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July Wyoming Moto Weekend

moto — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:20:21 +0000

A wet June kept many plans at bay for a proper summer moto trip, but our crew finally got one together in mid-July, starting from Park City, Utah, and venturing up into Wyoming and Idaho. I’m always a little scrambled when we do these trips, trying to get the gear ready for the agreed upon roll-out time. Darth always seems to have his stuff ready to go. This time was no different. With a rather new BMW F800 GS under me which was fresh off its 600 mile break-in service (had it done the morning of departure), my plan was to strap all my gear on the back of the bike in a dry bag. Get home from work, throw the gear in the bag, and strap it on the back. Which normally works fine, but isn’t nearly as convenient as packing all your stuff the night before in boxes. On our first dirt road out of Coalville, Utah, at the top of Chalk Creek Canyon, one of the straps let loose, and I had to stop and redo the whole thing. Would have been easier to take my time and do it right the first time, and would have been a lot easier to throw all my gear the night before into side-mounted boxes. Oh well. The debate will continue over costs vs. convenience, adding weight to the bike vs. keeping it as light and nimble as possible. You get clarity on these issues after a weekend away from civilization. I’ll probably get some boxes. Check out some of the photos below. More can be found on our Flickr page, as well as Darth’s Shutterfly. We welcomed two new members to the crew on this trip, and nearly had a third who was ready to go Thursday night before departure, but canceled early Friday morning. Maybe the photos below will give you guys a taste of why you need to make it on the next one!

Dave’s KLR Test Ride Video

moto — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:27:28 +0000

After Dave sought and attained the necessary approval to proceed with his plan to acquire a dualsport motorcycle (for tips on how to do this, read How To Convince Your Wife To Let You Get A Motorcycle), we planned a half day ride for Father’s Day to get Dave out on a test ride of another friend’s Kawasaki KLR. It’s a tangled web. This video pretty much tells the story:

New Blogroll Link: Twenty Nine Inches

moto — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:39:30 +0000

I was going some serious searchin’ using the Google, and I came across a cool blog dedicated to the Niner way of life. Niners, 29ers, what’s it all about? All I can say is, I don’t know why it’s different, but it is. 29″ wheels aren’t really that much bigger than 26″ wheels, but then again, they are. It’s like on Spinal Tap When Nigel is talking about his amp going up to 11, “this one goes to eleven.” It’s just a little bit more of everything when you are riding a Niner. Anyway, check these folks out at Twenty Nine Inches.

by Jasonwg

How To Convince Your Wife To Let You Get A Motorcycle

moto — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 16:39:18 +0000

This only works for adventure motorcycles, definitely not Harleys, sport bikes, or motocross bikes. But if you really want to get into adventure riding and you don’t quite know how to open the dialogue with your wife, do this. Borrow or buy a copy of Long Way Round, a documentary about traveling the world on BMW motorcycles starring Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charley Boorman. Your wife will want to watch it because it stars Ewan McGregor. That’s the Trojan Horse. That’s what you use to wheel the conversation about getting a motorcycle within the gates of “categorical NO.” As you watch episode after episode, you will imagine yourself being the crafty Odysseus, on a seemingly never ending journey home. Home is when your wife gets to the end of the DVDs, and says, “that looks pretty cool, I bet you’d really enjoy that, honey.” Not exactly a “yes,” but sort of an implied OK. Home is that spot in your garage that you start clearing, long before you have made your purchase, where you will eventually wheel in your new ride. It also can work when you have already had the conversation without a definitive green light, and you are in a sense taking your own “Long Way Round” to seeking your wife’s approval. You waive the element of surprise, because if you bust out LWR at the very end, she will know what you are up to and be suspicious. But it stars Ewan McGregor, you keep telling her. At this point, you might as well be throwing a hail mary pass into the endzone, in which case, this is the only play you’ve got left. So what do you have to lose?

Mongolian Sand Dunes

Darth Nater — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:06:16 +0000

Here is a quick video update from Nato and Ben in Mongolia. Can’t wait for the boys to return and share their photos and videos of this epic moto adventure:

SMS Update From Mongolia

Darth Nater — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:25:45 +0000

Yesterday’s update from Mongolia from Nato and Ben:

“…Day 2 in Mongolia a success. Riding across grassy plains is totally weird but very cool. Saw a large temple complex and also rode to the top of a mountain where we saw trees for the first time since we have been here. Riding sand dunes and camels on the agenda today!”

Confessions Of A Fallen Juicer

moto — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:44:01 +0000

Check out this article in Velo-News, with some confessions and opinions of fallen juicer Bernhard Kohl. Many people might remember Frankenstein climbing his way to the podium in last year’s Tour de France, and winning the Polka Dot climber’s jersey. Nowadays, it seems, the red dots on the jersey stand for the number of times the riders have pricked themselves with hypodermic needles. Kohl reveals details of his transfusions, and gives his opinion that pretty much everyone in the top ten is doing something. On what he was was using, Kohl goes on to say:

“…the blood transfusions were the only “safe” way to cheat during the race without risk of getting caught. Other doping products were used in the weeks and months before the Tour to avoid detection.

“Nothing else, there were too many random controls. Never a testosterone patch,” he said. “Apart from the caffeine, pseudo-ephedrine, painkillers, EPO, human growth hormones, insulin, I took all that before, not during (the Tour).”

Interesting that Kohl describes transfusions as “safe,” to hell with his health, the safety refers to getting caught. In cycling, riding clean to some riders means getting away clean, and nothing more. I guess as we are a few weeks away from the Tour, the distraction of whether or not Lance and Contador will have an inter-team clash will deflect some of the suspicions of which riders are putting extra juice in their morning smoothies. Kohl is an example of someone who went from hero to zero in less than a year, and he’s almost forgotten already. What a beautiful but dirty and cruel sport bike racing is.

Satellite Phone Call From Mongolia

moto — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:35:15 +0000

At about 8:35 PM MST, a call came through with a crazy unrecognizable prefix on the caller ID, which could mean only one thing, Nato and Ben were calling in from the Sat Phone. It was morning there, and the boys were checking in from their luxurious yurt accommodations somewhere in Mongolia. They sounded tired, and I daresay a little sluggish and/or hungover, but that could have just been the delay in the phone transmission. On the first day’s ride, they dodged some rain, but at the time of the call, they were heading out for day 2 of the tour to sunny blue skies. Nato said it was a little colder than he expected, but not too bad. The bikes they are riding are BMW F650 GS models, perfect for the roads and trails there, according to Nato.

Moto Update From Mongolia

moto — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:03:35 +0000

Received this brief update from Nato and Ben in Mongolia:

“First day on the bikes was a success. Long day, but really fun riding. Ben and I slept in a ger (yurt) on the shores of Lake Oggli that is warmed by a toasty pile of cow dung.”

That’s all we get for now. Hoping to hear more from the boys soon.

Got Bike T-shirts In New Colors

moto — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:14:28 +0000

Awesome. We just added some new Got Bike t-shirts to our Cafe Press store. Cafe Press rules. We’ll be adding some new designs shortly, so stay tuned.