May 12, 2009: Pinnacle Mtn. mud ride - trying out the new Distanzia front tire.

Pinnacle Mtn. Road climbs up from the headwaters of the Green River, passing between the Green River Preserve and the DuPont State Forest. It's a county road and receives very minimal maintenance. I suppose that it will eventually be blocked to public motorized use because of the high cost of repairing the damage done by local 4 wheelers that trash the road by creating mud pits and dumping trash. For now, it's still a fun ride. The county is currently working (again) to fill in the pits, hauling in truckload after truckload of sand to mix in with the mud to aid with drainage. The piles of sand and dirt create some pretty interesting riding conditions, especially when mixed with the still-unrepaired mud pits.
Not only does the road get trashed, but the drivers drive off-road as well, trespassing on both private land and the DuPont State Forest. Some locals have started dumping buckets of nails and wood screws into the pits to discourage the trespassing and vandalism.

I like riding the rocky ledges in the mid-section of the road. It's several miles in length, linking up the dirt road down in the Green River Preserve with the dirt Sky Valley road that provides access to the Guion Farm region of the DuPont State Forest.

Another spot where the 4 wheelers have trashed a meadow on private land next to the Pinnacle Mtn. road.

This was once a trailhead parking area for the DuPont State Forest, churned into a muddy pit by the 4 wheelers. It's un-usable for most of the public now.

Picking the route through these ruts was fun - on either side of the 6 inch track, the mud was over 3 feet deep.

This really is a fun ride and it was a great opportunity to test drive the new Distanzia that I put on the front of the bike yesterday. I notice that the tire doesn't 'hunt' like the old sport bike tire that I had been running. On the mud, it grips really well, making it a lot easier to maintain traction.

Yeehaw! Twist the throttle, stand up, and hope to stay on the firm stuff. The Vee handles the muck with ease.

Some of the repair vehicles were on-site today, piling up huge piles of sand and dirt in the middle of the road, while waiting for the scrapers to come along to flatten the stuff. The trick is to stand while keeping the weight to the rear of the bike and the speed constant.

Not as bad as it looks, this stuff had a lot of sand mixed in that provided good traction. I had a cheering section as I exited the last of the tall piles of dirt, with the road crew standing by the road cheering me on as I hopped over the last big piles of sand. They couldn't believe that a 'touring' bike could handle the mess. In a couple of days, the road will be flattened and dry, at least until the 4 wheelers churn it into a muddy mess again. It was fun today!

Back on Sky Valley Road, KawasiMoto rests at roadside. Ride time was only 90 minutes or so, with maybe 40 miles of dirt riding, but it was a lot of fun and beats the heck out of spending the day watching TV.