Mad girlfriend was keen to get back out on the lanes, so we spent a few hours this afternoon heading from Goodrington, Totnes and on to Halwell.
Again we stayed the right way up all day long which was a miracle as we had some squirrely moments. The worse terrain are narrow muddy ruts - which even though most people don't like them, taking them 2-up, not standing with a trials-based front tyre wasn't fun at times. Going through tricky muddy water was sketchy too, especially 202-311.
We did conquer a few lanes that many novices haven't been able to manage on their own - but as we all know, a bit of momentum and not letting off will get you up most lanes, even though they can look daunting to the eye. Our main rocky climbs today involved 202-110 and the Harberton steps on 202-147. Both these lanes resulted in a bit of clutch slipping to keep momentum (even in 1st) - but the XR kept going.
Have a friend who lives at the end of one of our lanes and he has a bit of land beside it. Gave Kerry some quick bike coaching and a few minutes later she's riding up and down on the XR. Next thing you know she'll be wanting a bike
People must like uber-quiet bikes going super-slow with 2 people on - even the usual angry/miserable folk on 202-155 gave us smile!!
See its easy to have fun on Devon's lanes, even with a little bike just pottering along. Obviously not quite as fun as unleashing the power of the KTM200 2-smoke (I saved that for Brixton practice track 2 days ago).