Coach Rich's Excellent Adventure
And now for something completely different -- a look into my "other" life, when I'm not SBR'ing or coaching 
I began riding motorycles when I was 19, in Atlanta. I "grew up" sportbiking in the mountains of north Georgia and have north of about 130k miles under my belt of road riding, including a few multi-week solo tours of the US, 2-up trips with Joanne. I started dual-sporting (riding bikes that are basically street-legal dirt bikes) in 2006 and am since about 100% on the dirt, exploring the mountains and deserts of California and anywhere else I can find guys to ride with.
Sept 29th through Oct 6th I rode with 4-6 other guys all through southern Utah. From Mesquite, NV to Moab, covering a LOT of ground in between, just under 1500 miles of mostly dirt roads and trails. We traveled light, credit card camping in hotels, so we wouldn't think twice about going anywhere on the bikes.
Below is the ride report, written by one of the guys on the ride, with pictures from the group. None of the pics are mine because I generally suck at taking pictures when I ride (ie, I don't).
One of the things I like about my moto alter ego/life is that it's about the one place in my life where I'm not in charge, with no leadership responsibility. I founded the local tri club so whenever I show up, people kinda assume I'm going to take the reigns. Same on local rides and runs with friends, as well as here in EN, at camps, clinics, etc. Not a problem, as my head is basically hardwired to fill any leadership vacuum it encounters. But what I dig about the moto thing is I can show up for a ride and just be "that guy on the Husberg" .
So this trip, my first multi-day trip like this with others (I'm usually solo) was a BIG exercise in not taking charge. I had to laugh at myself and bite my tongue a lot, but I generally kept myself busy by "riding point" for the group . My bike is beyond awesome -- stupid powerful, light, blue, and awesome -- I was traveling VERY light (one change of clothes, for the whole week 
) and I was much more fit than the other riders so I would zip ahead to scout trails, sample hard climbs and downhills, sand washes, and then relay stuff back to the group over the radio. Great fun!
Anyway, this was truly a trip of a lifetime and I'm very lucky to have the gig and lifestyle flexibility that enables me to do what I like to do -- explore the world on two wheels, powered or otherwise, and two feet.
My comments about the trip are at the very bottom.
FYI, my "handle" in the motoworld is TwoWheelsGood 
Utah - 2012
The dual-sport/adv riding bug has really set in over the last 5 years or so. Before I had a plated bike, I rode a lot of different bikes out in the desert, the track, in the mountains, & down in Mexico. I just wanted to ride the fastest, jump the farthest, and climb the biggest thing I could. Sadly, I don't think I ever appreciated everything else that was going on around me including the scenery or who I was experiencing it with.
This all started many years ago when I met Chris 'Crawdaddy' Crawford. I joined ADV rider Dec 25th of 2007, and soon learned about the San Diego Adventure Riders. I read about some guys meeting out at Superstition on a weekend in early 2008 and decided to take my newly acquired Yam WR450 out and meet some like minded people. Well, lots has changed since then, and through the dual-sport/adv riding community I have met a lot of really amazing people I will call friends for many years to come. I've really enjoyed being a part of helping others with their rides, assisting where I can, instructing, guiding, helping with technical issues, and doing whatever I can to help other people enjoy the sport as much as I do. I've built a lot of websites for moto related things and really enjoyed what's come out of it. However, nothing really has ever compared to spending 10 days on a bike, out the middle of no where in some of the most beautiful parts of the country I've ever seen.
This is my story...
After having circled the Grand Canyon with my buddy Crawdaddy in 2010, and again in 2011 with Jim and Paul M Bowers, I knew I wanted to do something even bigger. Since the 'Rip to the Tip' was out of the question, the next logical selection for me was something that would take 7-10 days to do in some of Americas most beautiful parts of the country. I decided I wanted to see a lot of southern Utah on my big bike (KTM 620 Adv) that I acquired from Crawdaddy a while back. I've done a lot to upgrade the bike and I knew we were both up to the challenge. Crawdaddy had his annual Bar 10 trip planned for the first weekend in October and I wanted to plan the trip so that on day 8, we'd arrive at Bar 10 and finish out the ride there making it a 10 day trip.
How do you plan a trip like this and figure out if you're going to be able to cover that type of mileage on big bikes? That's the question I have to ask myself when trip planning, and doing lots and lots of research. I spent days and days researching tracks on DualSportMaps.com, asking questions of people in the area, reading the Butler Maps, local maps, and any information I could get my hands on. It's really important to do ALL of the research you can so that your trip turns out well and everyone makes it home safely. Safety is the #1 concern for me on rides as most can tell from the amount of gear and supplies that I carry when I ride.
I've been asked a bunch of times, "How do you get on the invite list for trips like this?" "Why wasn't I invited?" Well, to be honest, if I could invite everyone I would, but the biggest issue with riding is organization and getting people moving at the same time. We started this trip with 7 people and it was already 4 too many. Luckily, this was a good group and we were able to get moving fairly efficiently other than a few mornings that got off to a later than expected start. It really is a lot of work and responsibility being the coordinator of a big trip like this, hoping your tracks pan out and that everyone is having a good time. If you'd like to be invited on a big trip, ya just ask, and that's kinda how it works. There's also a lot of thought on rider ability and how the person will mesh with the group.
The idea:
10 days
1500 miles
No crying
The Plan:
Day 0 - Fri - Drive to Mesquite NV
Day 1 - Sat - Mesquite to Kanab
Day 2 - Sun - Kanab to Hanksville
Day 3 - Mon - Hanksville to Moab
Day 4 - Tues - Moab White Rim
Day 5 - Wed - Moab to Blanding
Day 6 - Thurs - Blanding to Hanksville
Day 7 - Fri - Hanksville to Escalante
------------------------------------------
Day 8 - Sat - Escalante to Bar 10
Day 9 - Sun - Bar 10 to Toroweap to Bar 10
Day 10 - Mon - Bar 10 to Mesquite, then drive home
Day 0 (Fri):
Hi, all! Paul M Bowers here- you can recognize my by my distinctive and stylish orange type. I was off the bike for a couple months- I had a shop remodel- and was truly jonesing for a good ride. I'm pretty picky about who I ride with, and had been anticipating this trip since last year. I posted it on our shared family calendar in RED. I think one of the best reasons to ride with Roger is his complete unhealthy obsession with GPS and routing. I know I don't have to do anything about where we go, except show up ready to ride. Because of that, I stay the hell outta the way during the planning phases. In short, "whatever you want, dear" is the mantra.
The rest of the group were all old riding buddies, and because Curtis and Dan were among them, I didn't even bring a camera. I had updated my iPhone OS a few days before, and discovered (and am now obsessed with) the panorama feature. Watch for it.
San Diego to Mesquite NV
I arranged to pick up Chris 'Covered in Dust' Nelson (CID) at his place and Paul M Bowers (PMB) and Curtis (Fabless) would meet us and we'd caravan to Mesquite.
We darted out and got into Mesquite in the early evening to prepare for our early morning departure. PMB would be driving his vehicle to Kanab UT and would miss day 1 of riding as he needed to get back to SD due to prior obligations and I Know he was elated to have 7 days on the bike. Well, he thought he'd get 7 days on the bike, but more on that later. The rest of the crew showed up to greet us in Mesquite. Dan 'Rigger' Cassidy showed up and brought a buddy without telling anyone. This, ordinarily, would have been a huge problem and a very serious issue. My initial thought was, "Oh man....here we go...." Well, I couldn't have been more wrong and I should have known Dan wouldn't have made the call to bring his buddy unless he was SURE he would fit in with the group and be an asset. His buddy Steve "Plaid" Enger was on a KTM 950 and Dan on a KTM 990. If I had known then what I know now, that would have been a fleeting thought as Steve showed us he was an integral part of the team and I'd be privileged to ride with him again.
I knew I was in good company with Dan & Steve on their bike bikes as I would be on my big 620 as well. Oddly enough, my 620 carries more fuel than any other bike on the trip, which is both a blessing and a curse. It tops out at a beastly 7.4 gallons. So now we're up to 6, and Rich '2WheelsGood' Strauss rolled in and we all jumped right back in the vehicles and headed over to Sushi Masa.
Yeah, I said sushi, and it's in Mesquite NV. It's surprisingly good and decently priced. I don't think anyone had a complaint that night. Little did I know how the decision of 'where' to eat would be a major topic of conversation the ENTIRE trip. Now I know better. Rich told me that he would have to be 'working' on this trip, and I figured he'd be taking a phone call here or there, but no, the guy put his laptop in his backpack and worked like a madman the entire trip. Up at 4am and would spend 3 hours working, ride all day, then 3-4 hours working every night. He's a triathlete coach and takes his business VERY seriously. The guy is legit, and if you're into that kinda physical punishment, he's the guy to see and buy some of his training plans. I gained a whole new appreciation for his dedication to his work and his business savvy.
The crew:
Chris - KTM 525
Paul - KTM 525
Rich - HUS 570
Roger - KTM 620 Adv
Curtis - KTM 690
Steve - KTM 950
Dan - KTM 990
Friday night was fairly uneventful other than dinner and getting some tracks loaded on a loaner GPS for CID loaned to him by PMB. CID's GPS had some issues so PMB filled the gap.
Day 1 (Sat): Mesquite NV to Kanab UT
We got the bikes strapped up, took a few pics, and off to top off the gas tanks before hitting the dirt just south of Mesquite to head down to the Trumbull Schoolhouse, then over Mt Trumbull and north east up to Kanab UT.
Roger, a former member of Cirque du Soliel demonstrates his bike unloading technique.
The first 80 miles is a mix of rocks, sand, washes, and good scenery. There's nothing horribly difficult about this section and is easy for an intermediate rider, but a beginner might be intimidated by a little rocky uphill near the 'lunch' stop and some sand. We all made it through without issue.
Then it was a high speed dirt road up to Kanab, a total of roughly 160 miles on the day. This picture was taken at roughly 80 mph, one hand on the bike, one on the camera, and probably not the best idea.....only live once right?
Top speed on that section for me was 93.1 mph. The bike doesn't have a stabilizer and I didn't want to see if it would go any faster. Trying to keep up with a big twin isn't easy.
Since I was leaving prior to BAR10, I drove that day to Kanab, checked in to the hotel, and rode out to meet the guys on the trail.
Saturday night was one of our better meals on the trip. The Rockin V Cafe in Kanab UT is absolutely amazing. A bunch of us got the Buffalo Tenderloin and it was amazing. Interesting to listen to PMB and CID discuss wine almost the entire time during dinner. I didn't understand most of it so I just ate my awesome steak and drank my Diet Pepsi. Curtis has some pics of that evening which I'm sure he'll post. (Curtis was the official ride photographer as you'll see his pics are 10x better than mine ever will be)
Day 2 (Sun): Kanab to Hanksville
Our tracks for the morning took us East out of Kanab to a dead end, but not before Rich and CID tried to go through a ditch in someone's back yard and got stuck. I rode by on the hill and heard, "ROGER, WAIT, DOWN HERE!" I looked back and saw CID trapped under his bike, in about 4ft of sage brush and rocks. Pulled the bike off of him, flipped it around, and got them outa the ditch and back on the road to find out it was a dead end. I'm gonna give the guy sh*t that gave us those particular tracks later
" title="Happy" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; " /> We had a quick conference on the radios and off we went on highway 89 over to Johnson Canyon Road.
I was following Rich, and took a different line, dodged the ditch entirely- but Rich was stuck in its trap.
A quick pitstop to take off jackets n such...
Then it was off to more dirt on Skutumpah road up towards the Bryce Canyon Airport.
[Bryce Canyon Airport perimeter road - Curtis]
We got gas there by the airport and then back on the bikes headed north east. More bum tracks so we made a decision to just improvise.
Steve had his map book with him that was better than my paper maps which was really nice to have and would prove quite valuable many more times on this trip.
We picked a route and off we went, heading up to 10,500ft on the top of the Aquarius Plateau:
At one point, Rigger's rear tire on his 990 got stuck between 2 rocks so I hopped off my bike and went to assist. I was going to push and he went to start his motor, so I said, "DUDE, don't start the motor or you're going to shoot rocks into my d*ck!!" He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Well then what?" I said, "Lean forward and I'll lift you out". He looked at me like I was insane. I didn't really realize how heavy the backend was but I just got under the rear rack, locked my arms, and lifted with my legs. Picked him right up and over the rock. He would later comment that he'd never seen anyone do that before. I guess all the years of lacrosse and incredibly strong and sexy pale white legs paid off.
Then it was down the hill into Torrey UT for lunch.
[RiggerDan, performing the first of several attempts to tighten clamps. This problem plagued him until he finally got the right tools toward the end of the week. - Curtis]
[Strega, always ready with the right tool, extracts a thorn from PMB's paw. - Curtis]
After Torrey it was some beautiful scenery before we'd jump off the road again:
Gotta have a 'dinger':
We turned north off the pavement and quickly heard on the radio, that we needed to stop:
Curtis got a flat and Rigger is assisting with the valve stem: (Curtis has some of the fastest tire changes I've seen)
Back on the trail with 5 of us as CID and PMB opted to get in to town early and start the beverage consumption early.
Yeah, Chris was getting tired, and I didn't want him to ride home alone and sad.
Pulling into Hanksville UT:
We got settled into the hotel, then off to dinner at a restaurant just off the highway at a campground.
When dinner arrived, Curtis had ordered the Trout and when it arrived, it was Salmon. It was orange in color and smelled like Salmon. He asked the waitress, "I ordered the trout, isn't this the salmon?" To which she replied, "No the salmon is square. That's the trout." We all kinda looked at each other in amazement...
a fine Hanksville breakfast
Day 3 (Mon): Hanksville to Moab
We ignored the tracks we had that would take us too close to the highway, and made our way North East over towards the Green River and up to Green River UT for lunch.
[Convening to get our bearings. - Curtis] Bearings. Would prove to be a problem.
After lunch at a little burger shack (not that great) we were off to Moab via Shaffer Rd and the Potash Trail.
Curtis' bike was having some issues so he and PMB rode in to town to bypass any more dirt as we went down the Shaffer Road to Potash. Sadly, Curtis would learn he needed to take his bike to Grand Junction CO in a UHaul to get his bike worked on =
[I worked on my bike throughout the evening, and much of the next day, with a great deal of assistance from Steve and RiggerDan. We checked air filter, spark plug, and the next day I fabricated a fuel filter from a non-OEM part. - Curtis]
[Built an adapter for the non-OEM filter. - Curtis]
[RiggerDan and Strega help me tie down my bike in back of the Uhaul truck.]
[Arrived safely in GJ, CO. I stayed with long-time friends who lived only a couple miles from the KTM-Harley-BMW dealership. - Curtis]
[Bike repaired two days later, shown here being test-ridden on a dirt mound, with the KTM dealership in the background, and RiggerDan's tire loaded up. The problem? Broken fuel pump. The dealership notified me about the pump too late in the day to overnight an OEM part. Luckily, I did some calling around. Paul at GP Motorcycles in San Diego came through big-time and had a non-OEM replacement pump sent overnight to GJ. I had purchased my 690 from GP, and will certainly be their customer for my next KTM or Ducati.]
Day 4 (Tues): Moab - White Rim Trail
Curtis was loaded in the Uhaul and off to Grand Junction
This all started many years ago when I met Chris 'Crawdaddy' Crawford. I joined ADV rider Dec 25th of 2007, and soon learned about the San Diego Adventure Riders. I read about some guys meeting out at Superstition on a weekend in early 2008 and decided to take my newly acquired Yam WR450 out and meet some like minded people. Well, lots has changed since then, and through the dual-sport/adv riding community I have met a lot of really amazing people I will call friends for many years to come. I've really enjoyed being a part of helping others with their rides, assisting where I can, instructing, guiding, helping with technical issues, and doing whatever I can to help other people enjoy the sport as much as I do. I've built a lot of websites for moto related things and really enjoyed what's come out of it. However, nothing really has ever compared to spending 10 days on a bike, out the middle of no where in some of the most beautiful parts of the country I've ever seen.
This is my story...
After having circled the Grand Canyon with my buddy Crawdaddy in 2010, and again in 2011 with Jim and Paul M Bowers, I knew I wanted to do something even bigger. Since the 'Rip to the Tip' was out of the question, the next logical selection for me was something that would take 7-10 days to do in some of Americas most beautiful parts of the country. I decided I wanted to see a lot of southern Utah on my big bike (KTM 620 Adv) that I acquired from Crawdaddy a while back. I've done a lot to upgrade the bike and I knew we were both up to the challenge. Crawdaddy had his annual Bar 10 trip planned for the first weekend in October and I wanted to plan the trip so that on day 8, we'd arrive at Bar 10 and finish out the ride there making it a 10 day trip.
How do you plan a trip like this and figure out if you're going to be able to cover that type of mileage on big bikes? That's the question I have to ask myself when trip planning, and doing lots and lots of research. I spent days and days researching tracks on DualSportMaps.com, asking questions of people in the area, reading the Butler Maps, local maps, and any information I could get my hands on. It's really important to do ALL of the research you can so that your trip turns out well and everyone makes it home safely. Safety is the #1 concern for me on rides as most can tell from the amount of gear and supplies that I carry when I ride.
I've been asked a bunch of times, "How do you get on the invite list for trips like this?" "Why wasn't I invited?" Well, to be honest, if I could invite everyone I would, but the biggest issue with riding is organization and getting people moving at the same time. We started this trip with 7 people and it was already 4 too many. Luckily, this was a good group and we were able to get moving fairly efficiently other than a few mornings that got off to a later than expected start. It really is a lot of work and responsibility being the coordinator of a big trip like this, hoping your tracks pan out and that everyone is having a good time. If you'd like to be invited on a big trip, ya just ask, and that's kinda how it works. There's also a lot of thought on rider ability and how the person will mesh with the group.
The idea:
10 days
1500 miles
No crying
The Plan:
Day 0 - Fri - Drive to Mesquite NV
Day 1 - Sat - Mesquite to Kanab
Day 2 - Sun - Kanab to Hanksville
Day 3 - Mon - Hanksville to Moab
Day 4 - Tues - Moab White Rim
Day 5 - Wed - Moab to Blanding
Day 6 - Thurs - Blanding to Hanksville
Day 7 - Fri - Hanksville to Escalante
------------------------------------------
Day 8 - Sat - Escalante to Bar 10
Day 9 - Sun - Bar 10 to Toroweap to Bar 10
Day 10 - Mon - Bar 10 to Mesquite, then drive home
Day 0 (Fri):
Hi, all! Paul M Bowers here- you can recognize my by my distinctive and stylish orange type. I was off the bike for a couple months- I had a shop remodel- and was truly jonesing for a good ride. I'm pretty picky about who I ride with, and had been anticipating this trip since last year. I posted it on our shared family calendar in RED. I think one of the best reasons to ride with Roger is his complete unhealthy obsession with GPS and routing. I know I don't have to do anything about where we go, except show up ready to ride. Because of that, I stay the hell outta the way during the planning phases. In short, "whatever you want, dear" is the mantra.
The rest of the group were all old riding buddies, and because Curtis and Dan were among them, I didn't even bring a camera. I had updated my iPhone OS a few days before, and discovered (and am now obsessed with) the panorama feature. Watch for it.
San Diego to Mesquite NV
I arranged to pick up Chris 'Covered in Dust' Nelson (CID) at his place and Paul M Bowers (PMB) and Curtis (Fabless) would meet us and we'd caravan to Mesquite.
We darted out and got into Mesquite in the early evening to prepare for our early morning departure. PMB would be driving his vehicle to Kanab UT and would miss day 1 of riding as he needed to get back to SD due to prior obligations and I Know he was elated to have 7 days on the bike. Well, he thought he'd get 7 days on the bike, but more on that later. The rest of the crew showed up to greet us in Mesquite. Dan 'Rigger' Cassidy showed up and brought a buddy without telling anyone. This, ordinarily, would have been a huge problem and a very serious issue. My initial thought was, "Oh man....here we go...." Well, I couldn't have been more wrong and I should have known Dan wouldn't have made the call to bring his buddy unless he was SURE he would fit in with the group and be an asset. His buddy Steve "Plaid" Enger was on a KTM 950 and Dan on a KTM 990. If I had known then what I know now, that would have been a fleeting thought as Steve showed us he was an integral part of the team and I'd be privileged to ride with him again.
I knew I was in good company with Dan & Steve on their bike bikes as I would be on my big 620 as well. Oddly enough, my 620 carries more fuel than any other bike on the trip, which is both a blessing and a curse. It tops out at a beastly 7.4 gallons. So now we're up to 6, and Rich '2WheelsGood' Strauss rolled in and we all jumped right back in the vehicles and headed over to Sushi Masa.
Yeah, I said sushi, and it's in Mesquite NV. It's surprisingly good and decently priced. I don't think anyone had a complaint that night. Little did I know how the decision of 'where' to eat would be a major topic of conversation the ENTIRE trip. Now I know better. Rich told me that he would have to be 'working' on this trip, and I figured he'd be taking a phone call here or there, but no, the guy put his laptop in his backpack and worked like a madman the entire trip. Up at 4am and would spend 3 hours working, ride all day, then 3-4 hours working every night. He's a triathlete coach and takes his business VERY seriously. The guy is legit, and if you're into that kinda physical punishment, he's the guy to see and buy some of his training plans. I gained a whole new appreciation for his dedication to his work and his business savvy.
The crew:
Chris - KTM 525
Paul - KTM 525
Rich - HUS 570
Roger - KTM 620 Adv
Curtis - KTM 690
Steve - KTM 950
Dan - KTM 990
Friday night was fairly uneventful other than dinner and getting some tracks loaded on a loaner GPS for CID loaned to him by PMB. CID's GPS had some issues so PMB filled the gap.
Day 1 (Sat): Mesquite NV to Kanab UT
We got the bikes strapped up, took a few pics, and off to top off the gas tanks before hitting the dirt just south of Mesquite to head down to the Trumbull Schoolhouse, then over Mt Trumbull and north east up to Kanab UT.
Roger, a former member of Cirque du Soliel demonstrates his bike unloading technique.
The first 80 miles is a mix of rocks, sand, washes, and good scenery. There's nothing horribly difficult about this section and is easy for an intermediate rider, but a beginner might be intimidated by a little rocky uphill near the 'lunch' stop and some sand. We all made it through without issue.
Then it was a high speed dirt road up to Kanab, a total of roughly 160 miles on the day. This picture was taken at roughly 80 mph, one hand on the bike, one on the camera, and probably not the best idea.....only live once right?
Top speed on that section for me was 93.1 mph. The bike doesn't have a stabilizer and I didn't want to see if it would go any faster. Trying to keep up with a big twin isn't easy.
Since I was leaving prior to BAR10, I drove that day to Kanab, checked in to the hotel, and rode out to meet the guys on the trail.
Saturday night was one of our better meals on the trip. The Rockin V Cafe in Kanab UT is absolutely amazing. A bunch of us got the Buffalo Tenderloin and it was amazing. Interesting to listen to PMB and CID discuss wine almost the entire time during dinner. I didn't understand most of it so I just ate my awesome steak and drank my Diet Pepsi. Curtis has some pics of that evening which I'm sure he'll post. (Curtis was the official ride photographer as you'll see his pics are 10x better than mine ever will be)
Day 2 (Sun): Kanab to Hanksville
Our tracks for the morning took us East out of Kanab to a dead end, but not before Rich and CID tried to go through a ditch in someone's back yard and got stuck. I rode by on the hill and heard, "ROGER, WAIT, DOWN HERE!" I looked back and saw CID trapped under his bike, in about 4ft of sage brush and rocks. Pulled the bike off of him, flipped it around, and got them outa the ditch and back on the road to find out it was a dead end. I'm gonna give the guy sh*t that gave us those particular tracks later
" title="Happy" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; " /> We had a quick conference on the radios and off we went on highway 89 over to Johnson Canyon Road.I was following Rich, and took a different line, dodged the ditch entirely- but Rich was stuck in its trap.
A quick pitstop to take off jackets n such...
Then it was off to more dirt on Skutumpah road up towards the Bryce Canyon Airport.
[Bryce Canyon Airport perimeter road - Curtis]
We got gas there by the airport and then back on the bikes headed north east. More bum tracks so we made a decision to just improvise.
Steve had his map book with him that was better than my paper maps which was really nice to have and would prove quite valuable many more times on this trip.
We picked a route and off we went, heading up to 10,500ft on the top of the Aquarius Plateau:
At one point, Rigger's rear tire on his 990 got stuck between 2 rocks so I hopped off my bike and went to assist. I was going to push and he went to start his motor, so I said, "DUDE, don't start the motor or you're going to shoot rocks into my d*ck!!" He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Well then what?" I said, "Lean forward and I'll lift you out". He looked at me like I was insane. I didn't really realize how heavy the backend was but I just got under the rear rack, locked my arms, and lifted with my legs. Picked him right up and over the rock. He would later comment that he'd never seen anyone do that before. I guess all the years of lacrosse and incredibly strong and sexy pale white legs paid off.
Then it was down the hill into Torrey UT for lunch.
[RiggerDan, performing the first of several attempts to tighten clamps. This problem plagued him until he finally got the right tools toward the end of the week. - Curtis]
[Strega, always ready with the right tool, extracts a thorn from PMB's paw. - Curtis]
After Torrey it was some beautiful scenery before we'd jump off the road again:
Gotta have a 'dinger':
We turned north off the pavement and quickly heard on the radio, that we needed to stop:
Curtis got a flat and Rigger is assisting with the valve stem: (Curtis has some of the fastest tire changes I've seen)
Back on the trail with 5 of us as CID and PMB opted to get in to town early and start the beverage consumption early.
Yeah, Chris was getting tired, and I didn't want him to ride home alone and sad.
Pulling into Hanksville UT:
We got settled into the hotel, then off to dinner at a restaurant just off the highway at a campground.
When dinner arrived, Curtis had ordered the Trout and when it arrived, it was Salmon. It was orange in color and smelled like Salmon. He asked the waitress, "I ordered the trout, isn't this the salmon?" To which she replied, "No the salmon is square. That's the trout." We all kinda looked at each other in amazement...
a fine Hanksville breakfast
Day 3 (Mon): Hanksville to Moab
We ignored the tracks we had that would take us too close to the highway, and made our way North East over towards the Green River and up to Green River UT for lunch.
[Convening to get our bearings. - Curtis] Bearings. Would prove to be a problem.
After lunch at a little burger shack (not that great) we were off to Moab via Shaffer Rd and the Potash Trail.
Curtis' bike was having some issues so he and PMB rode in to town to bypass any more dirt as we went down the Shaffer Road to Potash. Sadly, Curtis would learn he needed to take his bike to Grand Junction CO in a UHaul to get his bike worked on =
[I worked on my bike throughout the evening, and much of the next day, with a great deal of assistance from Steve and RiggerDan. We checked air filter, spark plug, and the next day I fabricated a fuel filter from a non-OEM part. - Curtis]
[Built an adapter for the non-OEM filter. - Curtis]
[RiggerDan and Strega help me tie down my bike in back of the Uhaul truck.]
[Arrived safely in GJ, CO. I stayed with long-time friends who lived only a couple miles from the KTM-Harley-BMW dealership. - Curtis]
[Bike repaired two days later, shown here being test-ridden on a dirt mound, with the KTM dealership in the background, and RiggerDan's tire loaded up. The problem? Broken fuel pump. The dealership notified me about the pump too late in the day to overnight an OEM part. Luckily, I did some calling around. Paul at GP Motorcycles in San Diego came through big-time and had a non-OEM replacement pump sent overnight to GJ. I had purchased my 690 from GP, and will certainly be their customer for my next KTM or Ducati.]
Day 4 (Tues): Moab - White Rim Trail
Curtis was loaded in the Uhaul and off to Grand Junction
0
Comments
Very cool.
Get your new sprocket yet?
I wondered about mechanicals on the road. Sounds like one needs to be a pretty good mechanic for bush fixing.
Run out of gas often? A tank of gas lasts less then a day?
Worry about getting injured for the tri thing? Main reason I do not have a motorcycle anymore even though I have a license for riding.
Yep, new chain, sprocket and tires on the bike last night
Repairs: key is preventative maintenance and having everything in good shape before the ride. for all bikes. Picking guys to ride with is key. One guy had signficant problems with his bike getting into Moab. He and a couple guys wasted much of an evening and half of the next day trying to fix it. I said, doode, go into town, rent a uhaul, drive your bike to Grand Junction (nearest KTM dealer), get a hotel room and be at the shop when they open with a crisp $100 bill in your hand vs dorking around with the thing in front of the hotel. Another bike died in the middle of nowhere. Enough of us there to trouble shoot the stuff we could but at the end of the day we ended up towing his bike to pavement and missing out on about half of a great day of riding. And we had to bump start another guys bike every morning. He also didn't have a working GPS so we were contantly keeping an eye on him, ensuring he didn't get lost. Stuff like that pisses me off after a while, considering how much time and money we have invested in the trip.
Gas: my stock gas tank (2.2gal) only gets me about 95 miles. An aftermarket tank for the bike, adds 2 gals, is $750 (!!!!!) so I carried an MSR water bladder of gas on the bike. I'll probably bite the bullet and get the damn gold-lined gas tank.
Injuries: I don't ride when I'm serious about a race. In '11, when racing IMWI, I parked the bike in early May and didnt' ride it again until after the race. But this is equal parts risk and time management -- most dirt biking happens on the weekends and weekends are very valuable in an IM training cycle. That said, I'm planning ~4 days in Death Valley at the end of March (racing IMCDA) and will probably not ride the bike until after the race after that trip.
However, I think people overestimate the dangers of riding in the dirt. On pavement, the road is engineered to eliminate as many variables as possible and therefore allow higher speeds...so when things go sideways, they do so at 45-80mph+ with 4000lb vehicles all over the place. The road, due to this variables removed factor, lulls you into complacency. But on the dirt you can have a blast...at 25mph. And I'm wearing so much armor it's crazy. The net is that I don't really have an interest in road riding anymore, other than to connect dirt roads and trails.
Before:
During:
Ah, maybe when I figure out Career2.0...
Dino, awesome! Get it fixed and I'll meet you out in the desert for some camping, beer, fire, and shooting. What could go wrong?
Trevor, no need to wait. Lots of Cali to explore from your doorstep.
Now thats an EPIC trip! Thanks for sharing the report!
The towing thing is something I would not have thought of.
Gas in a bladder. Hmm. Seems like bikes could be made with tanks with a lot bigger capacity to begin with.
The less injury in the dirt thing makes sense. Kind of like mountain biking may be less risky then roady cycling. Subracting out the cars is a good thing. And the lower speeds.
Anyway, great fun. The best part is you can travel a LONG way and get way out there, very quickly on a bike. I've seen incredible parts of the American west that very few ever see.