Kings of the West

Back from the Kings of the West event: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=626346

I was the oldest rider on the smallest displacement bike and the only Yamaha........and I had a blast

A true tale of the Tortoise and the Hare(s)……..no spills, flats, or bike maintenance issues allowed me to get ahead of the bigger/faster bikes (AKA, everyone else ) in a few places…….I can’t out run’em, but the little bike can chug along at a sustained ~60-70mph all day (top speed was 82mph) and slip right past some of’em in the deep washes, whoops, technical areas…..or when they were changing tubes



I obviously didn’t show up with the fastest bike………my strategy was all about pacing myself and picking off the bigger bikes when the opportunities presented themselves ……..the best moment of the ride (for me) came on Day 2 leaving Moapa…….there was a steep/slippery climb early in the ride that was giving some of the big/pig bikes fits…….many started looking for alternative paths around the hill because they couldn’t make the climb……..it was no sweat on the WR250R with trials tires……..I felt like I was cheating ………I went right up and never looked back which allowed me to get out in front of most of the riders……..I was running in 2nd place for most of the day but then stopped a bit too long in Enterprise, UT. to gas/snack and got passed up by a few riders that had monster tanks and didn’t need gas………I also stopped a few times to snap pics up near Brianhead rather than focusing……..if I had kept myself in “Riding And Camping Event” mode (a different/new mindset for this old trail rider) I might’ve placed higher on leg 2 because the leader wound up getting a front flat………oh well, whatever, my primary goal was to finish this dumb-ass event……and I did just that……..we only had 16(?) riders at the start line yesterday……..lot’s of attrition due to bike/physical difficulties…….

On the rest day, a lot of riders were changing tires, repairing their bikes/bodies, etc…………I cleaned my air filter and had a beer



My biggest “bike issue” had nothing to do with the bike………..I started the ride with too much weight in my tail bag………..I launched it through whoops a couple of times on day 1 and once on day 2……….on the first day I didn’t know it was gone until Unaweep told me……….then I had to backtrack 7 miles through deep/sandy whoops in Teagle Wash by Trona to recover it (since my truck keys were in it!)…….so riding 21 miles of sandy/wash whoops versus the 7 that everyone else rode really set me back on leg 1)

Pretty big mileage days………no sweat on the WR250R

When is the next one? I'm game. Lets get a whole GAGGLE Of WRRs out there.

Cool.
That's what I like about these little buggers. Pretty capable and just keep chugging.