Monday, May 17, 2010

Uraling Carlos Avery

flying the chair in a mud pit

Sunday, we took the Ural into Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area. I wrote about it before on: Exploring Dead Ends on a WR250R and in August of 2009. Watch one of the videos below in HD to see the above photo in action!

We were both very exhausted from our advanced riding class, so we though the Ural would be fun. (More on that soon. Uploading 400 pictures to flickr takes some time!) The weather was great both Saturday and Sunday! The first two days without rain in the last thirteen. You’d think we’d been transplanted to Seattle or something. On Sunday, the high was 81F!

I wore my new Firstgear mesh coat. My wife bought a new helmet on newenough.com and the coat was on closeout for $30! I couldn’t resist. A mesh coat in 80F is amazing. It felt like I was just wearing my t-shirt.

We arrived at Carlos after a quick ride up I-35W. I always get excited when I see a minimum maintenance road sign. It means fun ahead.

minimum maintenance road

Carlos is normally very sandy, but I didn’t need 2WD at all. It was also surprisingly dry considering how much rain we have had.

IMG_2192

We saw a bunch of geese and their babies running across the road. In one case, the goose ran away down the road. You have to see the video for it. I cut it down to about 15 seconds, but we “chased” him for over a minute and a half before it remembered it had wings and flew away.

Baby Geese Crossing the Road

There is some really amazing scenery up there.

IMG_2224

IMG_2246

My wife is turning into a great sidecar monkey. She leans into the turns with me making it much easier to enjoy the twisty roads. I’m still working on teaching her to ride the Ural, but she really enjoys just going for a ride.

We were there for about two hours and never rode on the same road twice. Granted, we were only going about 20MPH. The road was quite rough most of the time with large ruts and some wash boarding. We put in almost four hours and 120kms. It was a great ride and we both had a lot of fun.

Enjoy the videos below! They look best in full screen and with 1080p HD if your computer and internet can handle it.

IMG_2243

Full Flickr Set:

IMG_2188IMG_2191IMG_2195IMG_2196IMG_2197IMG_2198IMG_2204IMG_2245IMG_2200IMG_2205IMG_2206IMG_2209IMG_2210IMG_2212IMG_2213IMG_2214IMG_2216IMG_2219IMG_2220IMG_2221IMG_2223IMG_2226IMG_2227IMG_2228IMG_2236IMG_2248IMG_2249IMG_2250

Video on Vimeo:

Video on YouTube:

5 comments:

  1. Okay, I think that's the best of your videos I've seen! Very cool. The music was perfect. That ride looked like a real workout with the bounce over the ruts! And, the bird chase was too funny! I'm now very happy with my purchase--this has definitely taken away my concerns. Love that music.

    If Dave got a Ural I'd even consider riding with him!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Sharon! We think it is the best video so far too. I did get a bit of a work out from the ride, but not as much as Saturday's adventure. The bird chase had us laughing hard! That thing ran for almost two minutes at nearly 20MPH!! I used the GoProHD and my T2i. The music is free music from: http://www.joshwoodward.com/music

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the ride report. As a result I just went to newenough and got my own mesh jackets!

    Good job on the videos.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Chris:

    This ride looked great, and the Ural seemed well within its element. I'm glad someone is getting some saddle time. This is my busiest time of the year, and I haven't been out of this Chicago hotel since Friday.

    Fondest regards,
    Jack • reep • Toad
    Twisted Roads

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mapperjay: Congrats on the new coat! Hopefully, you will enjoy it as much as I am enjoying mine. Do replace the built-in back protector as it has all of the protection of a cupboard liner.

    Dear Jack: It was a fun time. I think I have successfully planted the dualsport bug in my wife as she is anxious to go on a similar ride again soon. Bummer about being stuck in the hotel. This week is the best weather we've had all year. High 70s/low 80s every day with lots of sun. I am also behind with my blog writing and reading... the lawn needs attention too :(

    ReplyDelete