First short real off-road ride

I don’t deal well with being sick, so even though my nose still was running, I couldn’t take it anymore sitting at home and blowing my nose. Actually it wasn’t running as much as yesterday so in the afternoon I got on the XT and took off exploring.

I got lucky and found a dirt road not too far from where I work. It amazes me that there are places like this in Chicagoland, hidden in the middle of this built-up, paved-over suburbia. Now this was just a short little road connecting two parks and honestly I might have been trespassing again, although the gate I rode around said “no parking” on the sign, not “don’t enter” or “no trespassing“ or “ restricted vehicles only“.

This road had many nice features:



Lake and curves






More curves



Plenty of puddles and mud






A nice setting sun





Many trees



Fallen leaves



Narrow path



Wide path



I enjoyed myself a lot, it’s a completely a different kind of riding. This was also my first ride with the Arai DX, I like it although it doesn’t feel like a street helmet, the padding is different, the fit is different. On the way home I had the XT all the way up to 60MPH, fastest so far, I was in the 6th gear already so not sure how much more it has left to go before it tops out.