Today BJ found room for me on his trailer, and we drove up to Barrie to visit his old friend Curtis…and to meet a new friend from the ODSC site, named Ross. The idea was to roam the trails around Barrie then stop for a BBQ lunch at Curtis’s house. Ross lead most of the day and didn’t disappoint!
Here we are loading up…
And here’s the gang unloading: Ross is on the left with his Honda CRF 250X, BJ is on the right in the white top, and Curtis is in the black, with a very nice Suzuki DRZ400SM (with the stock street tires still on it)!
Better look at Curtis’s bike…
Better look at Ross’s bike…
Everyone was blue-plate, meaning we were street legal, so we could drive from Curtis’s house to the trails:
Amazingly Curtis rode very well on his street tires, even through mud puddles and sand… with one minor get-off:
Our first rest stop was atop a cliff overlooking a river:
The next was after some tighter trails, when we decided what the plans were for lunch…
…and it just so happened when we stopped at the intersection we had people walking their dogs coming from 2 different directions… and soon we were overrun! Release the hounds!
After a few more trails Curtis took off to warm up the grill, and we stopped to get our bearings:
The last pictures I took were at a tiny oval track under some power lines, where BJ got bit by a soft sandy corner..
…and where we stopped to film Ross taking a “leisurely” ride down the trail:
Actually… lets take a better look at that one. Ye-haw! 🙂
And, finally, we get to the title of this post. After a day of staying upright, not falling over once… at the last intersection before Curtis’s house I ran into Ross, yikes! Totally my fault! As we were approaching the intersection we had to switch lanes to the left to go through, and just as we were coming up on it the light turned yellow. Seeing that BJ went through… I did a shoulder-check to my left to lane change, and when I looked forward again Ross had decided to stop for the light… I could see him hard on the brakes and the back locked up. I managed to grab a handful of brakes as well, and started to turn to the left of him… but was still moving too fast and not far enough over…. the right side of my bike hit his left rear and pushed him a few feet forward… then I fell over. I picked up my bike (and my pride), sat with Ross through the red light… made sure he was OK… and after the light turned green 30 seconds later we were back in Curtis’s driveway.
Here’s his plate and mount at the beginning of the ride…
…and here it is again after I plowed into him.
Looking back on it… I should have tried to stop for that yellow, instead of trying to switch lanes to keep up with everyone. BJ would have waited for us, and I would have kept my eyes forward… with plenty of time to see Ross slowing down… time to stop safely… and I wouldn’t be sitting here feeling like shit. Ross, if you’re reading this… I’m really sorry I hit you. I can’t apologize enough.
By the time we got back, Curtis had started his massive grill and had burgers and pop for everyone. Then it was time to load up and head home. Thanks Curtis for your tasty meat and hospitality! (um, that came out wrong).
Here’s a video of the ride: