So I thought I would update after our ride Sunday afternoon. We went towards the coast to a place that has several hundred acres of sandy trails. Not a lot of elevation gain, but some terrain. Tree roots, rocks, mud bogs you have to maneuver around, areas of fairly deep mud you just had to go through to continue the trail... Stuff like that. One trail was around 2.5 miles of switchbacks. That was really fun. It took awhile to figure out shifting gears in my boots. I just got them for christmas and haven't had a lot of practice. The trail with the switchbacks I had some issues stalling trying to change gears, hitting neutral by mistake, going too slow to be in a higher gear. Things like that. I eventually just found 3rd gear and used my clutch a lot. Got through better the 2nd time on the trail.
The place had a few tracks. I know I said I had no interest, but I decided to give it a shot. No jumps or anything like that, just going around to get the feel for it. Honestly it was way more fun that I thought it would be. The whole place was sandy. Some areas pretty deep sand. It took me half the day to stop being afraid I was going to lay the bike down in the sand.
All that being said, I noticed a few things about the bike. It performed excellent on the tight turns on the trails. Easy to start when I stalled. Not so heavy that I couldn't pick it up when I laid the bike down a time or two. I went at a moderate pace, nothing too crazy. But when we got onto straight-a-ways on paths leading out of the trails, I just could not keep up with the rest of our group. (guys riding 250s and 450s) We said in the beginning to not wait around on us, because I"m still learning and don't want to slow the group down. But I mean even pushing that bike as hard as I felt comfortable, it is definitely slow.
So looking ahead into the future, I think I'd like to keep this bike just because it's a good little bike. I will DEFINITELY want to upgrade though. I can already see i'll want something more "zippy."
The place had a few tracks. I know I said I had no interest, but I decided to give it a shot. No jumps or anything like that, just going around to get the feel for it. Honestly it was way more fun that I thought it would be. The whole place was sandy. Some areas pretty deep sand. It took me half the day to stop being afraid I was going to lay the bike down in the sand.
All that being said, I noticed a few things about the bike. It performed excellent on the tight turns on the trails. Easy to start when I stalled. Not so heavy that I couldn't pick it up when I laid the bike down a time or two. I went at a moderate pace, nothing too crazy. But when we got onto straight-a-ways on paths leading out of the trails, I just could not keep up with the rest of our group. (guys riding 250s and 450s) We said in the beginning to not wait around on us, because I"m still learning and don't want to slow the group down. But I mean even pushing that bike as hard as I felt comfortable, it is definitely slow.
So looking ahead into the future, I think I'd like to keep this bike just because it's a good little bike. I will DEFINITELY want to upgrade though. I can already see i'll want something more "zippy."