Colonel Haathi
Finally made it
- Location
- India
This morning 10 mins from my place I went up "remote" forest path with mossy concrete on a 40 degrees or so climb with that kind of invisible moss, well not exactly moss but it's a thin layer of slime slippery stuff that's mostly transparent.
On my 2020 himmy, stock like tires, slipped and fell, was deep into the forest, and alone, yes dumb thing to do in retrospect any my lack of skills. I knew I should stop as my rear wheel was loosing traction repeatedly. In all honestly I couldn't because it was steep and I was out of wit, two switch backs later I'm flat on my arse, bike still on the concrete and fallen into the rut thankfully, it was so slippery and steep I couldn't even stand with my shoes, proper dense jungle with loud jungle sounds.
I slipped and fell with my shoes on just trying to balance my own weight. I had to tie my shoes to the handle bar, bare foot it took me three tries to get the bike upright, had to have it at a 70 degree angle to the edge front wheel down slope, while lifting couldn't do it with my back to the bike as it's too steep and slippery, took all my strength, third time I figured I need to get the outside of my calves, then knees, thigh and finally the hip to get it upright. I mastered this as I dropped the bike just walking it inch by inch down the slope three more times.
The dance was keeping it in gear, and inversely engaging the front brake and clutch, there was no way I could even get on the bike. Alone in the forest with recent sightings of a lioness with two cubs, twice I thought I was being followed, probably my fertile imagination, between catching my breath to lift this heavy motorcycle on that slope keeps my adrenaline pumped to get through the situation without calling for help, even if I called for help the conditions were pretty bad, the only ones who could have helped were my old forest friends who were not available when I finally got through with their own problems, I could tell them my situation as they had their own problems to deal with this morning.
It took a while but I finally got to a part where I could ride the rest of the way back down, I think the bike did great, the clutch leaver didn't break inspite of my backbreaker missing on that side from a previous parking stand fail, was on soil and the heavy rain soften the ground. the break leaver was bent into and up, had only 1st and 2nd gear.
Each time I dropped the bike while walking it, I had to drag the bike down over the moss as it was just impossible for me to get it upright at the spot.
Was pretty knackered by the end to it, strength and cardio done for the day
Lessons learned:
1. never go off script alone
2. beware of concrete/asphalt for oil, moss/moisture etc.
3. work very hard on my skills off-road before I attempt anything as daft again
4. don't be a dumbass
I wish I had taken some pictures, a video would have been amazing but I was too tired and in the moment to think of it.
Question is, are there any tyres that could have handles this situation better?
On my 2020 himmy, stock like tires, slipped and fell, was deep into the forest, and alone, yes dumb thing to do in retrospect any my lack of skills. I knew I should stop as my rear wheel was loosing traction repeatedly. In all honestly I couldn't because it was steep and I was out of wit, two switch backs later I'm flat on my arse, bike still on the concrete and fallen into the rut thankfully, it was so slippery and steep I couldn't even stand with my shoes, proper dense jungle with loud jungle sounds.
I slipped and fell with my shoes on just trying to balance my own weight. I had to tie my shoes to the handle bar, bare foot it took me three tries to get the bike upright, had to have it at a 70 degree angle to the edge front wheel down slope, while lifting couldn't do it with my back to the bike as it's too steep and slippery, took all my strength, third time I figured I need to get the outside of my calves, then knees, thigh and finally the hip to get it upright. I mastered this as I dropped the bike just walking it inch by inch down the slope three more times.
The dance was keeping it in gear, and inversely engaging the front brake and clutch, there was no way I could even get on the bike. Alone in the forest with recent sightings of a lioness with two cubs, twice I thought I was being followed, probably my fertile imagination, between catching my breath to lift this heavy motorcycle on that slope keeps my adrenaline pumped to get through the situation without calling for help, even if I called for help the conditions were pretty bad, the only ones who could have helped were my old forest friends who were not available when I finally got through with their own problems, I could tell them my situation as they had their own problems to deal with this morning.
It took a while but I finally got to a part where I could ride the rest of the way back down, I think the bike did great, the clutch leaver didn't break inspite of my backbreaker missing on that side from a previous parking stand fail, was on soil and the heavy rain soften the ground. the break leaver was bent into and up, had only 1st and 2nd gear.
Each time I dropped the bike while walking it, I had to drag the bike down over the moss as it was just impossible for me to get it upright at the spot.
Was pretty knackered by the end to it, strength and cardio done for the day
Lessons learned:
1. never go off script alone
2. beware of concrete/asphalt for oil, moss/moisture etc.
3. work very hard on my skills off-road before I attempt anything as daft again
4. don't be a dumbass
I wish I had taken some pictures, a video would have been amazing but I was too tired and in the moment to think of it.
Question is, are there any tyres that could have handles this situation better?
