2012 Berkshire Big Adventure Ride

On Friday, we packed up the Ridgeline with our bikes, the kid and the dog and headed north to Massachusetts for a weekend of friends, food and riding.

Bikes loaded in the truck

Our home away from home was a cute little cabin in the woods. As soon as the captain turned on the weekend sign, we settled in to “hang” mode. You know – a little barbequeing, going for a nice lazy walk around the lake, just sitting on the front porch and enjoying the fire. We got busy doing a whole lotta nothin’.

our cabin in the woods

While a couple friends and their families trickled in to the campground on Friday, the rest of our motley crew came rolling in on Saturday.

We spent Saturday laughing, grilling, enjoying each others company and managed to make some new friends along the way, too. That is one of the best parts about these events. You’re surrounded by like-minded people so it is easy to meet new people.

Hanging at the campground

On Sunday morning, I awoke not long after dawn. When I walked to the cabin door I found a lovely green Luna Moth staring back at me. It seemed like it had to be some sort of auspicious sign that a good day was ahead.

Luna Moth on the screen door

By 7:30am our crew assembled like a ragtag Voltron and headed off the the start of the Berkshire Big Adventure ride. These friends of mine… they’re just the greatest <3

The gang at the Berkshire Ride 2012

The start point was 17 miles away from the campground on the tar. It was the first time I’d ever really got to try to stretch the legs of the Husky a little. That type of riding obviously isn’t it’s strong suit but it felt great nonetheless.

Sometimes the universe lines up the sunlight through the trees and the temperature jusssst so and everything feels right in your world. Sunday morning was just like that.

The little Husky that could

I don’t think I did more than 50mph on that stretch of road to the start but, it felt like the best 50mph ever. Hand on the throttle, I motored up along route 8 where all signs pointed to a great day ahead. The sound of the Husky thumped through the morning. Hell yeah.

Sundays ride would be my first event on the TE310. It is still a bike I don’t know very well. After the 2011 BBA ride, I came away feeling a bit discouraged by my riding on the DRZ. This year I was hoping a better tool might help me to find my confidence.

When we pulled up to the start of the ride, many bikes were already lined up. It never gets old seeing a large group of motorcycles.

Bikes lined up for the ride

The title of the 2012 ride was the Berkshire Big Adventure – Vince’s “I’m Not Dead Yet” Dual Sport/ Adventure Ride. Vince, who is a member of the Berkshire Trail Riders Association and trail boss for the ride was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

During the riders meeting, he delivered a poignant address that left us all with a deep admiration of his courage in the face of such adversity. Live life to the fullest, enjoy each day – those words pierce your heart when you are looking at a man with terminal cancer. But – they ring true for every person, every day. Take it to heart.

As the bikes began to roll out of the start in waves, that excited feeling of finally being on our way came over me. I was probably grinning like an idiot in my helmet. I’m kind of goofy like that.

As you might imagine when it comes to moving over 100 bikes around, there is some clustering and jockeying for position that happens until the groups of riders start to thin themselves out and gap naturally. The first clump came near the first hero section. It was a short stretch of loose mud. From that point on riders began to spread a little more.

Into the slop we go…

into the muck

The ride was mostly dirt roads with some tar connectors and a couple hero sections thrown in. Those parts were boney, wet and offered something more challenging.

During one of the hero sections a giant puddle swallowed Dan’s bike. The funny thing about muddy water is that you haven’t the slightest idea what’s under there or how deep it is until you’re in it. Ben and Dan managed to dislodge the drowned Husky and get it out of the puddle. After just a few minutes the bike started and on we went.

There are some pics by other riders on the ADV thread showing just how deep and gooey the water was.

stay to the right!

There was a really nice lady who lived close by who was on hand with a tow rope helping riders who got submarined there. She was kind of excited to see me (a woman rider) out in the muck. She even offered to let me use her bathroom, bless her heart!

There was a good handful of ladies on the ride 🙂

heavenly riding

About halfway through the ride, I realized that for the first time I didn’t feel like I’d been working hard, I wasn’t scared and I wasn’t even the caboose for the whole ride. I felt… normal great!

I can only attribute it to feeling so much more at home on the Husky. It is such a pleasure to ride. The weight difference over the DRZ alone is a huge change. But that combined with the suspension, the ergos and the responsiveness of the bike make it feel so. damned. good!

Love, love, LOVE this bike!

My Husky TE310 - I love it so!

Since this was the first time I’d taken the TE on an extended ride, I had no idea how much range I could squeeze out of my small fuel tank. When the route came to a close we still had the 17 miles of road ahead to get back to the campground. With only 50 miles on my tank since last fill up, I figured I’d be fine to make it back.

As I buzzed along the hilly pavement, the miles began to tick by. About 5 miles from the entrance to the campground while heading down hill, the bike began to lose power and… died. Out of gas.

I kept the bike rolling and as the ground leveled out, hit the starter and it came back to life. When the ground tipped back upward enough gas would drain back and I could hammer my way up the next hill and play the roller coaster game. I kept that up until the bike died about 300 feet from the entrance to the campground where I rolled into it’s gravel drive. With one last bit of luck, the bike started one more time and I was able to ride to our cabin. I made it by the skin of my teeth and a measly 67 miles on the odometer. WHEW!

As we packed up the truck and made the rounds to say goodbye to our friends who were doing the same, I felt a pang of melancholy. It was sad that our great weekend had come to a close. I loved every minute of our time there.

Great people, great fun, great riding.
hello from the fuzzmops

Until next year…

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Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

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12 Responses

  1. Shybiker says:

    What a great ride report. You convey the excitment and the photos capture the feel of the event. It’s like we were there with you!

  2. novos says:

    Buy a $20 MSR fuel bottle and put a half gallon of gas in there. I bought 2 to extend my range in Death Valley. You can uncork it and dump it into the tank in under a minute, and you’ll have the peace of mind knowing you can go another 10-15 miles before you run out.

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      Yea, i think i’ll end up having to work something out.

      On a side note, my low fuel light never came on. Not sure if there is a problem with the sensor or what?

      • novos says:

        It SHOULD have come on. But when mine comes on, it starts doing exactly the same as yours – gas sloshes forward during braking and it shuts off. I’d say I have maybe 10 miles of mellow riding left when it comes on.

  3. Trobairitz says:

    Aesome weekend. Relaxing, chilling and a great ride too. Bet you hated to return to work this week.

    I am glad the Husky is working out so well for you. Good job on squeaking that last bit of gas out of the tank to get back to the cabin. Wonder why the light never came on? Damn gremlins.

  4. chris says:

    Awesome!!

    My wr has a tiny tank too. In the forest it likes to be wide open. Mileage gets bad then 🙂

  5. hitair says:

    Simply amazing, congrats guys for such an event.
    I checked the Dan’s bike in the picture from advrider, tiring indeed…

  6. Arc says:

    Awesome ride, awesome report. So glad I got out with you guys. Next time I’ll be sure to join the pre ride festivities.

    Great to see you and meet the LI Adv crew. Again soon I hope.

  7. Kathy says:

    You write the best ride reports. It does look like a great weekend. Very cool that you have such a big group of riding friends. I’m glad you’re loving the Husky, too. Now we’ll get more great ride reports!

  8. Bmwgsgirl says:

    Thanks for the pics…and making me jealous once again! Looks like it was an awesome time even before you left the cabin!

  9. Glantern says:

    The worst part about the story is the fact we all had to go home on Sunday :-(. Great post I wish we could do that every day!

    I’m happy to see the husky is working out so well for you. I rode behind you a bit and you seemed much more relaxed on it.

  1. May 6, 2013

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