Keith, Lorenzo, Shannon, Mike, and myself ended up getting together on short notice for some high-speed trail riding, today. As Mike pointed out, riding the whoops at 80 kms/hr plus is all good practice for a budding rally racer.
A Dakar Rally bike is not something you generally see on the trails of Newfoundland, but I don't think the locals had any idea what the heck it was, anyhow. But we all enjoyed getting a close up look a the bike in action. It's based on a KTM 525XCW and was built for the 2008 Dakar Rally, but was never raced, as the original owner wasn't able to compete in the Dakar that year, due to an injury.
Our trip consisted of riding the Route 60 coastal highway as far as Holyrood, then the T'Railway from there to Brigus Junction, where we decided to head north up the branchline trail as far as Clarke's Beach. We then took a little diversion out the dirt road to Green Point (Sorry about the rock pelting I gave you on that pass, Mike
). From there we rode back home on the coastal highway.
Total door to door distance for me was 225 kms, with 50 kms of that being trail riding. Thanks for the good company today, guys. Man, that Rally bike sure sounds great!
I think Mike will have some helmet-cam footage up later, but here's a few snaps in the meantime.
The crew...
Mike and his new toy...
My four-fiddy...
Shannon...
Very different, yet strangely compatible steeds on the trails of Newfoundland...
Lorenzo...
Break time...
Mike...
Beautiful 'Green Point' Newfoundland...
Back on track...
