Part 1. Home to Moab, Utah
====================
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
------------------------
I finally got the bike done early this morning. I was pretty fuzzy at that
point, having been up and active for close to 40 hours straight by the time I
zonked out. I expected to get a few hours of sleep before the alarm went off,
but as it turned out, Laurie had reset my alarm and called Don that morning and
arranged for him to come to my place a couple hours later than we had agreed on.
So, after having slept through the newly set alarm, my body clock woke me at
10:30 in a mild panic. I then saw the note that Laurie had left advising me of
the new time. So, after a quick shower and some yogurt, I went down to the
garage. Just after I opened the door at 11:00, Don rode up.
We spent a couple hours finalizing my packing and Don's repacking, then we were
off. We had put some stuff in the truck for Laurie to bring to Moab on Thursday.
Still, we were over-loaded--especially me--and the bikes were heavy. Since I had
never managed to do a test ride, I wanted to try the bike out on something other
than paved roads right away. So, we did the typical thing and rode to Monument
and took Mount Herman Road over the Rampart Range. The dirt road was in pretty
good shape, but it took some time getting used to the bike being so heavy and
sluggish.
I have had ridden the old KLR loaded for camping before, and was used to it
being top-heavy, but with the aluminum boxes and big Givi tailbox, this was the
heaviest it had ever been. Making quick leans and fast track adjustments were
out of the question. This led to a few "Oh, shit!" moments, but I managed okay.
Then the first semi-drama occurred.
I was riding in the lead, coming up to a sharp right blind curve. As I neared
the apex of the turn, a big pickup truck came around in my side of the road.
There was nowhere for me to go, so I rode into the drainage ditch, off to the
right. I dabbed with my right foot, which was a bad thing to do with side boxes.
My right foot got caught between the box and the right berm, and it turned my
foot outward. As the bike fell off to the right, my foot was trapped under the
aluminum box and the ground, pointed backward. This was a very ugly position,
and I couldn't move at all. I couldn't lift the bike off me, I couldn't turn to
my right to relieve the stress to my leg since I was still astride the bike and
couldn't swing my left leg over it, and I couldn't pull my foot out. I just
stayed there until Don rode up and stopped to lift the bike off my leg. As I
stood and assessed any damage, I saw the pickup had stopped just up the road and
the driver was watching me hop around on one leg. I wanted to hurt him bad, but
I just waved him away. Off he went. I hope Karma bites him soon.
Turns out that aside from a sore ankle and knee, I was okay. We rode on. After
gas in Woodland Park and a late lunch at Amanda's Fonda in Manitou
Springs, we headed south and west on Old Stage Road/Gold Camp Road to Victor
(more dirt roads). I like this route; it's easy, varied, and scenic. Because I'm
a doofus sometimes, I again got off into the right ditch on a gradual climb. The
bike stayed upright, but was tippy and I had to strain to keep it from going
over. I head Don behind me grumbling about something, and I looked back to see
him trying to find someplace to park his bike where it would not fall off the
sidestand. I kept trying to keep my own bike from flopping over, so I missed
Don's fall. Turns out that he got too far into a lean while parking, and his
bike flopped over in the road. I let my bike go and it fell over onto the right
side box, and I went to help Don. As we lifted his bike up, one of the mirrors
caught the new tall windshield, and the big plastic sheet just snapped in half.
What a waste. Oh, well.
A couple guys in a truck came and saw our comedy act, but they took pity on us
and got out to help us get situated. After getting Don settled, they helped
right my bike and push me out of the ditch. I rode to the opposite side of the
road (better angle for parking) and promptly dropped the bike over again while
parking it. Duh.
We continued through Victor and on into Cripple Creek with further misfortune.
Don hadn't done Shelf Road before, so we took that south to U.S. 50. No cattle
on Shelf Road this time, but we did scare up some mountain goats or female
Bighorn sheep or whatever they were that scrambled up the mountain in a hurry.
We went West past Canon City, then followed a map to a friend's property between
Canon City and Westcliffe. It was late when we got set up and ready to camp, and
the wonderful views were made hazy and faint by low clouds with a blustery
disposition. Don hung his hammock in a canvas shed and I pitched my tent in the
dirt. After a bit of fireside chat, we were ready to call it a day. Wow,
that reflective ADV sticker is really shiny.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
-----------------------
The views were only slightly better in the cold, drizzly morning, and it was
still very cloudy. We were on the road by 07:30, headed for Cotopaxi for
breakfast. We made a short detour through Salida to see if a couple friends were
at their businesses, but both were goofing off elsewhere.
After running up to Buena Vista and finding out that both Independence Pass and
Cottonwood Pass were still closed due to the unusually high snowfall this
Spring, we backtracked to U.S. 50 and over Monarch Pass.
I hit reserve on the bit IMS gas tank at 246 miles, about what I expected. What
I didn't expect was that I only got 13 miles on reserve before the tank went dry
right next to the gift shop at the top of the pass. After hot chocolate, Don
rode back down to a service station and fetched a siphon pump and hose,
returning just after I finally found my own extra fuel hose. More silliness.
I took some of Don's gas and we got down from Monarch Pass to the town of
Sargents, where I topped off. Don had been keeping his gas tank full, but I had
deliberately let mine run down to see how its capacity played out. I guess that
I learned what I needed to know. The IMS tank, due to its thick plastic shell,
has very little fuel left when you switch to reserve. Plus, the bike was too
heavy to lay on its side to get to the few "secret" reserve ounces of fuel in
the right lobe of the tank.
The water level in Blue Mesa Reservoir was lower than I had ever seen it. Maybe
they let it flush out?
We had lunch in Montrose at a nice Chinese buffet.
A couple locals advised us that the Uncompagre Plateau was not yet passable to
anything other than 4-wheel drives, so that plan was also scrapped. We went
south to Ridgeway, then west toward Naturita, intending to find a camp site
somewhere along the way. The San Juans were gorgeous, snow-speckled and stark.
Don was having trouble shifting, and almost got hit by a red convertible when he
pulled out in front of them and then missed a shift and almost stalled out. They
flipped him off and sped past. Turns out that they got in front of me for the
next 20 miles or so.
Locals in Naturita had no recommendation for camping, so we decided to find a
wilderness camp somewhere. We rode on until we found a dirt road that turned off
the pavement and headed into the hills and we went exploring. I wanted to get
far away from the main road so our fire would not be seen, so I blasted up some
rough rocky sections before finding a nice spot. When I stopped, Don radioed up
to me that he had fallen and needed help. I walked down to help him pick up his
bike. I forgot to take a photo of his tired bike, but remembered the camera as
he headed back down.
He had fallen on a steep slope, on baseball sized rocks. We agreed that a lower
camp site would be good enough, so I brought my bike down and we settled into a
nice spot. After we got set, a truck started to come up the dirt road toward us,
but saw us and turned around and left. Don't know what that was about. The fire
chased the gnats away, the weather was cool but clear, and all was well. Don
camped in the open, on a plastic sheet, me in my tent.
I stayed up later than Don did. Took a rare self-portrait.
We were
HERE
Thursday, May 29, 2008
----------------------
We got up at 07:00, broke camp and road up the San Miguel/Dolores river canyon
to Gateway for breakfast. A cool, beautiful ride in sharp morning shadows.
We then took John Brown Canyon over the shoulder of the La Salle Mountains as we
had done last year. A nice ride, but colder than last time.
We got into Moab at about noon, too soon to check into the campground, so we
rode down to Fred's shop (Arrowhead Motorsports) to putter around a while. The
bike rudely tipped over in Fred's gravel driveway when the sidestand dug into
the ground. It's a good thing that Don and I didn't make the common "drop fee"
agreement before we started out. The score so far was three for me, two for Don.
After getting our cabin and getting cleaned up, I called Laurie to add a few
things to the list of stuff that she would be trucking and trailering in later
that night. I found that one of the Rox straps had melted on the muffler, so I
would need a new strategy for that strap next time. On the two-night ride here,
I had also learned that some of my attachment points for the side bags needed to
be altered, and the tank panniers would need to be mounted higher and further
forward to clear my knees. It was all manageable, given time. Some of the cheap
aluminum caribiners that I had used to attach the bags had bent, and I would
need to replace them with real caribiners or other clips.
Both of the aluminum boxes were bent from the tip-overs. I was surprised at how
vulnerable they were. I had to bend them back out to get the lids to fit right.
Surely some of the boxes out there are sturdier than these. The aluminum alloy
in these boxes is pretty soft.
We met several other arriving riders, stopped back by Fred's shop briefly for a
chat with folks, then headed for the Moab Brewery for dinner. Laurie arrived
after midnight, but she got settled in for bed quickly. We would unpack and
unload her bike in the morning.
We were
HERE
Friday, May 30, 2008
--------------------
Breakfast Friday morning was at the Moab Diner. There was a group ride plan for
Friday, and the White Rim Trail awaited us. Don was very leery of his shifting
problems, but Laurie volunteered her XT225 for Don to ride. She spent the day
relaxing, reading, napping, sight-seeing. Almost like a real vacation. We, on
the other hand, spent the day beating the hell out of ourselves.
The group got organized for the White Rim Trail (WRT) and headed out at about
08:30, with 21 riders. Going by memory, I tried to get us to the
counter-clockwise start of the trail, on the plateau near the Deadhorse
Overlook, but my memory on this issue sucks. After I was corrected a couple
times, we finally got started by descending the zig-zags down to the Green
River. The weather was good for the ride. Not too hot. There were a couple more
orientation challenges early on, but we managed okay.
I had my first tip over on a steep, rising turn when the rider in front of me
seemed to chicken out and stopped. I was just leaning and accelerating into the
turn, and I couldn't keep the KLR from tipping over. I had to pivot the bike a
bit before getting it back upright. The KLR still had a couple sets of soft side
bags, but the other luggage had been removed. Still, it was heavy.
I later got hold of some photos of me that others had taken and posted on one
or more of the forums. I hope those who took these images will remind me,
so I can give the proper credit.
Some riders had great trouble in the deep sand areas, and Don seems to have no
knack for it. Even on the XT225, he goes into a wobble and fights for control
when he's in sand. I managed to do a bit better, but I was really babying it
since this bike had to get me to Alaska after this weekend. I had forgotten to
remove the tall windshield (as I had planned), so I considered that to be the
most vulnerable item to protect.
I helped one rider get her bike out of some sand, first by helping push and then
by riding it out. She was pretty tired at that point. She was too short to get
her legs down to paddle-foot her KLR250 through the sand, so every time she had
trouble in sand, down she went. I even got one photo of her in a sandy
mid-crash. (She is a good rider; the sand just caught her wrong.)
This sand area was very deep, and caught several riders. One guy dumped his bike
on his leg and the footpeg tore a hole in his calf. Some first aid on the trail
and a few stitches later in the day and he was all fixed.
I had coached everyone at the start of the ride to not bunch up, yet I made that
mistake myself while riding through some sand behind Don. He had his usual fall
and I wasn't able to stop in time and ran my front tire into his back. I will
always feel bad about that, but I'm glad he wasn't injured from my error.
We made several stops as a group, including one long group lunch/photo stop. The
faster riders were taking off early, and Don and I soon followed. We caught up
with some of them and rode as a small group for a while. Murphy's Hogback was
easier this time, going downhill, as was Hardscrabble Hill.
The climbs up the other sides were still challenging. I decided that either way
you go on the WRT, it will be a different experience and equally adventurous.
Last year, we had done the WRT in the opposite direction, but I had apparently
blocked out huge sections of the trail from my memory. In the last third of the
WRT, almost none of it seemed familiar to me. We were on the right route, but
coming from the other direction had been a completely different experience. I
had forgotten about the seemingly endless miles of rough, pot-holed rocky road
that battered and shook us to pieces (literally). Straps on the side bags had
torn loose and clips had broken and bent. I used a length of nylon rope (from my
stash in one of those side bags) to tie the bags to the bike and keep them from
flopping around.
Don somehow managed a fairly high-speed crash on the XT225. I came up behind his
debris field, saw the tire skid marks and the gouges in the rocky trail. The
evidence led right up to where he was still laying next to the bike. He was
okay, despite the battering, and the bike had only minor damage. He got back up
and we rode on.
It took us almost ten hours to complete the WRT, same as last year. With a much
smaller group, and fewer and shorter stops, it could easily be managed in 6-7
hours (assuming no catastrophe). We had expected to siphon gas from my big IMS
tank for the XT225, but the smaller bike did the whole WRT, over 150 miles, on
one tank... without hitting reserve! That was over 75 miles per gallon!
Goodness! We headed for camp to collect Laurie and learn about her lazy day.
Later, we learned that one of the riders had suffered a severe ankle injury on a
fall, and a couple bikes had broken their footpegs off. Been there, done all
that.
At Fred's shop, we hung around for the drawings, and we each won something.
We headed back to camp for a group meeting of the WRT riders (and more gift
drawings). I had my "Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia" t-shirt for people to sign, and I
promised to wear it into the Arctic Ocean and again at the southern tip of South
America.
Later, we hurried into town for dinner at McStiff's, then back to the cabin to
spend some time in a coma.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
----------------------
We changed our initial plans for the day after deciding we needed an easier day.
I was done with challenging riding, Don agreed, and Laurie needed some easy
riding for her part of the adventure. We had breakfast at the Jailhouse (as good
as it gets) and later set out for Hurrah Pass on the Kane Creek Road.
It was a bit challenging for Laurie, but she did great. One big sand pit bit
her, but she motored on. She did great with the rocky bits, and developed enough
confidence to get over some stuff that I thought would intimidate her too much
to try. I took photos and some video while Don coached Laurie through some
spots. The helmet radios were good for this.
At Hurrah Pass, I'm sure Laurie felt victorious. The scenery was good, too.
Don was still having some shifting problems, and it suggests a transmission
problem (since we later ruled out just about everything else). We'll try a
clutch rebuild later in the summer before sending it to the shop for work.
From Hurrah Pass, we turned around and returned the way we had come. I had told
a couple other riders that we met on the trail that I would be late to the
planned tech session at Fred's shop, so I didn't hurry back. After we had made
most of our return trip, I left Laurie and Don to manage the rest on their own
and I buzzed ahead to the shop. It turned out that a few riders who had planned
on my help (doing valve checks and other work) weren't there, so I puttered
around helping other people with various projects. Don arrived a bit later, and
Laurie followed in the truck with my tool bags. When we were done tinkering, we
returned to camp for showers and comfortable clothes. Another trip back to
Fred's shop for another round of gift drawings (we each won something again).
Don and I met one of our former co-workers at the shop, and we chatted with him
for a while. Later, we chose a Thai restaurant in Moab for dinner.
Back in the camp, several riders were watching helmet-camera footage of the WRT
and other rides that they had done that day. Don and Laurie zonked out, and I
soon followed.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
--------------------
We slept in late, since there were no group plans. Most of the riders were
headed home that morning, and we said our good-byes to those we saw. We had
breakfast at a hotel restaurant that had old photos of Moab, including
behind-the-scenes shots of John Wayne during the filming of "Rio Grand" in the
Moab area. We did some shopping in town, finding some useful things in Gearheads,
an outdoor sports shop.
We then decided to ride Onion Creek, which Laurie had heard a lot about. The many
(shallow) water crossings had made her apprehensive, but her ride the previous
day had improved her confidence.
Laurie made the ride up Onion Creek with no problems, and even had a few
celebrations along the way. We posed for a photo at the top, and I took some
more photos and a few videos of Laurie and Don on the way down.
Unfortunately, I
had the camera set to a low resolution when recording video. Fellow riders will
find all this a bit tame, but family members will get a kick out of
it. Laurie in the lead, with Don following.
(Sorry, the following video clips just won't run right, so you have to view
them from where they are hosted on Photobucket. It's always
something... Just click the link as you normally would, then click the 'Back'
button after viewing it.)
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/SgtMarty/2008%20CMC/?action=view¤t=MVI_1494.flv
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/SgtMarty/2008%20CMC/?action=view¤t=MVI_1491.flv
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/SgtMarty/2008%20CMC/?action=view¤t=MVI_1487.flv
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/SgtMarty/2008%20CMC/?action=view¤t=MVI_1485.flv
I caught her one biff on video; coming down a sloping road into the creek
crossing where she hit a rock or something under the water and came out of the
water on a bad line. She ran into the hill alongside the road, and made a cloud
of dust. Nothing worse than that. After I got the bike off her foot, she rode
on.
http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y265/SgtMarty/2008%20CMC/?action=view¤t=MVI_1496.flv
Back near Moab, we took a side route to see some petroglyphs in the rock face
along the Colorado River. Don and I had seen them, but Laurie had not. It was
hot, and we needed ice cream after that. To the Moab Brewery for an early
dinner, then back to camp where Don and Laurie got packed up.
I sorted through the things I had brought and the things that Laurie had brought
for me, and made my final choices for things to take with me to Alaska. The
semi-mesh jacket was the worst choice I made. Once I was out of Utah, it was
never again warm enough to wear by itself, and I pretty much always had the
heated liner under it and the rain jacket over it as a wind barrier. The
Aerostich Darien jacket would have been a better choice.
I had two digital-card based video cameras to choose from, and I chose the
better of the two to take with me. Unfortunately, I should have tested it first,
because when I tried to use it a few days later, it was dead. The other one
probably worked. Bah!
I carried another video camera kit, still in its box, but I had never used it
before so it was a total gamble. It was a good camera (if it worked), so I was
prepared to experiment with it along the way. I sorted through the clothes I had
packed, and sent some home with Laurie, but I still ended up taking too much
stuff with me.
We said and hugged our good-byes, and after Don and Laurie had left I did some
maintenance work on a few things, then I walked down to the movie theater for
the new Indiana Jones movie. I was reminded yet again that more digital special
effects does not make for better movies.
Monday, June 2, 2008
--------------------
I registered for another night in the cabin after deciding that I needed to
spend an uninterrupted day working on the bike. I spent about ten hours fixing
the panniers and side bags on the bike. I made several walking trips to
Gearheads for nylon straps, buckles, caribiners, more heavy sewing twine, and
other bits to make the necessary repairs and upgrades. The stitching on the bags
was vulnerable at every seam and strap attachment point, so I re-attached the
torn straps and reinforced each of these areas with the sewing awl and waxed
twine.
I then re-did some of the strapping, adding buckles and clasps to several places
so that I had more flexibility with securing the bags and removing them. I
worked from a plastic lawn chair that I kept moving around the bike every half
hour or so. Without company or distraction, I got everything done by 19:00, and
then did some pre-packing.
I showered and dragged myself over to the Brewery for dinner, several beers, and
the 2nd and 3rd overtime periods of the Stanley Cup game. Back at the cabin, I
spent a couple hours online, but the wi-fi connection at the campground was
slow, so I only managed to get a little done.
Tomorrow, I'll ride north.
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