First time Out On The IT 250

by --
(Taft, Ca)

Last weekend I took my Yamaha IT 250 out for the first time into the hills behind Taft CA. My son, Wes, took his YZ 250 and my ex brother in law, Clarence, took his CR 250, I'll call him the Honda fan.

While we were waiting for the Honda fan, we started doing some hill climbing and played some hare and hound. All of that ended when my son fouled his plug after he stripped his gear shifter. It seemed like the fun might be over, but after lunch the homayamis went to the pit house in Taft and fixed the YZ.

After that the action was on again, so we all went out to do some fire roading on the microwave road. This road is Taft's version of Pikes peak. Taft CA has always been friendly to dirt machines, something quite rare in CA. After picking our way through the oil fields of 25 hill we started blasting our way up the MW road.

I was eating a lot of dust and large rocks until they let me by. In my little mind that meant the race was on. I tried my best to use the enduros stability and its six gears to pull away and felt a little of the fire of my youth. I didn't make it to sixth gear but I left them wondering what was happening. Once I stopped my son laughed and said he knew what I was thinking as I disappeared leaving nothing but dust and a shower of rocks.

The road was slippery in some spots and wet in others, but the rocks were the real problem, many were grapefruit size and larger.

The soft suspension of the 'IT' supported my efforts until I felt or "imagined" that I had proved my point. Then it was time for my son to show what the tractor like YZ could do as he took on a hill that no one else dared to even try. It was one of the biggest hills in the area called the microwave. Rocks were shooting everywhere as the bike spun sideways near the top. Wes backed out for a second and lit up the Yami to loft it over the top with pride.

TO BE CONTINUED.........