MooN Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 managed to wrangle a couple of hours off this afternoon and as it was only 25 odd degrees rather than the 35 odd we had earlier in the week I went for a short ride to explore a trail I had started discovered but not explored along by the river a while ago. it starts with a poorly paved road down to the river north of Joigny and the trail proper starts here someone was water skiing on the river a bit of limbo dancing allowed us under this one but the trail was getting narrower and gnarlier I was beginning to wonder how wise it was to continue on, taking into account that i'm alone, running road tyres ( ok it's dry so that's not reeeely an issue, but still...) i have a fucked back, left shoulder and left knee... i don't know if I'm even still capable of picking tigger up if I drop her. well that answers that question, I don't think I can get under that one Nope definately not. I did think about how to do it but before tring I walked forward a few hunderd meters to see if the trail opened out further down or not, and came across this and no sign of widening now I know Fred would have had a saw with him to clear the path ( there's also a potentially live electric cable to deal with...) and Bob would have fitted under anyway but given my lack of ability and knowledge my only reasonable choice was a turnaround. "Oh Cock" you might be able to make out from the above pic that the path is not wide, there's the river on one side and a large ditch on the other. How the F am I going to turn Tigger round? I had a long hard think about this cos I couldn't aford to get it wrong and would only have one shot, and didn't want to risk my back or shoulder which are, (quite seriously for a moment) dangerously close to rupture. Jacket, tank bag helmet and gloves were hung on a tree and I pushed the bike back about a meter or so where the path was marginally wider and a tree growing outwards from the river bank lessened the chances of throwing the thing in the river. with some pushing and pulling I managed to more or less spin the bike on it's side stand ( took 3 or 4 goes as it kept sinking in the ground and had to be repositioned each time) and after not a little sweating and grunting we got turned around and i rode out to a wider grassy section having cooled down I had a plaisant bimble back to the road and tus home via an easy trail shortcut that i know and love, as a reward for not having drowned us both in the river, and having taught tigger how to spin on her sidestand, trick which I've seen but never tried before. a couple of hours out in all and about 20 km off road I guess. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Excellent stuff Chris, glad you got it sorted. Is it a GR route ? We ride one like that alongside the Dordogne river, it gets a bit hairy in places Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Brilliant Chris! I know it's hard going when you've got to try and turn a bloody heavy bike round in a narrow spot......I've had to do it a few times. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooN Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 3 minutes ago, boboneleg said: Excellent stuff Chris, glad you got it sorted. Is it a GR route ? We ride one like that alongside the Dordogne river, it gets a bit hairy in places dunno if it's a GR Bob, It was once the river towpath I think, but obviously fell into disuse and unmaintained about 80 years ago, I expect cyclists, fishermen and dog walkers keep it as it is now ( that's why I only explore like this on weekdays cos weekends would probably get confrontational, whereas today I saw no one... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Fallsalot Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I see you are getting more adventurous I was going to say use the side stand but you had already sussed it out and yes i usually carry a fold up saw but at 25 deg i don't think i would have bothered to use it and turned around as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Screw the tree, I would have kept myself there for the minimum amount of time needed just because of the electrical wire holding said tree up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Epic little ride, looks like some great trails. I love how easy it is to get yourself into these situations with an adventure bike, always makes for good stories when you get home. Nice photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooN Posted August 5, 2020 Author Share Posted August 5, 2020 12 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said: I see you are getting more adventurous I was going to say use the side stand but you had already sussed it out and yes i usually carry a fold up saw but at 25 deg i don't think i would have bothered to use it and turned around as well done plenty more silly stuff over the years with the tralp Fred, but still building confidence with the Tiger off road, I find the throttle over sensitive and dosing it is less evident thaan the old tralp ( there's also twice the hp to deal with) and it's heavier, but I'm getting there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooN Posted August 5, 2020 Author Share Posted August 5, 2020 5 hours ago, Grasshopper's Ride said: Epic little ride, looks like some great trails. I love how easy it is to get yourself into these situations with an adventure bike, always makes for good stories when you get home. Nice photos! you should see some of the stoopid places I got to with the transalp... but it was lighter, less pwerful and specifically MUCH less expensive in case of damage...I'm still being careful with this one, and haven't mastered it off road yet ( I had the transalp for 17 years and 120 odd thousand km's...) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yen_powell Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 We used to have a bloke come out with us green laning, he was known as Witham Porno Man, because of where he lived and what he did for a living. He could turn his bike by doing a rear wheel burn out and turning on the spot. We used to moan at him about making us look like hooligans in front of the public and then all try it secretly when he wasn't there. All we ever managed was to fall over side ways as one foot would get more and more twisted until we lost our balance. The swine could do it on a road bike as well. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pedro Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 hour ago, yen_powell said: We used to have a bloke come out with us green laning, he was known as Witham Porno Man, because of where he lived and what he did for a living. He could turn his bike by doing a rear wheel burn out and turning on the spot. We used to moan at him about making us look like hooligans in front of the public and then all try it secretly when he wasn't there. All we ever managed was to fall over side ways as one foot would get more and more twisted until we lost our balance. The swine could do it on a road bike as well. I have done that on the XR a few times, only on dirt obviously. I would be happy to try on a big bike, and I think I could do it on a gs, but not going to try it on my own bike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 8 hours ago, MooN said: you should see some of the stoopid places I got to with the transalp... but it was lighter, less pwerful and specifically MUCH less expensive in case of damage...I'm still being careful with this one, and haven't mastered it off road yet ( I had the transalp for 17 years and 120 odd thousand km's...) I have a new found respect for the Transalp, after watching Pedro Mota and his adventures on one I can just imagine the places one can take / get you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 12 minutes ago, Grasshopper's Ride said: I have a new found respect for the Transalp, after watching Pedro Mota and his adventures on one I can just imagine the places one can take / get you. They're old tech, slow, and boring.......but you'll never kill one! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 29 minutes ago, XTreme said: They're old tech, slow, and boring.......but you'll never kill one! I like old tech..... Taking it slow does not have to be boring! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XTreme Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 29 minutes ago, Grasshopper's Ride said: I like old tech..... Taking it slow does not have to be boring! 2004.....Devil's Bridge, Mid Wales. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 23 hours ago, MooN said: dunno if it's a GR Bob, It was once the river towpath I think, but obviously fell into disuse and unmaintained about 80 years ago, I expect cyclists, fishermen and dog walkers keep it as it is now ( that's why I only explore like this on weekdays cos weekends would probably get confrontational, whereas today I saw no one... I had a look and the GR213 goes through Joigny but not by the river, some of it might be fun to follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boboneleg Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 I've had four Transalps, easiest bike ever to ride, absolutely love them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooN Posted August 12, 2020 Author Share Posted August 12, 2020 that's t'other sid eof the rive to where I was, but I clearly need to look into that GR. thay'r not all accessible by bike, the GR 13 I think goes through vermenton but you'd be a bloody clever rider to take a bike trough it, most walkers give up and switch to the road 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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