Ah, I can still hear the popular refrain from two years ago, “we have to follow the science!” Well, let’s see how closely we have to follow the science now that science has spoken on mask mandates: The word “useless” works. I’m not going to suggest we get all snarky about this. If you were […]
Mask Mandates and Fun with Science.
April 2021: “Sri Lanka will become first country to be free of chemical fertilizer”, the Sri Lankan news website News First reported: COLOMBO (News 1st); President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has stated that he will take up the challenge in making Sri Lanka the first country in the world to eliminate the use of chemical fertilizers without…
What a difference a year makes: the green dream dies in Sri Lanka
It’s been about a month since the mandates ended, and we are headed towards winter, which is why I’m trying to get as many things done with the kids while the weather is still good.
It’s normally raining in April, so it’s a bit of a miracle that the local off road tracks are still dry and mud free.
It was my youngest daughter’s second day on a motorcycle, and she spent the day going round the learners track. She did 35 laps in total, before she called it a day. She was riding very consistently all day and is starting to get confident with changing gears.
My oldest didn’t do so well.. We had brought the Honda XR125 along for her to use, which she did, until coming to grief at the start of the B track (a cross country track 6km long (3.75 miles)).
Some other riders helped her out, and got her going again and she rode the rest of the track without a working front brake.
She got a few bruises from the accident (mostly to her pride), which put her out of action for the rest of the day.
The bike itself was OK once I straightened the front forks and unbent everything that was bent… It was still missing a working front brake though, but this isn’t a big problem when riding off road.
It turns out I’m 3 minutes slower around the B track on the Honda compared to our Suzuki. This makes sense because the Honda XR125L is a farm bike, and the Suzuki DR350 is a 22 yr old 350cc Enduro weapon. Interestingly, both bikes weigh almost exactly the same. (129kg vs 130kg)
In the end it was a good day and we accomplished quite a lot, tomorrow is Easter Sunday, and the easter bunny (my wife will be leaving easter eggs all over the house tonight..
It’s been a long 18 months since we have been able to get to this off road track, so we were back with a vengeance in the weekend.
It was my youngest daughter’s first time here, so we organised a hire bike and some lessons from a tutor on site.
She then spent the day on the learners track.
Like her older sibling was, she’s reluctant to use the throttle and initially took over 6 minutes to do one lap around the 1.5 km (0.9 mile) track. That time steadily decreased to about 3 ½ minutes, as she got more confidence during the day.
Meanwhile, my oldest daughter and I went off to try out the ‘B track’ this is a cross country track which is about 8 km (5 mile) long.
She usually leaves me for dead on this track, especially if it’s been raining. She has a natural talent for riding a bike when it’s sliding all over the place.
However, it’s been a while since we have been here and she’s naturally very cautious, which meant a slow start.
That all changed when I over took her, and then she kept up despite my best efforts to get away.
The lack of decent rain around here was a blessing for me, because my front tyre slides around very easily in mud, while the back wheel stays firm. To get around this, I just slowed right down for the occasional puddle.
I spent a bit of time on the B track, and quickly got close to my best time. I can’t go much quicker though, without changing that front tyre to something more suited to off road riding.
That front tyre is good on the road, but not so good off road. It’s designed for 50% road, 50% off road use.
The back tyre is for 10% road, 90% off road. (It’s one of those compromises you get when the bike is used on the road as well as off road).
All in all, it was a good day, and the kids enjoyed themselves.
Uncoffined 
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