240 Mile Ride

[gyjoe]

I had been wanting to go for a long ride, but hadn't had the chance until yesterday. Actually, I wasn't planning to do it yesterday either due to a good chance of strong storms, but I thought I would go for a little ride and head for home if it looked like rain. So I hopped on the Lifan and headed north on Hwy 65 near Nashwauk. The weather looked good and I felt like a long highway ride. Thirty miles later I was in Togo, MN--a "town" with about five houses and a little bar. So far so good. The bike was purring along nicely. I headed west on Hwy 1, which is a picturesque road twisting and turning through dense pine forests. Another 25 miles and I was in Effie, MN population 130. Towns in this part of the state are few and far between, and traffic on the highways is extremely light. To keep vibrations down, I ran about 10 mph below the speed limit. I dodged one rain shower by going north on a county blacktop through Craigville--a dot on the map, but I saw no town there when I went through. I worked my way west to Hwy 6 and turned north toward Big Falls and into Koochiching county (the home of Rocky and Bullwinkle) This was a 35 mile stretch of nothing but woods. A cell phone does nothing here other than serve as a wheel chock, so I was hoping the little China bike would keep going. By this time I had my mind made up to ride to International Falls. After I had ridden 90 miles, I finally had a car come up from behind and pass me. I rode on to "The Falls" where I pulled into Menards home center and checked my chain. It was a little too loose for my taste, and I realized I had not brought the right size wrench, so I went inside and bought one. I tightened the chain as well as a few spokes, gassed up the bike and headed back south. This time I turned off at the town of Littlefork and took Hwy 65 south through the Nett Lake Indian Reservation. This is one of the most remote highways in this part of the state. There were absolutely no houses or buildings of any kind for over 40 miles. I met two vehicles in that stretch. A breakdown here could mean a very long walk! I kept going, enjoying the beauty of this wilderness area, and trying to keep my mind off my rapidly developing case of "butt-itis." Before I knew it I was in Togo and then Nashwauk. After converting my odometer reading from it's somewhat-close-to-km reading to actual mileage, I realized I had travelled 240 miles. I was anxious to look the bike over to see if I had lost or broken anything. I had noticed a little vibration on decelateration, but not enough to be sure. And yes there was one casualty--the long motor mount bolt at the upper rear of the engine case had snapped off (not unusual with these bikes, judging from the experiences of some others). To date that is the only fastener I have broken or lost. All in all it was a great ride. I just hope the nerve damage to my butt isn't permanent.

[katoranger]

That has to rank as a longer ride on a china bike. Most little towns in Northern MN consist of a few houses a bar. If no bar it is not a town.

Allen