Al's Moto Log

Chaz and I had an awesome session going up from Beaver Creek to Egan Basin, hitting the highline, then dropping down Snowslide Canyon to St. Charles, then coming back up to the highline and back out. We started late and came out in the dark but it was awesome, one of the best rides so far.

I’m pretty sure that we were the first ones down snowslide this year, there wasn’t very much snow, but we ran into a couple of logs that had to be cleared. *Warning* take bug spray or lather up before you go, every time we stopped, we were eaten alive by mosquitos 🙁

Full album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/alhill/MotoSnowslide_StCharles_Highline

The boys, wife and I went up Five Mile Canyon in Dayton to putt around and get some seat time. The boys did really well and Alisha is getting used to her new bike. We went up one road that was pretty steep had deep “poof powder”, I didn’t think the boys would be able to climb it, but they both did, it was cool.

I didn’t get many action shots, but the few pics I did take are here.

Had a good ride up Card and out 016.  Got stuck in some snow not too far into 016 and it kicked my butt, a couple of logs worked me pretty hard as well… I’m still out of shape!

Crew: Chris, Jake, Cort, Charles, and myself.  Caught up with Rich and Chase on White’s too.

Full Album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/alhill/MotoCard016

I took a half day off Friday to try to fix up my bike a little to get ready for a good ride on Saturday, ended up working on it 7 hours Friday and from 8-6:30 on Saturday… mostly running around trying to find parts and correct tools. It’s funny, I’ll start with a couple of little things that need to be fixed and the next thing I know, it’s midnight and my bike is in a hundred pieces all over the garage floor. Accomplishments: new fork seals, brakes, grips, throttle tube, oil/filter, air filter, and my first time at adjusting the valves – had to shim both intake valves. Of course, I could have paid B-rock $75 to do it for me, but why do that when I can spend:

• 2 full days working on it, obligatory cussing included
• $66 torque wrench that will do 10ft-lb
• $30 digital micrometer
• $20 in metric hex wrenches that will fit on the new torque wrench
• $17 for 2 shims, that I had to figure out how to measure and get Honda part numbers for since the Saturday help at the Honda parts counter is pathetic. Next time I’m going to buy the hotcam shim kit and save the 4 trips to the local Honda shop.

Needless to say, I missed out on what I’m sure ended up being a good morning ride with the fast riders.

Good thing Lance was up for a quick ride when I called Saturday evening. We ended up starting up Card about 7:30, dropped down White’s, then Richard’s, then up and over Cart Hollow and back up Seep, then back the same way. I was in such a hurry to go that I forgot to throw riding gloves in my gear bag, my hands were all sweaty and impregnated with oil from working on the bike and I could hardly hang on to the new pillow top grips. I also forgot my camera and GPS, so y’all are going to have to take my word on this one. It ended up being a great ride and a lot of fun. For the first time ever, I cleaned every obstacle on Card without eating it or coming off the bike, I’m pretty stoked about that! I usually have a hard time with root on the climb and coming down the switchbacks. The bike ran great, the valve adjustment made a noticable difference, the engine is a lot smoother, quieter, and it starts easily again. We were off the trail and loading up just as it was getting too dark around 9:45.