Yesterday I fired up my KTM 640 Adventure for the first official ride of 2008. With a turn of the key and a push of the starter button, the 640 started right up. I rode from Park City past the Jordanelle Reservoir and descended into the Kamas Valley, through Oakley, Francis, then up Brown’s Canyon and back to the Chevron for some fresh gas. It was good to get it rolling, and the whole time I was thinking about a big trip being planned for May: Utah to the Oregon Coast on the Trans-America Trail. Seems like a lot of preparation will be needed for this trip, and not a lot of time to get it all sorted out. Trying to talk Bart into joining the posse. Darth Nater will hopefully post details soon. Had a brief meeting with Darth and Ben to “plan”, but we really only looked at a stack of maps and ate Thai food. Ben doesn’t even have a bike yet, so he probably has the most preparing to do. If anyone out there in Utah is selling a used KLR, leave a comment here.
Author Archive for moto
Darth Nater sent this video, which immediately sent up the red flag that there might be material with mature adult content. I usually don’t pass things like this on, but I can promise this is worth watching.
File this under “mods” to my KTM. Last fall, I installed two aftermarket accessories to the KTM 640 Adventure. First, the Hepco Becker crash bars from Sommer KTM, all the way from Germany. Their site is listed on the blogroll. Very easy folks to deal with and they stock everything for KTM bikes. As many people know, when you dump a 640 Adventure in the dirt, the first thing to touch down is the corner of the fuel tank, right down near the fuel cock. Heh heh. I said cock. These crash bars were pretty easy to install. Next was the pannier frame, also by Hepco Becker, so I could attach the KTM plastic locking panniers. All said and done, the beast is even more of a beast as I have added quite a bit of weight. I haven’t done any serious tours yet with the panniers fully loaded. Plenty of capacity in the boxes for touring and camping gear, a necessity for longer rides.
This Saturday, I scored my first road ride (cycling) of the year in Park City. It was warm, wet and windy. It felt like a typical first day of March in the mountains of Utah. Squeezed out close to two hours of riding and started to think about getting back in the saddle for some racing this year. Not more than an hour after pulling the Specialized Tarmac SL into the safe harbor of my garage, the temperature dropped, the wind picked up and it was snowing sideways. The next day I skied powder at Snowbird and the thoughts of bike racing along lonely roads seemed to fade away into obscurity. The shot below was taken by a friend during stage 1 of the 2006 Tour of Utah, somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in Utah County, and it reminds me of two places I ‘d rather not be if I have the choice: 1. dead last rider at the tail end of the angry snake. 2. somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Utah County. Skiing spring powder at Snowbird is much more gratifying and better for the self-esteem.
14″ of powder at Snowbird today. Now that’s worth posting.
Sent from my iPhone
Got the Specialized Tarmac SL out for an hour and a half on Park
City’s wet and dirty roads. First road bike ride of the season with
Jasonn Potter. The headwind we were fighting for the first half hour
was a sign of things to come. Later in the day, the temps dropped and
winter came back. Tomorrow might be a powder day at the Bird.
Sent from my iPhone
Today was warm enough that plenty of bike messengers and motorcyclists were scampering around downtown SLC with spring fever. Today I saw Roberto Wray, hair slicked back, arms stretched out on his Harley, cruising down by Caputo’s for a late lunch. Check out Roberto’s website for freelance design. Especially if you like Harleys. Today I thought maybe I could be done with ski season. Today I was thinking bring on the moto season. But tomorrow it might snow.
Rush is by far the most relevant progressive rock band for any adventure motorcycle rider. If you ride and have given Rush a listen and just don’t dig their music, that’s fine. If you ride and haven’t listened, get a copy of their latest studio album, Snakes and Arrows. For me, I have been a longtime Rush fan from a guitar player’s perspective and didn’t develop a real interest in hitting the open road on two wheels until I read Neil Peart’s soul searching saga Ghost Rider. I won’t spoil the story as there is more to it than just riding motorcycles. It’s a must-read. Esteban Frito still has my hardcover copy. It’s what stirred my interest in bikes like the BMW GS 1150, traveling solo around the American west, taking photos and writing about the little stops here and there. When the weather is crap, I can throw in one of my favorite Rush compilations to get me pumped for better riding weather. Good news came this winter when the band announced they would keep the Snakes and Arrows tour rolling this spring and summer. No show in Salt Lake City, so it looks like I’ll be taking back roads, dirt roads, doubletrack and trail to Nampa, Idaho for the closest (but not too close) show. Hopefully they will have front row parking for motorcycles, as I have seen at recent shows.
Mirror Pool
Originally uploaded by itsallaboutthebike
This photo was taken on the way back from Pine Creek Ski Resort, a one-lift operation in Cokeville, Wyoming. Perhaps there is another Pine Creek moto mission in store for 2008?
It’s mid February, and it seems like a long haul between cold winter and warm spring in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. The KTM is up on the centerstand, hooked up to the battery tender, draped with a dust cover. Occasionally, some skis are left leaning against it. Can’t wait to get it out, crank it up and run some fuel through the carb. A crash on the mountain bike last fall resulted in a shattered clavicle and brought my moto season to a premature end. After just watching the sixth and final episode of Long Way Down, I’m getting the bug to get out on the bike. There will be plenty of powder days yet this winter and a few more sledneck excursions with Nato into the Uintas, but I am looking for at least one warm sunny weekend in March to get the bike rolling.