The last Motorcycle ride of the year was a great time. Rode from Gateway Co to (almost) Moab. I’ve been working out a couple of routes this fall. One for dirt bikes and one for big twin adventure bikes. Now I have most of the routes ironed out for each type
I started this when it was hot out and now it’s just barely warm enough to ride and there is only 4 hours of ridable daylight. The sun sets early in the canyon bottoms
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Winter in the desert is just around the corner now. Mountains are getting snow and the passes are all yucky. I took a quick trip to Ft Collins and got some snow and mud on me. I spent the weekend in retreat with friends and became fully illuminated one morning (it wore off by lunch).
I’ve also been playing with my Mini-ADV bike. The all-new Husqie Adventure-450 is turning out to be a lot of fun and is keeping me from paying attention to my mountain bike. Friends and I are planning to ride in Idaho next summer, we’ve named it rIdaho. That’ll be a hoot!
In other news Truck 2.0 turned 300,000 miles this month. I spent a few hours and dollars chasing down a coolant leak, and a fuel leak but we seem to have that all sorted now.
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As you recall I spent some time riding adventure bikes this summer and I decided to go ahead and buy one for next summer (plus this fall, winter, and next spring!) I got a mini-adventure bike instead of the big Africa Twin I rented for that summer ride
The Husqie Adventure-450 is about 280 pounds lighter than the Africa Twin (250 vs 530). I can pick this bike up if it falls and it is a lot more maneuverable for the UTV and jeep trails that criss-cross the desert. I’ve spent a few weeks looking for a route to Moab that I can ride. The Kokopelli goes that way, but parts of it are above my ability. I have a dream trip of riding over to Moab one day and coming back the next. I also want to ride the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands NP. Maybe this year. Could be next year
I have been skunked a few times on my attempts to make loops out of 4×4 roads. The Husqie Adventure-450 is street legal and can go highway speeds so I can always hit the pave to get around, but I prefer dirt roads
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I was visiting Rifle Gap State Park so I drove up the canyon to Rifle Falls too. I haven’t been there for probably 30 years. The last time I was here was with my grandma back when she was living in Parachute. She grew up in the valley and her hubby use to take her to Rifle Falls for picnics in the early 1930’s. I spotted a few wild turkeys on my walk
I fixed it!
One of our mowers got a broken frame. It’s an expensive mower so the park decided to fix it. I took it almost all the way apart to get the broken bit out then reassembled it. I runs! I’m always amazed when something that taken apart goes together and runs
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Outside it’s 95º and the wind is blowing 30 mph. Whenever I step out it feels like someone is hitting me with a pizza oven.
I’ve been riding early in the mornings and it’s fun to see the long shadows I create as I ride around
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A few weeks ago I was off adventure riding motorcycles which were too heavy for me to pick up. When I dropped one I needed help to get it on its wheels again so I made a motorbike lifter. Basically a single leg strap-jack like some of the lifters I’d seen on the internet.
I made it out of 6061-T6 aluminum tubing, which is what airplanes and expensive mtn bikes are made from. I tested it on a friends KLR 650 and it seems to work so now I’m sending it off to friends in Texas to test on the 100-pound heavier Honda Africa Twin and the even heavier Honda VFRX1200. Wish us luck!
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After having spent almost a year at the foot of the Monument I finally bought a park-pass and took a ride through the park. I went in the west entrance and gawked at some of the overlooks before I peeled off on one of the roads to Glade Park
I was surprised to discover that the Monument is just the north-facing cliff of a huge mesa that runs all the way south to highway 141. There isn’t a continuous road over to 141 that I could find, but the trees and creeks go all the way over
I ran out of road at the edge of the Grand Mesa National Forest mostly because the City of Fruita had dug a hole in the road to repair a water line
The mesa tops out around 9500 feet so it was nice and cool up there. The grass was still green and the wild flowers still had blooms on
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