Face plant

One arm of Long River

SPRING is taking it's sweet time warming our planet, well at least the east coast.  Make the riding more pleasant at least. There's been lot's of catch up time for apartment work, servicing the lawn mower for summer and of course getting the blower put away.  Having a warm enough day and chores, I haven't been out much but yesterday after a hard day's work, with a bright sunny sky and no off road traffic, I geared up the Yamaha XT 225 Serow* which I serviced a month ago and have not had weather to ride.  I have many routes that are appropriate for dual purpose riding and I decided to ride my short loop clock wise while the was a little heat in the air.

What a pretty (quiet) ride.  What I call my "short loop" About 25 km

Bright sunshine day

Warming the engine thoroughly, I headed up the hill where the extension of County Line road  heads through the woods for another 2 1/2 km before opening up into rural residential land once again.  I saw why the road is "not" recommended for travel, the tree strippers are again doing their thing, this time out of sight of the general public etc for the ATV and dirt riders that use it virtually daily. 

Left shoulder, hip meet Malcom Smith Racing gear

ONCE  before in the Island's history, literally the entire island was stripped of woods to build sailing ships. It's a shame to see huge swaths of land just stripped.

In any case I hooked up with the north shore highway (#20) where I made my detour (short loop remember) on a short connector to Irishtown road.  From there barely 100 yards north was the sign to Campbell road.  Normally this road is impassable but it's early in the season. I rode until I was out of road and take the right of way on last years corn field.  With no foulage yet I had some decent photo ops and rode some of the PEI trail network, both winter and summer. That deposited me onto Burlington road and then to the short cut-off to Long River arm.  

Left knee

There were a few early season cottagers about, but given the Corona virus thing and the isolation we are facing, and of course the rather cool weather, It was like being the only living person within miles!

THE riding was fine for the most part, dry except for a few low areas that have standing water. 

Riding the last leg homeward bound was a little tricky with ruts, some knee deep and with the sun going down from a low angle, it was like riding with a powerful strobe light making things difficult to see.

Can be tricky. Sandy to hard pack.

As I was less than a half mile from pavement at Irishtown Church on my "short" route, I was perhaps a wee bit faster than conditions warranted.  Not that I was going fast mind... but even at 30 or 40 kph it was dicey at times.  It was like this all day but with the strobe factor, and maybe a little more enthusiastic, I got cross rutted and for a few seconds, thought I could save it. It's not like I hadn't been riding like this all day, but the rear tire must follow the front even if it's only for seconds. In those seconds, feet came off the pegs, ankle twisted and I did a pretty decent face plant into the hard dirt road. 

I didn't even have a chance to get out of my own way and my leg between left side of my body, hit he dirt with a hard thud before the hard parts of the Serow dug in.  I was able to pull my left leg from under the bike (good  thing it's not heavy) and sat there for a few seconds taking stock.  I flipped the kill switch, Bless her heart she was still idling laying flat, picked my butt off the ground and took stock. Was anything broken on body, and how was the bike?

One thing of the Yamaha Serow, it's not heavy.  Even with all the street gear, it's under 240 lbs.  

So it's true I am 65 and a half now almost, so I took my time and once positioned to use my legs to take most of the lift, had no problem in lifting the bike upright.  

I did a walk around the bike and nothing seemed broken.  Of course having ridden trail bikes my home life and raced MX for more than a decade, the levers and hand guards gently turned out of the way.  In a few minutes I had the old girl rideable and except for a few extra seconds for the engine to fire, notched into gear and slowly heading to the Church on the way home.  The forks had twisted in their clamps slightly, nothing that a 12 mm socket wouldn't fix when I got there. 

It was only a few minutes till I pulled into my driveway and stripped my gear, parked the bike and had a hot shower.

Today my right thumb feeling better, the swelling has receded and it wasn't quite as sore as yesterday.  

My 225 Serow just a wee bit out of hand. Nothing she can't handle!

I'VE ridden dirt bikes all my life, so the occasional fall is to be expected.  Last time I fell like this was Baja riding the Sierra Giganta mountains in 2007.  I didn't know it then but I had actually fractured my ankle, but after a CDN snow bird gal with 30 years of hospital experience patched me up and rode on. 

Considering the thousands of kilometers I have ridden off road in the Alberta and British Columbia Rockies, Baja peninsula and the deserts of the US SW in California, Utah, and of course Arizona, I've been dang fortunate.  

I had quite the first ride for 2020, on my short loop and I'm looking forward to getting back out there and add to my bag of experiences!

* A Serow is a Himalayan mountain goat.