Mr Buehner's (modestly) Wild Ride

[OhioTed]

This past weekend, our own Alan Buehner participated in the Ohio Valley BSA Owners Club's Reliability Run Dual Sport Ride.  

You all have heard me yakking about this event over the past few years, trying to get folks to attend.  Well, it really is a fun ride, and this year I was determined to have Al out there with us.

Unfortunately he was not to be Penton-mounted, and don't laugh, but I had set up for Al to ride my little 1977 Honda XL175.  Hey, vintage bikes are still a big part of the Reliability Run, and besides, what the little Honda lacks in power and speed, it more than makes up for in ridability and reliability.  

Plus, I honestly (and in all fairness to Al) had no idea how proficient a rider Al is.  The two of us had really never ridden together - except maybe on a few road sections during one of the RR's some ten years ago.  

Anyway, time and circumstances resulted in Al not even swinging a leg over the XL until about 30 minutes before we headed out onto the course.  I told him to go ahead and ride the bike around a bit, and Al did so, returning about ten minutes later declaring he was as ready as he was ever going to be.  Al added that "he'd been up the hills across the street", which surprised me, as it's pretty severe over there.  

Regardless, we skipped a couple of the more difficult trail sections in the first loop, both in consideration of Al riding the little putt-putt Honda, but also because our third riding partner - my buddy Jeff, was not only riding a vintage 1976 Honda MR250, but has shoulder surgery in his future.  

So, we ride, ride, ride, finish the first loop, and everyone comes through with flying colors.  Head out onto the second loop, and more of the same.  We're moving along at a modest pace, but the three of us are each doing just fine.  Things are going so well in fact that I begin entertaining thoughts of taking these guys on the balance of the second loop's tougher trails, which include some awesome riding.  

One section in fact is the now-famous Tunnel Trail, which features a rather nasty little uphill which bit me twice while out arrowing on my DRZ400.  Also, in order to access the Tunnel Trail, a pretty challenging creek crossing had to be forded, immediately followed by a high, steep, slipper bank, followed by another uphill.  I was the first one up, showing the way.  Next came another rider who had hooked up with us, aboard a brand, spanking new 350 Husky.  Well, Husky-guy bobbled a bit at the very top of the second climb and nearly went down.  I immediately felt concern for Al, but moments later the little Honda's 4-stroke could be heard, pulling some revs but not even straining.  Then Al appeared, fully in control, and pulled to a stop next to me with a satisfied grin on his face.  

We then rode the tunnel, through the woods, out next to some railroad tracks, then had to cross a deep ravine, then along a narrow ledge of a trail, which in turn led to that uphill I was concerned about.  I got through the ravine, then turned once again to look for Al.  And, here he came on that little Honda, just zipping along.  Next, we headed toward that uphill.  I went up first, and wouldn't you know it, here comes Al looking as relaxed as if he was riding down his driveway.  So I'm jumping up and down and patting him on the back, while Al just says, "That was easy."  

On we go, with more trails to ride, with one in particular that gave me fits while we were arrowing.  Long story there, but I ended up riding into a barbed wire fence, killing the battery on my DRZ, and nearly killing myself getting out (during a pouring rainstorm).  But, we went for it, and every time I pulled over the check on Al I found him just cruising along on that little Honda, just as smoothly as can be.  I even watched him go through this super-deep mud section, and son of a gun if they didn't just keep churning along, Al and that Honda, and emerged right out the other side.  

So we finally cleared this section, which was a long, deep valley, and as I saw Al coming up into the open field at the end I was just jumping for joy!  And there's Al just throttling along on the little no-power Honda.  Even the guy on the brand-new Husky commented, "Wow, he really makes that thing go!"  Al had only one issue through that section (and in fact all day), and that wasn't his fault.  He was tackling a major uphill, and we had screwed up by placing an arrow in a bad spot, which caused Al to ride further up the hill past were the trail turns.  Al simply put the Honda on its side, picked it up, slid back down the hill to the turn, refired the bike, and continued on his way.  

In the end there was only one section I had Al bypass, because that one included a whole bunch of deep water crossings.  While using the Honda to arrow the day before I found it to dislike the water - both coughing and hiccupping, AND shocking the crap out of me through the clutch lever.  

So, Al bypassed just that one section, but I give him MAJOR kudos for managing a total of 126(!) miles over the course of the two loops, plus managing some pretty wet, muddy, slickery, challenging terrain.  Pretty darn impressive for a 63 years-young guy, who doesn't get to ride that often.  Our man Al has still got it!  

(Note, my only regret is that I currently have no photos to share.  We'll work on that.)

[marsattacks]

Nice!!  I have done this ride three times and it is great.  The only weird thing is that every single year it has been wet as heck and really greasy with fairly ominous stream depths.  One year my Bultaco Frontera shorted the tail light and it resulted in catching the seat on fire.  That was a hot lap!!  I have some decent photos.  Pulled up to a stop and didn't know my butt was smoking.  With the help of some fellow riders the bike got doused in a creek.  Ended the ride but the bike itself was back up and running in a week.

[Mike OReilly]

Hey Ted:
Thanks for the ride report.
This event is definitely on my bucket list: ride some trials, and some trail riding in what sounds like a great corner of the state.
Maybe next year?
Mike

[OhioTed]

We would love to have you attend, Mike.  While I am certainly an unabashed advocate of the Reliability Run due to my direct involvement, it is without a doubt a really super-fun ride.  In fact, the BSA Rallies are just neat events.  

Lots more at //www.ohiovalleybsaownersclub.com, plus check us out on Facebook!

[OhioTed]

As promised, here's a couple of pics of our man Al.  Unfortunately, didn't capture any images of him out on the trail, but pretty cool regardless, yes?

[ALB]

OH NO!! Now you've done it Ted. There goes my reputation.

     For those of you who were not there, I was doing a road test on Ted"s Honda to see what it was like. I never rode a 4-stroke street-trail bike before and this was an opportunity for me to compare this bike to the 2-stroke street-trail bikes that I rode when I was younger.

     Ted gave me a quick run-down on how to turn the gas on and use of the choke to start it on Saturday morning just before the start of the run. I took it out for a quick spin to get a feel for it which included a short run up one of the trails/ hill behind the campground. I felt comfortable over the operation of the bike and waited patiently at the start line for Ted's signal for us to leave.
     Within the first mile of following Ted, I discovered that for a 175 that bike had absolutely no top end. The fastest that I ever got that bike to go was 40mph going down hill with the wind to my back. Going up the hills that bike had no balls for going faster than 30mph (and that was on the paved state routes with posted speed limits of 45mph). I initial found myself trying to upshift to a higher gear on the straight-a-ways, trying to go faster (my Jackpiner can easily do 50-60) only to find out that I was already in the top gear. Traveling the gravel roads was not a problem in keeping up with Ted. On the big down hills I would pull the clutch in and coast down which made the bike go faster than trying to wring out the throttle. I almost passed Ted a few times in doing that.
   The off-road sections were the big test for my riding skills and the handling of the bike. Normally I would have rode standing on the pegs, but because of the low handlebars, I would be leaning too far forward. So, I kept my butt on the seat which worked out fine since that Honda had more padding than what my Jackpiner has. Going up the muddy hills was a little strange since I am used to gearing my Jackpiner into the power band and staying on the pipe. The Honda worked fine in 2nd or 1st gear and had enough low end guts to pull the hills. The only problem I ran into was accidently bumping the shift lever with my boot when going up some slight inclines in first gear and finding neutral.
   I only dropped that bike two times. The first time was when I was in a long deep rut and I failed to keep the front end steady. The second time was going up a long steep uphill. I would have made it all the way to the top, except the rider in front of me went down and I lost some of my concentration by having to go around him. I got myself into a wash-out rut, tried paddling with my feet to keep up the forward momentum until the bike ran out of steam. Ted came running up to help me straighten the bike up and fortunately told me that we weren't supposed to go all the way up the hill even though there was an arrow pointing in that direction. The trail turned to the right at the spot where the other rider went down. I was happy to hear about that since I knew that I would have a very tough time trying to get that Honda to the top of that hill with another run from the bottom. I easily manuvered the Honda down to the turn and continued along the trail with Ted leading the way.
    Some of the off-road sections were tough and scary. I had many close call where I almost crashed. But, thank goodness, almost doesn't count. I almost made it back to camp except I ran out of gas about 5 miles from the end. I should have bought gas at the last gas stop. I though that I had plenty of gas to finish the run since the gas tank was only half empty. I sure am thankful that I didn't run out of gas in that last woods section.
   Overall the Honda did OK. It's dependable, the suspension worked good, started every time (except when out of gas), it just needs to go faster than a slug.

Alan Buehner

[Lew Mayer]

It's good to see you actually out riding and enjoying yourself.
It always seems like you're working and keeping everybody supplied with parts.

Lew Mayer