Beast’s previous owner took me up Redington Road on the back of the bike before he signed the title over to me. The desert is spectacular at night. He has a spotlight mounted on the handlebars and used it to point out wildlife. We spotted tarantulas and a family of ring tailed cats. There’s a great lookout point away from the pollution where the sky becomes a blanket of stars. We layed out there on the rocks talking about life and motorcycles. It was a really lovely send off.

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I’ve owned the KLR for a while now and I’m a little bummed out that even though Sean and I now both have badass dual sport bikes, due to his crappy work schedule, we haven’t ridden dirt together once! I resolve to fix this and when he gets home from work, I tell him to keep his gear on and come riding with me! We go up Redington and lay out on the rocks.

I have a special attachment to this place now and just thinking about it makes me want to head back up soon…

At last the title had arrived! I handed over the rest of the money and took keys in hand. My confidence renewed after the practice sessions on the TW200, I got on my new bike and rode it home on side streets with a friend following behind. 

Sean acquired a KLR of his own and our garage reaches new levels of awesome.

I got a gig house sitting for some people up in the foothills and we decided the ride up there would be some nice practice for us. Not too far, but with some nice turns. He led the way and we headed up the mountain. The last part before their house presents the only real challenge. The rode dips left and downward before curving right into a steep ascent finalized with a tight u-turn to reach their driveway. I’m keeping my distance, but as I approach the u-turn I see Sean had tried to turn too sharply and dumped in the middle (it slopes upward mid u-turn). I knew I should have continued through the u-turn and stopped on a straigh flat place to dismount and help, but I couldn’t just leave him laying there! I tried to stop mid-turn mid-slope and –you guessed it- I dump right over next to him. What a sight! We help each other wrestle our bikes up. He broke his radiator fan, I broke my clutch lever and we both felt a little discouraged. I decided to order lowering links.

The local ADV riders encourage me to attempt a ride up the back of Mt Lemmon. They assure me it is newbie friendly and something I can totally handle…on the TW200. I meet with a small group at Bill’s house to grab the TW. Another rider, Will, gifts me some amazing motocross boots and we head off in high spirits.

I think they are a product of the 80’s.

We parade off to the gas station where the main group is gathering.

There were about 25 riders that day!

We take off and naturally start sectioning off into groups. I’m leading the rear pack with my friends Mike and Will on supermotos, Bill and a couple others who decide to hang back with me.

The first part of the ride is long graded dirt roads and we start really getting some speed up. I’m having a blast, but a little anxious about being so far behind the majority of the group. I give it some more throttle and the adrenaline really starts pumping. I come over a crest at around 35-40mph only to discover a sharp right turn on the other side. I know absolutely nothing about turning in dirt at speed and whatever default response I had was obviously a poor choice.

I’m not sure how exactly I dismounted the bike, I only recall skidding on my right hip and then consciously deciding to start rolling instead because I was getting some wicked road rash. I got up and checked my damage. A rock had embedded itself in the middle of a nice patch of missing skin to create a bullet wound effect. Click for nastiness

I apologize profusely about the TW. Luckily they are fairly tough and the bike sustained only scratches on the plastics here and there. I slapped a band aid on myself and catch up to the group who were waiting patiently under a tree. They wanted to know what was taking so long and why I’m covered in dirt.

I am a lot more cautious after this. I have to keep repeating the “ride your own ride” mantra. It can be hard being a new rider in a group of people who are very experienced. But you can’t ride as fast as them, not for a long time, so don’t try. It’s painful.

Eventually we reach the summit and have some delicious pizza before descending down the paved front of the mountain. Nice tarmac twisties were a pleasant contrast to the rocky climb up the back.

I settled up paperwork for the KLR but would have to wait a week or so for Beast’s owner to pay off the lien and get the title. In the meantime, I needed to get educated on shifting and how not to stall, so I could actually do something with the bike once I got it home. Luckily, I had recently befriended some local dual sport riders from advrider.com and got hooked up with a little TW200 to practice on. Another ADV rider, Brian, had been dirt riding for a while and his girlfriend Marisa wanted to get in on it too, so he took the two of us out to the desert for a learning day. This went well. The TW was forgiving, low to the ground and extremely stable over questionable terrain. I had a couple close calls, but saved it before it dumped each time. My fellow learning buddy wasn’t as lucky and went down on a rocky wash, suffering minor scrapes. I was proud of her though, she dusted off, bandaged up and went out for a second session the same day. This time we both kept upright.