De-mudding the KTM

The bike is full of mud from the last time I took it out on the Redbird Crest Trail down in the Daniel Boone National Forest.

KTM at Redbird Crest

Step one to getting it cleaned up is to take it to a self-serve car wash to hit it with some soap and water. However, it's currently winter, and water tends to become rather solid at temperatures below freezing, making cleaning the bike a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, the temperatures today were forecast to rise up to a balmy 35°F, slightly above freezing.

parked dirty at work

I bundled up and rode the bike to work today with the hopes that it would be above freezing around lunchtime and I could ride over to the car wash to get it cleaned up without the risk of everything freezing solid before it dried. (Our Kentucky winters are relatively mild; the local self-serve car wash uses warmed water and appears to stay open year-round.)

By 12:30 p.m., it was up to 30°F and the sun was out—that was close enough for me.

bathtime for the bike

After a quick spraydown, I rode bike back home and parked it in the garage. The garage isn't directly heated but it's unusual for it to get below freezing in there.

clean-ish bike

Now I wouldn't quite call the bike "clean", but at least it's not muddy anymore. This weekend I'll pull off the bodywork and start to make sure that everything is race-ready under the skin.

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