South Olympic Mountains with Dual Sport Riding Club

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Overview

The Dual Sport Riding Club did a Ride Shelton Area/South Olympic Mountians event on Saturday, July 22, 2023 at 9:30--15:00. We met at the Walmart parking lot just behind the AM/PM gas station in Shelton. 9 riders attended. I used this as an opportunity to test the "dual sport" capabilities of my new Kawasaki KLX230S. It was a 100+ mile freeway ride from Vancouver up to Shelton followed by a 100+ mile forest roads ride. The bike performed beautifully. It's not particularly comfortable at 70 mph on the freeway, but it can do the speed. MPG at 65--70 mph is about 56. MPG enthusiastically riding forest roads is more like 85. And the fuel gauge reads empty when one of the two gallons has been used. It starts flashing with about 0.6 gallons remaining.

Shawn led the ride with the usual format of each rider being responsible for the one behind them. You don't make any route change turns until the rider behind you takes your place to signal the next rider; then you can proceed.

The only mechanical issue on this trip was Shawn's KTM 1250 Adventure blew out the aftermarket rear shock putting a lot of oil on his exhaust. He skipped the second half of the ride, taking paved roads home.

The ride was 90% forest and logging roads and 10% tarmac. Shawn gave it a 2 out of 10 on the difficulty meter.

We took a long break for lunch at Lake Wynoochee where Kathi and I had visited last year, July 2022.

Riders

• Shawn on KTM 1250 Adventure
• Rob
• Tree
• Joe Calhoun
• Vernon Smith
• Chris Farish
• Christof Dreyer
• Chris Uhlik on Kawasaki KLX230S

Ride Log