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Hey Brian...whatcha doin' next weekend? And so, an adventure was born! Rally Management Services (Dave Peckham and Phil Bowman) teamed with Konflict Motorsports and Suspension (Alex Martens) to put on the PNW Rally School the weekend of 8-9 August, and it was an absolute blast! It's cool to see the same faces pop up at all these great rides, because the people really make any event, and this was no exception. I got a call from Alex a couple of weekends ago, asking me to cover down on the food and beer. I think Whitney Koeberle (Dirt Bike Safety Training) was egging him on after I showed up with a ton of great chow and fed everyone at the Touratech rally pre-ride back in June. To be fair, most of the credit goes to my wife and shopper-in-chief, SunJa, who brought us in on budget with a HUGE surplus of food (well, we did plan for several more people). I just set the grills up and wielded a spatula for the most part. Lesson learned: my 1100W blender for margaritas is a bit large for the inverters on hand. Maybe it's time to look for a hand crank model. Or re-purpose that 31cc 2-stroke weed wacker... Hmmm... With that in mind, as well as questions on the incomplete healing of my recently-separated shoulder, I tossed the 950 Stupid Enduro in the back of the truck with a half dozen coolers full of food and libations, as well as a well-stocked toolbox, and headed out to get schooled. Of course, I showed up totally prepared, with a rear tire that I’d been saving to burn up on the road. All the best maintenance and install work happens the night before or the day of…right? For the ride itself, we did two days of 200 and 260km each. That's around 275 miles for my American and Limey friends, and the vast majority of it was off-road. I learned how to run a proper road-book (4-inch paper for 275ish waypoints!), which you can think of as an old-school turn-by-turn pre-GPS device. These were laid out to the 1/100th of a mile and include turns, dangers, and reference points to keep the rider on track--so long as he can balance riding his ass off with reading the roadbook. It's a serious mental game, that's for sure. To make it better, the abbreviations are for French words ("fesh" is silt, HP is hors piste or off-road, and so on) because this just hasn't really caught on in the US, but is huge in Europe and elsewhere. I imagine our rotten land availability has something to do with it, though I'm surprised there aren't more people into it in the PNW and the SW with all the open land we have here between BLM, NFS, state forests, etc. Regarding road books, I learned the fine art of taping them together (at least Dave was nice enough to copy them on 14" legal paper), feeding them into the holder, and how to highlight hazards or turns and the like to call my attention to them. Definitely an art here, and definitely a rider preference thing. I need more practice to figure out what's right for me. Absorbed some tips and tricks, like leaving extra strips of tape with pull-tabs inside the reader and leaving a tail of old roadbook to tape in the new one quicker. Oh, and tape the top of the subsequent page OVER the bottom of the preceding page, so the joint is smooth on the rollers. Here's an excellent description of the basics of rally and roadbooks. It all seems so simple...until you add speed and harsh terrain and fatigue and dehydration and other riders! ;-) Dave’s analogy about the confidence meter is so perfect for this endeavor. When it’s all working, you’re confident and the decisions are easy and you’re feeling good. Miss that “obvious” turn, and suddenly, you start second-guessing yourself and doubting, and the fun takes a temporary down-turn. Again, there is a HUGE mental aspect to rally—at least to doing it well! One more note about roadbooks, is that the setup and development is ultra time-consuming. Alex spent hundreds of hours working on that thing, and that's not just pre-running and then re-running. Rally Navigator (which I need to learn more about) is a program that interfaces with Google Earth and does a lot of the work, but customizing each "tulip" (the turn/hazard drawing waypoints in the roadbook) takes time, finding the trails takes time, proofing the trails takes time, getting stuck in the dark and stalked by mountain lions takes time, etc. But it all comes together for awesome pics like these. It's a seriously labor-intensive undertaking, and I really thank Alex for his incredible hard work! In short, I highly recommend this opportunity to my friends. Yes, it'll cost you a few bucks to get the equipment (niche market), but it's a huge mental challenge, the riding and the locations are great, and the kind of guys who came out to this course were absolutely top-notch folks with a wealth of experience and knowledge. We’re talking Baja and Dakar competitors and support teams, not just slouchy bum-off-the-street types like me. Looking at the top of Chumstick Mountain Good people up here The easy route up Chumstick About the only thing I can't pass on the 950SE is a gas station Ka-chunk! RMS Konflict writeup.pdf

So, life treated me to a nice surpise on the 30th of May ; a broken wrist. And boy, I wish I could tell you a bloodstunning thrilling story about a bike that was flung away from underneath me at a speed of 80 miles an hour... but I kinda just dropped the bike on about 5 miles an hour and landed bad. My husband fell in front of me and I had two options, an emergency stop or run him over. Offcourse I chose the first option, daft cow I am, my front weel got lifted up sideways in a trench and then bam, ground hit me, or I hit the ground? Either way it hurt pretty bad. So they rushed me to the hospital, got into a stinky cast for about six weeks and then I got released the 13th of July. That monday they operated my wrist and removed the remaining osteopatic material, some metal pins to keep the pieces of bone together. I was rather disappointed because the wrist wasn't in that good condition, very sore and so very very f***kn weak... But I was determined, that stupid wrist had ruined a lot for my during those six weeks, there was the video for the Girls GS Trophy, Soulfuel, finishing the BTT and just various outrides with friends. So I wasn't going to reshedule my motorbike vacation, no way! In five days I trained the hell out of my body and soul, and on the 19th, the sunday, we left for Destination Unknown ! We didn't really had a clue how long I would be able to drive in a day, or that I was even going to be capable to drive.... But here is roughly the map of what we have ridden in 21 days 4350 miles. We arrived in the Ardennes, Belgium on sunday evening. There were a couple of friends doing an offroad trip through Belgium and they set up a campsite there were we could meet them. Amazing ! My first real biketrip in about 45 days, was so happy I could cry. Did about 155 miles that day and that was more than enough. Apparently I had lost an amazing amount of strenght in my hand, I couldn't operate the front brakes as it should have been, so I shifted gears more and found salvation in the backbrake. That evening we helped out a friend with a minor malfunction on his bike, good thing I have small hands, that way the sealing cap was mounted over the rearshaft faster than ever. Then a nice campfire and some beers and this little girl had no need of the sandman that night. Next day our direction was Germany, we didn't get very far. When we got back on the highway after a flat tyre repair my husband shouted in the intercom 'No!NO!NOOOOO! Not again! Bloody bike!!!' And I was like, 'U ok?' Which made him only more angry whilst shouting 'Again the stupid Hallsensor, nooooo!' I couldn't stop laughing actually, because it was the fourth broken Hallsensor this year, his red one, my yellow one and our green one. So yet again the red bike had eaten his Hallsensor. Heaven propably was feeling sorry for us, because strangely the Tomato (the red R1100GS) made it untill the parking of a campsite before dying completely with a loud last backfire. So we did what had to be done, first fetch a beer! And then set up the campsite and then my husband got the Hallsensor out of the bike and I did some phonecalls and a shoutout on the internet for whom might be able to help us. Amazingly, in the land of BMW, there are no Hallsensors to be found in the garages... much be a policy that you don't have to drive them old bikes no more. Luckily a Facebookfriend of mine, Dirk, gave us a call with an invitation AND a new Hallsensor. The only problem was that we had to get to Nurnberg. Bart, my husband, had the crazy idea, he once read on the internet that the Hallsensors get damaged because of the poor electric wires, and that they make short circuit. So ducktape was the answer, as always, if not WD40... The next morning he taped the wires individually, mounted the Hallsensor again and yeah, the bike started.... We got to Nurnberg quite fast, but still had a day to kill before we could get to Dirk. So we had to do something what we otherwise never do... tourist things. Nurnberg is quite famous for the little moustache man and it was really interesting to see. The day passed real soon and on thursday we got to Dirk, he gave us food and the men repaired the Hallsensor. Jippie, the start of our trip. But Dirk wouldn't take no money, no, no, we had to accompagny him to the annual EnduroBoxerMeeting in Sweinfurth. We told him I couldn't ride enduro with my wrist but no argumentation was accepted, we had to go. So on friday we left for the EnduroBoxerMeeting and man ! Am I happy that I was part of it. I had never ridded my R1100GS on such an inspiring and intimidating racetrack. I even jumped with him and it felt soooo good. I had to pay of the debt of happiness in the night with a sore wrist, but it was worth it. What an amazing bunch of people I have met overthere. Offcours Bart had to crash his newly mended Tomato... the crashbar had crushed his cylinderhead, but good thing he is an inventive person with many tools and he was able to mend it with metalpaste. The world is filled with good people, this is something I should take in mind when I'm doubting again. We stayed at the meeting till sundayevening and then got to the border with Tsjechia. There is an amazing old village it is called Cesky KrumlovOld Český Krumlov is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was given this status along with the historic Prague castle district. From Tjechia to Slovakia to Hungary to Slovenia. Nothing very very special happened there because I could only ride onroad, but hey, I was at least riding. It is funny how beautifull roads don't impress you that much anymore when you have gotted the taste of adventure riding. I rather do 50 miles on a day with mud and falling down and sweating and cursing my ass off, than riding 250 miles from place to place and haven't felt the country. But sometimes in life you can't choose and I admit, sometimes I was really amazed by the sights. In Slovenia we decided, or more, I decided that I had had enough of being prudent. I wanted my vacation that I had earned, that was around the 5th of august. So Bart took some more slower but amazing roads and I had the time of our life then. Slovenia had many national parks with smooth gravel roads, ideal for training again and getting confident. After Slovenia, we decided to go to the Alps. We knew there are brilliant, not too hard, offroad mountain paths in them that would be great to end our trip with before turning back to Belgium. We had the obligatoir stop at Lake Garda to cool us down, in Italy the temperatures went up to 113 Fahrenheit. And then in Susa I got my rewards, the endless roads in the mountains that move your soul. We only took three days in the Alps because Bart didn't want to find out when I would run out of luck with my wrist. I had dropped the bike at some times because I just couldn't keep it on two wheels anymore because of the pain. The most beautifull was the Col du Sommeilier. They say it is the highest legal offroadroad (3332 m) in Europe and is on the border with France and Italy. The route back to Belgium was easy. We went through Swiss and then the Vosges in France, very beautifull but more flat and monotunous. By accident we passed the Birth House of Jeanne D'Arc, which was pretty cool. And yet again we notice that we crave the itch for more adventure. It is a virus I tell you, XLADV... Wish you all the best !!!

I have a PIAA lamp kit up for sell. I believe they're the 3.5" LP530 LED kit. Brand new, never used, hardware never touched. My friend bought them, didn't like the look, and couldn't return them. So he gave them to me. $130.00 Plus Shipping. Call me at 916-899-two,five,six,one

Living in Yuma Arizona is great for riding for about 9 and half months a year. The 2.5 of summer heat is the time I park the bike or ride very short distances. So my goal this summer was to get a way with the wife to cooler temps and ride the Grand Canyon. My wife learned to ride last October by taking a class. She has been doing well and getting better all the time. I finally don't worry about losing her behind me (unless we are off the pavement). My daily driver car is a VW Jetta TDI. It came with a trailer hitch and I have been wanting to tow my motorcycle for a few years. My dad just purchased a light weight aluminum trailer for his Polaris. With some modifications, I got the trailer setup to load both my BMW's on it. Now my Jetta is my new turbo diesel toyhauler! July 24th we took off for Flagstaff AZ to enjoy mountain weather. We stayed at my good friends house took off for the longest ride my wife has ever done on July 25th. I have my phone mounted on a universal Ram mount and was going to use it to Snapshat story the ride. Well I found out that the vibration has messed up the main camera on my HTC one M8. Here is an example of the pictures it was taking: Luckily it fixed its self so I could take a few other pictures. I found out later that other people that mount the phone on their handle bars have the same issue. HTC replaced my phone free of charge. Thank you HTC! The wife and I took off up highway 89 north towards the Grand Canyon. We stopped at the intersection of AZ60 to fill up the old F650 Funduro to make sure she can make it through the park. The ride to the gate was cool and uneventful. When we got to the entrance of the Grand Canyon I was hit with sticker shock. Its $25 per bike to enter. Damn! $50 bucks to ride through and use the rest rooms. That's the cost to see the 8th wonder of the world! The great thing about riding through the south rim on an adventure bike is the ability to stand up and see without stopping. The other great thing is you can stop in the remote places an get away from the tourists. About halfway through, i found a little unmarked spot to pull the bikes off the road under the trees and admire the canyon without all the selfie tourists. We were able to have real alone time at the canyon and have lunch. A small hike up and we had our own vista point with no one else in sight. After enjoying lunch we hiked up a little farther in to get to the edge. Thats where our phones got signal and the frantic txt messages came in from our 19 year old. The day before he had cut his arm after losing his grip on a rope swing over the Colorado river. We sent him to urgent care, they cleaned and stitched him up. He woke up late Saturday morning with his arm hurting, headache and dehydrated. Called a nurse friend to go check on him and he had an infection. She took him to the ER, and we loaded up and headed back to Flagstaff. We made one more stop before leaving the canyon and I took this picture: To add to the adventure, trying to leave the canyon out the west gate, traffic was backed up for several miles. We considered passing everyone on the right side, but was unsure how people or park rangers would react. Turns out after 20 minutes of slow moving that a motorhome hit a tourbus. Looked like there was some intense conversations happening when we went by. My wife snapped this picture somewhere along AZ180 while we where hauling butt back to Flagstaff. To her credit, she did very well and had no problem doing "excessive speed" back to Flagstaff. The 1998 F650 still runs strong. We arrived back to Flagstaff at about 6 pm and after several phone calls decided to stay the night and head out early in the morning. Our son had to spend a week in the hospital on IV antibiotics. He is fully healed now. The Grand Canyon by motorcycle is so much better than a car. This was my first time through on my motorcycle and it was great experience. There was no gnarly off road obstacles to overcome, but the urban pavement obstacles were plenty for my new rider wife to overcome. Thanks for reading!

Giant Loop Rally 2015: Black River ADV Trip Report By Brian C. Englund D-3 I unexpectedly discovered that I had the weekend free due to changes at the job. After some tense negotiation (I think I have the Bambi eyes look down...I think), I secured four days off. The plan began...after asking the Black River ADV guys about extra tickets and getting a reply that Ronald won't be able to make it. As usual when Wiel is involved, my plan looked like, well, whatever he'd already planned. Throw some stuff in a bag, and let's go! D-1 Attempted to mount my Ortlieb soft panniers. &%$#@!, the cross-straps aren't long enough for them to fit on the 950!? Fiddled for an hour. Drank beer. Cursed. Wadded them up in disgust and begged for help. My friend Jake came through with a set of tiny Nelson-Rigg "Pods" that he uses on his ZX-10. The price was right, and time was tight. Done! They actually fit pretty well, even if they were too small for the hauling capacity I needed. For main carrying, I moved on to the old standby: big Army bags. An aviator kit bag's volume can be compared to that of a Buick--and it's just as ugly. Of course, I looked like an RTW guy once I got it strapped on there (Rok straps rule!). You know the goofballs--the guys riding around the world with two hard panniers, a top box, and a bunch of crap stacked on top of it all like the Beverly Hillbillies. D-Day (4JUN15) Clock moved slowly. Slooooooooooooowly. I looked online for a few minutes and gave up in disgust after finding that waterproofed cordura soft luggage in bag format is somehow worth $450 or more in many cases. At 1700, my wife arrived at the office with my gear, and I strapped it onto the bike and myself somewhat quickly while sweating in the unexpected heat. The kids of course slept through all of this. Little buggers. Eventually they woke up It was pretty warm, so I launched while wearing only my Axo Aircage over a wicking long-sleeve t-shirt. This was great for the first hour or so, but as the sun began to hide behind hills and my elevation crept ever upwards, I started to catch a bit of a chill. I'm not running a windshield either, and I found myself racing the sunset to get to the campground without being forced to ride off-road in the dark, so I refused to stop and layer up. Probably even my Outdoor Research Helium II rain jacket would have made a difference as a wind barrier. However, in the hurry the night before, I wasn't sure where I'd packed it and I didn't want to have to unstrap my giant bag and figure it out. So...I froze for a bit. The trip from Packwood past Rimrock Lake and over White Pass was particularly unpleasant, but my burning hatred for deer and elk which infest the roads in that area was helpful in keeping me warm. Maxim: Life is hard. It's harder when you're stupid. Corollary: If you're going to be stupid, you'd best be strong. Rimrock Lake and Mt St Helens in the distance to the south Arriving at the turn-off for FS-1500 off US-12, I accepted an almost-nasty reminder to firm up my pre-load on the rear shock as I accelerated up the loose gravel. I'd never ridden the new suspension with that kind of load on the back, and the front wheel was extremely light! I actually flipped the bars back and forth at one point and found that the bike only gradually took the suggestion to head in a new direction--more like a rudder. I leaned as far forward as I could and powered up the 10 miles of dirt to the camp site on Bethel Ridge, overlooking Rimrock Lake. Along the way, I waved hello to a pair of riders who suddenly found me tearing through their campsite, only to discover that I was at the wrong place! Wrong campsite? Oh, that's why no one else is here. The final mile along the ridge top consisted of rocks and mud and tree roots--which are genuinely fun, unless you're loaded up and attempting to ride conservatively. I arrived as the sun set and found myself among friends again, whether email acquaintances, frequent riding partners, or those with a shared passion for riding. Hell yes, let's get this weekend started! Wiel, ever organized, had a classy Rainier Beer in my hand before I could get my helmet off, and it was handshakes all around. I settled in for an evening of spectacular views and fine dining around the campfire. Great success stories usually include some sort of failure. In this case Clint Casebolt's ESA rear shock on his 2009 R1200GS failed rather spectacularly and was spewing oil within miles of hitting the trail earlier in the day. We talked about it at the campfire and I realized that I had a spare OEM 1200GS shock back at the house, left over from a Touratech Tractive Explorer HP upgrade. Sure enough, we had just enough signal up there that I could call the wife, get my son into the rafters in the garage where it was stored, then get her out to Gent's house the next morning at 0700 to drop off the shock. How awesome is that?! Touratech catalog cliff shot! D+1 (5JUN15) I awoke with the sun--actually before the sun. In my line of work, we call this "BMNT" or Beginning of Morning Nautical Twilight. I think normal people call it pre-dawn, or "too damned early". Slept well in my tent/hammock, where I'd simply looped the head end around the bars to hold the bug net off my face, then snuggled down in. The combo of Therm-A-Rest Prolite 3 sleep pad, military-issue Goretex bivvy bag, and my Kelty Ignite 0F Dri-Down bag is somewhat bulky, but has yet to leave me cold. It was more than a match for the high-40s temps that night. Breakdown commenced at a leisurely pace, and we hit the trail around 0730, even after killing some time with coffee and snapping pictures. I regret that I didn't get a picture of the sunrise, but I was too comfortable watching it from my fartsack and convinced myself that the photo wouldn't do it justice anyway. I'm sure I was right. Hopping on the trail last, it quickly became apparent to me that I would almost certainly drop the big 950 if I tried to ride at the paddle walk pace that several of the more conservative GS riders were setting. I don't blame them, as that goo and the rocks and roots are disconcerting on a big bike if you're not going fast enough to power through. My, what a couple years of hard experience has taught me! I wicked it up almost immediately, and passed everyone quickly. Midway down, I encountered an enormous black bull, standing in the middle of the road. We startled each other (dude should have heard me coming for miles--I'm not very quiet on that bike), and he took a few paces in my direction before I skidded past, taking care to roost the shit out of him and hopefully drive him off the road. He trotted away as I rocketed downwards again. On the way into Packwood, I ran out of gas. This was a bit unexpected, as the light came on, and I was suddenly out. Thankfully, this occurred 300 meters from the Shell station on the outskirts of town, so I literally coasted in to fill up. Oddly enough, I only filled the 3.7gal tank with 2.7gal. Hmmm... Fiddled with both petcocks to make sure one lobe of the tank wasn't turned off, and moved on out. See notes below about fuel pump issues--this wasn't to be my last encounter with fuel difficulties. Just outside of Packwood, we jumped back on the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route (WABDR or "wobder"). I think this first leg is pretty boring, as it's primarily gravel roads with a bump or two, which are both boring and challenging on a tall, laden bike like mine. Plus, it's so much more embarrassing to blow a turn or somehow crash on that stuff when there's great technical riding on days 2-5 which is way more fun. Still, it's a lot of fun with friends, and I genuinely enjoyed having zero navigation responsibilities. I just followed along and spaced out. I did succeed in dropping the bike, coming to a stop in pea gravel, only to have my foot slide out from under me as I went for a dismount. Duh. Happily, Gent's downed 1150 was more of a scene--he'd sunk in the same stuff and had basically a stationary fall too. The crew of about 10 bikes sailed along until roughly parallel with Mt. St. Helens, at which point, we split into a road crew and a trail crew, agreeing to meet in Carson. Not much significant to report here, though I had fun splashing through the puddles and jumping the water bars and such as we continued south. I did have one panic moment where the music turned off all of a sudden...because my phone was missing. Even with a rubber band, it bounced out of my X-Grip. I definitely need to set up Velcro on that setup. Ride along Hwy 14 along the Columbia River Gorge was gorgeous as always. The procession grew to 14 riders, which is the oddest biker gang picture I've ever seen. A pack of BMW R1200GS, a Husqvarna, three KTMs, a Kawasaki KLR650, etc., and no leather anywhere other than boots, but easily a thousand bucks a piece of high-end cordura gear. But really...is it that far different than a bunch of guys on Harleys out for a stroll? Probably not. Some like to think so, but we're all out there for the same thing: escape, brotherhood, adventure. Weirdest, most expensively dressed biker gang I've ever laid eyes on We reached Maupin after a loooong ride on the tarmac which saw me getting drowsy. No stop-lights in that town, and some old blue-haired lady came out and berated us for taking up all the parking spaces. I moved to take up yet another space, and we ignored her as we dropped some cash in the local economy. Apparently, Maupin is a great place for whitewater rafting, so I'll have to take a look again with the kids. The ride through the Indian Reservation was tarmac still, but lots of long, sweeping curves, including a really cool one where we could see down into the long valley, and I enjoyed the showdown between Germany and Holland as Gerd and Wiel shot away from the pack. Upon arrival at Gerd's cousin's house in Redmond, we quickly switched out Clint's shock. In 20 minutes, it was ready to go, and he'd packed away the busted ESA--hopefully to jam in BMW's ass for failing at less than 30k miles and costing over $2200 to replace. Hell, a top-of-the-line Tractive Extreme shock from Touratech (what I run in my KTM Super Enduro) is only $1800. BMW is smoking dope. Smokes and stories, beers and booze, steak and laughter. I strung up the hammock and got another great night of sleep, rocking out to the sound of the nearby frogs croaking at each other. Tomorrow is the rally!!! D+2 (6JUN15) I hate feeling disorganized. Thankfully, with my kids, I've had plenty of time to gete used to it, and I endure daily bouts of conditioning. I thought I had my act together this morning, had all my stuff packed early...then discovered I was missing my sunglasses as I went to mount up and ride off. Of course, everyone was looking for me, so after a cursory search, I had to press on. Bummer, I liked those, and Oakleys are not cheap! Plus my eyes are really light sensitive, so desert riding without them is basically impossible. Lucky for me, Wiel had a spare set, even though they crushed the bone ridge behind my ears and created a wicked headache after a few hours. We arrived among the first at the Giant Loop shop. I linked up with Alex Martens from Konflict and picked up my replacement Pro Moto Fastway Adventure pegs. With a minimum of cursing, I replaced my broken right peg in the parking lot, then searched for a group to ride with. Meanwhile, the safety brief covered the basics, and I enjoyed some BSing with fellow riders. The day was going to be decidedly hot, so I crammed every extra thing I had into my bag and dropped it off in the baggage van. As usual, routes get billed as "hard" and "not for big bikes", and I start to doubt myself. Hard Fandango was my stated goal for this trip, but it seemed like no one was excited to ride it on big bikes. When Group 1 was announced as, "They'll take little bikes super fast and eat rocks all day," I knew where I wanted to be. With more than a little trepidation, our leader, Justin, accepted my request to join the group--after first checking that I had a GPS and a plan to bug out if necessary. Smart move, but ultimately unnecessary for me. The four of us quickly departed--a trio of 450 or smaller KTMs, and my monster 950. The first trail served as an excellent wake-up call. Sometimes rocky, sometimes sandy, sometimes with whops, and more than a few curves. I flat-out hammered it and felt amazing! I hit 60+ mph in a few sections and found myself more or less keeping up with Justin in the lead, with Davy and Schultz trailing back a bit to stay out of my dust. This aggressive start was a perfect way to shake off the cobwebs, and once it became apparent that I knew what I was doing, we flowed pretty well through the next couple of hours, headed towards Christmas Valley. Highlights in this section include a bit of navigation correction that Chris and I did, and a sneaky turn just over a hill which convinced several people that the track veered right...while it actually went left. I wasn't the first to blow it, judging by the other tracks there, but I helped other people follow me off the road later! I managed a great save...only to drop the always-too-tall bike while horsing it around to get turned back to the main route and moving again. At the Christmas Valley gas station, we spent a few minutes guzzling Gatorade and BSing with a crew of cruiser riders who pulled in just after us. They were genuinely impressed with what we were doing, and they asked a ton of questions. I'd like to think that we created a few wannabe dual sport riders there, but who knows? Still, it highlights that riders really aren't all that different from each other. We're all out there looking for something. Now the fun really begins! Giant Loop published a new route via paper copy a couple of days before the rally. We elected to go check it out, leaving Hard Fandango for another day. Through terrain association, I was able to determine where the trail started, and we bumped and tractored our way up and over a ridge and fairly rough terrain which quickly smoothed out once we got to more level ground. We were looking for what the map called East Summer Lake Road--which was anything but a road for the most part. Some portions of it were visible as faint, old 4x4 tracks. In some areas, it disappeared entirely, and our GPS tracks show cloverleaf circles along our route as we searched to pick up the trail again. We had an absolute blast! Much of this was open desert with sage brush only--is this what Baja is? We could literally ride in any direction. Much air time was had, and smiles were rather large. I had a moment of terror when my throttle stuck open as I blasted through an easy turn. Through some investigation, I found that the right hand guard had actually snagged the throttle cables, so when the bars approached full-lock right, the throttle was stuck. A zip-tie fixed this, but it served as a great reminder to check the bike each time you get ready to go! Eventually, we could no longer find the trail, and in some areas, the scrub brush was a real hassle to ride through. I spotted a set of trees about a mile away and everyone agreed to ride in that direction. When we converged, we found ourselves at the closed gate to a ranch. Knowing this was probably off-limits terrain and bound to start trouble or ill-will, we followed another road (driveway?) back out towards Hwy 31. Highway 31 arrived far too soon, but we sat and waited a good, long time before deciding that Schultz wasn't coming. Since he was sweep and we'd been spaced out for the dust, no one knew what had become of him. Davy headed back to search and soon came up on the little FRS radio asking for a tow. I've owned a tow strap for about 14 years now, never having used it. It actually came out of my kit for a while, but at the last moment before departing, I'd tossed it back in. Good thing, as I hear another bike had to be towed out with a strand of barbed wire. And I thought *I* was hardcore... Sure enough, we backtracked and found Schultz pushing his bike along. The motor had seized--which is a damned shame. Not sure why. I promptly dropped mine trying to do a power turn, which I'm sure filled everyone with confidence for my ability to tow a bike. Still, with one end secured to a passenger footpeg, and the other wrapped around his footpeg for easy release, we had no real difficulties getting back out to the highway. With Shultz dropped off at the country store across from the church steeple, we headed out on the final 30-mile leg to finishing point at Summer Lake Hot Springs campground. I was fighting my circadian rhythm at that point and just droned along at high speed...completely missing the campground and the Giant Loop van which passed us on the way to rescue Schultz. Instead, I rode all the way to Paisley, from which we had to backtrack six miles to the campground. We arrived, revived with a frosty Coors Light, and realized...it's only 2:00pm! There's a lot of daylight remaining! With the rest of the crew committed or sans bike, Chris and I hatched a plan to ride East Summer Lake Road from the south end and see if we could link it up where we'd given up previously. I updated my SPOT tracker's non-emergency recovery button with Chet's data so he'd get a notification to come find us, and then we headed back out. Attempting to cut in before going all the way to town, I turned off the highway at the little air strip. A guy doing maintenance on the lights passed us coming in and cheerfully told us to feel free to cross the runway and head east across the valley floor. He also reminded us not to dawdle on the runway itself. For the life of me, I can't think of why we didn't stop for a picture of us on the numbers! We cut cross-country for a mile or so on a cow trail and soon intersected with the path we wanted. Five events stand out in our exploration of the valley floor in search of East Summer Lake Road--which is possibly an old easement that shows on maps, but is on private ranch property. What were we thinking not to do a high speed taxi? 1. We lost the road a few times. Generally though, our GPSs wanted to route us on it, so we were usually able to home in on where it should be--not necessarily where it was. At one point, I looked at a big hill about 180ft high and told Chris that we could probably get some badass pics up there. The hill climb was technical and a lot of fun, with me spitting rocks everywhere, fighting the big beast up and over to the top. Indeed, the pictures were great, though they fail to show the elevation we'd just climbed. We managed to snap one with dust devils in the background and the entire valley floor laid out below us. Departing, we took a route even steeper and basically rode it out. The 950 gets going like a freight train in downhills like that, and I was a bit apprehensive. I leaned way back, held both brakes just under the point where I'd skid, and experienced no problems. Let's climb that steep hill over there. OK we're here...now what? 2. Zipping along at around 40mph, Chris suddenly came to a halt and held his arms up. He'd stopped just inches shy of riding off into space, as the washout in front of him was 8ft deep! I parked and helped him to lower his bike, then climbed back out and did some recon for an easier crossing site for the big bike. I found one, and promptly dropped the bike on myself as I eased down, only to have it cave under the front wheel. No big deal, and good for laughs. Should have goosed it and rode down like a boss! That would have left a mark. 3. Doing about 40mph, I rounded a corner to find that it looked like a snow-field. In the desert. In June. Turns out, this stuff is alkali salts. It also turns out that it's like riding on talcum powder once you crack the crust. Furthermore, it also turns out that it tastes like shit. How would I know? Not thinking, I eased off the throttle, and the front wheel let me know that it was getting heavier by almost instantly kicking out at an impossible angle. Plooooof! Down we went in an enormous cloud of dust. Chris, following not far back, tapped his front brake and promptly did the same. Both of us sat there and laughed at ourselves for a moment, then hauled the bikes up and headed on our way. I rode a little more carefully in that crap from then on. 4. We lost the trail and arrived at a ranch fence again. Following it, we found ourselves at the same tall trees I'd spotted earlier in the day. The trees sat next to a ranch house, and as we putted up, the rancher, a couple kids, and his *smoking* hot wife were taking a walk. Thankfully, this was a positive encounter, so we were very polite and apologetic about finding ourselves on their land with no route through. The wife kindly informed us that just about everything we could see belonged to the ranch and that we were welcome to attempt to bypass. We could see where we'd turned around before, but without opening any gates (normally we do, but I didn't want to do it right in front of them), we couldn't complete the track. Can't get there from here! There remains about a 150 meter gap in our track. We turned and headed south again to call it a day. 5. I got a little over confident and got to riding pretty hard on the way back. As in so many cases, the bike is happy to remind you that you're a dumbass. After hopping over small washes and ruts, I got up to around 45mph in a section where I thought we'd be free of them. Nope. With the bike accelerating into 5th gear, I had just enough time to spot a wash about 18" deep by 24" across with square edges. I grabbed all the throttle I could get and flexed my knees, but while the front wheel cleared, the rear kicked up into my nuts and damn near launched me. My epic hit resulted in a heroic Flying-W save though, so I had just begun congratulating myself when I ran out of gas. &%$#@!, I've got plenty, right? With a 1gal Rotopax mounted, this amounted to mere inconvenience. I fueled, secured the tank, and blipped the starter. Nothing. To summarize the following trouble-shooting, I cracked the carb bowls and nothing really came out. I checked the fuel petcocks and laid the bike down to get all possible gas to the valve side of the tank. Checked the fuses and all were good? In a fit of despair, I whacked the fuel pump several times and disconnected the main fuel line to it, confirming that gas was flowing from the tank, while simultaneously pouring a pint of gas all down my arm. We prepped to start towing, and made a call with the surprising cell signal I had out there, bringing a recovery team (Some sober. Some not.) to a standby with a 4x4 truck in case we couldn't get out. Frustrated as we buttoned the bike back up, I switched on the ignition and heard the pump hum to life, filling the carb bowls. In disbelief, I hit the starter. The bike caught. I hauled ass. Rode like crazy another 13 miles and pulled the bike into the Paisley gas station, where the old man looked at us in amusement. Crisis averted! Thanks to Gerd and Wiel and Chet, I'm sure recovery was going to come get us, but we ended up not needing it. Semi-sober recovery crew The rest of Saturday is fairly uneventful. Ate some tough but tasty ribs, helped diagnose a failed stator on a BMW G650GS for one of the Team Dirty Girls, grabbed some sweet Icon Raiden jersey swag, watched a somewhat disappointing but humorous "awards" ceremony, drank beer, found my way to the hot spring fed hot tub, and passed out quickly once I rolled my sleeping bag out. OBSERVATIONS ON THE RALLY ITSELF - I haven't been to any of the other GL rallies. So far, I've done the MOA (Salem), the Blackdog, the Touratech, LAB2V, and a couple of Alt Rider Hoh Rainforest rides. I don't have an extensive basis of comparison for judging the merits of a rally. However, from finding that the routes were the same as last year (not even re-named), to discovering that there wasn't at least a grand prize raffle of some cool GL swag, it felt like this didn't get enough attention and planning. I like loosely planned. I'm glad Harold made it work. I was just disappointed at the quality of the food and the coordination, based on this being a $150 one-day event. It was good. I just think that it could be better. Maybe I'm overly critical. I certainly wasn't involved in the planning efforts. I'll let the reader decide. RANDOM INTERESTING EVENTS & FACTOIDS - 1370 overall miles. Mileage ranged from under 23mpg to 42. Much of this depends on how hard I'm hammering the bike, but elevation, air filter clogging, ethanol, and octane all play a part. - Bombing down a desert road, listening to some music, when suddenly my phone rings. Mom is asking why I called, and I'm making a good 70mph down a straight road. - I call Gerd while stranded. He can't understand me because of the wind and the noise. He remarks, "Here, let me hand you to an English speaker." Wiel picks up the phone. Ha! Mt St Helens looms north of us Passing Mt St Helens on Wind River Rd from Carson, WA Go far or go fast. Should I really have to choose? GEAR REPORT - Axo Aircage compression suit - Got this on close-out from MC Superstore for around $100. A compromise, but I found that the spinal armor is comfortable, and the built in roost-guard does a decent job, even with the gap for the zipper. The front zipper should be beefier since it absorbs a lot of dirt, and the silly straps between the shoulder armor and the chest armor do nothing--except rip out. It fits tight over a LS t-shirt or two, the mesh flows air well, and does what it needs to do. Better to wear a jersey over it if you don't want to look like Tron or Robocop. Paired with a fleece and a rain jacket that I would have brought anyway, this meant I didn't have to carry an extra jacket. It worked. - Mechanix Mpact gloves - I needed lighter gloves. These are slightly large, so I get some issues with them bunching. I'd also prefer harder 1st knuckle armor, but what's there is decent. They're a compromise for air flow and comfort in the dirt, where I don't expect to slide 200 meters on asphalt. Price isn't bad, and they've worn well thus far. No insulation to speak of and definitely not waterproof. - Bilt Explorer Helmet - This may be Cycle Gear's bargain helmet, but it's worked just fine for me in several major rides now. I added a stick-in anti-fog thing since there's no pinlock, and it's been fog-proof. Other than the noise (really, what do I expect at 75mph with a DS helmet on a bike with no windshield?), I don't really have any complaints. The liner comes out easily for washing, it flows air well, my goggles fit if I want to use them, and the face shield is free of distortion. I guess it'd be nice if the flip-down sun shield was darker. - Cardo Scala Rider G9 - I am still mystified by the process of pairing with anyone reliably, but the battery lasts a very long time, the music and speaker output are good, and the voice recognition is decent. I only wish my stupid ass phone's voice recognition worked for two shits, as it has consistently frustrated the crap out of me (Droid Turbo), whereas the old Droid Razr Maxx HD worked very well in this capacity. I've found that putting VOX on low sensitivity makes it almost impossible to engage, but on medium, it picks up conversation and blasts me with radio or attempts to connect while I'm having a conversation on the side of the road. - Deltran (Battery Tender) SAE to USB converter - For $10, why wouldn't you? I already have an SAE pigtail running to my bars, and another just under the seat. I had one of these converters that worked rain or shine for months...until I somehow lost the damned thing. Replaced it instantly and had a great experience again. It charges my phone, my Scala, my electric bug zapper, whatever. - Droid Turbo with Otterbox Commuter in RAM X-Grip - Where to begin? The Turbo has awesome battery life. Better than even the Razr Maxx. However, that gorilla glass isn't necessarily as hardy as it looks (one fall onto soft dirt from the seat cracked the screen). It's water resistant, which is nice, but it has no touch sensitivity to adjust, so it's basically a no-go with gloves unless you use that touch screen spray on the fingertips. The voice recognition setup is atrocious--I'm still trying to get it sorted. The Otterbox works pretty well. It actually protected the phone in a 65mph drop when it flipped out of the X-Grip's...grip. The X-Grip lost 2 of the 4 grip pads the first time out. I recommend pulling them off and putting a dab of glue on. I replaced them poorly with a length of wound-up duct tape, but it didn't hold the phone nearly as firmly as I would like. Next, I'll put Velcro on the center of the cradle and on the back of the phone and supplement it with a rubber band, which is a trick Sam taught me. - Garmin Monterra with AMPS powered mount - Monterra *should* be great. Android is an excellent, flexible OS, and it's great to be able to run other apps on the GPS. What makes me laugh is running the OSMAnd+ app on there, rather than the purpose-built GPS software. However, I've found the unit to be prone to crashing ("Garmin Outdoor Apps has stopped responding.") when doing a lot of map manipulation such as zoom/pan/scan. The AMPS powered mount, on the other hand, has been excellent. I run it to a Centech fuse block, even though it comes with an inline fuse. Holds well enough that I've never bounced the GPS out of the cradle, despite some immense hits. - Doubletake Mirrors (RAM mount) - Prepare for some frustration as they shift around at speed or due to impact. Once I finally got them incredibly tight, the ball itself loosened. Blue Loctite didn't seem to help, but maybe I didn't use enough. I'm still on the fence with these, but they're far cheaper than FAR mirrors and more survivable. Plus, I can pull one off and mount a Go-Pro or something else while off-road, so that's nice. - Fasstco Simple Solution handguards - I like Fasstco's Flexx bars, and Cole's company is full of stand-up people. I wanted to like these handguards. However, either I crash too hard, the 950 is too heavy, or the design is lacking, because I've found them all bent out of shape and really difficult to beat back into a shape that allows re-mounting. The long slot for the inner mount bolt is a weak point that quickly becomes tweaked. On the right side, it actually created a point where the throttle cables got stuck and bound, resulting in a "significant emotional event" as I attempted to drift through a corner and found the throttle unexpectedly stuck open. Yowza! That's my own fault for not seeing it though--lesson learned. I'm not one for caring about aesthetics, but the graphics were chinzy and fell off the first day after sustained single-track work through brush and a few crashes, but more importantly, I've got one that points up and the other that points down, and I can't straighten them out, whether with a hammer or brute strength. I'll run these until they fall apart, then replace with something else--probably Cycra. I was also somewhat surprised to learn that the setup requires you to tap threads into the handlebars and insert a fitted plastic bushing to run the M10 bolts into. That sort of sucked to do in a field before a big run a few weeks back. Probably ignorance on my part, as I've never actually installed wrap-around guards before. [Follow-up, I replaced them with Cycras and though I haven't crash-tested them yet, they feel beefier and better mounted.] - Fasstco Flexx Handlebar Dash - This is meant to create a flat plate on your Flexx bars, mounting to one of the two cross-bars. The directions require you to drill holes in the cross bar to which you are mounting the plate. Then, if you're not using one of the specific devices that the plate is pre-cut for, you drill holes to mount your device. For me, this was a RAM mount for a GPS. What I found is that since this plate only bolts to a single cross-bar instead of both, it tends to wiggle under the weight of a Garmin Monterra catching the wind or bouncing on large impacts. Often, I couldn't read the display very well because of all the wiggling. If possible, instead of an L-shaped configuration, a U-shaped configuration that anchors to both bars would be better. - BDCW Bash Plate: Good lord, this thing is beefy! So is the weight and price tag, and yet it doesn't address what I would regard as two potentially fatal flaws: the front mount bolts are still a part of the oil tank, and there is no side coverage between the shifter or brake and the case. I didn't nearly test it, though I heard dozens of resounding *clang* and *booong!* as I hammered through the rocks. I've seen a better, custom-made bash plate and oil tank replacement as an all-in-one solution, but $1100 and the need to bring the bike down to SoCal for fitting is a show-stopper. Tim Robel's design sure is badass though. (www.extremeendurostore.com) - Pro Moto Fastway Adventure pegs - Mixed emotions here. On the first set, I broke one in a walking tip-over (momentum lost in uphill climb; bike too tall). The remains of it worked just fine the next two days of riding, but it was irritating nonetheless. Pro Moto cut me a deal on a replacement set, so I went for it. I like using short studs on the outsides and tall ones in the middle so my feet can rock slightly. I tried Pivotz, but did not find them very comfortable. These plant my feet and feel great. Far less arch fatigue at the end of the day. - SPOT Tracker, Gen II - why oh why, has SPOT not made the app capable of changing the pre-set messages? It seemed like they were going in the right direction with the creation of an app and refurb of their website, but this critical capability is still missing. I hate having to log in on my phone browser. Otherwise, the unit itself works well enough. Sometimes, I get relayed reports from Spotwalla before I get them from SPOT, which is odd. I've never figured out how to predict whether the message will arrive in a minute or 20 minutes. Not having positive confirmation that the message has been sent is a problem for me. I will likely ditch SPOT for Delorme when my contract ends, because it delivers messages faster (according to the ratings I've seen) and confirms when they've gone out. - Dunlop D606 (front) / D908 (rear) tires - this is the gold standard for me, from now on. I run them at 22/20psi off-road, using UHD 4-mil tubes. No flats, no taco'd rims, and awesome traction considering the size and weight of that bike. They're squirrely on wet tarmac, but that's not what I got them for. I've yet to see big-bike tires that work well in mud either, so I'm not sweating that. They all seem to suck for that. I will burn through my remaining tires (Kenda Big Blocks and Continental TKC-80) and probably stick with this more-expensive but more capable combo. I may be tempted to try Mitas E-09 again, but we'll see--they're even more expensive than the Dunlops, though they were excellent on the R1200GS. - Slime 40001 Motorcycle Tire Inflator (12V pump) - comes with multiple connection possibilities from 12V cigarette lighter adaptor, to SAE (my setup), to alligator clips. Takes a few moments to inflate a rear tire, and doing more than two bikes will likely require a cool-off period. Perfect for already-seated beads or tube-type, but it definitely will not flow enough air at once to seat a stiff bead. Need the CO2 cartridges or a compressor for that (remember to pull the valve core!). I'm very happy with this and have used it quite a bit, though it's made in China and some people complain about longevity. I like the Best Rest system and I prefer to support companies like that, but that's $100 vs $30, and it's slightly bigger. I don't like it an extra $70 worth, sorry. a- PC Racing Filter Skins over top of ATG foam air filter - after some research, I found that the ones for a DRZ650 will fit over my filter, so I ordered those from Rocky Mountain ADV. I slapped one over a freshly-oiled filter rather than oiling it separately and allowed it to soak up the excess. Two days later, it was absolutely caked in a ridiculous amount of dust. What I wonder is whether it clogs earlier or it catches more dust. All I know is that the bike immediately breathed better when I stripped it off. In the future, I may run a second skin completely dry over the outer one. I'll experiment a bit. Maybe keep a third skin in a ziplock under the seat? [Note, I moved to a dry filter over the inner filter. Runs fine, allows me to strip it off in the field.] Clean One day on Giant Loop! - OSMAnd+ with Topo plugin - this setup just plain works. Best $10 I ever spent on navigation. I hope Garmin is shaking in its boots, because it should be. I use OSMAnd as a backup to the Monterra that I already own, but it's more functional and faster in most cases. I absolutely love that if I have the time, I can overlay imagery from Microsoft maps (screw your extra-fee Birdseye imagery, Garmin), which it will cache for use later when I have no signal. Topo and hillshade are a help in route planning, as they are useful in slope and terrain analysis. It'll load and navigate along GPX tracks, as well as recording them. I also hear that it has a plug-in or setting to share locations, much like RTT2 (noted below). I'll try that soon. Cheap, reliable, maps are updated frequently for life once you pay (or try the trial version with just 10 maps). It works. - Rever - under development, this provides a handy display of time elapsed, distance, speed, and average speed. You can share your location and tracks with friends if you like, though I have not done this. Once saved, the "rides" (really tracks in GPS parlance) give an elevation graph and your max/avg speeds as well as time and distance. I give this roughly 3 stars, because it tends to crash (usually recovers with the data still intact), there are some issues with finding settings or navigating within the app, and I'd like to configure the size and content of the data fields. It would be great if it included a resettable odometer app that would work with roll charts--important when you blow a turn and then have to go back and reset your mileage. [Rever has updated and is allegedly better. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, but saw recently that they may have a partnership with Butler Maps—which would be awesome.] - PDFMaps - You can't really navigate with this per se, but it'll take referenced PDF maps like the ones that you get from DNR or BLM and index them, then provide you with your GPS determined position on them. Why? Because often, trails and other features are not shown on other maps. - GPSFileDepot maps - screw Garmin and their expensive maps. These are open source and have been very reliable for me when used on my Garmin units. I like that you can get just about any kind of map, including "overlay" style maps that only contain trails or whatnot. I use WATOPO, NWTOPO, SWTOPO, ORTOPO, etc, which are routable. - RTT2 (Real Time GPS Tracker) - the free version allows the user to connect with 4-5 other users. So long as there is data, you can see where your friends are in real time. Unfortunately, usually where I'd need this info is where we wouldn't have signal. Otherwise, I'd just call. Still, it's neat for the kids to be able to see where Dad is and look at the tracks. - Gaerne SG12 boots - big money, but they've saved my ankles and feet many times when crushed between the bike and a stump or rock. The right one pinches the top of my foot when I walk...so I try not to walk! Otherwise, they are comfortable, solid, and plant very well on my footpegs. - REI merino wool expedition socks - my feet are going to sweat no matter what, so I wear these heavy duty suckers to cushion my feet inside my SG12s. They work, though I sweat like crazy. I ended up trying Smart Wool expedition socks, which are roughly the same bulk, but just slightly different composition. This cured the insufferable itching that the REI socks were causing. - Esbit alcohol stove with Evernew titanium stand and TOAKS titanium 750ml pot - This is a good backup, but I think I'll stop using it as a primary and rely on my MSR Whisperlite. The Esbit takes too long to cook and is far less wind resistant. The titanium pot is good though, because it's big enough for the water needed for backpacker meals, but it fits over the end of a Nalgene bottle. - Hennessey Expedition Asym zipper hammock - I've reviewed this before. I love it. No trees? No problem, tie it to the bars and sleep in it like a tent. Includes bug net and rain fly. Just add 4 stakes and maybe a couple of ~30" poles for tent use. I recommend a ground cloth, and the snake-skins accessory makes packing very, very easy. Sleep pad is almost mandatory. I use a Therm-a-rest Prolite 3, which fits in the bottom of my Army-issued goretex bivvy and stays under me as I shift and wiggle around. - Motoport Ultra II Jacket (not used) and Ultra II Kevlar Stretch Pants - The cordura jacket alone would cost me $800 to replace, as I have quad armor installed. My primary complaint is that the damned thing is all black--which was basically the standard back in 2001 when I bought it. Yeah, it's held up that long. Not bad. I may try to replace it with a custom shell in better color with better ventilation. I knew it would be too hot to safely wear this jacket, so I left it at home in favor of the Air Cage and used only the pants--which are also too hot. The pants, with quad armor, custom knee vents, and hip and sacrum armor would run $800 now. The company was good about taking them back to re-furb the Velcro and waistband, though they took a bit longer to turn the pants than I expected. Honestly, my only negative feedback on this gear is of my own doing--I bought black gear 14 years ago because that was what was available. The gear itself, while hot, has survived dozens of crashes. Very impressive. If I ever do wear this stuff out, I'm looking at Icon Raiden or Klim. - Motoskiveez underwear - I thought I was getting ripped off when I paid $60 for these, at the IMS, but I got to do a "side by side" comparison this weekend by wearing my regular underwear from work for 140 miles on the way to the first night's campsite on Bethel Ridge, then switching to my Motoskivees the next day. They definitely make a difference--especially on a sadistic seat such as that on the KTM. They hold my junk in the right place and reduce the difficulty of transitioning from standing to sitting, as well as the propensity for the bike to crush my nuts during unexpected hard hits while seated. Long story short, they were worth it. I just don't know if there are other products out there doing the same, but cheaper. They are an improvement over my normal Underarmour stuff. - Ogio MX Flight Vest - I love this. While some would argue that it probably adds to fatigue by putting weight on the rider, I haven't noticed it in any appreciable manner. Part of this may just be the requirements of my job--move further, faster, and carry a ton of heavy stuff to the fight. My body is adapted to this, so when the vest weighs in at about 20lbs after adding water, tools, power bars, first aid kit, etc, I don't really notice. I like that I can strap it tight to my torso (no bouncing, which does suck the energy out of you), and that it's pretty versatile, despite my SWAT appearance. I get a laugh out of putting power bars in what sure look like magazine pouches to me. I have found that it needs a small piece of cord tied between the two back wing pouch zippers so that they can't work their way down. I also use a carabiner to clip the bladder's hose to the d-ring on the left shoulder. - Rotopax 1-gal gas can - combine this with the retainer/mount and replace the shitty EPA-required vapor check spout with the "water only" spout (which you can order as a replacement for $10). I can drop a gallon of fuel into the bike in about one minute. Hardy and simple. Rotopax is excellent. 2015 Giant Loop ride.pdf

The hunt for Sasquatch continues...This is route..it's approx 500 klm from Vancouver on the east side of Harrison Lake to Boston Bar BC from sea level thru a 3900 ft pass. 120 of mostly groomed FSR until you get to the pass then about 40klm that gets really steep and a little tricky. Lots of baby heads, deep ruts on narrow road with some pretty steep cliff edges. But fairly easy to do in the mid summer with some good tires. If you wanna go earlier in the season expect lots of mud and snow. Even in the summer our expect time of 3 hours took us 5 but there was 8 of us a couple of novices so our average speed was only 30kph and we stopped for a nice lunch and a couple longer breaks. Fun but not the most scenic of the runs around this part of the country but the route on Hwy 7 to Harrison Lake and the route back down Hwy 1 to Hope makes up for it..A definite must do if your a bike bike adventure rider in this part of the country

06/09/2014 Romania Part 1 Pictures from the first two days in Romania, we entered Romania through Hungaria the first day and the second day we did the first part of the TransAlpina. In Romania we did the two most beautifull roads in the world, accordingly to Top Gear. After a full day offroadriding, the asphalted piece of the TransAlpina was very welcome. During the TransAlpina ride, I had a passenger, there was a -not- teenytiny wolfsspider in my helmet. And boy, he sure liked the taste of my scalp. I first thought my hair was really itchy that day, maybe I had caught flees of lice somewhere, anything is possible on a trip like this. I'm glad it was only a spider... Sepappe got it out of my helmet safe, and the Spider lives happily ever after now in the forests near the TransAlpina road. We got soaking wet that day, even our goretexlayers couldn't keep the water out. When even your underwear is soaked, these trips become an endurance-struggle. 07/09/2014 Romania Part 2 What had to become one of the most beautifull onroaddays in our trip, became the most exciting day in my life, ever ! We started the day with a very small breakfast and only one cup of coffee a person. There was allready a thunderstorm busy outside, so Sepappe and I braced ourselves for another day of being completely wet. Our suits didn't dry this night, so we even started the day in wet clothing. Our spirits were high, because we were going to do the upperpiece of the TransAlpina, which promised us spectacular views and many many hairpins. As stated we started the day with a thunderstorm and the further we got in the morning the more we noticed there were really unusual things going on in this vally. We saw Romanian people in the streets crying, we saw them pointing and taking pictures from houses, playgrounds and the waterreservoir. Some areas were completely flooded but with the bikes we didn't have any problems crossing them. At some point the cilinders from the GS were liquidcooled too... you could even say the cilinders were taking a swim. And this was just riding down the streets. We were riding an hour or two untill we were faced with a traffic jam, again no problem with the bikes, untill we got to the beginning of the traffic jam and noticed that the road was completely gone ! There had been a massive landslide from up in the mountains and the road was gone. Eaten alive by the monster Nature can be. The aggressiveness of Mother Nature was enormous that day. There was a crane trying to guide the mudslide away from the cars and the people, but it was very clear no one was going to cross this mudslide any time soon. Sepappe and I had found peace with our wet suits, but now we had to ride the same route over again since there were no asphalted ways other than the one that got eaten by the mudslide. Sepappe would have taked some offroad tracks through the mountains but I didn't dare. If the mountains were that unstable because of the excessive amounts of water, I wasn't going to ride offroad in them. The Garde des Montaignes or in other words, the Mountain Police kindly requested that we left since the area was very unstable. So we left, and drove the same route again, only to find the roads had been roughened up some more. Many small mudslides were terrifing cars and people along the way. We even crossed a white van stuck in one of them, the bikes made no fuss about it, they just hopped along the rocks and mud. When the rain finally began to clear a little bit (read the Gods have stopped nominating us for the Ice Bucket Challenge) there was a short cut though the mountains and Sepappe convinced me to take it. So we got along the first part just fine, we encountered a man completely packed in plastic as only shelter for the rain. He owned some donkeys and bless him, even his donkeys had received some plastic over their backs against the rain. We were pointing out which way we wanted to go and he made it very clear we could NOT go there. I don't understand Romanian, but when a dude shouts at you "ROUTO BLOCKARE !!!" and points in the direction you want to go in an unstable area, all languages are the same. So we had to turn back... again... Almost an hour later we arrive at a threeway junction, one road is where we came from yesterday, the other one is were we came from today and on the third road, the one we really need, has a police officer on it that tells us we cannot go any further. There had been a landslide there too and the complete route is blocked. SHIT. The friendly cop says we can go and have a look at it and then come back to him. We really didn't want to take a + 250km detour from where we came the day before, so we decided to go and check out the slide. Take some pictures for the guys at home. And indeed, some 5km further on, there is a huge pile of mud and pinetrees blocking the road. Sepappe is close to undercooling, so we decide to have some coffee first and then begin the detour back. Approximately five minutes later, we hear on the other side of the mudslide a group of bikes approaching. I saw a Rev'It Sand costume, a red one, and then some others waving at us. We look like children waving from different playgrounds to eachother, each rather wanting to be on the other side. They look soaked too and are Slovakian motorists. They had a rather fierce guy with them and he was determined NOT to go back. We couldn't chat with them as their English was very basic, but our goals were the same. Apparently they were in the same position as we were, or we crossed this mudslide, or take a detour. Sepappe shouted, "We help you if you help us!". The smallest Slovakian aswered "Deal". So the guys started cutting the trees, removing rocks and mud. Sepappe had a treesaw with him and the Slovakian guy had an army shovel. Together they did an amazing job. In less than an hour they had created a path. Now the more difficult task began. We had to get this bikes across, we got started with the smallest bikes, two Jawa's. Then a GSR, a GS1150, our GS1100 then a Tenere and as last my KTM. We had done it ! We had conquered Mother Nature in her own game, so to speak. This was an amazing experience, thrilling and mindblowing ! I haven't described the scenery this was in too... whilst they were making a path and then bringing the bikes back and forth, the river was eating the landscape away. Every minute you could hear another tree falling into the water, his roots snapping like thunder in the sky. The rocks that you could hear rolling over eachother in the river. It was magic, it was frightning, it was why we set out on our bikes ! Whilst we were packing the bikes again with our luggage, the Garde de Montagne arrived again and they were very surprised by what we had done. There was one cop that could speak English and he wished us the very best and a safe trip up the Alpina. Sepappe and I had to get going now because time was ticking away and we still had much riding to do. The Upper-Alpina smiled at us and we even had some sun, unfortunately it did not last. While getting to the top of the Alpina fog came up and then the rain came again. It was a very humbeling experience. I could not see Sepappe or his taillight even though I was only 3m behind him. So we rode and rode and had no clue of the landscapes around us. They say the views are spectacular, but the only thing we could do was concentrate. Not to mind, the hardest part was over after the top of the Alpina. We even found some minor offroad parts and almost got down again without accidents. Sepappe is a huge fan of aviation and in a small town there was a rescue helicopter at work. Apparenly it was flying up and down the Alpina to pick up people that were stuck. The helicopter landed just in front of our noses and my goodness, a chopper makes wind! It blew me right of my KTM into the ground... After that last intermezzo we passed the last hairpins down into the vally below, and this wonderfull day ended. I thought we deserved some dry time in a hotel this night, so Sepappe picked out the most posh hotel he could find. Aaah a warm bed and tomorrow, dry clothes !