Dual-sport weekend post mortem

Lots and lots of lessons learned from this past weekend’s dualsport ride.

good.

The XT did really well on the trip. REALLY well. It ate up those 500 miles and could have kept going on into infinity.
The 30 L Seal Line dry bags we bought kick ass. By the time I got home, my black bag was brown with dust, but all of my clothes and toiletries inside were fine.
The PVC racks we built were rock solid. I was honestly surprised at how well they ended up working. Not a single slip or slide, either on the freeway or going over rocks and ruts.
My gear was very comfortable in warm weather. It was 108F in Coalinga when we arrived, and I was more-or-less comfy in my Frank Thomas mesh jacket, FirstGear mesh pants, and Fox Racing flattrack boots. My Camelbak fit over the jacket very well, too. Thumbs up.
Parkfield Cafe french fries. Holy crap, are those yummy. Crispy and tasty.
Our room at the Parkfield Inn was the “tool room”. It was slightly disconcerting to have sharp farm implements hung up all over the room in a place that bills itself as the “earthquake capital of the world”. 😉 Awesome decor, though. I tried to convince Peter that our towel racks at home should be huge box wrenches.
Dirt GOOD. I continue to really really really love the off-roading. I’m starting to not utterly suck at it, too!

bad.

The perfect storm combination of my socks, my pants, and my boots left nasty ass chafes and scrapes all around my calves. Must solve this.
My gear, while very comfortable in warm weather, wasn’t so much in the damp fog on Highway 1. By Watsonville, I was utterly miserable, despite wearing a tank top, T-shirt, long sleeved T-shirt, another T-shirt, and the jacket with liner. The pants are mesh-only, so in Watsonville, I stopped to put my cargo pants on over the mesh pants. Looked dorky but at least it cut the wind a little bit.
No surprise here, but lots of freeway on the XT makes for a very sad Carolyn.
Must remember to put sunscreen lotion in my XT tankbag. The stick kind works great for my face, but not as well for the back of my neck.
I never remember to hang back far enough when I’m the last rider in the parade on the dirt. Cough cough, eyes tearing up, cough, dust everywhere. I think my contacts are still dusty.

Pictures are uploading. 🙂 A write-up will be forthcoming….