From left to right: Rob (oneloudskunk), Brian (BP219), Mike, Jerry, Diane, and Me. In the background, my Trooper with the berg loaded inside.
So, last week I was on vacation. I now need a vacation from my vacation, and have to say, for one of the first times, it's almost good to be back at work. First three days was fireworks and parties. Monday, rest. Tuesday, homework and class. Wednesday, junkyard, suspension place, parts store, Danbury Powersports, install new (from the junkyard new) rear axle in Trooper. Thursday finish Trooper, gap valves for first time, change oil a few times (convert to the Rotella), and pack. Friday, cross my fingers and hope the Trooper makes it the 400 miles out to Allegheny. After driving through the remnants of one of these hurricanes for 3 hours, it's clear. Little stop-n-go traffic in a truck that idles only when it wants to, and I'm going again. Around 5pm I'm there. Phew, that sucked, not looking forward to the ride home. Head to the nearest bar, Ray's Hot Spot, I start shootin' the cud with the owner, Ray. Nice guy. Head back to ye ol' Microtel, and shortly after, Rob and Brian show up. They help me unload the berg, and I install the front and rear tire, load up onto Brians truck, and back off to the bar for some live music. Bed at 12:30am. Up at 6:30, ug, that sucked.
Jerry, Mike, and Diane show up promptly at 8:30, as planned. Apparently, Mike was up for the last 20 hours (those cops never sleep! I feel safe!!
). They needed breakfast and passes to the park ($10 a day, FYI). On the bikes around 11:30 or so. WE ARE OFF! First we did the 11mile ATV loop. Not bad, good warm up. Nice long hill climb with about 4 jumps. 3rd gear, floored, and pulled the whole way up. WOW, what a nice bike. It loved that hill, and I wish I had done it twice. Back at the trucks for a rest. We're now off on the 33mile dirtbike loop. Wow, what a ride. None of the trails at Allegheny are single track, everything is done so a quad can ride them (yeah, I know what yur sayin, go ahead, scream it out loud, QUADS SUCK QUADS SUCK QUADS SUCK!!!!).
But, need-less-to-say, the trails are pretty fun. There, you are riding in the woods most of the time. And, when I say woods, they are woods. You can't see the trail ahead of you, at all. It's like riding blind. I can attest to that, since, around mile 41 of this loop, I had a bit of a miscalculation. The order was Brian, Me, Rob, Mike, Diane, and Jerry. Brian stalled in some rocks, which put me in front. After about a half mile or so, I saw he was starting to catch up. Me, being the competitive ******* I am, decided to push it a little harder. Get to a 150foot (or so) straightaway, in second gear, and punch it, hit third, realize my bike is WAY faster than I think and the straight is starting to get shorter and shorter, so I get full on front and rear brakes. Nope, not gonna make this 60degree right hand turn. Hit a burm at speed, front wheel goes up, back wheel hits it and bike goes over front side, me doing the drunk superman. You know how when pine trees fall over and start dyin', they get those 3" long stumpy branches all over them??? Well, the left side of my body found out what it's like to run into around 10 off those stumpy branches. I ended up doing a front somersault, and landed on my back around 25 feet into the woods. I missed 3-4 vertical standing trees, too. Luckily, and I say luckily, I was smart this past week and bought myself a chest protector and riding pants. If it wasn't for the chest protector, I would have been in the hospital. BUT, I was fine. Bruised, but fine. Stood up, Brian was there by this point, and he says all he say was the bike in an upside-down position, then on the ground. Thankfully Husaberg not only designed their bikes to be fast and light, but very tough. All that happened was my brake lever rotated on the bars. Quick twist and she was back to new (BTW, the bike landed around 15-20 feet in!). Rolled her back onto the trail, quick pull of the decompresser and she was back to life. Funny thing about it was, after I got it started, the dashboard (stock street computer thingy) was on and working!?! Never saw that before, and after I turned off the bike at a safe spot on the trail about 100feet down the hill, I haven't seen it work since...
Rest of the ride this day was easy. But, I was damaged and sat out the remaining 11mile run the other six did after our next rest.
Got back to the hotel, showered, went to dinner, and back at Ray's Hot Spot. This time, we were there to drink. I ended up having around 6 vodka/cranberries while there. AND, the vodka was 100 proof. I was wasted. Everyone seemed to be wasted, except Rob and Brian. Brian drinks O'Douls, and Rob, well he simply has a very high tolerance, or just doesn't show he's wasted... I ended up dancing to some slow song with the local Bachelorette, and she tried to kiss me. That was awkward. I left around 1:30-2am. Some lady, who's name I cannot remember, was headin north, and gave me a ride (rob and Brian left a half hour before me, and Jerry, mike and Diane closed the place down!!!!). She was surprised to find out I was only stayin at the microtel, which was about 700 feet up the road. But hey, I didn't want to walk...
Sunday. Went to another riding spot in Allegheny, Rocky Hill (I think). This place had two 11mile loops. One easier ATV loop, and the harder Dirtbike loop. Brian and Rob were disappointed with the DB loop. I guess since last year, they pussified it so the quads would have an easier time. I was happy with both! Same style trails, but a bit different. Maybe Brian could chime in on his thoughts with this one.
So, all-in-all, the berg ran flawlessly, even when airborne upside down. It was well worth the trip for me. The Trooper made it home flawlessly also. I met 5 great people that I hope to continue relations with in the future. This vacation I ended up meeting 4 different UHE members, and I am very happy for this. All possible due to our good friend Schwim, who seems to be having a rough time lately. Keep up the good work buddy, and I look forward to meeting you in a few weeks.
There's more to tell, but this post is too long already, and I'm not going to go back and edit it. I want Brian to tell us about "Rock Hill", and hopefully post a picture. It was the narliest thing I have ridden.
AND, I heard tons of stories about Hatfield/McCoy. We are in for a GREAT ride if they are all true. I am a bit worried, actually.
Anyways, time for sleep. I have been deprived of sleep for the past week. My friends didn't help me last night, cause around midnight, they snuck onto my property, and lit off a 300count Saturn missile brick, along with a 1000 count brick of firecrackers. Thanks guys...
-Parsko
