This image of Warchild, taken by Brian R ...enanced compliments of  Steve Hobart.  



 The whole thing started innocently enough:   Warchild pinged me a  week or so ago with a couple of V-strom questions.   It soon became apparent that he was very interested in the fat fugly traillie.  Along with my answers, I offered up my bike should he want to "try one out".   Well, things moved fast and soon a plan was in place and Brian R (or as he's affectionately referred to in these parts:  "The King Of Fernley") was in the mix.  The plan was that we'd get together in about a week.  Dale would ride down from WA, stay with his buddy Brian R and then we'd all go do some dirt riding.

Nothing wrong with that plan ....uhh,,, well -unless you are Warchild.  A week out was too long for his patience.   Thursday he pings me and says:   "can we move this up to 'tomorrow' "?

LOL, that is when I knew that the weekend would hold some good fun.   Always fun to mount the strom, but this was going to be something unique.   This was not the typical street pussy coming to test the waters.  No, I knew this would be much different.

So, me has a strom, Brian R has a strom and I knew we needed one more.  I solicited my favoritest riding buddy and former Baja1000 champion Don1 and he was glad to loan out his men's version of the strom for such an event.  So, I dropped off my fjr and picked up Don's V- Strom.   We were now strom ready with three of the men's version.




Brian and Warchild came to my place Saturday morning, Warchild parked his FJR and looked over the three Stroms, and the stroms looked back.  
 It was not a look of love (either way!)


Time to figure our route....and at first we thought:   Jungo Road??
Phrick "NO" on that idea.  Way too mainstream.   Warchild had come too far to ride a road like that.   Let's face it, even some LD guys have made it down Jungo ;-)
 ...today we had a much better plan.

Down some tarmac and now we'd leave "street pussy" mode behind.   Warchild was FIRED UP!!   Here just a few feet from dirt he was "gettin' his groove on!!"



A few feet from dirt ....we loose some tire pressure to better violate the dirt ahead.



Centered between Brian's Mutant Strom, and Don's mainstream strom is Warchild hydrating that "dirt-bike-rider physique"


This guy was fired up and this is not the first ADVrider salute that we'd see this day.
(also, in this pic, notice (lower left) the renojohn tailbag ...story coming later)


RenoJohn and Warchild


.....just a moment before dirt.


It was nice to have an assortment of Stroms ....all farkled differently.   Brian R's is truly unique, I call it the "Mutant" strom.   You can stare at this thing for a long time in attempts to soak it all in.   Been around it a lot of times now, but I still circle it while scratching my head in amazement.


........Let the games begin




So we head out!!!  Not sure of what kind of pace we'd be doing ----I go ahead to play mine-sweep.   But it soon becomes apparent that this would not be the typical pace that I had envisioned.  Instead, the boyz wanted a faster pace!!



.....ere Brain R molesting the roads.


Warchild was not afraid to jump in ....and I know that Brian and I were shaking our heads ......

Not caught on camera:

 Warchild, -while leading, hit a huge patch of very soft dirt (tolcum powder) and it was a sight!!  Our hearts stopped!!  Nothing but a huge clowd of dust and silt ....and I was sure this was the end of the day.   When the dust cleared I saw Warchild and he was UPRIGHT,  whewwww, a bit surprised and very thankful.  A moment later WC pulled over.   The incident had scared him.    

We've all had "pucker' moments, but WC's quote: "I think I sucked my earplugs up my asshole"    Now, that is a serious pucker moment.


A little re-group and thanks to the moto-bike gods after the 'pucker' moment.
(while I "back at ya" to Brian the ADVrider salute)


Brian R came outfitted with knobbies.   Note the oversized chain ....it didn't slow him down a bit -well not much anyway   :-)


There aint a better place to have fun on Moto-Bikes than Nevada.


Warchild exploring a dirty little corner of planet earth  ---Strom Style
I think it fair to say:  He wears the fugly bike pretty well !



I then decided to lead and watch for other obstacles and slow the pace a bit. ......I was a bit of a buzz-kill, but I really wanted this to be a fun day, not a "Life Flight" day.

LOL, a shot over my shoulder .....it was obvious that WC didn't like my pace (note the ADVrider salute)
 ....so, I  picked it up a bit.   LOL LOL



Warchild and Brian R  ......man, this was some good fun.    


Yet another ADVrdier 'salute' very common on this day!!   Here Brian R letting us know who's #1


Warchild at a stop ....he even came prepared with the kickstand foot .....Make no mistake, he was all business today.
The amazing Nevada landscape in the background.


Here a little scenic stop to re-group and appreciate the sites ...here a very rural old ranch house.  WC and Brian admiring Brian's scrotum bags.



This moment would change thte pace of the day.  Here Warchild mounts Brian's Mutant Strom  ....good suspension and knobbies.




many mile of dirt behind him,  .....and one serious pucker moment in the rearview mirror ,  WC was as fired up as ever!!



So, we let Warchild set the pace.


While they hesitated at first, eventually the hurd of cows that were in the road scattered ....but one looks on from behind the tall grass.


The Nevada Landscape is nothing short of magic  ...with a good eye you can see Dale.   I held behind to not push him.   I would soon find out this was not necessary ....as he was ready to dial-it-up-a-notch with no intervention necessary.


So I stay close enough to share the fun of his ride, and attemtp to stay clear of dust.   By the mile, Dale was becoming more and more comfortable and brave.   It was a sight to see and fun to be a part of.  


WC went much faster than a guy on dirt typically would on their first day out.   Partly because of the expert instruction :-)
....but more because me thinks dale doesn't do much half-ass.  
On dirt, dale was hovering just under triple digits in spots ..and averaging a very brisk clip overall.   He was learning, and learning fast.
Good thing we were on the men's version, this pace would not have been possible on the women's version.


Many miles later, -Dale slows, no reason other than to share a smile .......he had just experienced what makes riding fat trailies on good dirt roads so very very fun.

Eventually we get back to Tarmac ...a dozen or so miles NW of Gerlach USA.    

Remember that tailbag on the renojohn strom???

I'm at a brisk pace and feel the rear end rise, and a weird feeling ....I'm assuming a rear blow-out, yet it doesn't really feel that way.  I pull IN the clutch and the rear wheel locks up (mind you brisk pace on tarmac)  ...WTF, that's weird I thought.   As I decel, not believing what just happened I try it again:  Pull in the clutch ...and again the rear wheel locks up.    

By now I'm shaving speed and smell burnt rubber ...WTF, I don't know what is going on.    I get off the bike, to experience the smell and smoke of burning rubber -and the rear tire is badly abused .....but it is full of air !!!   WTF???
 I then see my tailbag wedged way up between the tire and frame.   somehow a strap broke or something, and got pulled into the rear wheel.   Odd, very odd.
Hard to see, but under the right exhuast, you can see the black bag ...all abused.


Wedged in there good, I pusht the bike back, brian R pulls and pulls ....we eventually get it.





You can see the abuse from to the tire and the melted bag remnants on the exhaust.





The bag did not fair well from the incident  ;-)



Meanwhile WC is up on the pegs looking for the next dirt road to violate.



So into Bruno's where we shared the fun and tales with each other.   None of us strangers to this place, it was a good spot to take inventory of the last hours.   A few patty melts later ......it is off for more fun.



Warchild on the RenoJohn strom ......very nice of him to color coordinate with my bike ...but that's Dale, always doing the little things.



I was tickled that Warchild is (also) buddies with our friend Bill.  Bill is special and has done many of us favors.  (Bill is the guy you'll find at the gas station in Gerlach)  Warchild told a recent tale of something nice that Bill did for him.  ..and here Bill is holding the green cash that WC gave him in appreciation.    I got a little choked up wth emotion when I saw this ...but then remember that dirt guys don't cry so I knocked it off real quick.


Well, we did ride some tarmac back toward home ....but that didn't keep Warchild from continually getting up on the pegs.
This guy was craving dirt like street pussies crave tofu  and Barry Manilow.






The renojohn and Brian R stroms ......sad to see the day getting close to an end.   From here Brian headed toward Ferntucky, WC and I were off to my place, where WC would grab his FJR and head for Brian's.


This day was really fun, really special and my favorite:  Abundant silliness.

Warchild, he came down from WA on a mission to learn this quirky fat traille.   I think he really got a taste of one arena that the strom does very well.   It does other things well too ...and next time we'll hit small goat-trail forest sevice roads ....

Brian and I had a great time sharing our fun with WC .....

And Dale, make no mistake,  ...you jumped into this  like no street pussy I've ever seen.   Kudos to you.

Your are no street pussy!!


Thanks for the ride-along

Riding moto-bikes is good fun

renojohn2007 @ goraiders.org