Post your Day Rides Here!

[Gravel Guy]

Yep, such as Don flying down under, buying a F650GS single and putting 30,000 miles on it exploring Australia.

Gravel Guy, please tell us your impression of the Royal Enfield. I'm thinking I'd like sure enjoy riding one.

Lee,

The Enfield comes across as a real gentlemens bike. Not a tall bike, but plenty of room for me. I love the solid appearance of the bike and it feels real solid on the road, too. Comfortable, very easy to start (kick or electric), I guess a few years back they unitized the engine and gearbox.....shifts and rides like a dream. This bike has a factory British exhaust, so I loved the sound too.....not overloud though....handling is as good or better than my KLR with a 17 front wheel....the owner wanted me to emphasize that this bike is not a super fast race bike and not for everybody.....but I could definitely see me on one....I can't imagine the keihin EFI will give anybody troubles....and the owner is getting 70+mpg! What's not to like?

 

[Downs]

Went up to Kernville for a long weekend for the ADV WARPED rally.

Pictures in no specific order

My buddy Ted with my new friend Mike. (Ted is in the pink shirt)

Parked at trail of 100 Giants after riding though 40 degree misty rain and fog so thick you coudln't see the tail light of the bike in front of you.

My buddy's Girlfriend Nicole standing inside of a Giant Sequoia.

At Peppermint Falls

Kern River after the ride with the Woman's dogs. Post ride beer in my hand

On top of a Forest Service Road at the peak of some mountain overlooking the Kern River Valley.

Saturday after the ride I went back got the Girl and the Dogs and loaded them in her Honda Pilot and went back to Peppermin Falls

Pre-Raffle Drinks

Saturday Lunch at the Kern River Brew Co. My bike is the camo one on the corner of the building

Next years event organizers who were Voluntold for the event

 

[mr-roboto]

The River Road as we all know it is a spectacular ride through lush, twisting river valleys through red and purple rock rising to 1000 feet above the Rio Grande River. The road is an excellent motorcycle road; twisting and dropping to the canyon floors along the Rio Grande river. You ride through the Bofecillos Mountains formed by two ancient lava flows to the “Big Hill.” At a 15% grade it is the steepest of any regularly traveled Texas highway. I did this route earlier this month and yes, it was hot at Santa Elena Canyon....I saw almost 110 degrees on the thermometer.



RB

 

[SL350]

I bet the low in the morning is 80 on River Road. Wonder if the trails are still mud?

 

[StrokedNBored]

Had to go to my cousin's wedding in PA, so i decided to take the bike.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=d89055787d76379b9

I made a slight detour on the way back home for some twisties.

1 of these is not like the others:

Some pics in motion (I haven't bought any yet)

 

[mr-roboto]

Brian,

You're the endurance king of TWTEX.

I think it's time you consider THE Iron Butt. Once you work out the routing challenges and practice smaller rides like the CCC IB version, you could place in the top 20 for the 12,000 miles in 2 weeks challenge.

How many miles do you have on the TKC80s?

RB

 

[mr-roboto]

I bet the low in the morning is 80 on River Road. Wonder if the trails are still mud?

I don't know about the mud, but the past few months the large amounts rain has made riding in the state some of the best in many, many years. The temps never exceeded 85 except on the River Road in the afternoon.

Drought monitor image from here. - barely any dry conditions in the state.

 

[StrokedNBored]

Brian,

You're the endurance king of TWTEX.

I think it's time you consider THE Iron Butt. Once you work out the routing challenges and practice smaller rides like the CCC IB version, you could place in the top 20 for the 12,000 miles in 2 weeks challenge.

How many miles do you have on the TKC80s?

RB

Thanks Fred, I don't claim to be an endurance "King" - i just usually have limited time to get to far away places and back.

I've been thinking about signing up for a few short-duration rallys to get some routing/riding/bonus location experience - Maybe later this year to see how it goes. Rallying is not the same as just riding a long day in the saddle.


The front TKC has about 3500 on it now - looks pretty good for how much slab its seen. I'll get some dirt on it later this month hopefully.
The rear is a Tourance with about the same on it.

 

[The Bruce]

Summer trips with a few rides

After retiring from the FD with 30 years of service my wife and I have been on the road or the last couple of weeks. Of course the bike came with us. I'll post a few picks of the rides we've been taking. This is our setup as we were leaving home.

The first time we were able to go on the bike was while staying in Prescott AZ. We took a day and rode up to The Grand Canyon. A few pics.......

Trust me, my jacket is lime green. It's just so bright it overwhelms the cameras meters and shows up yellow.

Next stop was Tehachapi CA to visit my nephew. Not moto related but he works at a company fixin to roll out a new civilian airplane. Production model #1 will be delivered at the Osh Kosh fly in. Icon is the company; this is the product....

We are currently parked in Groveland CA outside Yosemite. Our rig is too big to get into most national park campgrounds so we have to go private. The benefit is full hook ups with WiFi that is allowing me to make this post. My sister and her family are staying at a site in the Yosemite Valley so we have been commuting in to visit with them and see sights. About an hour and half ride each way with good traffic. The roads are awesome fun and the sights amazing.

More to follow later as we tour the northwest US.

 

[sodapop]

Bruce, very nice report.

 

[M38A1]

Thanks, Bruce!

 

[Gravel Guy]

Bruce, very nice report.

Thanks, Bruce!

+1....good to see your smiling mug!

 

[Rman of 237]

Great pics.

 

[The Bruce]

I've found a couple more from Sandy's FB page. Yosemite is really breathtaking.

She actually squealed a bit when I ducked to the side so she could see this view of El Capitan.

From Galcier Point.

Plan to ride over to Hetch Hetchy in the morning. It will be out last day before moving on.

 

[Downs]

San Diego Adventure Riders "NOOB"/Bike Bike ride in Cleveland Ntl Forest around Alpine, Ca.

Lots of graded high speed road

Some loose semi steep stuff

3 flat tires on the plated dirt bikes

Some pavement between the dirt spots

Some more high speed dirt. I need to work on my transition from pavement skills to dirt skills it takes me a few miles on each before I revert to dirt or street skill set.

Rear wheel spin

Loose downhill stuff

Group shot at one of the trail heads.

Awesome views

Waiting to gather everyone back up on a pavement section

And of course airing out the Strom a little bit.

 

[Jeff S]

Those look like some fun dirt roads!

 

[Downs]

Evening ride with he local Adventure group. It's the two wheels two brews sunset ride. I brought two wheels and one brew though. Have a beer watch the sunset head home.

 

[Downs]

Went up and rode Palomar Divide to the fire lookout tower today.

The group I went with is a 4x4 group but with gas being 4.40ish a gallon here I decided to ride the bike instead. Jeep is averaging 13.6MPG right now. Bike is averaging 47.8 MPG. Easy call there.

If you look close you can see 2 4x4s in the background

An active fire lookout tower.

After we got done there I rode back into San Diego for the San Diego BMW Grand Re-Re-opening.

Some decent older German bikes there

Scooter with a sidecar

They actually did a really nice job opening the place up. I'm impressed.

 

[SL350]

I really need to get out and do some riding like that. What were the CA temps?

 

[Downs]

I really need to get out and do some riding like that. What were the CA temps?

It can vary wildly. It was mid 80s by the time I got back down to the valley floor. Up on the hill was in the low 70s. Not even a hour fro that spot it's over 100 during the day. Where I'm living right now is mid high 80s most days right now but less than 20 miles away at the base it's low 70s most days.

 

[Gravel Guy]

Well,
The family and I spent the last week in Pigeon Forge, Tn, and I got out on several beautiful day rides, including hwy 129 in TN/NC on my longest day.
http://xtremesportsphotography.photoreflect.com/store/Orderpage.aspx?pi=0QAK0215040025&po=30&pc=503

I started out in PF, headed south on 441 to 73 west/Laurel creek to Cade's Cove, and then took the primitively maintained Parson's Branch (highly recommended!) south which enters hwy 129 about 7 miles north of Deal's gap. I rode north until the curves quit, and then back south through Deal's Gap and east on hwy 28 (the Fontana hwy or the moonshiner's run, depending on your cylinder configuration and the amount of chrome you polish!) to HWY 74 and HWY 19 up through Bryson City and Cherokee and back to 441 north through the GSMNP and PF. A few notes, observations:

Parson's branch is closed in the winter, and ONE WAY N to S once it leaves Forge Creek road. There are multiple water crossings on this stretch, so be prepared, and have fun!
The Tail of the Dragon really is a nice road, all hype aside....but any number of Arkansas or Missouri roads are just as nice, and longer than 11 miles. I wouldn't make a trip just for this short stretch of road.
The mist and fog coming off or Lake Cheoh at 9:30 am was just breathtaking.....much of the road is maybe 15 feet higher than the water surface, so the perspective was that of no water at all.....but a lake full of clouds...never seen anything like that!
If you get off on the few forest roads that are available, watch the deeply shaded areas very carefully for mud not yet dried up from the last rain.....let me just say I am thankful for having changed my 17" front commuter tire back to a 21" 606 for this trip.....

 

[_RG_]

Enjoy!

 

[SL350]

GG, where is the CT photo?

Great ride!

 

[Gravel Guy]

GG, where is the CT photo?

Great ride!

We went on a local gravel road ride yesterday, maybe 20 miles, with 3 miles of pavement. Mason dropped the 90 on our driveway, in about 6" of sand.....but had it picked up by the time I got back to him. I'm starting to feel guilty for letting him ride the bike without a title, registration.....but this is rural Texas and I do know most of the local LEO's.....and we are sticking to very isolated gravel roads.....Mason got up to 45MPH in top gear and said that he can go no faster, I suspect the carb cable/ linkage could be tightened up.....but I'm going to leave it the way it is for now.......

PS, we ARE working on a bonded title....waiting on a response from the state...

 

[SL350]

Last time I did it, the title of a non titled, I did the Vermont thing on the SL350 I ride now. I sent $75 off to Vermont and got their plate. Didn't drive much, just once in Arkansas and OKlahoma and a few small rides around here. When the registration came up for renewal I took it to the state tax office and they made a title for me. Only problem was they BOTH charged me for sales tax and TX was not supposed to do it since it was already mine. But it was about $200 total. Key for VT is if it is under 300cc or over 15 years old, you can get a plate without a title.

I was hoping your way was better cause I have another I have restored and want to plate with the VT hassle.