Last summer I was fortunate to have time to ride some incredible places. A bit down into Mexico, up into Canada, down the gorgeous Pacific coast and back home.
(Here are some links to highlights of that trip)
One of these days I’ll make it East of the Rockies, but the Southwest has a lot to offer so I was happy to return for further exploration. Only having about a month, I packed up my SV650 and blazed up the interstate at the crack of dawn.
His name is Binky. Continue reading
Sorry for the extreme delay in updating! Finals week kind of knocked me for a loop and then I went to Central America for a month. 
I’m back now though with much more free time!
Soooooo at last DSDD Part 2!
Riders gathering in the morning for a ride lead by Mountain Dog to Jackson Cabin.
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I had wanted to ride dirt down to Dragoon on Thursday, but school obligations kept me late, so I trailered down with Alan instead. I had a quick beer before the bar closed up and called it a night.
Went for a little walk in the morning. I love the crazy rocks out there.
The neighbors. Continue reading
Last weekend a bunch of riders came down from Phoenix to ride with the Tucson crew. On Saturday they did Charouleau Gap, a ride I hope to do at some point this year, but I’m still pretty intimidated by.
I mean look at it:
I had been wanting to re-ride Sibley Mansion ever since my first attempt ended with a bang. Riding old trails you once found very challenging, can really put in perspective how far you’ve come. My “Death in the Desert” re-ride was a great example, but while I hoped it would be laughably easy this time around, Sibley was still putting butterflies in my stomach.
James and I met Allyn at a gas station in Tucson, with plans to meet a new to the area rider, Jay, up in Mammoth.
We got on the bikes to head North, Allyn kicked it into first and his bike made a terrible grinding sound and the chain flopped right off! He was trying to figure out why he wasn’t going anywhere, so I tapped his shoulder and pointed at the bike of his bike.
Somehow the sprocket had sheared all but one bolt and mostly removed itself from the bike. Luckily the chain was unbroken, so Allyn borrowed the Zeb to get new bolts and get us on our merry way. Continue reading
I don’t know what to say about the PCH that hasn’t already been said. The road winds along the cliff edge so perfectly. The views are so entrancing it’s hard to make yourself stop and take pictures, most of the time you just ride along with your mouth dropped open, mystified by the sheer beauty of it all.
The Zeb with the ocean and a field of wildflowers
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Please excuse this interruption to my summer storytelling. I hope I don’t confuse anyone with this post, but I just had an awesome weekend in Prescott and wanted to post about it before continuing my summer trip report…
So a few months ago my friend Allyn started hounding me to register for a dual sport ride up in Prescott called Howlin’ at the Moon he insisted last year was the most fun he ever had riding and I -had- to make it to this year’s event. I begged the time off work and registered well in advance. The event totally sold out at 200 riders.
I had a minor panic moment when my bike decided to freak out and fall apart. The starter switch failed, so I was kick starting it all the time. The exhaust was falling off -again- and the subrame nuts that the seat bolts into broke off. Joy. Continue reading
I’m not sure what I can say about the Grand Canyon that hasn’t already been said. It’s so massive it doesn’t even seem real. You take hundreds of photos in an attempt to capture it and you can never come close. All I can do is suggest you go there and see it for yourself…and post a few of the better pictures to give you some idea how vast and beautiful this place is.
Here’s a map of the route we took:
Monkey Butt is a Real Problem!
We camped out in Alpine and woke up early the next morning. The first couple nights camping are always a little rough until your body gets used to it. We packed up camp and reloaded the bikes quickly for an early start to visit Sean’s parents in Phoenix.
The moment I caught word of a massive chick dirtbiker meetup, I knew I had to do everything in my power to attend. Google maps had it at about a 700 mile long journey from Tucson, Arizona to Central Colorado, but unwilling to do anything the simplest way, Sean and I decided to extend the trip to Chickfest into a 9 day journey encompassing some of the best roads and National Parks in Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
He plotted our trip out and loaded the tracks into his gps, declaring he had found another 1000 miles between here and Colorado! Sounds awesome, let’s ride!
We unfortunately put off packing until the morning of departure and started our trip off all wrong, chaotically throwing things together and hoping we didn’t forget anything important. Finally we were ready to leave!
