Day 3. aka "evacuation day"

It was a hell alike hot day, one of those you don't do anything stupid. I boarded the ferry at 13:00 towards the island of Brach, where my roots are, and my family. It is an off road paradise, with plenty different kinds of surfaces, wich is really rare in rocky croatian coast.


I was the first in, to be the first out.



I had some 45 minutes to figure out wich route to choose. I didn't have much time, cause i was carrying a lot of small jars with babyfood , yogurts and other staff in the backpack for my kid. I used everytrail application to find out some new routes. Soon i found only some tracks recorded by mountain bikers. No biggy, i'am with the XTRadical with a pair of mean rubbers.

As i got out of the ferry, i could finaly start enjoying the bike. The roads on the island i know like the palm of my hand, but still i decided to take it easy. Brand new tires, barely street legal and with the pressure of 1,5 bar...nice. Didn't really ant to crash in the first corner.
Woow, what a noise from the Mitas team... The combination of pressure and extreme knobbies is not an ideal for pushing trough twisties, but after all the complaints, i was surprised that it actually wasn't so bad. After few corners i was already on decent pace. The rear slides troughout the corner but in a controllable manner. The front follows my input way better than the rear, while still wobbling around. On breaking i pretty much the same, but amplified.
The excessive sliding of the rear disappeard within 200-300 kms.

Finally i reached the starting point.





God this is something... myS10 feels like freight train compared to this one. In no time i adopted completely different type of riding. Late braking, steering with the rear brake into tight corners,sliding all over the trail...amazing... at least for 10 minutes it was.



As i will found out later,most of the land on the island is privately owned, and some people have sheep's wondering around. To prevent them getting lost, they builded up a wire fance around the property,and also on some points where the fire road passes. You could imagine my surprise when i saw it from only 10-20 meters away doing 60+. There was no way avoiding it, so i went trough it sideways in a S Moto style. That lever was the only "damage"...luckily. Nothing that 105 kilos wisely applied couldn't fix. I'am in the game again...

Here are some pics...






I was already two hours riding, trying to find that mtb trail that i found on the ferry. When i finally did, my fast fire road ride suddenly become enduro, and hard enduro ride. I don't have much pics from this part, because my phone was low on battery, and i needed it for something more serious than recording the track or taking photos.

It was mostly downhill...yeap, downhill on a rocky goat trail. I would say that guys with mtb's did that part with the bikes on the shoulder. Definitely.Too bad i wasn't that smart in the ferry. After 15 minutes i was in the first trouble... that fence i rode trough doesn't even count as trouble.
Last summer almost 1/5 of the island was completely burned in a massive fire. They removed a lot of burned trees, but some just collapsed later on. I had two of them just in front of me. Normally it would not be an issue,but those two where laying just the xtr-s wheelbase apart. I tried everything, except going back, cause i knew there was no way to climb back up.
First signs of dehydration...dry mouth... o.k. time to drink something...did i mentioned that i didn't fill my camel bag?
With the heat and everything i decided to start with jogurt's. After another pack of yogurt, i somehow managed to climb above the trees,standing by the bike,and carefully controlling the power output.
Thanx God for the new Mitas tires.
After a fair share of downhill trough the area called "Pustinja Blaca"(Blaca desert) using all known enduro methods, including throwing bike on purpose one,and some less serious climbing, i managed to reach the sea.




I was a mess... powerless. Yogurts where all finished. I moved on Hipp liquid food... the fruity stuff is a revelation...
I was sitting there on the beach in my enduro jacket, army pants, boots, enjoying my doughters food, while searching for the route on my phone. I don't know if somebody already noticed it on the pic above, but i didn't, and i was sitting there with the help of motion x gps application. The friggin route was there!! There,right across some 10 meters of sea water. I was depressed... water was not so deep, but there were some pretty large rocks on the way to that trail. I decided to try an alternative route i left behind me, some 5kms away. Light XTR suddenly was not so light any more. I barely managed to move it trough those loose rocks.
After some 2-3 kms, and after consulting the map again, i decided to go back and give it a try trough the water. It had to be done cause i was looow on fuel, and that was the shortest way. Before entering the water, i called a friend of mine with the last two percent of battery life. I explained the situation in few words, and gave him an approx positon. I was some 12 nautical miles from home. Oh, yeah...he's a firefighter.

Back to the beach...without too much thinking i entered the water fighting slowly trough the rocks. They were covered with sea grass and thus very slippery.
I managed to get out with the front wheel, but i couldn't get the rear one out. Rocks were just too damn slippery. I stood there holding the bike for some time grasping for air... fugly situation... if i let it go, xtr is in the water... damn...
Suddenly, from the two boats anchored in the bay i saw two guys coming with small tender towards me. Three of us managed somehow too take it out and put it on the trail . I could not take my fingers away from the throttle grip..had to use my left hand to open the fist.
The Dehydration was advancing on me... I asked this two hungarian tourist for some water, and they brought me a big bottle and some chocolate.
After a while i decided to continue and this two guys were looking at me like i was insane.. not far from true thou'.
The trail was a mess... hiking stuff... fallen trees every 20 meters. Those two helped me for the next 100 meters clearing the trail in front of me, until i thanked them and told them not to follow me any more. They didn't pay the charter to push me around.
It was becoming dark underneath the trees, and that made my slow advancing even slower. There was no room for error,as the very narrow trail was on very steep slope. At some points, i had to improvise, coz there was no trail at all. Fu...ing trees were the biggest problem. To get of the bike, dead tired, i had to slowly lay it down on the left side, because there was no space to open the side stand, and on the right side, i couldn't even put my foot down cause of the slope.
The trees laying on the ground were quite small, easy to move, at least most of them. Some i had to cross over with the bike. Did i mentioned the amazing grip of Mitas tires?
I felt alive again...the trail was getting better, larger with less rock's to climb over, less logs... i could actually drive with my boots on the pegs... until suddenly i lost the rear. It was only half meter down the slope, but it was lost. Surface was too loose and it was too steep. Not to mention i was half dead.
I just took the key out, and left the bike upside down some three meters down the slope. I was some 30 meters from the sea level, and it even wasn't easy to walk on that slope. I set on the rocks next to the sea, and waited patiently for the fire brigade to evacuate my crazy arse. After another hour or so, they found me by carefully sailing close to the shore. It was one retired firefighter who lived close to that bay where i was soaking my feet in the water.
He took me to his place while i was waiting the fire brigade to come with the car to pick me up. It took some time cause is all white road.
Beer never felt better in my life. The worst thing of all, the one thing that made me really angry is that old man's house was just 3-400 meters away from where i left my bike. I almost did it by myself...and the two tourist's.

The next morning i came back there to pick it up and take it home. 4 of use and some rope, managed to put it back on trail after half an hour of fight. Yes, it was that steep. I took one photo where i could actually put my feet on the ground.





I wanted to share this early stage experience with you, becuse is something that doesn't happen every day, not with bike like XTR. I rode some hard enduro bikes, and yes they are lighter, but i would probably be in the same situation as i was with our Yammie. That said, with some effort and mods, i see no reasonable obstacle for this bike. I bought it as a something to ride before i decide wich "real" bike to buy. For time being i stick to my XTRadical, and i will continue with the mods... some are already waiting at home.

After more than 20 years riding,i'am still quite fresh in this sort of stuff, therefore comments, suggestions or critics are very welcome.

Btw, cheap jap bike started up in the morning on first tooth. I love it!











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