Dirt_Dad
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...never before thought I'd string those words together.
It has been an unbelievably wet year here in the mid-Atlantic. My buddy told me the cost of gravel has about doubled due to the counties buying up the supply to try to keep their gravel roads passable. Today, one day after yet another .75" of rain falling, I went exploring dirt/gravel roads.
To my delight I found a new dirt road today. It was in horrible shape from all the rain and I was really enjoying it. I could see two dump trucks pulled over up ahead. The closest truck had been driving the opposite direction from me. The second truck was facing in my direction of travel and was at the crest of a downhill section. I passed the driverless first truck and assumed the operator was the guy standing in the road talking to the driver of the second truck.
Not giving it much thought I slowed to pass the forward truck. The guy standing in the road didn't seem to care much about my approach. As I rolled past I said, "hello." I think the guy standing there said something like, "be carefu...", that's all I heard. I immediately leaned down to check my mirror to see if he was trying to get me to stop. He seemed to be more animated now. I thought maybe I should stop. I turned to look forward and oh $%!#, I think I know what he was trying to tell me.
The entire road was covered in what looked like black pulverized asphalt that had just freshly been dumped out of two full trucks moving up hill as they dumped. It was thick piles of the stuff just waiting for the grader further down the road to smooth it into a passable road. Crap! Didn't really have time to stop or enough room to turn around so I did the only thing I could do...picked a line. Unfortunately the only available line was the ditch the water had carved as it was busy destroying the side of the road.
Fortunately the ditch was not deeper than the foot pegs. I had high hopes I could make it gracefully through the ditch...I think that's called being optimistic. Not sure what the truck drivers were saying as they watched me jump out of my standing position to dab a foot left and right to avoid hitting the ground, but I doubt they were impressed.
A little more challenge than I was expecting on a gravel road ride, but I'll take it. The roads were horrible, the Tenere was great. It was an excellent ride.
It has been an unbelievably wet year here in the mid-Atlantic. My buddy told me the cost of gravel has about doubled due to the counties buying up the supply to try to keep their gravel roads passable. Today, one day after yet another .75" of rain falling, I went exploring dirt/gravel roads.
To my delight I found a new dirt road today. It was in horrible shape from all the rain and I was really enjoying it. I could see two dump trucks pulled over up ahead. The closest truck had been driving the opposite direction from me. The second truck was facing in my direction of travel and was at the crest of a downhill section. I passed the driverless first truck and assumed the operator was the guy standing in the road talking to the driver of the second truck.
Not giving it much thought I slowed to pass the forward truck. The guy standing in the road didn't seem to care much about my approach. As I rolled past I said, "hello." I think the guy standing there said something like, "be carefu...", that's all I heard. I immediately leaned down to check my mirror to see if he was trying to get me to stop. He seemed to be more animated now. I thought maybe I should stop. I turned to look forward and oh $%!#, I think I know what he was trying to tell me.
The entire road was covered in what looked like black pulverized asphalt that had just freshly been dumped out of two full trucks moving up hill as they dumped. It was thick piles of the stuff just waiting for the grader further down the road to smooth it into a passable road. Crap! Didn't really have time to stop or enough room to turn around so I did the only thing I could do...picked a line. Unfortunately the only available line was the ditch the water had carved as it was busy destroying the side of the road.
Fortunately the ditch was not deeper than the foot pegs. I had high hopes I could make it gracefully through the ditch...I think that's called being optimistic. Not sure what the truck drivers were saying as they watched me jump out of my standing position to dab a foot left and right to avoid hitting the ground, but I doubt they were impressed.
A little more challenge than I was expecting on a gravel road ride, but I'll take it. The roads were horrible, the Tenere was great. It was an excellent ride.