The Zephyr made its public debut at the ZRXOA fall rally at Skeenah Creek. We rode up on Friday afternoon and stayed through the weekend. It was a great experience and an enjoyable ride. After a few stops we ran up one of my favorite roads, highway 60. In the curves, it reminded me of my Ninja, just a bit smoother.
The rally was small but with nice people--they liked the Zephyr--it was fun to talk about the work we've done with people that can understand and appreciate the time it takes to do quality work. We also used the time to reflect on what we'd done so far and what we might want to do to prepare for Barber, pending time constraints.
The first night we had some dinner with the group and relaxed. Paul showed amazing restraint and didn't take the Zeph out for a spin until the next morning. He had a blast running down 60 and back, then we went out for a day of riding. The clouds were threatening but we decided to plow on and keep going in the opposite direction of the heavy clouds. This caused us to take 129 to 180 to Richard Russel. It was beautiful and very few bikes were out, since the potential rain kept people off the roads. After lunch we again used the sky as a guide and headed west towards Turners Corner. Up 129 (I kicked butt!!), through Wolf Pen Gap and north on 60. It was getting late and we tried to stop at a waterfall, but no luck. Just as we were getting off the bikes a family stopped AND it started raining. We decided we'd have to come back another day and bolted back to Skeenah Creek. We'd managed to last all day with no rain until these last ten minutes.
Skeenah Creek has some new onsite managers, and the jury's still out on whether or not they'll last, but Ms. Martha was there and was very gracious, welcoming us to join her for coffee and invited us to dine with them. If it weren't for the uncomfortable vibe I got off the new managers, I would have considered it one of the more comfortable times at Skeenah. Slept well, good coffee in the mornings, a yummy meal, and an amazing setting. We tried to catch up with the previous camp managers (they live close by) but we missed them, so we'll head up there some time soon.
FishyZRX and Stephanie also made the visit to Skeenah particularly nice. They had camp set up and served as a home base. She cooked for us in the morning and he cooked at night. Good times--great people.
Overall, good trip. I was both proud and ashamed of my riding, depending on the moment. Supportive debriefs remain essential. I can chalk some mistakes up to getting used to a new bike and others to feeling stressed (and others to being attacked by a bee, while riding, again!!!!!) I am at my best when I am relaxed and focused on my riding. That's when the tension melts away rather than increases, but it's a fine line since I am hard on myself over just about everything, thus adding unnecessary tension. Looking back, I got good feedback so that's what matters. And, in case you missed it, I kicked ass on 129!
