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We finished up our day doing Lovell Canyon in setting sun. We got to the turn at 5:30 and I said we'd be back at around 7, which is after dark, but Andy wasn't ready to call it a day and really wanted more good shots. We got back to camp right at 7:00 and I barely had time to change my clothes and rush over to dinner, sell some last minute Lost for a Reason raffle tickets and then before I knew it, it was 10:00! Some amazing music from Brad Barker and his Epic Nomad band featuring Owen Balduf and Evan Firstman It seems like everyone had a really good time again this year. Thanks very much to Jeremy LeBreton and crew (Nancy, Mitch, Don, Erik, Kurt, etc...) for putting this event on for everyone. Thanks also to the event sponsors (Motoquest, Las Vegas BMW, ICON Raiden, Land Rover of Las Vegas, etc...) It is great to meet like-minded folks who like to ride big bikes off-road.

Hey guys, So I'm looking for some input here. Please, help me out a little. Off road ergonomics, basically riding while standing, is the subject of the day around here. I found there's a few things to note. 1.) Touratech 40mm risers - are a godsend. I will not ride this bike offroad without these, as they help with standing up and provide overall better control. 2.) Rotating the handle bars - past 10 degrees, (as marked on the bar), but somewhere around 25 or so also helps greatly while standing, giving you better alignment in the wrists to the levers. Now for the part where I'm running into some ergo trouble. I just recently started riding offroad, and as such have discovered the wonderful world of proper footwear. Alpinestarts Tech 7 Enduro boots, comfy, feel great, only took a few days of riding to get used to them. But with the boots come some other problems now. Shifter position. - Absolutely was not high enough. I adjusted the linkage to raise the lever as well as rotated the peg to max height and this works. To get more height (still missing shifts offroad) I am going to machine the linkage to shorten it by a few mm on each end and that should raise the peg a little more and all is good. Brake position. The stock GS Adv brake lever has a few unique things to it. If you adjust the linkage in the rear, it will cause the lever to interfere with the frame. Basically it came from the factory this way and I cannot adjust the linkage to get the pedal any higher. clears the frame by 1mm or so. Now its got the flip down for off-road use. I found this is about perfect for on-road use. Which means, off road, while standing, it is completely useless because I always have it flipped down. Obviously, my only option here is to buy a new lever, but the question is, which one will get me the results I am looking for? Does anyone have any experience with the Touratech brake lever on a 14/15 'GS adventure, or other brand aftermarket brake lever? Thanks.

Alfonse "Fonzie" Palaima is a fantastic freelance photographer who does a lot of motorcycle industry photos. He was our photographer at Taste of Dakar for our ride with MCN UK's Andy Davidson. Fonzie's website and Facebook page is called "Motoinsider" and you should definitely check it out. Fonzie posted up some great pics from our event I thought I'd share here... Bottom out much? Resting bitch face? Rich caught some soft stuff and went over the front of his bike Jesse (Ride Apart), just stand right there...

Thanks for the reply Eric. On the 14 GS, on the shifter, there is an adjustment to raise the entire lever, and then there is a set screw at the end where the rubber part of the shifter is, allowing it to rotate. Its offset, so when you rotate it 180 out it puts the actual shift peg further away by like 10mm. 90 degrees gets you a little out and up. Not much, but when I first got the bike, in my work boots, rotating 90 out solved the problem. In my Tech7's, adjusting the linkage for more height seems to get me close to ideal, but still going to machine the linkage down to get a few more mm of height out of it. I did look around and saw that lowering the pegs would probably solve the problems, with the Touratech offroad low setup seems like it would lower my foot down more (thus bringing the shifter and brake up, relatively speaking). Also solves another problem, the inside cuff of my boot will just slide under and in on the edge of the seat and then the boot is "locked in" with the seat and the peg (really neat, I'll get a picture of that phenomina).. Lowering the foot pegs might just be the silver bullet i'm looking for.

Great report, wish I could have come.

Ooooh ! You guys make me drool. That's it, I'm moving to the states !

I saw Jess just post this video on the FaceTubes

A gif of Andy in the dunes...

More of Isaac and crew in snow

Saturday I was honored to lead a group of journalists and photographers as well as Don from AltRider. There was talk of should we do the intermediate or advanced, but since photos were our main objective, I put together a custom route for us. We would go straight out to the dunes of Sandy Valley (we got a late start), then lunch, then south the the Ivanpah solar bird fryers, then back north through the snow and pines of Lovell Canyon. You can imagine my excitement when the guys from ICON Raiden insisted I ride their signature Triumph Tiger! Okay, so only that last part I made up We made a beeline for the dunes with a short trip down a power line road. After all, I had to see what I had to work with that day, right? They all did fine. Our light wasn't optimal, but you have to do what you can with what you have. This is probably what I was most pleased with light-wise A few more... Don from AltRider, their product development engineer My new Hemisphere soft panniers by AltRider. Great for keeping the heavy stuff low. Top compartments were empty. Andy and Rich Jesse Kiser from Ride Apart Fonzie helping Andy get some traction

For Friday, Rich and I decided to pre-run the intermediate course (in reverse). I was a bit hesitant at first, especially with the Super Tenere, but we let Ken come along with us and he did not disappoint! The guy is a madman on that Super Tenere! Dimitri was up early preparing his breakfast prior to his Jimmy Lewis class. We did his class together last October but this time he brought his 450 for a different experience. We headed out east to to Lovell Canyon and then over to the same power line road as last year's intermediate course. It only took us a bit more than two hours and our avg moving speed was 29.4. Not bad We had a great lunch at the Pioneer Saloon and then on to tracks down to Primm, over to the Ivanpah "bird fryers," etc... I guess this leg of the course was skipped on Saturday by a lot of riders due to the late breakfast. Jimmy acknowledged it was probably more on the side of advanced than intermediate. Second and third gear only, max speed maybe 25. Lots of steep hills, loose rocks, ruts, etc... We got to the pavement and it was a welcome break! From there it was pavement all the way to Spanish Trail where we hung a right and headed back towards the dry lake bed. We tried to take a hard right at was was marked as a road, but the was basically nothing there but a flat open area with brush, so we kind of made our way north a bit more, jogged over east and then back south to see if we could perhaps take a left on this "mysterious track." At that point there did seem to be a trail, but it looked very primitive, like no one had been down in in years. It was actually kind of fun. Remember, we did it in reverse, so most would have seen this in the morning on Saturday. We got back to camp I think around 4:30 and I had to rush to set up the Lost For a Reason tent to sell raffle tix, shirts, hats, stickers, etc... I was totally wiped out! I did not drink enough water, so I just spent time re-hydrating with my hydration pack on my back.

I got home just after noon today and am tired, as usual. What a fantastic weekend! Taste of Dakar did not disappoint (again). I think what made this year different, besides new tracks, was live music from Brad Barker's Epic Nomad band with special appearances from Owen Balduf and Evan Firstman. Also, the custom ICON Raiden jerseys were a nice touch. I trailered with Rich because I had a bunch of stuff for Lost For A Reason I couldn't carry by myself. We got up there Thur evening around 4:30, set up camp (Rich got a cottage) and then met Dimitrios and Ken for dinner at El Jefe's. Here's me lounging on Rich's La-Z-Boy recliner I was also excited to put my new Hemisphere soft panniers from AltRider to use for the first time. I had a lot on my plate this trip as I was setting up the LFAR easy up tent as well as passing out some shirts from ADV Addicts (who could not attend at the last minute) Interesting side story here. If you drive from Shoshone to Pahrump you may have noticed this black band of rock... Read the link for a story on what it is ("welded tuff"). I thought it was Oreo cookie

Soon the Tiger will have claws off-road. Considering that I didn't think that the stock Pirellis did all that bad of a job, I'm sure that these tires will be night/day in the sugar sand. And, Eric said I was an idiot for doing so, so he shamed me into upgrading. Nice peer pressure Hall!

We are hoping to get down to Pahrump area on Wednesday night or Thursday morning to get some extra riding in. Trailering down from Seattle so the timing is unknown. If anyone wants to ride with us or has some suggested tracks we are all ears. We have the tracks from 14' and 13' but might try big dune or death valley areas.

A couple of me on my F800gs at the Desert 100 race ('13 and '14) http://youtu.be/NqcEZB25Kqg