It's official, I'm no longer a dirtbiker - SOLD!

[cjdirtbiker]

Well, I guess I'm going to become hardcore jeeper all the way. I just sold my offroad race bike with the license plate on it. My regular rider, my mount of many offroad miles. It was a GasGas EC250, 2-stroke race bike a lot like a Honda or Kawasaki MX bike, but hand-built in Spain and setup for endurance off road.

I got more for it than I paid for it some four years ago, after many, many offroad miles. It truly was a outstanding machine. I've ridden most of the trails in Big Bear, will miss that part and the riding in the Sierra's.

I carry way too much responsibility to warrant the risk of an injurious crash. I've been down twice in the last couple of years, once almost broke my neck, the other almost my back and did crack a couple of ribs and had a giant contusion on my hip (bruise). My chiropractor hit me for over a grand during my recovery time last year.

I have about 25 members in a yahoo group I started a couple of years ago, all offroad bikers, none of which have escaped injury in the last two years. I'm going to miss it, but I have my jeep to take me into the wilderness, and my family can come with me.

It's official, I'm now a fulltime jeeper all the way. :gun:

EAT SLEEP JEEP!!

[NAILER341]

uh oh! sounds like trouble.

[Dukes69]

Sounds like a plan! Its a good thing I didnt get into bikes, I would have been dead along time ago.

[sarah]

Yay for Jeep! So what's your new username gonna be?

[Black & Tan TJ]

Does this mean your going to change your name to something like CjJeeper or CjTj since the dirtbiker doesn't fit anymore.

B&T TJ

[blackZZR]

I gave up skiing for the same reason, I went down because of crud on the slopes and as they were sledding me down I realised I had family fianacial obligations that skiing was just to dangerous to my way of living to continue. I feeeeeel your pain.
I still look up at snow capped mountains and get excited, I used to ski 2 days a week local in season and do a few big resort trips every year. Damn I miss it.

[cjdirtbiker]

Fond memories and good friends

I gave up skiing for the same reason, I went down because of crud on the slopes and as they were sledding me down I realised I had family fianacial obligations that skiing was just to dangerous to my way of living to continue. I feeeeeel your pain.
I still look up at snow capped mountains and get excited, I used to ski 2 days a week local in season and do a few big resort trips every year. Damn I miss it.

Ah yes, hitting the slopes ended for me in the early 80's. I was a casual downhill racer, but back then no one wore helmets. When I fractured my scull in a bad jump crash-landing and damn near OD'd on pain killers the skiing ended. And I sold my dirtbikes not long after that with 15 years of experience. 15 years later, as I turned 40, I wandered into a bike shop and was blown away by the advancement in technology. Not long thereafter I bought a bike and a van. My wife thought I had gone out of my mind.

It is painful, my wife was almost in tears when I told her and my kids are shocked. They know how much I love the outdoors and what fun I had exploring the hills and deserts. It's merely an old chapter in my life now.

Chris is right, he definitely would be dead by now!! What a maniac. I have a good friend that crashed late last year. He got busted up pretty bad, shattering his ankle, cracked ribs, and broken collar bone. He was out of work for 12 weeks and had 3 surgeries to put his leg back together. He walks with a cane and remembers a LOT of pain. He's a fairly wealthy print-shop owner in his mid 40's. I mention this because he's not just some dumb kid. And as I mentioned, not one of my friends has been spared of injury in the last couple of years. I just can't face that risk anylonger.

I probably should change my user name, it's always been a little tongue-in-cheek, especially when I'm emailing the pastor of the church, or a big client or something like that. But my friends all know me as a highly competant rider and trail leader. I'll just have to wait and see on that.

Thanks for the comforting thoughts. I have a lot of friends that I will eventually lose touch with and that is really what's held me back from getting out for the last year or so. I'm glad to have found such a neat group of people here. I like the jeeping, it's a lot like camping out with the offroad group, but we get into our jeeps and trail run instead of donning our gear and mounting our bikes.

My grandfather had an old military style flatfender when I was a kid. He took me trail running in the forest where they built the Boeing 747 Plant in Everett Washington. And we used jeeps when we went elk and deer hunting in eastern WA. I remember those days fondly and now owning a jeep and exploring with it has brought back those memories.

[blackZZR]

I love trails in the desert and mountains, I think my love of outdoors keeps me jeeping, while everyone else is looking for the grarliest rock to go over I am checking a line and just enjoying the outdoors.
I also run street bikes, ZZR is a 1200 cc kawasaki
thats me on mine (click it for larger)
but as the years go by the jeeps get more attention
funny thing that bike almost has as much hp as the jeep
just you use it different
you like the deserts? this winter we need to go out and explore some
I really hate you had to give up the bike but we all know that one day we need to take inventory, some call it getting old, I think it is just showing your love to your family.

Jim

[cjdirtbiker]

BlackZZR:

>snip
I also run street bikes, ZZR is a 1200 cc kawasaki
>snip
funny thing that bike almost has as much hp as the jeep
just you use it different

you like the deserts? this winter we need to go out and explore some
I really hate you had to give up the bike but we all know that one day we need to take inventory, some call it getting old, I think it is just showing your love to your family.

Jim

Thanks, Jim. I especially like your last comment. That's what pulled me off the bikes. And yeah, my bikin' friends call me gramps, I'm always the oldest one out there. I'll never get "old", I just get smarter and wiser

ZZR huh? So that's where that name comes from. Up until I sold my streetbike I had 5 of them in the garage. Mine was a Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom. One of those you ride to the tip of Baja and back with your gear on the back. Rode to Laguna Seca for the last two years and camped under the oaks at the track. Guess I'm skipping that this year. Will run the Rubicon instead. Oh, and yeah, bikes are fast, that's half the fun: zero to sixty in three and a half seconds is a thrill that's hard to describe. I call it visceral.

I really love exploring, as you mention. Rocks are fine, but seeing what's over the next horizon is what turns me on. That's why I like the bikes so much. You could see more in an hour on a bike that you see in a day walking. But alas, we can travel in comfort, well equipped for anything, and explore whats out there. This winter I'm definitely going to Death Valley, Saline Valley, and some of the best the wild Mojave has to offer.

Hope to meet you soon.

[blackZZR]

I can see we are going do some desert trails together.

[tjrubicon]

Sounds like a plan! Its a good thing I didnt get into bikes, I would have been dead along time ago.

That's what I thought too, before I got a bike. Been down once from doing a wheelie into an indo right into the side of a pick up truck. I was naturally tossed from the bike and went on my merry bouncing trip across the high where a truck in the turn lane happened to stop my tumbling. I gots me some nice road rash, screwed up shoulder, bad knees, and instead of getting checked out like I should have I went to Steak N' Shake. It was a sign, my buddies and I were getting ready to hit the country roads and screw off. So I was on my way there fast. I have an hour drive to work at 60-65 in the heep and made the drive in 25 - 30 minutes on my bike, but then when you're on 2 wheels with a 170hp, you tend to want to push it. Here it's not legal to pass between cars on highways, but I did it anyway and had my share of close close calls.

I sold my bike for my mom's sake, but am really fighting the urge for a new bike. Anywho, it's tough riding and then not, but so far I'm managing. When it's nice and I don't have to work, I want to get a bike to ride, but I go wheelin instead.

[jmbrowning]

Sounds like a plan! Its a good thing I didnt get into bikes, I would have been dead along time ago.

There is a reason why we call them "DONORcycles" where we work. When I see guys zipping between lanes of 65mph traffic and splitting OTR trucks, I think to myself, "That guy is going to make 2 dialysis patients very happy someday..."

Anyhow, glad to hear you made out well on the sale of your bike and I think the Missus and I (and "the Quickie") might be up for a little desert exploration ride in the winter, before they shut down everything in the Mojave.

[mparker]

Before we had the kids my wife would recover tissues, organs etc. for donation. She heard the "donor cycle" from a nurse. The sad part is, none of the people who died on a motorcycle were suitable for donation. The rib cage had crushed in so badly that all of the organs were punctured. This wasn't once or twice... it was more like once a week.

I admit it... I WANT a motorcycle. i mean i really really want one. The idea of saving on gas, and getting home from OC to Riverside just a little quicker is very appealing. Not to mention the freedom of it. But i have a wife, two kids, and a mortgage to worry about.

However, if someone else is taking that risk, that is their right, and you better believe that mine will be the yellow Jeep that pulls way over to the other side of the lane to give the motor cyclists enough room to get by.

There is a reason why we call them "DONORcycles" where we work. When I see guys zipping between lanes of 65mph traffic and splitting OTR trucks, I think to myself, "That guy is going to make 2 dialysis patients very happy someday..."

Anyhow, glad to hear you made out well on the sale of your bike and I think the Missus and I (and "the Quickie") might be up for a little desert exploration ride in the winter, before they shut down everything in the Mojave.