Well this weekend was the first time we had had a chance to go out and ride. We went up to Johns-Peak, just outside of Jacksonville,Or. There were 4 of us on a 2000 Honda Recon, a 2001 Suzuki DRZ400 and 2001 suzuki DRZ 125 and a 1993 Suzuki DR350.
I was on the 350 and it had been a long while since I climbed any good sized hills. The bikes ran great and so did most of us. On the 5th hillclimb I downshifted from 2nd to 1st but it went into nuetral, <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />not good. I started going backwards and I did the same thing that I always do when that happens. I panic and slam it into first wich locks up the back tire and causes me to go over backwards. My technique did not fail this time <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> After getting back up and started I noticed that the handlebars had bent quiet a bit, but it was still ride-able. Towards the end of the day we went back to the truck while they were loading up thier bikes on the trailer I took one last hill climb, I was doing good until a German Shepard and a Boarder Collie ran out in the middle of the hill and started chasing me. Now normally if a dog or something is chasing me I wont swerve it is on its own, but that time I did swerve. I swerved right into the worst section of the trail with my attention on the dogs. I hit a large root wich forced me to go over backwards. Now my handlebars are bent in a way simmilar to a crotchrockets handlebars. I had a hard plastic water bottle strapped to my bars well now it has a large hole through that, as well as the crack in the fender is now twice as long. But I was ok and hey thats just part of riding, but the dogs were what really fried me.
After I got down to the truck and loaded my bike I noticed a man walking down through the brush with a chainsaw with the dogs by his side. He loaded them in his truck, so I walked over to him. It turned out he was building a new trail, I told him that he might want to keep a better eye on his dogs. When he asked me why in the world he would want to do that I told him that the might get hit by a bike and that I had almost hit them myself, I told him that the only reason that the didnt get hit by my bike was because I swerved away from them rusulting in a crash. He laughed in my face and said that it was my fault. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> That just didnt make me happy, I mean a person just shouldnt bring thier dogs up to a known and very popular riding spot and let your dogs run loose. I was ok untill he laughed at me an told me it was my fault.
Some people just need smacked. rant over
