Well my dad got a 99 EC200 back in July and hasn't really had a chance to ride it except in the fields around their house. That is until Labor day weekend. I flew up to MI from Houston and we loaded up the bikes (and my mom's blaster) and headed up to their cabin (trailer
) in Marquette, MI.
My brother had his 01 DRZ400, my dad on his 99 EC200, my mom on her 04 Blaster and me...on my mom's KLR250, complete with lugage rack, turn signals and horn. I was given explicit instruction to at all cost do not dent the tank because it's going for sale when they get back. Ok, so keep up with my brother on a 400 enduro bike while I'm riding a 250 DS with DS tires...right.
It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought though. The best part was when we were riding on a trail that followed a power line. We came to a tall hill that had several paths going up it. We had just come down the same hill and were returning. Everyone else climbed the main path following the trail, which was lose sand, gravel and some melon sized boulders. I was the last to go and my dad and brother were sizing up the other paths which were more tacky loam because they thought the sand and rocks were too much for my borrowed 250 with DS tires. While they looked around for an easier path for me I grabbed a handful of throttle, stood up on the pegs and shot up the sandy hill. HA! easy peasy!
We stayed there for a little bit and my brother and I found a sort of track that snaked up and down the hill several times. My brother took the lead and I fell back to take a picture. When I caught him he was off the trail halfway up the first hillclimb. I shot up the hill not realizing that he was on the same hillclimb as me. I though he was up the first, back down again and heading up the second so I kept going but didn't come up behind him. By the time I realized what was going on my dad was already helping him. I got up on more hill but barely and was whooped so I jumped of the track and back to where the others had parked. Man that thing was gnarly, all deep sandy gravel and loose like you wouldn't believe. Fun though.
Overall it was a good trip and my dad really likes is new Gas Gas so that makes me happy. His 200 rips and I was thinking it was actually faster than mine but maybe that's because I had been riding the 300lb 250 KLR all day.