Last weekend we made a trip down to Vancouver Island to deliver Little Orange Forest Creature to it's new owner, and to meet up with Dave of Gas Gas Pacific to pick up my new Gas Gas 250 EC.  I have a tendency to get attached to my motorcycles, so saying good bye to LOFC was a little sad.  I remember being around 6 or 7 years old and I had to say goodbye to my PW50 after out-growing it, in order to switch to a PW80.  I was upset that I had to say bye to my first ever motorcycle, so my Dad told me to to just "transfer the brain" from the PW50 to the PW80, and then I'd have the same bike in a different form!  Transfering the "brain" of a motorcycle entails holding a metal object (usually a screwdriver) to the spark plug for 10 seconds and then removing the screwdriver avoiding all contact with other metal objects.  At this point, the "brain" of the motorcycle has been transferred to the screwdriver and will remain there until the same screwdriver is touched to the new motorcycle's spark plug for 10 seconds.  Care must be taken to avoid metal contact with the infected screwdriver in order to ensure the brain doesn't get accidentally transfered!  So I removed the "brain" of LOFC on the side of a busy and rainy Vancouver Island road the night it was to be delivered and hid the "brain screwdriver" in a sock to make sure it stayed safe! 

After dropping LOFC off and saying good bye, we drove out to Dave's house.  Saturday was spent getting aquainted with the new 2011 Gas Gas 250 EC that would be my race bike for the 2011 season.  The absolutely indestructable Scorpion Racing Rad braces and skid plate were installed, and a few minor adjustments were made to the bike and we rode out of Dave's backyard onto the Victoria Motorcycle Club property for my very first test ride on "Little RED Forest Creature!"  The ride went really well but I noticed the clutch was fading a bit so we headed back to the shop for some investigation.  After getting back to the shop I realized my mistake: I had forgotten to transfer the brain!!!  I ran to my pick-up to retrieve the magic screwdriver and immediately performed the brain transfer.  The bike worked perfectly after that - coincidence? I think not.  Okay I also  found out that there was just air in the system and swapped the master cyclinder and line with one from another bike, but I doubt that had much to do with it.

The next day (Sunday) a large group of us (Dave's riders) headed for Whiskey Creek to meet up with our friend Jarrett May.  Jarrett puts on the Roots of Doom race and toured us around his awesome trails for most of the day.  I was immediately surprised at the power of the little red bike.  My KTM 250 had great power I thought, but this is a step above.  With the exception of my Dad's Husaberg 570, I haven't had to actually pay close attention to just how far I'm twisting the throttle on a bike in some time!  The Gas Gas had noticeably more power than the KTM.  I'm sure a part of this was because the bike is brand new, and riding at sea level does good things when a bike is jetted properly, which it was, but regardless it was impressive.  Low end power was comparable to my KTM, but once I hit the mid to top range the bike really came alive!  The power wasn't too intense to not be manageable, it was just right, and I felt like I was cheating riding up hill climbs!  I have ridden Gas Gas bikes before, but I had usually ended up leaving with a happy but undecided opinion.  That being said, this was my first time on a 2011 Gasser, and it shined above all else.  People say that when you ride a Gas Gas you can tell that the company comes from a trials background just by the way the bike feels and handles.  I was normally left scratching my head wondering what this mysterious feeling was, but now I get it.  The 2011 felt so nimble and comfortable it literally took zero effort to ride it.  I felt so great on the bike that I quickly gained the confidence to drop it into corners and attack the trails head on.  My only complaint is the stiffness of the front forks.  This being said, if I hit up the McDonalds drive through and packed on an extra 20lbs I might find the forks to be perfect.  A faster rider also may find them better than I did.  When I was pushing the bike trying to keep up with Jarrett and the other fast guys the front forks weren't too bad, but at slower speeds they deflected me a fair bit.  Playing with the clickers helped, but I think for myself a revalve will solve the issue more efficiently. 

The entire weekend was beautiful blue bird skies and supreme single track; riding in dirt was a special treat at this time of the year.  I'm ready for the -20 degrees celcius of Cherryville to become +20 degrees, and I'm ready for the waist deep snow drifts in the Kootenay mountains to disappear now.  Unfortunately the reality of it is that our trails probably won't be accessable until at least mid-April, and seat time on the bike will be almost non-existent until then.  We have a heavy snowfall warning for the next 2 days, and as I write this, massive snowflakes are accumulating outside!  I am foreseeing a possible road trip to McNutt in my near future!