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That bike is great! I love people that do stuff b/c it makes THEIR heart go pitter/patter, not b/c they feel the need to fit some ADV rider ideal that includes a 25k bike with 25k in farkles. Not that there is anything wrong with those that have the means to do everything up to a tee. I just love the character of those that do it their way. Too bad you didn't get to have a beer with the eccentric owner. I bet it would have been interesting.

Wow I bet you're glad you had the new Anakee 3's on for that snowy road. Slept in until 9? I don't even know how you do that I can rarely sleep in past sunrise but then I'm also usually down by 9 when traveling off the bike.

May 25 day 27 Yesterday Monitor and Luther pass were both open but high 30s with snow and rain. So batten down the hatches and power through. Once I got through the mountains and reached i80 it was an uneventful ride to a KOA south of Santa Rosa. This morning I slept in till 9 broke camp took a shower and headed towards BMW Santa Rosa in Windsor. I am really glad I decided to go to these guys to service the my bike. The service department was really great, they did the 18k service and put on a set of anakee 3s for 715 and they gave me a loner g650gs free and replaced my out headlights for free. They let me stash my boxes and gear safe in there garage. I had a lot of fun thumping around on the 650. While riding it I realized BMW should have put that wider 650 seat on the 700 I ride. It's a comfortable enough seat but really should be wider like on the 650. I had time to kill so I cruised around for a while, got lunch at a nearby Panda Express and went back to pick up Furiosa. Loading her up took 35-40 mins which wasn't too bad because all the people at the shop were so interested in where all I'd been and how the bike had done. Still one of the best aspects of traveling is meeting nice people interested in your journey. I mounted up and headed for Reno. A lot of lane splitting through rolling traffic and I caught some icy rain over Donner pass on 80... In the dark... I was more than a little sketched out. I pulled into Reno looking to get a cheep room and start out early tomorrow headed towards Colorado Springs https://vimeo.com/168158884 I've just woken up in Reno should take me a couple hours to find food and get moving. I've been feeling so exhausted at night recently I've been falling asleep while typing theses or writing in my journal. I'll try to get another update out tonight but if it not I'll be in Colorado Springs by Friday night and will update from there.

Boy, out my way, if you don't ride that, you're pretty limited terrain-wise. We regularly have to ride sections of sugar sand that is 6 - 10" deep. I can't say it's a "joy" but the bike will do it if you're comfy enough to get her up, riding on top. Having lived in the desert SW, both So Cal and NV, I ended up having to get comfy riding the sand and it really helps in Florida. Where's really tough is when it's been really dry in the 4X4 trucks put ruts all through it. That makes it a lot of work!

We get kind of lucky here in that right after a coastal storm we get a lot of dropped branches and trees in the FS roads which gives us all a chance to practice lofting it. I've put it over trees and downs up to about 6-8 inches but much past that and we're banging the sump guard and Triumph doesn't like that. But in regards to getting the speed up to get over the loose stuff that's generally the accepted method. You don't want a slapper in the sand or silt with a big bike like a Tiger and they will really plow if you don't get the wheels up. I actually did better in deep, soft gravel on the Tiger with its' updated suspension than with my XR due to its' tendency to wander up front even with a fork brace. On the other hand deep sand is a no no for Tiger comparatively.

The technique was off the throttle, let the front forks load up, then lean back and gas it while giving a little pull too.

For sure dirt skills carry over, even on the larger bikes. There's just limitations of both man and machine hence the purpose of schools and practice to best utilize the two. The last two classes I attended I deliberately shot myself in the foot by taking the smaller bike per the instructor's advice and NOT taking my Tiger AND taking basic skills twice. There unfortunately are literally miles between my xr650l and the Tiger making me actually work harder on the XR. The XR has big vibey single, bog wallow handling,too tall gears and 1/3 the power, not to mention the agony of putting a couple hundred on the slab to the events and back. For the sand pieces no question, XR all the way as you can lower pressures and float over better, but at everything else the Tiger eats it. Smooth triple with 90 horse of flat torque and short-spaced gears wrapped up with WP suspension? No contest. Now one of the guys nobody has brought up yet is DirtFirst and I can speak to the quality of instruction they provide. If I'd put myself in the right class with the right bike (for me) I would have gotten even more than I did but I was still very impressed by Gary La Plante and his staff and ended up learning a few things which stood me in good stead later. All that practice at "wheelies with a purpose" on my Tiger on my own paid good dividends when I needed to get the front up over some punked out wet railroad ties and my Heidies weren't getting much bite in the back. That's specifically what I meant by repetition and practice AFTER the school. Because I had purchased the book while at class I had it to study later and set up my own safe practice routine on my time. So even although I'm a leper pariah and no one will ride with me I could still practice and get better on my own without becoming a casualty that the forestry service needed to attend to. I had practiced enough for it to become second nature and it saved my bacon when it counted.

Yes, summer! Tomek posted this on Facebook... From KCET's Chris Clarke Google Maps link Lava Beds National Monument Mahogany Flat in Death Valley (my favorite) Walker Pass, Pacific Crest Trail Mono Lake Jeffrey Pines Mid-Hills, Mojave National Preserve Lone Pine Campground, Owens Valley Cima Dome, Mojave National Preserve

May 23 Day 25 The hammock was great and slept like a baby all night. Packed up and left Don Pedro lake headed east on 120 towards the Tioga pass. https://vimeo.com/167839951 Tioga pass was awesome but got down to 45 degrees for a while but just a beautiful ride the whole way. 120 ends at 395 and I hooked it north towards Bridgeport in search of travertine hot springs, and after a little searching and asking I finally found it. Travertine Hot Springs is a very cool place. Hot water just bubbles out of the ground flows through tiny rivers 2-10 inches wide and fills up these steaming pools. I found that spring in the middle of a field a ways away from the other people in the park and had a nice soak. After a bit I dried off suited back up and headed north on 395 again going to make my way west over one of the passes, which ever is open and closest Tioga, Monarch or Luther pass. It's raining pretty hard here in Walker where I've got a room for the night, so I'm sure it's snowing on the passes. If they are all closed I'm sure I can make it north around Tahoe to 80 and West towards Santa Rosa worst case. Oh yeah and in either Bridgeport or Lee Vining I saw this wild Adventure machine I hung around for a little bit and tried to see if the owner would turn up and talk but no luck and after 10 or so minutes I moved on. That Honda had stickers on it from all over North and South America. I was pretty bummed I did not get a chance to meet the owner.

Yesterday May 21 Day 23 I headed towards Yosemite from Carmel hoping to go through Yosemite take pics and ride over the Tioga pass and north towards travertine hot springs. Decent day on the interstate considering I had a hot shower, a big bed and a half a pot of coffee before setting out. It's amazing what a good nights sleep can do. It was a pretty uneventful day. Though I dropped my iPhone and shattered the screen. First really I really annoying mishap of the journey. Panda Express for lunch, which was awesome and along the way I picked up a bag of plums and apricots for 8$ that was some of the best fruit I've ever had. I made camp that night at The Pines campsite off 120 on the western edge of Yosemite. As soon as I set up my tent a quick 2 minutes of pretty good peanut M&Ms sized hail then clear again. I took it as a warning and stashed most of my gear inside the tent and threw the tarp over the bike. While there I set up my hammock caught up on my journal, took a nap and realized that the outlet I had "charged" my Nikon battery on must have not been working because my camera was flat dead. That really annoyed me considering Yosemite is tomorrow's destination, and there is nothing to do but charge it off the bike once I start moving tomorrow. I had dinner of canned stew, plums and apricots and went to sleep early. May 22 Day 24 I woke up early and there was a very heavy dew and everything was soaked, so I made coffee finished off the last two plums and two apricots dried and packed my tent and hammock which I knew I shouldn't have left out overnight, then headed into Yosemite. The entrance gate was jammed so I knew the park would be crowded. Very crowded indeed. I also saw that Tioga pass had closed overnight so I pulled over and whipped out my Butler map and figured out if I wanted to get to travertine hot springs or mono lake area, which was the plan, I would have to take the more northern Sonora pass over the mountains. So I took 120 into the park 140 out then 49 north towards the Sonora pass which also was closed. So I backtracked down 49 to the Moccasin Campground on Don Pedro lake. Really nice campground with beautiful sites, water, a nice bathroom and right now there is only one other occupied camp site besides me in the whole place. Tonight I have not set up my tent and am going to try out the hammock I've dragged all this way and only used twice so far. I've got my camera charged up and tomorrow I'm going to give Yosemite another go, Monday should be a lower traffic day and the weather looks clear so hopefully Tioga pass will be open and I will be able to make it to Mono lake/ travertine hot springs. https://vimeo.com/167684647https://vimeo.com/167684884 Thanks for reading everyone hopefully tomorrow will be a great day for pictures! Check out my tracks below http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0vOdQ17Gkzl75o9nCrbjzbmjyUZI7hDtx

Uh....did you pull your manifold off?....to play with the nipples?

Yep, the product looks great. Fast response. My frustration is that I spent a lot of time trying to help them get their instructions sorted out...and I basically got....no one else is complaining, so they must be fine... Also....I think I would have overnighted the correct bolt kit and requested that the product be installed with AS bolts. I would have stopped after looking over the bolt kit, but when you looked over the whole bolt kit....the spacers worked?? I thought i was only missing a few bolts....until I got in the middle of the install. Also Triumph isn't talking to them....really? I rode right up the SoCal Truimph and their certified tech explained what was needed to pull the charcoal canister off and avoid a vacuum leak. SoCal Triumph was very helpful. Adventure Spec was just excuses excuses.