Today Drew and I went on a little adventure up on Marys Peak.
We took our dual sports out in search of snow.
We found quite a bit of it. It got thicker the higher we went.
Just after the pull-out where everyone goes shooting on Marys Peak, I lost a bolt that holds the right shock in place on my Gangly Giraffe. Without the bolt, the shock popped off the bike. I hiked up and down the road a few times but couldn’t find where the thing had gone.
In order to stay upright in the snow, we used our feet like outrigger skis. It actually worked surprisingly well. Drew only spilled once when going over a small tree and did zero damage to himself and his bike. I didn’t spill at all but did nearly lose it many times.
So I improvised with some zip ties that Drew had in his rear box.
Yes, the shock is held in place with zip ties. Yes, it held all the way back to Corvallis. Some people in huge, jacked-up pickups stopped and lent me a flat blade screwdriver so I could remove the side cover and make this improvised repair. Thanks pickup truck guys!
Rather than take our chances going up to the top of Marys Peak, we turned off on Forest Road 30 that runs down the south and west flanks of Marys Peak to Harlan. Shortly after this picture, a jacked up pickup passed us. The kids driving it said “y’all are CRAZY!” We said “YES WE ARE!”
The face of epic adventure.
Camera man.
Lots of snow everywhere. We ended up getting back into town MUCH later than expected. The lost bolt and low-level snow slowed us down significantly. After I repair the Gangly Giraffe, I think that I might try to take it all the way to the top of Marys Peak in the snow. It’s definitely doable. It is just a matter of taking it slow and using my feet like skis. I have to say that this was one of the more epic things I’ve done on a motorcycle.
