What do two Utah ski industry marketing guys and neighbors do when it’s Indian Summer in a ski town like Park City, Utah, on November 1, with opening day less than a month away, and nobody is booking expensive ski vacations because the nation’s economy is in the crapper, and people are losing their jobs left and right, and a graph of the last 60 days of the swings in the stock market looks like a topographical map of the Rocky Mountains, and the only thing that can save us is a big snowstorm, and we’re not even really sure that will get people to start booking expensive ski trips to Utah? What if those two same guys drank a brazillion (that’s George W speak for a shitload) beers the night before while their kids were out collecting little bite size candies from neighbors and/or perfect strangers, which means doing anything productive around the house with a hangover is pretty much out of the question? Why, go for a single speed mountain bike ride in our backyards, in Round Valley, of course. Thanks, Jay, for kicking my butt and exorcising the liquid devil right out of my bloodstream. Let’s hope the temperature drops, the snow starts to fly, and that’s the last good and dry mountain bike ride in these parts until after ski season.
Jay Burke, holding the Round Valley Trail, Park City, Utah. Photo by Moto.
Testing out the Wordpress iPhone App, live at the Salt Lake City premiere of Warren Miller\’s Children of Winter ski film. Stay tuned!
I finally got around to having a new Dunlop D908 Rally Raid rear tire installed on my KTM 640 Adventure. I took my rear wheel off and had the folks at Summit Honda in Park City do the honors of installing it, well worth the service charge to have someone else do this. Even with a tire stand, these things are torture to change by hand. The new D908 RR was replacing a worn-out Dunlop 908 enduro that served me well during the Trans-America Trail trip, but was toast after 2,000 miles. The center knobbies were flattened and squared-off, probably from all the pavement on my return trip. The D908 RR is big, fat, and nasty, and I was itching to get it in the dirt. After a day of mixed pavement, loose gravel, some sand, a few minor stream crossings, and lots of dry and rocky mountain riding, I can say that I am optimistic I have found the perfect rear tire for this bike. I hope it will last a lot longer than the previous Dunlop, and it should, as it really was designed for the bigger 950/990 KTM adventure bikes. Now the challenge will be to find the perfect front tire. Rumor has it the matching front has a super aggressive tread pattern that is not too road friendly. The D606 currently on my front is due to be replaced soon, so I’ll give it a shot and see how well it matches. For KTM 640 Adventure riders out there: don’t waste your time with anything else.
The Dunlop D908 Rally Raid on a KTM 640 Adventure.
Massive center knobs hook up really well in loose stuff.
There’s still some patches of snow in July in the Uinta Mountains.
After returning from the Trans-America Trail trip, I had very little desire to touch the KTM let alone ride it. It was a reliable steed that saw me through some good times and some trouble, so it was nothing personal. Part of it was that last day from Burns, Oregon to Park City, Utah all on the pavement. Seemed like my wrists and hands were still buzzing after a week. Also, the bike needed some maintenance. My Dunlop D606 front tire and D908 rear were totally hammered, both from the aggressive and sometimes rocky off-road riding, as well as the road riding. My rear sprocket is worn to the point of replacing, and I decided to have the dealer do the 2nd big service, because it involved a bunch of things over my head, like checking and adjusting the valves. The head KTM mechanic at the Edge Motorsports, Victor, seems like a really good dude, passionate and knowledgeable, and most importantly, certified by KTM. They did forget to rebuild my clutch master cylinder, which is one of the main reasons I brought it in, but that wasn’t Victor’s fault. The service guy who wrote my ticket must have spaced it. That’s about it for the boring maintenance report. While I was picking up my bike, I just had to check out the new KTM 690 Super Enduro and ponder how it would have performed out there on the Trans-America route. No windscreen might have been tough to handle, but with enough room on the tail for some soft bags, this thing looks like it would have devoured the dirt.
3/4 view of the new 2008 KTM 690 Super Enduro. Big, bad, dirtbike. I like.
Keeping the posts updated on the road proved to be a challenge. Until I have a chance to go back and place images in the context of the posts, you can see a sampler of photos I took with an iPhone on Flickr:
Moto’s iPhone Photos
When Darth and Obi-Ben return to civilization, we’ll upload some of their shots and video.
In Chicago at a work conference, discussing e-commerce with other travel and tourism marketing professionals. Listening and observing, and wondering if some of these folks feel like they are trying to catch and hold on to a greased pig, that’s the analogy I think of when I hear folks ask questions relating to how they might “monetize social media” and the like. And the greased pig squirts off into the corner, and then someone else tries to catch and hold it. I learned today that in the Social Media Ladder of Technographics, I somehow qualify and fit the profile of Creator (because I started this blog). I learned the online travel industry, generating $112 billion dollars in sales a year is the largest segment of e-commerce, porn notwithstanding. Talk about monetizing something. The truth is, most of the time, I was thinking about the upcoming Moto May-hem trip: Utah to Port Orford on the Oregon Coast, following a mostly off-road route called the Trans-America trail. I had a call with my master Yoda, Bart to discuss new tires for the KTM 640 Adventure. I have been reading reviews online for dualsport Pirelli tires, Metzelers, and Dunlops. My bike is currently equipped with Metzeler Enduro 3 Sahara tires, front and back. The reviews were inconclusive, so it was good to get some direction from Bart. Based on his advice, I am going to give the Dunlop D606 tires a try. Stay tuned for a full report after I get them mounted.
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.
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.