mx775

Mustang, Nevada; September 30, 2007 

I can have fun on a dirt bike on a hot, dusty track, riding all by myself. So what happens when cool air, a moist track and lots of friends enter the equation? I enter a state somewhere between delirium and bliss, a mood I refer to as motophoria.

And so it was at the latest Big Valley Honda Ride Day, where I pounded out laps on a superbly prepared Mustang course alongside the people from Big Valley Honda and their friends.

If you weren't there, I sympathize, friend. But if it's any consolation, I did take some photos for you to enjoy:

BVH parts man Darrin Hall got to take Layne Kolbet's heralded CRF450 for a few laps. His impression was much the same as the others who rode it: it's pretty epic.

Credit must go where it's due: the ride day was the work of Layne Kolbet (aka Mr. Moto, center), who poses here with Rich Thorwaldson Jr. (left) and family. Layne had both his tricked-out '07 450 and a brand-new '08 on hand. Who else had a new bike, you ask?

Did I mention me? Oh yes--brand new and still shiny. Yet it performed like a seasoned warhorse after a few minor clicks here and there. Everything was great until...

...things became not so great. When my rearward exhaust mount came loose, my motophoria met an abrupt end as my 450 coughed to a stop, choked by a bent and constricted breathing apparatus--formerly known as my trick titanium exhaust.

But the Mustang surface remained in prime shape following my exhaust's demise. It featured what was likely the only moistened dirt (short of a few forbidden construction sites) in our recently arid region.

And naturally, the kids got to moto too, my two-year-old daughter excluded. Maybe next year, Ava?