I'm currently planning the following.I'm in the Hudson Valley NY area.Zip up to Maine, follow the NEBRD south to PA, hit a connector to the MABRD and down to the intersection of the TAT. Hitting the "Rock Lobster" Rally in Conn, Aug 5-8. TAT from Damascus, TN To somewhere in Nevada.Somewhere around Battle Mountain, head back east a little to get to Jarbridge NV for the start of the IDBDR North to Canada. Does anyone know if that ID-WA connector is open, or a good way around? WABDR to Portland, not the loop, I've seen Seattle, and I'm good thanks. Out to the 101, and south down the PCH. Maybe all the way to Cabo. Then back up to California, out to Arizona and NM, and up to Denver, Co. Bike will stay there. Still lots of planning on the route. Must hit dates at Jarbridge at the begining of Sept.Leaving last week of July. Will Be on the GPS Kevin route most of the way, Will be taking Red routes where available. Will be stopping to smell the flowers and BBQ. Bike is the KTM 1190R. I guess we'll see how she holds up. Let me know if you want to link up. I'll be out there.Insta is@hammerblastingfor live trip updates, planning, thoughts, ect.
Update #1: Tire selection: I've decided to run the TK-70s that I currently have on the bike for that eastern side of my trip. I have ordered a new TK-70 rocks rear, because I want to check is out, and it matches the front. I've allready run the TK-70s up in VT-NH and they were fine for that kind of dirt riding. I'm not really expecting to have to deal with hard core trail conditions until I get more west. Tire selection when I get more west. I think that I'm going to run the Bridgestone Battlax 41's. After reading pages and pages of what everyone thinks is their favorite tire, I'm going to go this route. Honestly the Dunlaps Trailmax or the 606/908 combo was looking pretty good. I have decided that I want to keep the rims tubless as long as i can. So, yea. I ordered a new front wheel from Woodie's wheel works. The rim is a little narrower then stock, but not enduro narrow. I think that it will be a good compromise. I took the beast out for a ride for the first time in 4 months last weekend. It sure seems to stay cold for a long time here in the Hudson Valley. The new Konflict Suspension is awesome, so much better then stock. And now fully sprung correctly for my weight. As always new suspension is great. I'll give a long term update after a couple thousand miles on it. Training continues. The bike gets toys and I get to work. I found that on my ride that my back and core have no strength. Well back to you my friend Pilates. I'll be doing that workout 3 days a week till the end of July, along with my spin training, trying to eat good stuff... blaaa... so much work for a vacation. 我仍然需要完成GPS路线。我得到good ideas and trying to connect as much as I can. Back to it.
Riding in the rain.... I know that a lot of us fear it, hope to never see it. I think that it's important to know where we stand with things like the rain. If I'm going to be reliant on my gear, my wits, and an orange bike from Austria, I'd like to test it all in a controlled environment. Well... mostly controlled. In this case the Taconic parkway in the Hudson valley. Well today on the east coast it rained. Not a downpour, but a more continuous type of steady rain. I thought to myself, self, how waterproof is the gear that you are planning to take on a 3 month voyage. SO I rode the 1190r to work. FULLY knowing that it was going to rain later. So, my commute is about 40mi and it takes me about 50 min in the car.... much less on the bike.... My commute home was a little over an hour. Wins.... Continental TK-70 Tires. I can honestly say that the tires didn't care that it was wet out. YES.... I turned the beast down to a paltry 100hp. (Rain mode, I don't totally have a deathwish). Though in hindsight I don't think that I actually had to. The tires felt really great. Kriega US-20 Bag. I was a little skeptical of the Kriega gear, but from the first day I've been very impressed. Kriega US-20. I have to be honest the Kriega gear may be the best made, functional bags that I've bought. I almost now wish that I bought the panniers. The white dry enclosure is great to find anything that you need in it. And on the Ride home.... everything was prefect. My laptop was unharmed as well as all the items that are normally in my backpack. I slung the bag messenger bag style on my back, so it probably got as much rain as the panniers. Wolfman Panniers. Did I mention earlier how I almost wished I had a different set of panniers? Of course, everything inside was dry and cozy. I was expecting good things from these bags and well they worked great. I didn't really have anything in the bags, this was more of a "will they work" type of thing. Mosko Moto Nomax tank bag. While I don't agree with their shipping policies and requiring you to insure their package delivery (something that maybe deserves it's own post....) The product works great. For this rain test the rain cover was on. The tank bag was prefect after the trip home. No complaints. KLIM gear. What more to say? Gortex = dry on the inside. Losses....... I though that I would remember this, but I needed a refresher. The shield on my helmet fogged and stayed fogged the entire ride home.I wore MX gloves thinking that my nice waterproof ones where in the tank bag.... that was a big negative.The fact that the Mosco Moto bag has a clear top is cool. But at any speed other then stopped you can't see anything. I think that my hands are still cold.... In summary. Good test all the gear works, and I felt safe and comfortable. It's not something that I'd do everyday, but it's good to know how you will and your gear will do in bad conditions.
RAIN. I have come to the conclusion that riding in the rain only sucks if your camping. This, after an extensive 54 year study.
