Great job Mickey, but do you notice that in the above photo you could have ridden around the left hand side without needing to get muddy at all?

A dirt bike is not needed for that sort of road. I rode around much deeper mud holes/morasses in Zaire in the 1970s on a standard road bike (Yamaha RD350) which was fully loaded for 2 years on the road.

It certainly adds to the glory (and maybe even the fun), in riding through, but it isn't really necessary.

During continuous sections like that I would be riding in just shorts and t-shirt for days on end. Only problem I had was that one day, after endlesss days of mud and loose dirt, I became so exhausted that I lay the bike on its left side and just let the bike rest there ..... until I realised my right leg was resting against the hot exhaust and when I jerked it away it took many layers of skin with it.

The wound wouldn't heal until I reached Makere state hospital in Kampala where the resident physicians pumped me full of enough antibiotics to kill the bugs that had invaded the wound. Whilst there, a local locum took me on a tour of the specimens lab where I saw many horrific specimens of elephantitis and leprosy, as well as advanced cases of what venereal disease can do to the genitals, amongst other organs. Sadly, it didn't teach my early 20s infallible mind the necessary lessons.

__________________
Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman