Once home we unloaded and Steve and Woodrow went home and I
went in to sleep on the couch until my wife woke me at 9 p.m. I then took a shower
to wash off all the dust and went to bed. One long day.
Surgery
One last bit of news that I had to share with my riding
partners; I’m having hand surgery on 19 Oct that will prevent me from riding
for at least 3 months and possibly longer. Even before my AK1 ride in 2012 I’ve
been having pain in both hands and finally went to the specialist a few years
ago to determine the problem. Diagnosis was I had injured my hands sometime in
the past and now it was catching up with me. My right hand has a middle finger
joint that is totally worn out and my left hand has a thumb joint in the same
condition. I’ve lived with the pain using Ibuprofen and other inflammatory meds
for most of the time and just before I went on AK1 and AK2 I received shots in
both hands that kept the pain down for the duration of those rides. I finally
decided to get the worse hand, my left one, fixed before I started the TAT 2016
ride. The surgery is outpatient and only takes a couple of hours but then I
have a cast for at least 6 weeks and then physical therapy until I get full
motion back. This means Nov to Jan is a no ride time for me. That actually
works out since that will be the cold months that would limit riding anyway. My
goal is to be back in riding mode by Feb 2016 in time to get a few rides in
before starting the first leg of TAT 2016 in Mar 2016. BTW I had considered
inserting the x-rays of my hands in this post but finally decided that would be
a little gruesome.
As a final ride I’m probably going to ride the same section
of TAT as described in this post with Terry this coming Sunday 18 Oct. Terry
wants to complete all of the TAT sections but he missed this last ride so he
and I will check it off on Sunday. As a side note I told him I would only go if
we don’t have to spend 2 hours getting his trailer hitch fixed at the end of
the ride. I will continue to provide updates in future posts even if I am not
on the actual rides.
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